GiftsShare:
Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America with more than 13 million people. After a violent and bloody civil war that lasted 36 years, the Peace Accords were signed in 1996, but the country still has a long way to go as it fights against entrenched government corruption, high crime rates, crippled infrastructure throughout the country, and malnutrition.
Mercy Corps has been working in Guatemala since 2001, tackling issues such as food security, health, hurricane disaster relief, land conflict resolution and sustainable income generation. Our projects mainly work with indigenous populations in the northern highlands where services are generally limited, literacy rates are low, and more than half of the children suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition.
Food Security
According to a study by the United Nations World Food Program, Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition in Latin America and the fourth highest in the world. The department of Alta Verapaz ranks second nationally in the number of communities at risk.
In 2009, Mercy Corps launched a new program chiefly funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that works towards improving the food security of communities in the northern Guatemalan highlands. The Mother-Child Community Food Diversification Program (PROCOMIDA – in Spanish) distributes food rations to impoverished families and educates mothers and caregivers on post- and prenatal care, breastfeeding, child and mother diet needs, nutrient-rich food preparation and hygiene and health to improve the health and nutrition of children five years old and under. The program has already delivered more than 9,000 food rations, and conducted over 700 educational sessions for beneficiaries.
Mercy Corps runs a second food security program called Inclusive Market Alliances for Rural Entrepreneurs (IMARE), which partners with USAID and Wal-Mart. Since 2007 the program has been helping local farmer cooperatives improve their productivity and quality of life through better agricultural management, processing and post-harvest techniques.
Income Generation
The need for sustainable income generation for rural communities in Guatemala is great. Poverty in Guatemala is most predominant among indigenous groups, with 76% living below the poverty line and 28% living in extreme poverty. Income gaps and inequality in the country leave many rural communities struggling to survive.
Our programs help create jobs and increase family incomes: Mercy Corps’ Community Health and Advancement Initiative (CHAI) Program, supported by Starbucks/Tazo Tea, supports local entrepreneurial efforts and pilot health initiatives. This program has helped small-holder farmers to diversify their crops, improve their product quality, generate revenues and improve the overall health of their communities through health trainings.
Mercy Corps’ Sustainable Community Health Stores Project also focuses on income generation and health initiatives. It takes microcredit to a new level by supporting micro-franchise pharmacies in rural communities. The project enables a local family to start a small business while providing a much needed pharmacy in their rural community: Mercy Corps provides an initial microloan for the first year, then business training and technical support over five years to ensure the borrowers’ long term success.
Land Conflict Resolution
Guatemala has been plagued with conflicts over land tenure for most of its modern history. The Peace Accords signed in 1996 ended the 36-year civil war, but the government has not yet been able to address the underlying need for agrarian reform. Land ownership and access disputes continue to be the primary source of conflict in the country, particularly for women. Despite provisions in the Peace Accords aimed at protecting women’s rights to land, a number of barriers still present extreme difficulties for women to secure land tenure and defend their land rights.
Since 2003, Mercy Corps has partnered with the Association of Lawyers for Legal Development (JADE) to provide integrated land conflict resolution services in Alta Verapaz. The Mercy Corps and JADE methodology combines conflict mediation, institutional capacity building and advocacy in our TIERRAS project. To date, we have facilitated the resolution of over 305 entrenched land conflicts, benefiting more than 14,582 indigenous farming families.
Empowering Women
Women’s empowerment is a critical aspect of sustainable development and poverty alleviation; without the empowerment of women, the long-term effects of any development program can be limited. In a constantly changing economic environment where entrenched poverty is widespread and patriarchal families are the norm, women in Guatemala face persistent discriminatory beliefs and practices that undermine their ability to assume leadership roles. Mercy Corps continually works to empower women and encourage gender equality through our programs in Guatemala: we focus many of our education efforts on the mothers, daughter and grandmothers in a community.
Our Empowering Women’s Leadership in Conflict Resolution Project specifically focuses on empowering indigenous women in the Alta Verapaz region; the program complements our land conflict resolution efforts. The new initiative places an emphasis on women’s involvement in the mediation processes of agrarian conflicts and supports the adoption of new policies and positive practices to increase women’s leadership.
Share:
