ONG Intervida

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

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

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

• School water supply

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

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 “Literacy” and basic math activity encourages parents to get more involved in their children’s school activities.

• National School Day

• Parents’ school

• Strengthening and supporting educational organizations

• Literacy

The project’s main goal is to strengthen municipal public policies aimed at increasing social investment in child and adolescent development. Through the Municipal Planning Office, and using a database which contains information on education, health, nutrition, protection and demographics, the current situation can be analyzed. Based on this analysis, a representative diagnostic of children and adolescents by municipality can be provided; each municipality can then design and elaborate a public policy which follows these guidelines. In this way, each municipality becomes a society which thinks and acts in consideration of the well-being of its children and adolescents.

• Support for the implementation of a municipal public policy

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.

• Promoting cultural and artistic groups

• Identifying artistic values

• Museums and exhibitions

• Spaces for dialog and debate

• Cultural communication

• Cultural events (commemorative dates, patron Saints’ days, etc.)

• Promoting equality

• Youth leadership

• Supporting public libraries

• Sports and recreational events

• Artistic training

• Basic technical training

• Cultural organization and participation

This project consists in allocating funds to the construction, renovation and/or equipping of infrastructures with the aim of promoting cultural and recreational spaces in the communities of western Guatemala, especially in rural areas. Intervida also equips these spaces with libraries, cultural centers, art schools, social youth centers, sports installations and playgrounds.

• Equipping cultural and/or recreational centers

• Diagnostic of equipment needs for the cultural/recreational spaces

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

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.

• Artisan-industrial production

• Training to strengthen the commercialization of artisan-industrial products

• Community organization of production

• Strengthening of community organization for production

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

• Implementation of community medicinal gardens

• Handling and exploitation of other minor species

• Piscicola production

• Agroforestry

• Management of natural resources

• Demonstrative modules

• 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

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.

• Market watch

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

The project aims to improve communities’ environmental and sanitary conditions as a strategy for fighting against the proliferation of easily preventable infectious contagious diseases. To do this, the organization works to improve community infrastructures, building 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.

• 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

• Environmental prevention studies

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 also receive specific training on the risk of mortality during childbirth, difficult births, or in cases where the mother-to-be is at risk for her age or due to 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

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 Integral Management of Common
• Childhood Illnesses (AIEPI) by the community
• Training of mothers on preventive health