MAIA was selected out of 422 applicants from 80 countries as a winner of the MIT SOLVE Prize for Girls and Women Innovators! This award is an exciting opportunity for MAIA to showcase our work on an international scale alongside other global changemakers, and to receive recognition for our innovative approach to holistic education in rural Guatemala.

SOLVE is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to solve world challenges. SOLVE is a marketplace for social impact innovation. Through open innovation challenges, SOLVE finds incredible tech-based social entrepreneurs all around the world. SOLVE then brings together MIT’s innovation ecosystem and a community of Members to fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting transformational impact.  

MAIA’s winning project is called Amplify Her Voice; Maya Girl Pioneers in Guatemala break a culture of silence through an empowered voice amplified by technology. One of our core principles is centering Girl Pioneers’ empowered voices, and an unexpected result of the pandemic has been gaining increased connectivity in the rural communities themselves. Internet-equipped tablets cut through the centuries of barriers that have kept girls’ voices and talents hidden, such as difficult topography, remote villages, absence of basic services, and now COVID-19. This innovation represents the ability to equip Girl Pioneers leapfrog in the areas of academic growth and advocacy. Even when classes resume, Girl Pioneers can accelerate their academic trajectory via access to online content. More significantly, with this innovation, a Girl Pioneer can now interface with and produce information in ways that Guatemala, both rural and urban, has never before seen.  

MAIA is thrilled with this opportunity to highlight the incredible talent and responsiveness of our team in Guatemala.