Beneficiarios
Number of people benefited by the Intervida projects: 110,258
Geographic location
SSG, the San Marcos TERRA (Territory of Active Solidarity, in Intervida nomenclature), is located in Las Lagunas village, in the municipality of San Marcos (Guatemala), covering communities in seven municipalities: San Marcos, San Pedro Sacatepéquez, San Antonio Sacatepéquez, San Cristóbal Cucho, Esquipulas Palo Gordo, Río Blanco y San Lorenzo.
The predominant ethnic group in the area is the Ladino, although the Mam ethnicity is also present in the municipalities of San Lorenzo, Río Blanco and San Pedro Sacatepéquez.
List of communities
Caserío La Felicidad, Aldea Santo Domingo; Caserío Nueva Jerusalén, Aldea San Rafael Sacatepéquez; Caserío Potrerillos, Aldea Santo Domingo; Caserío San Francisco, Aldea Santo Domingo; Caserío Siete Tambores, Aldea Santa Rita; Caserío Tuiquinique Vista Hermosa, Aldea San Isidro Ixcolochil; Aldea Barranca Grande El Calvario; Aldea Barranca Grande El Centro; Aldea Las Majadas; Aldea Rancho El Padre; Aldea San Rafael Guativil; Cabecera Municipal San Cristóbal Cucho; Cantón La Esperanza; Cantón Las Brisas, Aldea Las Majadas; Cantón Los Aguilar; Cantón Los Escobar, Aldea San Rafael Guativil; Cantón San José, Aldea Las Majadas; Caserío Guativil, Aldea Las Majadas; Caserío Ixcanante, Aldea Barranca Grande; Caserío Las Canoas; Caserío Las Flores, Aldea Rancho El Padre; Aldea Cerro Grande; Aldea Corinto Zacualpa; Aldea El Porvenir Talquicho; Aldea El Porvenir Talquicho Sector II; Aldea El Porvenir Talquicho, Sector III; Aldea Pancho de León San Lorenzo; Aldea Río Hondo San Lorenzo; Aldea Santa Rosa; Cabecera Municipal San Lorenzo; Cantón Nuevo México; Caserío El Asoleadero, Aldea Santa Rosa; Caserío Ixcamal, Aldea Santa Rosa; Caserío La Caballería, Aldea Santa Rosa; Caserío La Ciénaga; Caserío La Gomera Buena Vista, Aldea Santa Rosa; Caserío Paconche San Lorenzo; Sector El Cerro, Aldea Cerro Grande; Sector La Cumbre, Aldea Santa Rosa; Sector Los Cifuentes, Aldea Santa Rosa; Aldea Agua Caliente; Aldea Barranca de Gálvez; Aldea Bojonal Sector I; Aldea Canaque; Aldea Caxaque; Aldea El Bojonal; Aldea El Recreo; Aldea El Rincón; Aldea El Rodeo; Aldea Ixtagel; Aldea La Federación; Aldea Las Lagunas; Aldea San Antonio Serchil; Aldea San José Las Islas; Aldea San Rafael Soche; Aldea San Sebastián; Aldea Santa Lucía Ixcamal; Cantón Alta Vista, Aldea El Rodeo; Cantón Canoa de Piedra, Aldea San Sebastián; Cantón Chisguachin, Aldea San Sebastián; Cantón El Cerro, Aldea San Antonio Serchil; Cantón El Rosario, Aldea El Rincón; Cantón La Unión, Aldea San Antonio Serchil; Cantón Llano de La Guardia, Aldea San Sebastián; Cantón Los Cerezos, Aldea San Antonio Serchil; Cantón Los Puentes, Aldea San Antonio Serchil; Cantón Los Puentes, Aldea San Sebastián; Cantón Madre Selva, Aldea Santa Lucía Ixcamal; Cantón Santo Domingo, Aldea La Federación; Caserío Ixquihuila, Aldea Las Lagunas; Caserío La Montaña, Aldea Barranca de Gálvez; Caserío Navidad, Aldea Las Lagunas; Aldea Cantel; Aldea Champollap; Aldea Chim; Aldea Corral Grande; Aldea La Grandeza; Aldea Llano Grande; Aldea Mavil; Aldea Piedra Grande; Aldea Provincia Chiquita; Aldea Sacuchum Dolores; Aldea San Andrés Chapil; Aldea San Francisco El Tablero; Aldea San Francisco Soche; Aldea San Isidro Chamac; Aldea San José Caben; Aldea San José El Cedro; Aldea San Pedro Petz; Aldea Santa Teresa; Cantón Ojo de Agua, Aldea San Andrés Chapil; Cantón Palencia, Aldea Sacuchun Dolores; Cantón San José Los Coyotes, Aldea Piedra Grande; Cantón Villa Nueva, Caserío Cruz de Piedra; Caserío Agua Tibia, Aldea Mavil; Caserío Alta Vista, Aldea Provincia Chiquita; Caserío Cerro Grande, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío Ciprés Grande, Aldea Sacuchum Dolores; Caserío Cruz de Piedra, Aldea San Pedro Petz; Caserío El Boquerón, Aldea Sacuchum Dolores; Caserío Ixca, Aldea La Grandeza; Caserío Ixhual, Aldea San Isidro Chamac; Caserío Juárez, Aldea Provincia Chiquita ; Caserío La Cuchilla, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío La Laguna, Aldea San Andrés Chapil; Caserío La Libertad, Aldea San José Caben; Caserío Las Guayabas, Aldea Champollap; Caserío Las Piedrecitas, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío Las Vásquez, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío Loma Linda, Aldea Champollap; Caserío Los Jazmines; Caserío