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Grassroots Voices
Rural public health systems and accountability politics: insights from grassroots health rights
defenders in Guatemala
Julia Fischer-MackeyORCID Icon,Benilda Batzin,Paulina Culum &Jonathan Fox
Published online: 31 May 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1768075
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ABSTRACT
As the pandemic reveals how multiple intersecting inequalities affect public health, the work of
rural activists defending their communities' rights to health, land, and gender, ethnic and
environmental justice demonstrate how intersectional analysis can be put into practice. In the
interviews that follow, Guatemalan Maya Tz'utujil activists Paulina Culum and Benilda Batzin
describe how ‘health rights defenders’ seek justice for rural indigenous communities – work that the
pandemic makes more critical than ever. Their strategies and insights have implications for
addressing rural health rights around the world.

KEYWORDS: Health rights, defender, Guatemala, community health worker, accountability,

COVID-19
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Additional information
Author information
Julia Fischer-Mackey
Julia Fischer-Mackey is a Scholar-in-Residence with the Accountability Research Center. She has
conducted development program-related research and evaluation in several countries, including in
Guatemala. She is interested in questions of power, knoweldge and evidence, and has experience in
the thematic areas including health, gender, and environmental justice. She received her PhD from
the School of International Service at American University. Email: juliamackey@gmail.com
Benilda Batzin
Benilda Batzin holds a bachelor’s in Social Work and has worked on various community and
environmental issues. She serves as a liaison between CEGSS staff and the health defenders,
providing accompaniment and capacity building, coordinating strategy to achieve health rights for
indigenous populations in the department of Sololá and throughout Guatemala. She was elected to
become the new Executive Director of CEGSS, by her colleagues, and she continues to advise
health defenders in Sololá. Email: benilda@cegss.org.gt
Paulina Culum
Paulina Culum is an indigenous community leader from San Pablo la Laguna, Guatemala who
began participating in civic actions when she was 13 years old. Paulina was a founding member of
the organization Women Weaving a Good Life, which works on women’s rights, access to land,
defense of territory, and food sovereignty. She is part of the Peasant and Indigenous Women’s
Association and the Network of Community Defenders of the Right to Health. Email:
paulinaculum65@yahoo.es
Jonathan Fox
Jonathan Fox is Professor of Development Studies and founder and director of the Accountability
Research Center at the School of International Service, American University. He studies the
relationships between accountability, transparency and citizen participation. Email:
fox@american.edu
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Walter Flores, Jun Borras, Marta Schaaf, Abhijit Das and three
anonymous reviewers for their feedback on this manuscript. Thanks also to Louisa Reynolds for her
translation and Jihane El Khoury Roederer for her design.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

A Note about this Manuscript

The body of this article was developed to produce an Accountability Note published with photos, in
English and Spanish, by the Accountability Research Center
(https://accountabilityresearch.org/publication/defending-the-right-to-health-in-guatemala-
reflections-of-two-indigenous-women-on-the-frontlines/.) Julia Fischer-Mackey conducted open-
ended interviews in Spanish with Benilda Batzin and Paulina Culum to understand their life
experiences and current work. Julia reviewed the translated transcripts to identify themes, which she
used to select excerpts. She then she wrote framing questions and an introduction. Additional
academic and organizational materials were provided by CEGSS to explain particular issues. The
preface was written by Jonathan Fox specifically for the Grassroots Voices section. The updates
about the COVID-19-related activities were provided by Benilda and Paulina.

Support for the Accountability Research Center comes from the Ford Foundation, the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Open Society
Foundations.
Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems (Centro de Estudios para
Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud, CEGSS) is a civil society organization that
implements applied research, capacity-building and strategic advocacy around access to health
affecting indigenous and other marginalized populations. During its 10 years of existence, CEGSS
has successfully evolved from an initial focus on academic research to an action research approach
that engages with grassroots organizations, policy-makers and academia. The organization also
evolved from a conventional public health team (medical doctors and PhDs) to an interdisciplinary
team that includes political sciences, anthropology, social work, medicine, law, psychology,
education, journalism and computer science. The CEGSS team is made up of 14 staff members,
more than half of whom are women and/or indigenous. https://cegss.org.gt/en/

Network of Community Defenders of the Right to Health (Red de Defensores y Defensoras

Comunitarios por el Derecho a la Salud, REDC-Salud) is a network of 140 volunteer health
defenders who were chosen by their communities to defend the human right to health. The
defenders, organized in 2008, are active in 30 municipalities in 5 departments of Guatemala, and
they meet annually to share learning, coordinate and strategize. REDC-Salud members engage in
capacity building in human rights and the country’s legal frameworks for citizen participation,
monitoring techniques, and negotiation and advocacy skills, and provide supportive accompaniment
to community members seeking health services. https://vigilanciaysalud.org/

The Accountability Research Center (ARC) is an action-research incubator based in the School of
International Service at American University. ARC partners with civil society organizations and
policy reformers in the global South to improve research and practice in the field of transparency,
participation and accountability. www.accountabilityresearch.org

ORCID
Julia Fischer-Mackey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0336-3283

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