Small Steps for a Better Future

SUMMARY 

Small Steps for a Better Future started in Januray 2024 thanks to the generous donations of our supporters and GlobalGiving 2023 GivingTuesday Campaign. The project is located in the village of Guaraunos, Eastern Venezuela where since 2019, we had been running a Food Security Programme for 100 children under five years old at risk of malnourishment.

After 6 years, and having achieved our goal, we agreed with the community to terminate the programme in July 2025. Though the worst of the crisis has been averted, because of the protracted crisis in Venezuela, the village is still vulnerable. The aim of Small Steps for a Better Future was to give the opportunity to women from the village to kickstart a small farming business in their backyards and be financially independent.

The project came to a halt in June of 2024 because of reliability of supplies and the political turmoil preceding the presidential elections. We agreed to pause the project to wait for the situation to calm down and in the meantime, we identified a local partner, Fundacion San Jose (FSJ), with experience in farming to take charge of the project. Several meetings were held with the community to identify those technical aspects that influenced the first six months and for the community to familiarise with FSJ´s taking over the project.

This changed proved to be even more productive than expected as FSJ added (at no additional cost for Healing Venezuela) a vegetables and fruits programme to take advantage of the fertile land of the area adding two new participants to the project.

This new phase started in October 2024 and is expected to end in April 25. Eight women are involved in the programme, five have chosen poultry farms and three have chosen the agriculture and vegetables farms.

The results are very encouraging and the project is on track to terminate in April-May 2025. This report is an update to donors from the last report presented on October 2024.

BACKGROUND

Venezuela is going through a decade-long humanitarian crisis that has seen more than eight million Venezuelans leaving the country. With 90% of the population living now below the poverty line, one of the most tragic aspects of this crisis has been the deterioration in public health. Children are particularly vulnerable.

Since 2019, Healing Venezuela has been running a Food Security Programme for 100 children at risk of malnourishment in the village of Guaraunos in Eastern Venezuela providing breakfast, lunch and a healthy snack five days a week during school holidays.

Throughout this time, the villagers have demonstrated the willingness and commitment to organise themselves and to improve their circumstances. During these last six years in the area, we have achieved our initial objectives to prevent malnourishment in the vast majority of the children, and so we agreed with the community to terminate the food security programme in July 2025.

Though the peak of the crisis has passed, the situation in Venezuela is still precarious and we didn´t want to leave without improving somehow the village economic outlook. This is when we agreed to give women from the community the opportunity to kickstart a small farming business in their backyards, an initiative that has been very successful in other countries.

Small Steps for a Better Future started in January 2024 thanks to the generous donations of our supporters and GlobalGiving and the 2023 GivingTuesday campaign. But, as mentioned in the summary, during the first semester of 2024, though the pre-planning and training had been organised the last quarter of 2023, we encountered a series of issues, from the quality of the broil to the size of the patios and commitment of the farmers. One of our beneficiaries had to be hospitalised. This period coincided with a resurgence of political turmoil in Venezuela because of the presidential election campaign and lack of reliability of supplies.

As informed in previous reports, the project came to a halt in June of 2024. We took this time to identify a local partner, Fundacion San Jose (FSJ), with experience in farming to take charge of the project. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of one of the most successful cocoa producers, Franceschi’s Farm, in the country and established in the area over more than half a century. FSJ runs similar programmes in other villages and their experience and guidance seemed ideal for this project. We were not disappointed. Though we had to extend the programme to April 205, results so far are very encouraging with more families involved and other farming options for the same budget.

BACKGROUND

Venezuela is going through a decade-long humanitarian crisis that has seen more than eight million Venezuelans leaving the country. With 90% of the population living now below the poverty line, one of the most tragic aspects of this crisis has been the deterioration in public health. Children are particularly vulnerable.

Since 2019, Healing Venezuela has been running a Food Security Programme for 100 children at risk of malnourishment in the village of Guaraunos in Eastern Venezuela providing breakfast, lunch and a healthy snack five days a week during school holidays.

Throughout this time, the villagers have demonstrated the willingness and commitment to organise themselves and to improve their circumstances. During these last six years in the area, we have achieved our initial objectives to prevent malnourishment in the vast majority of the children, and so we agreed with the community to terminate the food security programme in July 2025.

Though the peak of the crisis has passed, the situation in Venezuela is still precarious and we didn´t want to leave without improving somehow the village economic outlook. This is when we agreed to give women from the community the opportunity to kickstart a small farming business in their backyards, an initiative that has been very successful in other countries.

Small Steps for a Better Future started in January 2024 thanks to the generous donations of our supporters and GlobalGiving and the 2023 GivingTuesday campaign. But, as mentioned in the summary, during the first semester of 2024, though the pre-planning and training had been organised the last quarter of 2023, we encountered a series of issues, from the quality of the broil to the size of the patios and commitment of the farmers. One of our beneficiaries had to be hospitalised. This period coincided with a resurgence of political turmoil in Venezuela because of the presidential election campaign and lack of reliability of supplies.

