The municipality of Chisec is located 289 kilometers north of Guatemala's capital, Guatemala City, bordering with Mexico and the departments of the Quiche and Peten. It encompasses nearly 200 small rural communities (aldeas) and covers an area of almost 2000 square kilometers, half of which is still covered by virgin rainforest. A treasure trove of natural resources and ancient Mayan ruins, the municipality has been protected from plunder by its mountainous terrain with little transportation infrastructure; thick, tropical, malarial rainforest; and especially by Guatemala's 36-year civil war (ending in 12/96), which made Chisec a no-man's zone due to its strategic importance bordering with Mexico and ideal terrain for guerrilla warfare.

In 1994, Chisec's population stood at 48,000 people. Today it is over 90,000 and still growing rapidly - due to extremely high birth rates and migration flows of impoverished Mayan Q'eqchis from southern Alta Verapaz seeking nearly free land in Guatemala's last frontier, where they can stake their claim and begin to plant milpa (corn). The population is composed of 84% Q'eqchi, 10% ladino, and 6% other Mayan groups, predominantly Poqomchi.

54% of Chisec's habitants are 15 years of age or younger. The area's annual population growth rate, over 5%, is among the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Traditional Mayan customs of arranged marriages are commonplace; it is normal to marry off a 13- or 14-year-old daughter to a well-to-do suitor. The average family size is greater than six children per couple.

The illiteracy rate for the municipality is 75% -- also among the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Illiteracy is a vicious cycle. Illiterate Q'eqchi parents who were never afforded any formal education see very little need to send their children to school. In the town of Chisec (10,500 habitants), there are an estimated 1,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 who will never step foot in a classroom or receive any type of formal education.

The majority of the population lives on subsistence agriculture. The average family income for the area of Chisec is 900 Quetzales ($115) per year. It is not hard to imagine, then, that Chisec is the third poorest and second most illiterate municipality in all of Guatemala. Local government has proved to be highly inefficient in addressing the overwhelming needs of the area's population. Civil society is virtually non-existent, traumatized by decades of violence, intimidation, silence, and inaction. The need for local, non-governmental participation in the development process is dire.