Improve quality of health and education in Mexico

Dear All,

We hope you started the year well. From Amigos de San Cristobal we wish you that this 2024 is full of peace, health, good projects, generosity and love.

We take this opportunity to reiterate our deep gratitude to each of you for your solidarity towards us and towards the most vulnerable communities of Los Altos de Chiapas.

We are happy to share with you the results we have had in the last quarter of 2023.

SELECTION COMMITTEE

2024 Selection Committee: From October to December 2023 we formed the selection committee that reviewed the 22 funding applications received to finally select the 10 Friend Organizations that will be funded in 2024.

EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES

Our director, Corinne, attended the #ShiftThePower Global Summit in Bogota, Colombia, in early December, where people and organizations from different latitudes connected to inspire each other and build together the idea of power to boost the leadership of the territories in which they work.

Thus, it was a space that had the purpose of seeking ways for communities to be masters of their own development.

This summit also aimed to bring together change agents and pioneers from different countries in international development, philanthropy and civil society movements.

Several community philanthropy activities were held.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION:

Community members (CSO's, giving circles, operational team, council, volunteers, community people) participated in a collective work in the Kassil Vochonil orchard last August 24.

PIZZA WITH A CAUSE

The pizza with a cause master class event, organized by the LA SEMILLA giving circle and held at the end of October, was a great success. Attendees were able to learn about the history of pizza, its chemistry and how it is prepared. The Madonna Mía pizzeria team was spectacular; they donated everything necessary for the class (talent, time, treasure and testimony) and were attentive at all times to the requirements of the trainees.

A magical moment, where participants were able to see, smell, prepare and taste various types of pizza, accompanied by generous people and very participative children.

GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

The grassroots development workshop was held on October 31 and November 9, 2023 under the name "Building together and together: a proposal for grassroots development". In the two sessions of the workshop, the different characteristics of grassroots development were reviewed, taking up the definition proposed by Rodrigo Del Villar and based on it, references and ideas that each of the participants have were organized. During the workshop, a space was provided where, those of us who were involved, built from our experience what is grassroots development, articulating life experiences with theoretical tools.

EXCHANGE OF LEARNING:

As part of the learning exchanges with others, a meeting for the promotion of community philanthropy was held in Mexico City on October 19 and 20, 2023.

MEETING OF COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS IN MEXICO

The members of the Alliance of Community Foundations of Mexico met in mid-November at the 2023 Community Foundations Meeting in Saltillo, Coahuila.

Our operational director, Corinne, participated in this meeting, where she shared lessons learned and points of view with other community foundations. In her opinion: "Meeting each other always motivates, inspires and commits us to continue working so that communities can be the owners of their own development, with equality and justice".

Fundación Merced Coahuila A.C. was in charge of the reception and supported in different ways to make this meeting possible.

GIVING TUESDAY CAMPAIGN

Our Community Foundation joined the #Undíaparadar movement in order to celebrate the power of generosity and solidarity; the power of giving and receiving, and the fruits generated by community philanthropy.

That is why we organized different events and activities for the occasion.

Thus, on November 28, an online fundraiser for the #GivingTuesday Campaign was held on the GlobalGiving platform. On that day GlobalGiving distributed $1,200,000 dollars among many organizations. Amigos de San Cristobal also took a small percentage of this purse thanks to what was generously deposited by our donors, obtaining a total of $765 in this campaign.

PARTY "TO GIVE IT ALL".

Last November 30, 2023 we celebrated and celebrated, in style, "a todo darlo todo", and in a communitarian way, generosity, a party whose intention was to celebrate, to celebrate the acts of generosity that are made throughout the year.

It was held at Latinos Café Bar, hosted by Paco Hidalgo, with games for the children, hip-hop by Patrulla Roja and El Semillero, the excitement of the raffle gifts and until the end the music of the group Combi Tropicante, where we could dance to the rhythm of cumbia. And, of course, there was the table where people were able to share the things they had brought for the gathering and where there was no shortage of food dishes donated by our generous sponsors. We also held a raffle that had a contribution of $6,150.00 pesos. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the people who were encouraged to participate in this party and to contribute their grain of sand in solidarity.

BAZAAR WITH A CAUSE

We held our traditional Christmas Bazaar; a sale with a cause that took place on Saturday, December 9 in the atrium of the church of San Francisco de Asis, here in San Cristobal. Many people came to join us on that day and were able to purchase some items in good condition and at a good price. In fact, some of them, since early in the morning, were already waiting for us to finish setting up so they could take the things that were more worthwhile.