As informed in previous reports, the project came to a halt in June of 2024. We took this time to identify a local partner, Fundacion San Jose (FSJ), with experience in farming to take charge of the project. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of one of the most successful cocoa producers, Franceschi’s Farm, in the country and established in the area over more than half a century. FSJ runs similar programmes in other villages and their experience and guidance seemed ideal for this project. We were not disappointed. Though we had to extend the programme to April 205, results so far are very encouraging with more families involved and other farming options for the same budget.

UPDATE ON PLANNED ACTIVITIES

To date, the project has achieved the following:

• Established a baseline and diagnosis involving the community (completed)
• Installed 4 animal production units installed (completed)
• 2 poultry breeding centres (in progress) 
• 1 alternative feed processing centre (in progress)
• 4 vegetables production units installed (3 units only) 
• 1 comprehensive human development training plan with 5 workshops executed (completed)
• 1 poultry production training plan with 4 workshops executed (in progress)
• 1 vegetables production training plan with 4 workshops executed (in progress)
• 1 training plan on healthy eating, nutrition, food preservation, and hygienic food handling with 4 workshops (completed)
• 1 poultry production sustainability plan (April 25)
• 1 plant production sustainability plan (April 25)

RESULTS AND FEEDBACK

During a review on Jan 25^th on the results and lessons learned since restarting the project in 2024.

Results

Table 1 attached to this report shows the poultry farms 6-weeks results. Despite a non homogenous batch, the broilers survival rate was of 97% which is better than expected worldwide and in in Venezuela.

Feedback

The participants and facilitators views are summarised in these main points:

1)    From the three agriculture farmers:

1. The certified seeds of short-cycle vegetables and fruits (cilantro, Spanish celery, chives, tomato, pepper, carrot, beetroot, melon, watermelon and passion fruit) did not germinate perhaps due to the expiration of their use date or climatic conditions.
2. The seeds of cereals and legumes (yellow corn, Cariaco corn, black beans, creole bean and peanut) are being sown progressively with a germination rate within the technically established parameters.
3. The biofertilizer (Bokashi) prepared in each plot is ready for use.
4. Establishing seedbeds with native seeds (sweet pepper, pepper and eggplant) continues successfully.
5. The personalised technical advisory services have been very useful, allowing each producer to raise their doubts with the agricultural technical assistant and interact with her, in search of different alternatives for solution.

2)    From the five poultry farmers:

1. The last batch of broiler chickens was not homogeneous, as significant differences in size and weight of some birds were noted.
2. There were some difficulties in following technical instructions by some producers which directly affected productivity
3. Alternative food wasn’t used because of distrust by the farmers, only one prepared it and fed their birds obtaining good results.
4. The personalised technical advisory services also proved to be very helpful.

FINANCIALS

Since joining forces with FSJ in September 2024, we invested a total of $9,461 to January 31^st (see Table 2 attached to this report). We expect to disburse the remaining funds by the end of April. 

LESSONS LEARNED: Despite a disappointing pilot phase, there were several positive outcomes from which we can build for the second phase.

• Involvement of a local actor. Most of the programmes Healing Venezuela implements are run by volunteers. In this case, we relied on the expertise of one of the members of the community who is an agriculture engineer and is involved with the agriculture technical school. But soon we realised it wasn’t enough to have a volunteer running this crucial programme, and especially being a relevant member of the community. Introducing FSJ was beneficial in so many unexpected ways: expertise in the area, soft skills knowledge and training, baseline assessment and independent view.   
• Legacy. One of the weaknesses of humanitarian actors is that, once the emergency is over, they leave behind a fragile community that often reverse to a situation equal or worse than before. We didn’t want this for Guaraunos. Though it was risky to get involved in an project we didn’t have experience of, we decided to go ahead and raise funds to leave a legacy after the food security programme ended.   
• Realistic expectations. When we launched the programme in January ´24, we expected a higher return of investment and therefore more contributions from the farmers to the food canteen (as it was estimated on paper). The reality on the ground was much different. With the second phase initiated by FSJ, our expectations were much more realistic but at the same time more viable.

NEXT STEPS 

The project has entered its final phase and has been fully funded to be completed in  April/May 2025. No additional funds will be required. The results are extremely encouraging, and, as we reach the end of journey with the Guaraunos community, we hope that we made a difference in the life of the villagers that will endure for the longer term.

Links:

• Healing Venezuela Web Site
• Small Steps Video

• Baseline assessment results (XLSX)
• Summary Poultry Production (XLSX)
• Summary Financials (XLSX)