Los Molinos, Aldea San José Caben; Caserío Monterrey, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío Ojo de Agua, Aldea Piedra Grande; Caserío Paconche, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío Piedra Parada, Aldea Santa Teresa; Caserío San Francisco El Chichicaste, Aldea Chim; Caserío San Juan Del Pozo, Aldea Piedra Grande; Caserío San Miguel Las Flores, Aldea San José El C; Caserío San Rafael, Aldea Champollap; Caserío San Vicente Esquipulas, Aldea Chim; Caserío Santa Teresa, Aldea Provincia Chiquita; Paraje Agua Tibia, Aldea Santa Teresa; Sector II Piedra Parada, Caserío Piedra Parada, Aldea Santa Teresa; Sector III Fuentes, Caserío Piedra Parada, Aldea Santa Teresa; Sector Norte Zona 4, Aldea San Isidro Chamac; Sector Piedra Lisa, Aldea Llano Grande.
Improving educational quality
This program aims to increase educational quality in all school centers in 390 communities in western Guatemala. To achieve this, the organization works on improving school infrastructures, resolving learning problems, strengthening community participation in school issues, and offering training workshops for educational staff using pedagogical tools.
Active learning
One of Intervida’s projects to increase school performance consists in training educational staff on new pedagogical techniques, while also providing them with more modern and effective didactic material. The teachers also receive guidance on how to make the cultural diversity in which they live into one of the basic foundations of their teaching. These efforts encourage shared learning and a respect for values, beliefs, customs and gender equality.
- Promoting reading and investigation
- Providing didactic material to teacher and technical administrative coordinators
- Providing didactic materials to schools
- Training teachers on how to apply the active learning methodology
- Workshops on the intercultural and bilingual education methodology
School continuance
With the aim of reducing school absenteeism, Intervida carries out several actions such as providing materials, books and backpacks; this facilitates better learning while also serving as a an incentive for students. Preventive and curative health days, as well as the promotion of sports as a means of distraction at school, are activities which seek to increase the value both students and parents place on staying in school. To address the problem of extremely poor students who, despite showing aptitude in their studies, must leave school to go to work, Intervida offers scholarships equal to the child’s salary to encourage him to stay in school. This also combats the problem of exploitation through child labor.
- Support for school sports
- Scholarships
- Provision of school supplies to students
- Selection of scholars
- Celebration of Children’s Day
- Improving school health
- Comprehensive medical attention
Improving school infrastructure
The “Improving school infrastructure” project covers both the renovation of school buildings and the construction of new spaces which facilitate the teaching-learning process and promote the security and comfort of the students and teachers. In coordination with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), the organization renovates and constructs classrooms and equips these with school furniture, recreational areas, perimeter walls, sports installations and sanitary facilities.
- Care and maintenance of school infrastructures
- Classroom construction
- Construction of sports installations
- Construction of perimeter walls
- Comprehensive school sanitary facilities (above-ground water tanks, drinking water systems, sinks and sewage treatment)
- Construction of recreational infrastructures
- Renovation of school infrastructures
- Diagnosis of equipment needs
- Support for administrative school management
Addressing learning problems
The project’s aim is to integrate students with learning problems into regular school courses. To do this, educational psychologists use a series of psychometric tests which enable them to detect possible learning disabilities. When a child is diagnosed with a learning disability, he receives targeted therapeutic treatment. At the same time, 25 mothers in each community are selected and trained in hygiene, nutrition and food preparation, with the aim of improving school children’s dietary conditions.