However, it should be noted that this event would not have been possible without the collaboration of all the ordinary people who wholeheartedly donated clothes, books, shoes, toys, kitchen utensils, etc. This was a way, like any other, to contribute to the promotion of solutions to health, education and environmental problems in our region.

From the area of strengthening, the Technical Assistance process was carried out from October to December 2023. 15 organizations submitted their applications, covering in full the use of the resource according to the diagnoses of each organization/collective.

Peer learning exchanges were also carried out with the participation of 16 organizations and collectives. They were organized in pairs, forming 8 work teams.

FORUM FOR THE EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES ON GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT WORK

As part of our year-end activities, the FORUM "Recognition and exchange of experiences, achievements and challenges" took place on December 13, attended by the organizations and collectives with which we collaborate.

The purpose of the meeting was to identify the main components and lessons learned about the projects based on a better understanding of the grassroots development approach that the groups have implemented and appropriated from their participation as collectives and friendly organizations.

The facilitation was in charge of Adelina Gonzalez; work was done in groups to visualize the progress of the projects and the lessons learned were shared in plenary.

The event ended with a beautiful Mayan ceremony of gratitude.

Thank you again for your solidarity with Amigos de San Cristobal. Truly, united we make a difference.

It is with great joy that we share the progress of the projects we supported this year; as always, they have filled us with much hope and encouragement to continue working for our communities. This year, we have sought more ways to strengthen organizations through our Institutional Strengthening program and closer support with our Projects and Strengthening Coordinator. We give you previews of what has happened inside each project without further ado. Now, we present 5 of the nine projects that we accompany. Thank you for being here supporting us to reap these fruits.

"Water to live, nutrition to grow: Tsotsil families achieving health." AMEXTRA

The project seeks to improve the health and nutrition conditions of 80 families (300 girls, boys, and adults) from seven communities in the municipalities of Aldama, Chalchihuitán, and Larráinzar.

Direct beneficiaries served to June: 600    Indirect beneficiaries served to June: 240

In the first months of the year, the results we were able to obtain were the following:

1. Baseline application to 38 people.

2. 2 biofilters, benefiting six families (18 people), were built

3. 8 bathrooms, 30 stoves, 12 biofilters, and 11 chicken coops with monitoring technology.

4. Support in beekeeping production and marketing of 610 kg of honey.

5. 3 Tabilhucum promoters participate in the Solidarity Economy Meeting at the University of Quintana Roo.

6. 81 children in early childhood undergoing anthropometric and hemoglobin monitoring.

7. 57 dewormed children in early childhood.

8. 111 people in personal care and breastfeeding workshops.

9. 41 in Non-violence education workshops.

10. Seventy-two pantries were delivered to 72 families (248 people).

11. Regional Meeting of Promoters with the participation of 18 people.

The main lessons learned from this period have been the following:

Having a multidisciplinary team in the region and using languages, specifically Tsotsil, allows us to have a closer relationship with the workgroups, recognize the needs and problems that arise, define how to solve them and achieve the indicators jointly. Follow-ups and monitoring generate appropriation, use, maintenance, and replication of the production processes and eco-technologies. During community visits, recommendations are given for the conservation and improvement of these systems.

The alliances promote the development of the promoters'promoters' capacities. Thanks to the training they participate in, they replicate their knowledge in the groups, thus enabling an analysis of reality and the comprehensive transformation of the groups and strengthening local leaders in decision-making and community participation. They are also essential to maintain and grow the project. For example, we constantly ally with the La Revo Organic Products Collective Stores and the El Almacén Collective to market agroecological products produced in the communities (honey, fruits, and vegetables).

Communication with groups and the presentation of clear information on activities and projects promote greater participation and allow a positive transformation of the conflict, oriented towards collective well-being when disagreements are expressed. It is necessary to identify the challenges and look for alternatives in productive diversification, always for the benefit of the food security of the communities, for example, by implementing actions such as the production of backyard birds.

"New Women, comprehensive development for indigenous women migrants to the City." Hogar Comunitario

The project seeks to develop comprehensive practices that lead indigenous and mestizo migrant women to the city, with unplanned pregnancies and single mothers, towards their human development, free of violence and in conditions of equity.

Direct beneficiaries served to June: 3,500   Indirect beneficiaries served to June: 2,105

The main achievements that we can observe are:

Women participating in meetings and primary care:

- They understood the importance of respecting each other and caring for themselves that violence is not normal and can be avoided.

- Their attitudes changed, and so did their interpersonal relationships.

- They improved their body knowledge and achieved birth in good emotional conditions. They felt accompanied (by us) even when they gave birth in the hospital.

