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We cultivate and catalyze young people to create just and sustainable communities in Guatemala and El They require a generation of leaders.

We support emerging leaders and change-makers through three cross-cutting areas:
1. Through LEADERSHIP TRAINING to help youth address the root
causes of injustice, inequality and unsustainability.

2. In COMMUNITY CENTERS to provide young people with services, resources and opportunities for positive engagement around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

3. With ECO-SOCIAL VENTURES, incubating and growing promising
locally-led social and environmental businesses. To change everything, it takes everyone...

Young people are our MOST SUSTAINABLE resource. We need to
HARNESS that resource to create a future we can all live with. We know with support and the right kind of learning, any young
person can become an influential and impactful leader. We also know the challenges we face require more than a handful of leaders. We are building that generation. With our support, SERES’ young leaders are building a better future. They are engaging in political spaces, inspiring political change, mobilizing to catalyse social progress, driving innovative community- led solutions, building community resilience and creating more participative and inclusive democratic processes.

15/10/2026

Voices from the territory

Delmy Ruiz, from Las Tablas, Jujutla, and Emerson Orellana, from the Polinario Serrano community in Suchitoto, share what being SERES Fellows meant to them: gaining tools to develop community projects, put their skills into practice, and connect with other young people.

Theater, muralism, and painting opened spaces for conversations about the environment. Their experience also revealed an ongoing challenge: engaging more young people and creating spaces where they can express themselves, contribute, and feel part of a group.

24/09/2026

English
Please welcome Rocío González to the SERES team!

Rocío is our Development and Fundraising Specialist. For more than 25 years, she has built trust between communities, organizations, and funders across Guatemala and her native Chiapas, Mexico.

"Working with young people is both important and urgent. I'm here to help connect SERES' work with the generous people who share that purpose."

When she's not working, you'll find her in the garden or surrounded by her rescued dogs. 🐾

Welcome, Rocío!

Español

¡Te presentamos a Rocío González, quien se une al equipo de SERES!

Rocío es nuestra nueva Especialista en Desarrollo y Recaudación de Fondos. Por más de 25 años ha construido confianza entre comunidades, organizaciones y donantes en Guatemala y en su natal Chiapas, México.

"Trabajar con la juventud es importante y urgente. Estoy aquí para conectar el trabajo de SERES con personas generosas que comparten ese propósito."

Fuera del trabajo, la encontrarás en su jardín o rodeada de sus perros rescatados. 🐾

¡Bienvenida, Rocío!

17/09/2026

Lo aprendido por Helen Hernández en un curso de permacultura no quedó únicamente en la formación.

Con una beca de SERES, participó en el curso y después comenzó a aplicar esos conocimientos en Ulew Fuego. Esta experiencia también la llevó a imaginar nuevas formas de conectar el trabajo de SERES con este espacio de aprendizaje y experimentación en la tierra.

En su comunidad, Helen ha impulsado un colectivo de jóvenes que desarrolla proyectos de manera conjunta. Para ella, el liderazgo cobra sentido cuando las ideas dejan de depender de una sola persona y se convierten en decisiones, responsabilidades y acciones compartidas.

Su trayectoria permite ver cómo una beca puede abrir una oportunidad concreta, pero también cómo el conocimiento crece cuando una joven lo pone en práctica, lo adapta a su contexto y lo comparte con otras personas.

05/09/2026

What happens when we stop talking about young people as “leaders of the future” and start paying attention to what they are already doing?

This August, we found different answers.

In Ahuachapán Sur, an idea proposed by the SERES-Jujutla Ambassadors Network brought together young people from seven communities in a festival shaped around their own interests.

In Uspantán, young people who participated in Actívate coordinated with local actors to carry out the first activity of a community reforestation plan.

In Escuintla, a SERES alumnus used his current professional role to create a new learning opportunity for 45 students.

And in Honduras, 23 young people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras began a new stage of leadership development through Catalizadores.\

These processes are different and are at different stages. But they have something in common: young people are already bringing people together, mobilizing resources, connecting institutions, and engaging others in action.
That, too, is community leadership.

28/08/2026

When a Concern Becomes a Public Message

The final activity of Green Hands brought the group’s environmental reflections into a visible community space in Prados del Carmen.
Participants identified environmental issues in their surroundings and collectively designed a mural with messages about recycling, water conservation, waste reduction, and caring for nature.

