Beneficiaries
Number of people benefited by the Intervida projects: 120,517
Ubicación Geografica
LDG, La Democracia TERRA (Territory of Active Solidarity, in Intervida nomenclature), with headquarters in the La Democracia municipality, is located in the southwestern part of the Huehuetenango Department (Guatemala), providing coverage to communities in five municipalities: San Pedro Necta, La Libertad, La Democracia, Santa Ana Huista and San Antonio Huista.
62% of the population is indigenous, a percentage higher than that observed at the national level (41.9%); the Mam ethnic group predominates, although there are also members of the Jakalteco ethnicity, each with their own language.
List of communities
Aldea Buena Vista; Aldea Buenos Aires Huixoc; Aldea Camojá Grande; Aldea Camojallito; Aldea Chamuxu; Aldea Chichinabaj; Aldea El Carrizo; Aldea El Jobal; Aldea El Mamonal; Aldea Guaila; Aldea La Laguna; Aldea La Mesilla; Aldea La Nueva Esperanza; Aldea La Reforma Chojil; Aldea Las Guacamayos; Aldea Pontzaj; Aldea San Isidro; Aldea San José Ixcunen; Aldea Santa Rosa; Cabecera Municipal La Democracia; Cantón Arroyo Grande, Aldea Camojallito; Cantón El Cementerio, Aldea Camojallito; Cantón La Candelaria, Aldea Camojallito; Cantón La Esperancita, Aldea Camojallito; Caserío Bella Gloria, Aldea Camojá Grande; Caserío El Escondido, Aldea Camojallito; Caserío El Milagro, Aldea Valparaíso; Caserío El Mirador, Aldea Buenos Aires Huixoc; Caserío El Naranjo, Aldea Los Tarayes; Caserío El Palmar, Aldea El Jobal; Caserío El Pinal, Aldea San Isidro; Caserío El Zapote, Aldea Camojá Grande; Caserío La Montañita, Aldea Camojallito; Caserío La Nueva Unión, Aldea Buenos Aires Huixoc; Caserío La Vega Pontzaj, Aldea Pontzaj; Caserío Los Chucles, Aldea Camojallito; Caserío Los Lotes, Aldea Los Tarayes; Caserío Los Olivos, Aldea Camoja Grande; Caserío Los Pinos, Aldea La Nueva Esperanza; Caserío Majagual, Aldea Chamuxu; Caserío Nueva Peña Roja, Aldea Buena Vista; Caserío Nuevo Progreso, Aldea El Jobal; Caserío Nuevo San Rafael, Aldea Chichinabaj; Caserío Ojo de Agua El Sabino, Aldea La Mesilla; Caserío Puente Quemado, Aldea Chichinabaj; Caserío San Francisco, Aldea Las Guacamayos; Caserío San Juan Guaila, Aldea La Reforma Chojil; Caserío Vueltamina, Aldea La Mesilla; Aldea El Cenegal; Aldea El Chalum; Aldea El Limar; Aldea El Naranjo I; Aldea El Naranjo Ii; Aldea El Sauce; Aldea El Trapichillo; Aldea Huica; Aldea La Montaña; Aldea Peña Roja; Aldea Santo Domingo Las Flores; Cabecera Municipal La Libertad; Caserío Champen Ojo de Agua, Aldea Huica; Caserío El Aguacatillo; Caserío El Durazno, Aldea El Limar; Caserío El Jocote, Aldea El Trapichillo; Caserío El Jute; Caserío El Paraíso, Aldea Peña Roja; Caserío El Rodeo; Caserío La Barranca Peña Roja, Aldea Peña Roja; Caserío La Esperanza, Aldea El Limar; Caserío La Hamaca, Aldea El Trapichillo; Caserío Loma De La Niña; Caserío Santo Domingo Huica, Aldea Huica; Aldea El Coyegual; Aldea El Pajal; Aldea El Tablón; Aldea Ixmal; Aldea Nojoya; Aldea Rancho Viejo; Aldea Tablón Viejo; Cabecera Municipal San Antonio Huista; Cantón La Independencia; Cantón Las Palmas El Recreo; Cantón Mangalitos; Cantón Reforma; Caserío Cajuil, Aldea Rancho Viejo; Caserío El Chalun, Aldea El Coyegual; Caserío La Estancia, Aldea Rancho Viejo; Caserío Las Galeras, Aldea Nojoya; Caserío Los Cipresalitos, Aldea El Coyegual; Caserío Los Pinos; Caserío Reforma, Aldea El Pajal; Aldea Agua Dulce; Aldea Ajal; Aldea Canoguitas; Aldea Chejoj; Aldea Chichimes; Aldea Chimiche; Aldea Chinacual; Aldea El Palmar; Aldea El Tzalay; Aldea Guachipilin; Aldea Huixoc; Aldea Isnul; Aldea La Laguna; Aldea Los Alisos; Aldea Los Coles; Aldea Michicoy; Aldea Siete Cerros; Cabecera Municipal San Pedro Necta; Caserío Buena Vista, Aldea Michicoy; Caserío Camposeco, Aldea Ajal; Caserío El Injerto, Aldea Chejoj; Caserío El Nanzal, Aldea Chimiche; Caserío El Naranjal, Aldea Huixoc; Caserío Ixban, Aldea Canoguitas; Caserío Ixchigual, Aldea Ajal; Caserío La Laguna De Los Pajaritos, Aldea Huixoc; Caserío La Pinada, Aldea Chimiche; Caserío Nilla, Aldea Los Alisos; Caserío San Juan, Aldea El Palmar; Caserío Santa Clara, Aldea Chejoj; Caserío Tepan, Aldea Los Coles; Caserío Tuiscus, Aldea Huixoc; Aldea Agua Escondida; Aldea Agua Zarca; Aldea Belén Coyolar; Aldea Buena Vista; Aldea Buenos Aires; Aldea El Tabacal; Aldea Monajil; Aldea Ojo De Agua La Montaña; Aldea Pinalito; Aldea Pumul; Aldea Yuxen; Cabecera Municipal Santa Ana Huista; Cantón Reforma; Caserío Cuatro Caminos, Aldea Agua Zarca; Caserío Lop.
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
- School water supply
Addressing learning problems
The project’s aim is to integrate students with learning problems into the 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 three 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.
- National School Day
- Parents’ school
- Strengthening and supporting educational organizations
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 distribution 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.
- 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
Creation and renovation of cultural and recreational spaces
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
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
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: Intervida provides an external contribution, or start-up capital to 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.
- Artisan-industrial 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 infant 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. 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 to their good conservation.
- Construction of comprehensive drinking water and basic sanitation systems
- Environmental health training
- Natural resources training
- Environmental health committee
- Protecting water sources
- Control of water quality
- Administration of basic sanitation services
- Environmental prevention studies
Obstetric care
Intervida offers obstetric attention 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. Intervida offers obstetric attention 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
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 Integral Management of Common Childhood Illnesses (AIEPI) by the community
- Training of mothers on preventive health