For many families living in the communities surrounding Guatemala City’s landfill, the largest in Central America, the path to formal employment can be filled with barriers. Limited access to education and work experience, economic hardship, and the stigma associated with living near the landfill can make it difficult to secure a first opportunity in the formal workforce. Addressing these barriers requires more than technical training; it requires opportunities to gain practical experience and demonstrate skills in a real workplace.
That is the idea behind an innovative dual training* partnership bringing together PriceSmart Guatemala, PriceSmart Foundation, and local and international nonprofit organizations to connect youth from underserved Guatemalan communities with the skills and experience needed to pursue meaningful employment.
What is Dual Training?*
Dual training combines vocational education in a training institution with practical, work-based learning in an enterprise. By bringing the classroom and workplace together, the model helps participants develop technical skills while gaining real-world experience relevant to the labor market.
Learning by Doing
Together, PriceSmart Guatemala and PriceSmart Foundation partnered with Creamos, a local organization supporting families in communities surrounding the landfill, to identify and recruit participants. Junkabal, a technical training center with expertise in culinary education for women, provided the classroom-based training, while SwissContact, an international development organization, helped design and co-fund the program.
PriceSmart played an important role that went beyond simply hiring graduates. As the employer partner, the company helped shape and align the curriculum around workplace needs, provided hands-on learning opportunities and food safety certification, and welcomed participants into its operations so they could put their training into practice.
In this model, Junkabal served as the culinary training center, while PriceSmart Guatemala provided the workplace where participants could strengthen their technical skills, gain professional experience, and become familiar with the expectations of formal employment.
From Training to Opportunity
The first dual training cohort graduated successfully in 2023. Since then, nearly 60 women have graduated from the culinary dual training program. Today, a new group of 20 participants is currently in training in Guatemala City. Since the program’s inception, more than 10 women have been hired by PriceSmart and many continue their professional careers with the company to this day, achieving their dream of securing meaningful employment that brings them pride and enables them to support their families.
Jaqueline, a program graduate and currentPriceSmart employee, remembers what made the experience different:
“What I liked most about PriceSmart was that, from the first day, they involved us in the production area. Now that I work at PriceSmart, I feel happy because I achieved one of my goals, which was to have a job and be able to support my family”
The program’s impact has extended beyond the participants themselves. PriceSmart employees have welcomed trainees into their workplaces, shared their knowledge, and supported them as they developed new skills. In doing so, they have had a firsthand view of what can happen when someone is given the opportunity to learn, practice, and succeed.
Expanding the Impact
The story does not end in Guatemala City. In mid-2026, the Foundation for the Integral Development of Socioeconomic Programs (FUNDAP), a PriceSmart Foundation partner working to expand economic opportunities for low-income communities across western Guatemala, approached PriceSmart Foundation about replicating the model in Quetzaltenango, the country’s second-largest city, also known as Xela. Many of FUNDAP’s students come from rural areas where access to formal employment opportunities is limited.
With support from PriceSmart Foundation, SwissContact, and Junkabal, FUNDAP received the training and methodological guidance needed to adapt the culinary dual training model to its educational programs. The PriceSmart Xela Club will host the on-the-job training component, with the first mixed-gender cohort of 15 FUNDAP participants expected to begin training in September 2026.
Building Lasting Pathways to Economic Mobility
The experience in Guatemala City demonstrates the value of closely aligning workforce training with employer needs and creating opportunities for participants to gain practical experience in a real work environment. As the model expands to Quetzaltenango and potentially to other communities where PriceSmart operates, PriceSmart Foundation is proud to support its partners in helping create more pathways to meaningful employment and sustainable economic mobility for people who have historically faced barriers to the formal workforce.
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*Source: International Labour Organization (ILO), Glossary of Key Terms on Learning and Training for Work (2006).
