VIVIENDASLEON

ViviendasLeon is a San Francisco based international development organization working in Nicaragua and Guatemala. With a deep understanding of how poverty is the result of many intersecting factors and deficits, VL has been working to alleviate poverty in rural communities in Central America since 2003. It is our mission to empower and equip individuals and communities so they may become agents of their own development.

Our programs offer support to families so they may improve their own livelihoods through capacity training, food and water security, and economic development. We have designed our programs around the belief that human agency is the most valuable and reliable asset in these communities.

In Nicaragua and Guatemala, half of the populations live in rural areas where poverty rates are three times as high as urban areas. A history of neglect and economic exclusion of rural and Indigenous communities has created deficits in education and skills; high levels of unemployment; migration and social corrosion; increased food insecurity and for many people, limited agency to engage in their own development. On top of the sociopolitical challenges, traditional farming strategies are failing due to reduced rainfall and increasing temperatures brought on by climate change.

The psychological effects of intergenerational poverty, dwindling and polluted resources, and lack of education has left these populations without the ability to engage in their own development. These cycles continue to build on themselves leaving entire communities stuck in poverty, with high rates of food insecurity, and low rates of education and employment. Many people, particularly men of all ages, migrate to other countries to look for employment or economic opportunities, leaving many women as single mothers and heads of households.

Through years of experience connecting with rural communities and learning about their needs and strengths from them, we have learned that substantive change does not happen in big steps. It happens when people incrementally shift the way they see and apply themselves to their situation. Many people in rural poor communities of underdeveloped countries have come to rely on international food aid. Food imports do not prioritize the poor and food aid is not sustainable or empowering and thus, we are not a food aid organization. With these considerations, we have built successful development strategies since 2010.

We offer capacity-building, farm development, farming education and techniques, resource management, social equality training, and resource management in long term programs so that people may understand and respond to food insecurity in sustainable ways. In a food deficit region, the best option for food security is through small-holder farming. Small farms generate a 500% food surplus for a rural farming family thereby creating a valuable regenerative asset they can use to earn income from selling their produce locally and regionally.

Since 2010, our development programs have focused on human capacity training, offering training in cooperation, resilience, social equality and leadership. These are followed by workshops with project based solutions for resource management, environmental stewardship, small-holder farming, and small business development.

Over the past 3 years, the program has shown consistent and increasing levels of success since we began making improvements to domestic wells, guaranteeing irrigation water for farmers. Our recent data shows that 65 percent of farmers are producing at a sustainable level with 2 farms exceeding this threshold, with highly successful models and outputs. Twenty five percent of the farms are producing consistently, but need some improvement to be considered sustainable, and 10 percent require additional training.

Since beginning our current interrelated programs in training, farming, water security and small business development, we have accomplished the following benchmarks:
1. Established 60 family food security farms in two communities and provided capacity training to the heads of households (majority indigenous women) on each farm.
2. Improved the household incomes of rural families through farming by a minimum of $90 to $180 a month where total monthly incomes average $175 a month.
3. Increased the availability of diverse food crops and improved nutrition through rural farming among rural communities.
4. Restoration of hand-dug wells on all farms for irrigation and crop production year-round.
5. Construction of 2 schools and 1 community center for youth development programs, adult capacity training programs, farmers markets and small business incubator.
6. Construction of a nutritional food and training kitchen in the communities of Las Manantiales, and Los Planes Solol Guatemala.
7. History of working long term with communities in participatory processes, finding solutions that start with participants local knowledge, culture, and expertise.