The women participating in TRAMA:

-Antonia returned (she was trained as an intern at CERESO in 2018-2019), willing to share her experience and continue learning.

- The women of Aldama are active, sharing their extensive experience in the backstrap loom, helping to improve the quality of other women.

- Project work: they were open to learning new designs, sales were activated, and the hope of obtaining income through textile art was renewed.

Workshops in the school environment:

- Interventions with young people have produced changes that schools greatly value. We consider the success in which both schools have committed themselves to the process of their students, doing what is necessary on their part so that the children do not miss the workshop. We consider it an achievement that the boys and girls no longer need to be forced into the classroom but rather come on their own and are happy to do so.

The main challenges or difficulties:

- Primary care women reach the end of pregnancy loaded with trauma from violence and previous births and with the belief that the midwife will (magically) resolve their pain in a single session: a strategy is maintained that helps establish a reflection that is deeper than the woman allows, sustaining this strategy in subsequent sessions.

-Many women fail to commit to themselves and stay in the process of self-knowledge and empowerment. We know that what the woman has received in a session, or two will be a seed in her heart that will mature at some point. We support dissemination through loudspeakers and posters in strategic areas.

- When there are not enough volunteers, we feel the overload of work in the face of the responsibility of meeting the goals: We reorganize ourselves, supporting each other to carry out the activities. We take extra rest times when the workload allows it. - It was a great challenge to adapt to the new guidelines of Friends of San Cristóbal, adding administrative burden to the teams (obtaining quotes for the material to be purchased to request the corresponding transfers). We only learned to do it and incorporate this task into the others in the most organized and structured way possible.

- In the school environment, it has been a challenge to adapt the intervention strategy to 50 minutes once a week and class suspensions in the attempt that the children receive at least the most essential part of the program.

"Strengthening community health in nine locations with a comprehensive approach, deworming campaigns, and nutritional care in San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas." CONIDER

The project seeks to strengthen comprehensive visions of health in nine Tzeltal localities in the municipality of San Juan Cancuc.

Direct beneficiaries served to June: 1,200        Indirect beneficiaries served to June: 933

In this period of the project approved for this year, the following activities could be carried out:

1. Promotion of the campaign, publicize the strategy with authorities and assembly in working groups. Ratify or select health committees and health promoters to be trained.
2. Promote the specific strategy to care for children under five with malnutrition and make agreements with the entire population.
3. Raising weight and height of girls and boys under five years of age / Provide dewormers and vitamins. Glucose and blood pressure detection.
4. We carried out the first deworming and vitaminization campaign, serving 800 inhabitants of the 9 locations.
5. Monitor communities to treat the effects of deworming and vitaminization.

The achievements that we consider of the project are:

One of the achievements is that families continue to participate in our various activities, first because people are accustomed to obtaining something good for their participation in workshops or activities and health care, nutrition, and timely attention. It does not benefit children with some degree of malnutrition; on the contrary, it is often a waste of time for them.

Second, it allows us to reflect on eating habits in this case, identifying that families opt for foods of low quality and nutrients to give mainly to children under five years of age, such as bottled soft drinks 3 to 4 times a week, very They are frequently consuming processed, fried foods, such as chicharrones, fries, cookies, canned foods (Chile, Homemade Sauces) that have no nutritional value and they are accepting supplementation even if this implies work for the mothers and caregivers.

The third achievement that seems relevant to us is that mothers and some fathers have agreed to take glucose and blood pressure measurements, which in some way implies a path towards beginning to take preventive measures regarding health. We will continue generating learning to find the best ways to affect care in clinics or health centers positively.

And finally, take advantage of the available foods and through the cornfield to make varied and nutritious menus that can help the family in general.

One of the lessons learned that we are reflecting on within the CONIDER team is that although the deworming and vitaminization campaigns have been attractive to people in the communities, they are not enough, especially when there is a problem of severe malnutrition or obesity. We have detected children with cavities and other diseases, and more comprehensive action is required. We know that our activities are a sum of wills but that families deserve greater attention and that state or federal health services get involved and fulfill their role. On the other hand, we have learned to dialogue with other organizations and raise awareness about the need to establish coordinated actions on the health issue. Proof of this is the collaboration with Promazahua and soon with the León XIII Foundation, with whom we already have committed agreements. We consider these relationships to be vitally important because this can encourage more communities to join this comprehensive approach.

"Our Organization, land of Peace: Healthy Relationships, Non-violent Coexistence, and Social Insertion for young people from the urban periphery of San Cristóbal de Las Casas." Tierra Roja Cuxtitali, Centro Comunitario.  

