Accompaniment and Cooperant Program2023-09-21T12:20:26-04:00

Accompaniment and Cooperant Program

Since 1990, Breaking the Silence has engaged Maritimers and people across Canada in solidarity work through on-the-ground accompaniment and presence with our partners in Guatemala. Ranging from short and long-term internships, cooperant placements, delegations, human rights accompaniment, and in-country presence of BTS staff, our solidarity efforts support the work of partners in Guatemala while increasing the capacity of Maritimers and other Canadians to become more conscientious and active organizers for social justice at home and abroad.

For several years after the end of our internship programs in 2013, our in-person support to partners in Guatemala took the form of in-country staffing and short-term delegations. In 2019, at the request of our partners, BTS recognized that a fundamental aspect of our solidarity needed to include a significant presence of Canadians in Guatemala. As a response, we launched a two-year pilot Cooperant Program to bring a cohort of highly qualified individuals from across the Maritimes (and across Canada) to Guatemala for short and long-term human rights and community development placements. Under the coordination of a full-time Lead Cooperant, the program brought several Cooperants to Guatemala to support our partners’ work on truth, justice, and impunity, defense of territory, and human security, including mining justice.

In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, BTS was forced to suspend its Cooperant placements in Guatemala and shifted gears to strengthening virtual solidarity and accompaniment efforts. However, we were pleased to restart the in-person Cooperant Program in Guatemala in January 2023. We look forward to welcoming new cohorts of Cooperants to Guatemala, continuing to be led by the requests and interest of our partners.

Interested in becoming a Cooperant? Learn more and apply today!

Report-backs from previous accompaniers and cooperants

BTS Community Development Cooperant Program

BTS Community Development Cooperant Program The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) is recruiting cooperants to serve in Guatemala for 6-12 months to support the work of our Guatemalan partners. As a BTS Community Development Cooperant, you will support Guatemalan organizations engaged in the struggle for [...]

February 4th, 2022|Categories: Cooperant Program, Job and Educational Opportunities, Volunteering with BTS|

Welcome, BTS Summer Cooperants!

This summer, two students from Dalhousie University will be joining BTS for a 14-week work term. These positions are funded by the Nova Scotia Student Summer Skill Incentive program. During these 14 weeks, current Cooperants Laura Robinson and Indigo Christ will introduce them to BTS’s mission, history, and projects, [...]

June 22nd, 2021|Categories: Cooperant Program|

Commemoration of the Xococ Massacre

By: Laura Robinson (BTS Cooperant) On February 13th, I accompanied the Rabinal Legal Clinic and The New Hope Foundation School to what had been used as a clandestine cemetery in Xococ, a town outside of Rabinal. It was the 38th anniversary of the Xococ massacre during which the Guatemalan army [...]

Cooperant Updates & Reflections from Laura Robinson

  Laura Robinson is a BTS Cooperant based in Rabinal. She's doing work with the Rabinal Legal Clinic and the New Hope Foundation. I arrived in Rabinal seemingly at one of the busiest times of year as the annual fair was beginning. Everyday the streets filled with more and more [...]

Exciting cooperant program updates!

January 2020 is off to a great start with the beginning of Laura Robinson’s Community Development Cooperant placement at both the Rabinal Legal Clinic and the New Hope Foundation in Rabinal.  Over the next six months, Laura will support the Legal Clinic in the areas of research, communications and fundraising [...]

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