Help Guatemalan Women Achieve Self-Sufficiency

In April Katherine Zavala, IDEX’s Coordinator of Programs, traveled to Guatemala to visit APROSADSE’s group of women. During her visit, she met with the group Women in Action (Mujeres de Accion) – a group of women that was featured in the last project update. Katherine met with the women and discovered many them were new members, but five had been in the group since the beginning. Most of the women work individually with chicken-raising projects. Talking with them, the women shared several comments about their projects and how grateful they are to be in a group where they can share their problems and accomplishments and have support from one another.

Many of the members shared their experiences working with their projects such as Maria Julia. Maria Julia has had great success with her egg-laying hens and now sells eggs in her community. She was invited to join the group by her mother-in-law and she's now the vice-president of the group in her second year. Being vice-president has given her the confidence to speak more and to see that she can be one of the leaders of the group. For example the meeting with Katherine, the president of the group was unable to be present because she was studying and this allowed Maria Julia to open the meeting and introduce the group members.

Julia's mother-in-law, Maria Elena, is one of the five women who started the group Women in Action. She's also had success raising chickens and local varieties of turkey. During Christmas time she can sell her turkeys at a high price and receives a good income from those sales. As a result, she has bought a cow that is providing her family with milk. She also uses the chicken manure to make organic fertilizers for her plot of agricultural land.

Thanks to APROSADSE’s technical assistance, the group of women knows it has support in livestock rearing trainings that benefits their animals and the women’s income. Most women feel empowered that they are providing a source of income to their families. In addition, they can share their personal stories with their trusted group members, who have createda safe and comfortable environment that allows the women to be themselves and feel proud of their successes.