The mission of the Behrhorst Partners for Development is to strengthen and expand processes of community development and participation that enhance people's lives. It has two major goals:

• To support sustainable development initiatives that strive to improve the health and well-being of particularly vulnerable sectors of society.
• To promote through experience-based education an understanding of the principles of participatory community development and the conditions under which it is most effective.

This nonprofit organization's goal is to work in respectful partnership with Mayan Guatemalans to have a positive impact on the problems associated with Guatemala's history of violence against indigenous populations, natural disasters, poverty, illiteracy and disastrously high rates of infant and maternal death.