The project seeks to build a social space of comprehensive learning, equity, and peaceful coexistence with diverse youth to be a natural alternative to the increase in violence and marginalization of the urban periphery of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Direct beneficiaries served to June: 100        Indirect beneficiaries served to June: 55

For the continuity of the project in this half year, the following activities have been carried out:

1. Guarantee a decent and comprehensive learning space for girls and boys from 10 to 18 years old.

2. Promote processes of free expression and respect for all identities.

3. Build collective tools for autonomy and a life free of violence.

4. Accompany the participants' families through group training spaces and individual meetings to identify possible problems, build valuable tools to support their children, and channel to other areas for needs.

Our main achievements are the following:

We are achieving our goals: a fixed group of 20 participants who attend regularly, the majority have finished their (formal) school year with positive results and are enrolled in school, the entire group has knowledge of comprehensive education and has improved in their habits of care and use of space in a free and respectful manner, in addition to proposing activities that reflect their desires and needs.

The majority of families participate in training spaces and community events. It is worth mentioning that the emotional accompaniment space has been very successful thanks to the "art therapy" format, and there is strong cohesion in the workgroup (4 women). In these first six months of the year, we have a group of capable volunteers who are committed.

The challenges or difficulties:

Without a doubt, the issue of insecurity and shootings is very close to Tierra Roja. The way to cope with this situation has been to carry out a safety protocol with the families and the work group to establish agreements, intervention routes, and responsibilities in case of emergency, strengthen the space for listening, emotional support, and containment, and to be able to identify together safe areas (physical and emotional).

We also continue with a call for attention system that allows us to visualize and not miss cases of lack of respect, non-violence agreements, and non-discrimination. These actions contribute to constructing a peaceful space and integrating temperate habits to help children identify and reject violence and crime.

Lessons learned:

It seems to us that we are in constant learning, professional and human, individual and collective. The main lesson has been and continues to be not to stop listening and involving the participants to adjust the proposals so that they feel taken into account and to create and build together. These actions are done daily, but in particular with the mid- and end-of-cycle surveys that very clearly indicate the path to follow and, at the same time, what we have to leave behind.

"Milpa interspersed with fruit trees (MIAF) for food security and sovereignty and environmental sustainability for the communities of Chancolom, municipality of San Juan Cancuc, and Bochilté, municipality of Huixtán." UNECODES

The project seeks to implement the MIAF system as part of families' food security and sovereignty to increase the yield of corn, beans, vegetables, and fruit crops in an agroecological manner, increase family income, and control soil water erosion in addition to strengthening human relationships through the positive transformation of conflicts.

Direct beneficiaries served to June: 750         Indirect beneficiaries served to June: 195

In this first period of the year, the following activities were carried out:

1. Appointment of promoters, farmers, and managers of each community and subsequently:

-          Preparation of the land (February and March)

-          Purchase and deliver materials, equipment, and supplies (spray backpack, machetes, and legume seeds, among others (April).

-          Cornfield sowing (April).

-          First clean (May).

-          Group workshop on preparing organic fertilizers and integrated pest management in the milpa (May).

-          Purchase and delivery of fruit trees (June).

-          Planting of fruit trees (May-June).

-          Second clean (June).

-          Follow-up and monitoring visit (April, May, June).

2. Exchanges of products and experiences between the communities we accompany (June)

We purchased and delivered materials such as 180 fruit trees, including peach, mango, avocado, lemon, apple, perón and orange. People were given spray backpacks and machetes to each family. Informative workshops were also held on the different topics raised, such as preparing organic fertilizers and integrated pest management in the cornfields, as well as a workshop in both communities about soil conservation through living and dead barriers. In the same way, it was possible to generate an exchange of experiences between the accompanied communities through making jams and pickled chilies, planning and designing the rainwater harvesting system, and six follow-up and monitoring visits.

The main challenges we have had during the implementation of the activities are the time available between the organization and the communities (Bochilté and Chancolom), since it is not possible to make a daily visit to each community, so the activities are being accommodated according to time availability, carrying out the most important activities with priority. In addition, the climate plays a vital role since activities require a specific season of the year, and we are forced to take more extraordinary precautions due to climate change.

We also learned that there are communities with a greater willingness to make a change in favor of the environment and their autonomy, who question more about how to improve their quality of life without losing their customs and traditions so we can offer them the necessary tools, the knowledge, and monitoring to carrying out a project sustainably and efficiently. But not all the problems they have can be solved.

Thank you very much for reading us. :)  

Together, we make the difference.