In Chiapas, 20 out of every 1,000 girls and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 have already had at least one child: the highest rate in Mexico. The federal government and the state signed an agreement to tackle this problem house by house, school by school. The document does not specify how much funding will be allocated.
The Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) published this Monday, July 6, the collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Women of the Government of Mexico and the state of Chiapas to implement the national strategy Girls and Adolescents Free and Safe, aimed at preventing and eradicating pregnancy among girls and adolescents. On behalf of the state, the agreement was signed by the Secretary of Finance, Manuel Francisco Antonio Pariente Gavito, as the entity receiving the funds, and the head of the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, Marian Vázquez González, as the official responsible for implementing the strategy. On behalf of the federal government, it was signed by the Undersecretary for Substantive Equality, María Elvira Concheiro Bórquez.
The Scale of the Problem in Chiapas
The agreement is being implemented in the state with the country’s most alarming indicators on this issue. As Alerta Chiapas has documented, there are mothers as young as 10 years old in Chiapas. In May, the state was announced as the pioneer of a national pilot project against teenage pregnancy, focused on prevention, contraception, and comprehensive care. It also continues to have the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, a risk that becomes even greater when the mother is a child.
It is important to recognize what the statistics conceal. In Mexico, the minimum legal age for consenting to sexual relations means that a pregnancy involving a girl between 10 and 13 years old falls outside the scope of family planning: by legal definition, it is the result of a sexual offense. It is not the same phenomenon as the pregnancy of a 19-year-old woman, even though statistics often group them together.
The Nine Interventions That Will Be Implemented
The agreement outlines nine types of intervention: community-based actions; house-to-house visits; school-based interventions for children and adolescents; activities involving mothers, fathers, and caregivers; school-based training for teaching staff; work with healthcare personnel; training for municipal public officials; activities in public spaces; and services through the LIBRE Centers, the federal network that provides assistance to women. The national strategy is being implemented in 50 priority municipalities across the country, although the published document does not specify which of them are located in Chiapas.
How the Resources Will Be Distributed
The funding will come from the federal budget program P059, under budget item 48201, which covers donations to states or municipalities, in accordance with the FOBAM 2026 Guidelines—the Fund for the Well-being and Advancement of Women. The process is clearly established: the federal government transfers the funds to the State Ministry of Finance, which then has three business days to transfer the resources to the municipal women’s offices responsible for carrying out the field operations. The agreement will remain in effect until December 31, 2026.
What Remains Unknown
The first unanswered question is the amount of funding. The agreement does not specify how much money Chiapas will receive; instead, it refers to the FOBAM 2026 Guidelines without stating the actual allocation. At this point, the strategy has a defined structure, timeline, and nine intervention areas, but no publicly available budget. It is also unknown which of the 50 priority municipalities are in Chiapas, where the LIBRE Centers are located within the state, or how many girls are expected to benefit.
The remaining challenge is implementation: ensuring that the funds reach municipalities on time, that the municipal women’s offices—many of which operate with only a single staff member—are capable of carrying out the nine interventions, and that reporting mechanisms make it possible to determine what worked. Without a published budget, it is not even possible to calculate how much is being invested for each girl the strategy aims to protect.
Source: alertachiapas