- Nutritional support for children with learning disabilities
- Detection and diagnosis of students with learning disabilities
- Support for children with learning disabilities
Community participation in school
This project is comprised of four activities: The “Strengthening support for educational organizations” activity seeks to promote direct community intervention and participation in school projects. At the same time, the “Parents’ school” activity encourages parents’ participation in educational activities. Towards this aim, they receive complete information about their children’s educational development and are offered literacy classes, so that they can become more involved in their children’s school work and in their overall educational process. The celebration of “National School Day” seeks to increase the awareness of teachers and parents as to the importance of community participation in school. The parents’ reading-writing and basic math “Literacy” activity encourages parents to get more involved in their children’s school activities.
- National School Day
- Parents’ school
- Strengthening and supporting educational organizations
- Literacy
Promoting cultural diversity
The main objective of this program is to increase municipal investment in those projects which benefit the development of children and adolescents. The program’s main working lines are: raising awareness among the municipalities and civil society through training, the establishment of local commissions, the elaboration of a public policy report per municipality, and guidance on the execution of key projects; The creation of recreational spaces and the provision of necessary resources to facilitate sociocultural exchange between groups, communities and countries; and increasing community participation in the management and enjoyment of both traditional and academic popular culture.
Strengthening community recreation and culture
With this project, Intervida provides communities with the tools they need to manage their patrimony and to recover those cultural aspects which constitute their identity and values. Towards this aim, the organization promotes the development of traditional recreational activities like dance, festivals, music, literature, language and expressions through local communication media. The objective is to promote participation from all groups and to create cultural services for historically excluded communities.
- Supporting public libraries
- Cultural organization and participation
Intervida Schools
The “Intervida Schools” program arose from the desire to increase the number of students successfully completing their primary school studies, guaranteeing them a quality education. To obtain the desired results, Intervida opted for the creation of its own educational centers, with staff of qualified teachers and a strong pedagogical and management plan.
Intervida Schools
The Intervida Schools are private centers, subsidized and managed by the organization. Its functioning is based on offering a quality educational and pedagogical plan so that children with scarce resources have the opportunity to learn under the most favorable conditions. Apart from the classroom activities, the Intervida Schools also consist in a library, a school transportation service, music workshops and daily nutritional support for the students. A parents’ ‘school’ is also organized in each center, so that they can be directly involved in the schools’ functioning.
- Nutritional assistance
- Educational psychology attention
- Maintenance and equipping of schools
- School transportation
- Promotion of reading
- Training of trainers
- School performance
- Parents’ attention
- Provision of school and didactic materials
- Foreign languages workshop
- Areas of complementary education
- Pedagogical resource center
- Educational preinvestment studies for secondary level
Sponsorship
In response to the poverty affecting the countries in the South, the “Sponsorship” program was created with the aim of materializing the solidarity of the North countries through child sponsorship. The collaborator’s periodic contribution does not exclusively benefit the sponsored child, but rather the whole community in which the child lives.
Uniting our sponsors and children
To form a link between sponsor and child, Intervida establishes first contact between them by sending the sponsor a photo of the child along with a personal profile. This relationship lasts for seven years, while the child is in primary school, or until the sponsorship otherwise ends. An annual “Artwork Collection” campaign is also organized; “artwork” is the term used to refer to the school work which the children elaborate for their sponsors. The sponsors receive a drawing, craft or letter elaborated by their sponsored children in school twice a year. The school work sent is determined by the child’s age and school course level.
- Artwork Collection
- File Collection
Program of Community Business Development
The aim of this program is to generate and increase the economic income of families in all communities. To do this, Intervida offers community members advanced techniques in production and return on investment which are useful for training rural business associations or individuals. At the same time, Intervida promotes the administration, organization and commercialization of agricultural activities. This requires a process of capitalization and self-management through funding which Intervida organizes according to the identified needs. - Seed capital: an external contribution or start-up capital is provided by Intervida which should be managed by the group, with profits being reinvested in the process. - Fund for Strengthening Businesses: external funding is provided to formal and legally constituted business which seek to improve their productive and commercial conditions.
Productive artisan-industrial and services development
This project aims to strengthen productive development by trainings young people in various aspects of agricultural. Together with the Culture division, the Production team imparts training courses to future business owners with the aim of preparing them to promote profitable productive activities. The final objective is to promote work and the labor supply in the rural areas.