The mural was not simply the result of an art activity. It was a way to turn individual ideas into a shared message and leave something visible in the community after the project ended.

The process also strengthened collaboration and a sense of ownership among participants. The wall became a reminder of the commitments the group had begun to build together.

Through Green Hands, Helen learned to accompany a complete process: opening a conversation, turning ideas into practices, and helping make those practices visible to others.

Her journey does not end here. This project was the first stage of a path that would later lead her to work with families, schools, Ulew Fuego, and community leaders in a broader process.

A Lesson from the Field
Leadership grows when an action no longer belongs to one person and becomes a commitment that others can see and take part in.

26/08/2026

Planting Is Also Learning How to Sustain

The next step in Green Hands brought the learning into participants’ homes.
Participants worked on creating family gardens using patios, yards, containers, and other available spaces. They learned basic principles for growing onions, cilantro, carrots, and spinach, while reflecting on food production and environmental stewardship.

Not every family has the same conditions or access to large areas of land. So the activity began with a practical question: What can we grow with the space and resources we already have?

Estefany León shared:
“Leaving this workshop means taking home not only seeds, but knowledge that will continue to grow.”

At this stage, Helen moved from facilitating conversations about sustainability to supporting practices that required planning, consistency, and responsibility beyond the workshop itself.

A Lesson from the Field
Community action becomes meaningful when it can continue as part of people’s everyday lives.

14/08/2026

Where there was once waste, solutions began to emerge.

One of the ideas proposed by young people in Prados del Carmen was to create a space for separating recyclable materials within the community.

Using reusable and low-cost materials, they designed and installed a collection bin for paper, cardboard, plastic, and cans. The process included conversations about waste reduction, learning how to sort materials, and deciding how to explain its use to others.

The activity resulted in something simple but visible: a resource built by young people to make an everyday environmental practice easier within their community.

As Gerardo Sánchez shared: “Today I know that my hands can create solutions where I once saw waste.”

Helen was beginning to discover that facilitating leadership is not only about explaining a problem. It also means supporting a group as they design a response that is possible with the resources available to them.

A Lesson from the field:
People take greater ownership of a solution when they help design it and can see it working in their own community.

07/08/2026

Leadership Begins When an Idea Becomes Action

What can change when a group of young people stops seeing environmental stewardship as a distant issue and begins connecting it to their everyday lives?

In Prados del Carmen, Helen Hernández launched Green Hands alongside 11 young participants eager to better understand waste management, material reuse, and their role in caring for the environment.

The first conversation did not end when the workshop was over. The participants proposed creating useful objects from recyclable materials, organizing community demonstrations, and sharing what they had learned with others.

As one of the workshop participants, Hillary de Paz shared:
“If we want a different future, we must begin educating in the present.”

For Helen, this became her first lesson in community leadership: an activity continues long after it ends when people begin imagining what they can do with what they have learned.

A Lesson from the Field
Leadership begins when knowledge moves beyond conversation and becomes a shared decision.

24/07/2026

Sustainability is something you experience.

Sustainability is not only taught.
It is cultivated.
Walked.
Shared.

At Ulew Fuego , young people and communities experience regeneration through learning, food systems, agroecology, and collective reflection.
Because protecting the future begins by reconnecting with the land today.
This is where leadership, nature, and community come together.
This is where sustainability becomes real.
📖 Explore our 2025 Impact Report:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ecc56efe349354c54bca55b/t/6a3c373a32e2b8452b978c79/1782331195621/Seres+Impact+Report1+2025.pdf

What has nature taught you about sustainability?

21/07/2026

Change is built together.
No community transforms alone.

In 2025, partnerships created more than opportunities—they created the conditions for young people to lead.
Together with schools, local governments, community organizations, and regional partners, we expanded access to learning, civic participation, and community action across Guatemala and El Salvador.

Because strong partnerships don't replace community leadership.

They strengthen it.
Every lasting transformation begins with trust, shared purpose, and collaboration.
📖 Learn more in our 2025 Impact Report:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ecc56efe349354c54bca55b/t/6a3c373a32e2b8452b978c79/1782331195621/Seres+Impact+Report1+2025.pdf

Who has made your work possible through collaboration?

Dirección

Km 77 Ruta Nacional 14, Edificio El Cubo Center, San Lorenzo El Cubo
Ciudad Vieja
03012

Página web

http://www.seres.org/

Notificaciones

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