FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Patzún, Guatemala, January 27, 2022 - The Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) is pleased to share that it has been awarded a general operating grant by the Luis Voh Ahn Foundation. The Foundation will support WJI in its efforts to improve the lives of indigenous women and girls in rural Guatemala through rights education, legal services, and gender-based violence prevention.

The Luis Vohn Ahn Foundation supports local community leaders and non-profit organizations working to improve the lives of Guatemalans, with a special focus on women and girls.

The Foundation’s investment will provide critical support to WJI as it continues to expand in 2022 to reach women and girls across 72 communities in 5 municipalities in Guatemala. In these communities, WJI implements a community-based approach that combines rights education, mobile legal services, and justice system capacity building. WJI’s participants gain both knowledge of their rights and the skills necessary to protect those rights.

“WJI looks forward to partnering with the Luis von Ahn Foundation to continue building a safer world for women and girls in rural Guatemala,” shared Kate Flatley, Executive Director.

About Luis von Ahn Foundation: Established in 2021, the Luis von Ahn Foundation is committed to a future where all Guatemalans are equally valued, can thrive and are able to fully exercise their human rights. The Foundation believes that by advancing the rights of women and girls, and by promoting gender justice and the creation of an enabling environment for them to achieve their full potential, we all help ensure that marginalized Guatemalans have the resources they need to cultivate the leadership and solutions that can truly transform our country.

About Luis von Ahn: Luis von Ahn is a Guatemalan entrepreneur and the inventor of CAPTCHA. Luis is the founder of the company reCAPTCHA, and the co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, the world’s leading language learning platform. Luis moved to the United States at the age of 18 to attend Duke University, later earning a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Motivated to create impact on a large scale, Luis launched the Foundation to help others achieve their potential and lead more fulfilling lives. He sees the opportunity to help others as both an enormous privilege and major responsibility.

About WJI: The Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) improves the lives of Guatemalan women and girls through education, access to legal services, and gender-based violence prevention. To learn more about WJI, visit www.womens-justice.org or email info@womens-justice.org.

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