UNITED BY FRIENDSHIP INC

United by Friendship builds relationships with people living in remote, impoverished communities, with the aim of working together with them to address some of the most basic human needs - clean water and sanitation, decreasing maternal/infant mortality, education, access to health care and economic development. We work to enable the people of Latin America to thrive in their own communities.

UbF conducts site visits to learn what impoverished communities need to improve their quality of life. The UbF Teams evaluate the following when selecting a project: basic needs, engagement of the entire community in participating to make the project a reality, available local resources, number of beneficiaries, cost, likelihood of sustainability, participation by the regional government, and need for further educational resources. The community must agree to supply the unskilled labor, the regional government is expected to provide the skilled labor, and UbF will provide the materials and arrange for needed training. Site visits are completed annually to assess the sustainability of prior UbF projects and provide any updates and retraining as indicated. We have developed strong networks among the local people and governments in the communities where we have completed projects, and we have a local on-site coordinator who speaks the Mayan languages of the region and oversees the day to day progress on projects.

We have a strong network of skilled individuals in Guatemala who oversee the design and execution of the UbF projects. We work with the local people as much as feasible, and we purchase materials within country or the region to support the local economies and so that repairs and replacements can be easily accomplished. We work closely with municipal governments and health departments to provide oversight and training, which is further facilitated through our local coordinator, who is fluent in several Mayan languages. We have a broad donor base in the US, a modest endowment to help with our work, and a close connection with Rotarians in the US and Guatemala who support our project work in Guatemala. Over many years, we have established a high level of trust between ourselves and the Guatemalan people and their respective community and organization leaders.

1 - The rates of gastrointestinal illness has decreased in the communities where UbF has constructed clean water and sanitation systems.
2 - Students in 7 villages now have improved access to education due to construction of new schools and girl's attendance in school has increased.
3 - In a school where children were frequently sent home due to the extreme cold in the poorly constructed school, the rates of attendance have increased after UbF repaired the school building.
4 - The wages of the farmers who have an irrigation system provided by UbF have more than doubled due to their ability to farm year round .
5 - The weavers in one village have improved the quality of their products remarkably over the past year; however, they are still lacking markets for their textiles due to their remote location. UbF is hoping to help them develop markets through tourism within Guatemala, as well as markets abroad.
6 - Improved nutrition due to UbF support of an Agricultural Learning Center.
7 - Decrease in dental caries and abscesses due to dental teams providing intermittent dental care and associated hygiene classes to students.
8 - To broaden the UbF donor base.