Opportunity is intangible until it can be reached. This panel unites funders, the Government of Guatemala, and communities to make rural access the foundation of education and inclusive economies in Central America.

Rural isolation cuts off women, Indigenous communities, and rural families from schools, markets, and employment. Nearly 70% of the rural population in Guatemala lacks permanent access to a main road. This panel brings together three development banks (the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, CAF), the Government of Guatemala, and community representatives to explore how resilient roads and pedestrian bridges generate employment, open up markets and tourism opportunities, and bring children to school. It draws on the World Bank’s US$400 million mobility program, the IDB’s road connectivity investments, CAF’s transport investments, and the pedestrian bridges and labor-intensive roads of Fika and Helvetas in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. This work has created employment, increased household incomes, boosted women’s economic empowerment, and increased school attendance: reasons to stay instead of migrating.