Food Security Bolivia Project #49316

Combating Food Insecurity in the Bolivian Andes

by Aktion Sodis e.V.

Project Report | Jul 6, 2022
Beginning of our work with the families of Micani

By Hannah Boewer | Project Assistant

The climate change is already visible in Micani: This year the rainy season was unexpected longer than usual, which means that the roads were not clear for a long time. Therefore, we could not reach some families in the rural area. Nevertheless, we are doing our best to improve the nutritional situation in Micani – and we are making good progress:
The school gardens with the micro-irrigation systems are already part of everyday life of the pupils, and everyone helps with it. Partly there is still enough water after the rainy season to irrigate with sprinklers, but with the micro-irrigation systems the schools are prepared for the critical time in July. The already built solar tents are working great – now two of three are planted. The preparations for the next three solar tents are in full swing and the villagers are very motivated to help with the construction. Furthermore, we are already working on the solution to the protein shortage of the children in Micani: the chicken farming. We have done a lot of research on this topic and are currently developing a model of how we can best build the chicken farms in Micani. So, our project at the village schools is progressing well.
Recently, our work with the families of Micani has begun. The first workshop has already been held in five villages. In this one, the families learned the basics about nutrition. With the help of a traffic light scheme, the participants classified food into healthy, medium, and unhealthy. Also, they have learned which food components are important for a healthy diet – especially the necessity of vegetables. The 40 micro-projects will also start soon. The families have already submitted proposals for what they each want to tackle in their own micro-project. We then checked these proposals together with them for feasibility, so that we now have 40 concrete project ideas that we want to carry out as soon as possible. But before we can start with the procurement, the last part of the financing still must be clarified. Therefore, we would be happy about your support!

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Mar 7, 2022
Further milestones in progress with food security

By Maria Luetticke and Leonie Ziller | Project Leader

GlobalGiving report März 2022

It is Saturday, March fifth, 2022, and our nutrition project has entered a new phase a few weeks ago. With fresh motivation and a lot of interest from the people of Micani, we continue to pursue our goals: to secure food in times of climate change with sustainable agriculture.

But first a short review of the past months: before Christmas we successfully finished the project work for the year. The school gardens are in full operation and enrich the school lunch with plenty of vegetables. Particularly great for us was the success with the solar tents. The plants have thrived and a harvest has already taken place. With the tents the vegetation cycle has been reduced by 1-2 months. Now also the communities, which were disadvantaged by their altitude, have been able to catch up.
Last month we organized a "feria educativa" (a kind of educational fair) in the central village of Micani, to which each of the 15 schools sent students and teachers. There, they exhibited their vegetables, brought selfmade posters or self-written songs and performed small plays that fit the theme. For many children and teachers from the more remote villages it was the first school trip of this kind and it generally led to much enthusiasm. Thus, a very motivating end of the year could be created before going on winter vacation.
Now we are still in the rainy season in Micani, Bolivia. From mid-December to mid-March, many roads are impassable due to the heavy rainfalls. However, teachers and parents from some communities sent us fotos and infos with their cell phones. In independent organization they have already started with the sowing the gardens.

What is the agenda for this year?
We have two priority goals.

First of all, we would like to continue our project at the village schools. Since the solar tents produced such good results last year, we now want to build them in three more communities. Here, too, we experience cool temperatures and frost, so the school gardens would also benefit enormously from a solar tent. In addition, through our study of the children's eating habits, we have found that while there is rarely a lack of carbohydrates, there is a lack of protein. We would like to address this with a pilot project in 3 communities by establishing chicken farms.
Our second major goal is to start our work with the families of Micani. This is because a large proportion of these families are involved in agriculture and practice subsistence farming. The nutritional situation in the region can therefore only be improved holistically for all people if, in addition to schools, families are also part of our project.
40 families will therefore start to run a small farm in their backyard as their own micro-project. They will receive our support in purchasing the necessary materials as well as in the form of training on the topics of sustainable agricultural practices as well as the processing and preservation of food and basic knowledge in healthy nutrition. Our project approach is special in that we do not operate a standard solution for the gardens, because each family should be supported according to their needs. This means that individual, creative and independent solutions have to be found and put into practice by the family itself. Therefore we hope to empower the family and increase the ownership feeling of their garden.

We are very happy that with your support we will be able to extend our project and start working with families in Micani.

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Nov 8, 2021
laying foundation for sustainable nutrition

By Maria Luetticke | Project Leader

outside view

These last few months we’ve been able to see great progress in the project in Micani, Bolivia. Most recently, fortunately, there have been no further lesson cancellations due to the pandemic. The school gardens with micro irrigation systems are currently in use in 15 out of 16 villages. The crops in all villages have been recently harvested. Thus, numerous pupils have already access to a more balanced diet. Three interns from a Bolivian university and a vocational school class developed simple recipes that show the people who cook at the schools how to creatively prepare the vegetables.

We wanted to implement solar tents (“carpas solares”) in three villages located high in the mountains, exposed to harsher climatic conditions. This quarter, two villages have already been able to build their carpas solares, and the third is currently being completed. In the first carpa solar, seeds have already germinated and the little plants are growing rapidly. The village community was immediately enthusiastic about the carpa solar and has independently developed a plan about who should take care of the watering and ventilation and when.

Since more and more families and villages are interested in the project, we would like to not only build 3 more carpas solares at village schools next year, but also work with entire families as a target group for the first time in this project. As a prelude to this, the first workshops with families on the topic of nutrition have already taken place this quarter. Therefore, we are looking forward to further support, but would like to thank you already now for the support on GlobalGiving, which enabled us to construct the first three carpas solares in Micani.

inside view

harvesting

fresh lunch

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