Help Guatemalan Women Achieve Self-Sufficiency

On Tuesday, March 16, all donations up to $1,000 per donor, per project will be matched. Donate on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, and maximize your gift. Our most recent update reports on microcredit loans and training for 3 newly formed groups working on raising chickens, cows, and other types of income-generation activities. One group, in the community of Sauce Xesuj, is focusing on raising livestock. With technical assistance and loan funds, the group was able to construct a chicken coop and purchase chickens. The group, which has grown to include 10 families, sells the eggs from the chickens at the local market. Chicken-raising is an income-generating project with relatively quick returns on limited land, and almost immediate nutritional improvement to families as a result of the eggs. However chickens can be easily prone to disease and so sanitation practices need to be managed carefully to avert any sort of outbreak. With your support, the group was provided with an investment capital for the purchase, maintenance, and sale of chickens, with each family contributing a portion of the funds needed to construct the facilities, as well as the time needed to care for the birds and sell the eggs. The families also participated in trainings on chicken care, bookkeeping, project management, and had meetings to discuss savings and repayment plans. Not only to the families involved benefit from better nutrition as a result of the project, they are reaching their goals in learning about the technical and administrative aspects of caring for the chickens, improving their production, and generating a profit.