Beneficiaries
Number of people benefited by the Intervida projects: 58,213
Geographic location
XSG, the Xejuxup TERRA (Territory of Active Solidarity, in Intervida nomenclature), is located in the southwestern part of the Soloá Department, in Guatemala. The TERRA covers to three municipalities: Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, in the Sololá Department, and Santo Tomás La Unión, in the Suchitepequez Department. Its headquarters is located in the latter.
The predominant ethnic group is the K’iche’ and 98% of the inhabitants speak this ethnic language. 98% of the population is indigenous, a much higher percentage than observed at the national level (41.9%).
List of communities
Aldea Camacho; Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Aldea Palacal ; Aldea Paquila; Aldea Xejuyup; Aldea Xojola; Caserío Chilopizap, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Chirijalima, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Chivaquib, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Chuajij, Aldea Xojola; Caserío Chuimaza, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Chuinahualate, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Chuiquila, Aldea Palacal ; Caserío Chuisajcaba, Aldea Paquila; Caserío Chuisakabaj, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Chuituj, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Chuiwonabaj, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío La Calera, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Lacal Tzucubal, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Maxanija, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pabeya; Aldea La Ceiba; Caserío Pacanal I, Sector A, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pacanal I, Sector B, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pacanal II, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pachipac, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Paculam Nahuala, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Pajoca, Aldea Xojola; Caserío Pak´Im, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pala, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Panguiney, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pasac, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Pasac, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Pasajquim, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Pasaquijuyup, Alde Xejuyup ; Caserío Pasin, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Patzaj, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Patzite Centro, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Patzite Costa, Aldea Chuachinup Nahuala; Caserío Patzite, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Pochol, Aldea Xejuyup ; Caserío Sohomip, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Tzamabaj, Aldea Palacal; Caserío Tzamjuyup, Aldea Xojola; Caserío Xexac, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Xezac-Abaj, Aldea Xejuyup; Caserío Xoljuyup Ii, Aldea Chuachinup; Caserío Yoxaja, Aldea Xojola; Aldea Guineales; Aldea La Ceiba; Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Capucajache La Buena Esperanza, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chicorral, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chinima, Aldea La Ceiba; Caserío Chirijmaza, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chuachalcox, Aldea Chirijox; Caserío Chuachinup Ixtahuacan, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chuiatzam, Ixtahuacan; Caserío Chuicomo, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chuicumatza, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Chuidolores, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Chuigirondina, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Chuinimajuyub, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chuisacabaj Tzamabaj, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Chuisajcava, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Chuisamayac, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Chuisanto Tomás, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Comon Oj, Aldea Chirijox; Caserío La Unión, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Las Palmas, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Pachoj, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Paculam Ixtahuacan, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Pacut, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Pacutama, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Palilic, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Panguiney Ixtahuacan, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Pasaquijuyup Ixtahuacan, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Paseyeneba, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Pasis, Aldea Tzampoj; Caserío Patzite Ixtahuacan, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Puhualaj, Aldea Guineales; Caserío San Miguelito, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Tzamchaj, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Xetulul, Aldea Guineales; Caserío Xexac, Aldea Chuisanto Tomás; Caserío Xoljuyup, Aldea Guineales; Paraje Xecuchin, Aldea Guineales; Cantón Camache Chiquito; Cantón Camache Grande; Cantón Chirij-Sin; Cantón La Trinidad; Cantón Mazá; Cantón San Juan Pabayal; Sector Loma Larga Cantón Camache Chiquito.
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. Teachers also receive guidance on how to convert 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 research
- Didactic materials for teachers and technical administrative coordinators
- Didactic materials for schools
- Training teachers in the application of the active learning methodology
- Workshops on intercultural, 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 for students
- Selecting scholars
- Celebration of Children’s Day
- Strengthening school health
- Comprehensive medical attention
- Prevention and reduction of child labor
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
- Construction of recreational infrastructure
- 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 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
- Assistance 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 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 (anniversaries, patron saint’s days, etc.)
- Cultural management training
- Promoting equality
- Youth leadership
- Supporting public libraries
- Sports and recreational events
- Artistic training
- Basic technical training
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.
- Cultural and/or recreational center equipment
- Diagnostic of equipment needs for the cultural/recreational spaces
- Early investment in cultural and recreational infrastructure
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 schoolwork sent is determined by the age and school course of the child.
- 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: 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.
- 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
- Implementation of community medicinal gardens
- Handling and exploitation of other minor species
- Bee-keeping
- 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
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 on their conservation.
- Planning of Drinking Water Systems (DWS) and basic sanitation infrastructure
- Environmental health training
- Natural resources training
- Environmental health committee commission
- Protecting water sources
- Control of 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 and organization of a local health committee
- 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