- Production
- Training to strengthen the commercialization of artisan-industrial products
- Community organization of production
- Strengthening of community organization for production
Productive agricultural and livestock development
The “Productive agricultural and livestock development” project works to equip beneficiaries with the skills needed to increase animal and vegetable production, not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of volume; at the same time, it teaches them how to obtain a maximum yield from the natural resources available.
Actions are also organized to strengthen the administrative aspects of productive processes, starting with the identification of those groups with over three years of intervention and which demonstrate a strong level of organization and recovery of the initial capital.
These then become beneficiaries of the “Strengthening Businesses” project.
- Crop diversification
- Broiler chicken farms
- Laying farms
- Implementation of community medicinal gardens
- Handling and exploitation of other minor species
- Agroforestry
- Management of natural resources
- Training on the protection of natural resources
- Community organization of production
- Strengthening of community organization for production
- Training to strengthen the commercialization of agricultural and livestock products
- Establishing commercialization networks for agricultural and livestock products
- Participative rural diagnostic
Strengthening businesses
The “Strengthening businesses” project is directed at groups of producers who have been working together for more than three years and who have demonstrated a strong organizational level and recovery of initial capital, as well as strong positioning of their products in their market segment. This project provides them with the technical assistance necessary to create small and mid-sized rural business.
Mother-child health
The “Mother-child health” program encompasses all those projects aimed at reducing the high rates of mother and child mortality. Educational sessions are offered to mothers on good hygiene and dietary practices in order to prevent malnutrition problems among minors and the prevalence of easily preventable infectious contagious diseases. Pediatric care services are also offered to children under 5 years old. Finally, a midwife training project is implemented to avoid bad birthing practices and to guarantee better prenatal and postnatal care for both mothers and children.
Food security
The project seeks to improve the nutritional state of pregnant women and children under five years old. A diagnostic is made on the population’s health status to be able to measure the project’s progress along the way. A personalized plan for nutritional recuperation is established, including provision of those micro and macro nutrients needed to minimize deficiencies. To ensure the sustainability of the process, production is increased, thereby improving families’ economic conditions through new agricultural and livestock products. Good hygiene practices in food preparation and consumption are also taught, incorporating new local products into the daily diet while monitoring the adoption of dietary habits.
- Nutritional diagnosis of pregnant women and children under 5 years old
- Nutritional treatment
- Family livestock farms
- Diversified food gardens
- Training in Nutrition, hygiene and food preparation
Environmental sanitation
The project aims to improve communities’ environmental and sanitary conditions as a strategy for fighting against the proliferation of easily preventable infectious contagious diseases. Towards this aim, the organization improves the communities’ infrastructures, constructing drinking water systems, latrines, garbage dumps and drainage systems. At the same time, Intervida organizes educational activities aimed at teaching the population how to optimize their natural resources without endangering them, with special attention on their conservation.
- Planning of Drinking Water Systems (DWS) and basic sanitation infrastructure
- Construction of comprehensive drinking water and basic sanitation systems
- Environmental health training
- Natural resources training
- Environmental health committee
- Protecting water sources
- Controlling water quality
- Administration of basic sanitation services
- Construction of basic sanitary infrastructure
Obstetric care
Intervida offers obstetric care to women of child-bearing age and expecting mothers, monitoring the gestation process to guarantee that children enter the world in the best possible conditions. Midwives will also receive specific training on the risk of mortality during childbirth, difficult births, or when a mother is past a certain age or suffers from a chronic illness. Finally, necessary care is provided to mothers and their newborns in order to prevent postnatal complications in the 40 days following birth.
- Prenatal care
- Postnatal care
- Training on obstetric risks
- Training of traditional midwives
- Monitoring of midwives
- Training of the health committee on the identification of the “four delays”
- Elaboration of an emergency obstetric plan
- Strengthening the organization of local health committees
Pediatric care
The aim of this project is to provide medical attention to young children, following the protocols of the strategy for the ‘Integral Management of Common Childhood Illnesses (AIEPI)’. Among the activities included in this project, we highlight the following: - In each community, a ‘health monitor’ is selected and trained who is responsible for monitoring sick children and documenting each case with a clinical history. - Trainings are organized on the AIEPI strategy for health team staff and volunteers. - All children under 1 year old are vaccinated. - Talks and trainings are organized so that mothers can recognize the warning signs in their children and seek help at specialized centers. - Finally, talks are organized for mothers on preventive health.
- Training of institutional staff on the Integral Management of Common Childhood Illnesses (AIEPI) strategy
- Care for children under 5 years old
- Training of volunteer staff on community Integral Management of Common Childhood Illnesses (AIEPI)
- Training of mothers on preventive health