A Discussion with Enma Noemi Garcia Godinez and Ovidio David Parra Lima, Assistants to the Director of the Department of Economic and Financial Assistance, Rafael Landívar University, Guatemala City, Guatemala
With: Ovidio David Parra Lima Berkley Center Profile Enma Noemi Garcia Godinez Berkley Center Profile
May 27, 2015
Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice
Project, in May 2015 student Nicolas Lake interviewed Enma Garcia and Ovidio
Parra, assistants to the Director of the Department of Economic and Financial
Assistance at Rafael Landívar University (Universidad Rafael Landívar), a
Jesuit institution in Guatemala City, Guatemala. In this interview, they discuss their roles with the Development
with Justice scholarship program and the project’s unique nature.
What are your roles with the Development
with Justice project and all the scholarships?
Ovidio David Parra Lima: We work under Ingrid, the director of the Department of Economic and Financial Assistance. Our job is to coordinate all the different scholarship programs and make sure there’s a budget for everything that needs to be paid for. We work on transportation for the students, the enrollment process, how they graduate, and all the financial aspects. For a scholarship recipient to get their funding requires a lot of different steps, and we need to make sure that all the students are paying and getting paid the right amounts. While the Development with Justice program covers 100 percent of the student’s costs, nearly all of the university’s other scholarships only cover 25 to 50 percent of a student’s costs.
How is the Development with Justice project different from the other programs?
Parra: It’s different because it’s specific for one part of society. The others are general—anyone can apply—but this one is specifically for the indigenous and women. Also, as we mentioned, it’s a full scholarship, while most others are partial.
So if you’re not indigenous you can’t apply for the program?
Enma Noemi Garcia Godinez: No, you can still apply. In areas that are majority indigenous, like Huehuetenango, Quiché, and La Verapaz there aren’t many non-indigenous people who apply, but in Zacapa, where the indigenous population isn’t as large, there’s a more equal distribution of applicants.
Why does this program have this qualification of needing to be indigenous or a woman?
Garcia: Because the scholarship is trying to empower the population that is the most marginalized by our society. Historically those groups have had the least opportunity for education at the university level, and this program is meant to specifically target that need.
The program is named Development with Justice; in your opinion what is the justice aspect in the program?
Parra: The program has justice by strengthening areas that need assistance. The program originally sought to help out specific areas, like Quiché, which now has a beautiful and modern campus where previously nothing existed. During the first phase of the project the main focus was on getting people in these areas a university education, but with the second phase the emphasis really turned to justice. There’s now a large focus on teaching students legal skills, so that they can provide them to their communities who have been deprived from those resources in the past. And we’re seeing the results already; there are lawyers in Huehuetenango and Cobán, and students with jobs in those areas.
Ovidio David Parra Lima: We work under Ingrid, the director of the Department of Economic and Financial Assistance. Our job is to coordinate all the different scholarship programs and make sure there’s a budget for everything that needs to be paid for. We work on transportation for the students, the enrollment process, how they graduate, and all the financial aspects. For a scholarship recipient to get their funding requires a lot of different steps, and we need to make sure that all the students are paying and getting paid the right amounts. While the Development with Justice program covers 100 percent of the student’s costs, nearly all of the university’s other scholarships only cover 25 to 50 percent of a student’s costs.
How is the Development with Justice project different from the other programs?
Parra: It’s different because it’s specific for one part of society. The others are general—anyone can apply—but this one is specifically for the indigenous and women. Also, as we mentioned, it’s a full scholarship, while most others are partial.
So if you’re not indigenous you can’t apply for the program?
Enma Noemi Garcia Godinez: No, you can still apply. In areas that are majority indigenous, like Huehuetenango, Quiché, and La Verapaz there aren’t many non-indigenous people who apply, but in Zacapa, where the indigenous population isn’t as large, there’s a more equal distribution of applicants.
Why does this program have this qualification of needing to be indigenous or a woman?
Garcia: Because the scholarship is trying to empower the population that is the most marginalized by our society. Historically those groups have had the least opportunity for education at the university level, and this program is meant to specifically target that need.
The program is named Development with Justice; in your opinion what is the justice aspect in the program?
Parra: The program has justice by strengthening areas that need assistance. The program originally sought to help out specific areas, like Quiché, which now has a beautiful and modern campus where previously nothing existed. During the first phase of the project the main focus was on getting people in these areas a university education, but with the second phase the emphasis really turned to justice. There’s now a large focus on teaching students legal skills, so that they can provide them to their communities who have been deprived from those resources in the past. And we’re seeing the results already; there are lawyers in Huehuetenango and Cobán, and students with jobs in those areas.
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