PROJECT: To buy a Finca for the financial sustainability of the New Maya Training Center as well as for the generation of rural employment.

Transcription

1 Asociación Prodesarrollo de la Familia Ixil APRODEFI PROJECT: To buy a Finca for the financial sustainability of the New Maya Training Center as well as for the generation of rural employment. Aldea Xix, September 2009

2 PART 1 Name of Project: Direct Beneficiaries: Indirect Beneficiaries: Cost of the Proyecto en Dollars: Amount Requested Amount matched by APRODEFI Name of the soliciting organization: Name of person responsible for Project: Position held: Location of the project: Purchase of a finca for the financial sustainability of the New Mayas Training Center and for the generation of rural employment. 205 students in Primary, 90 Middle School students, and 90 High School Students 977 families from 20 comunities of the Ixil Área (4,836 inhabitants) $182, $125, $57, Asociación pro Desarrollo de la Familia Ixil, APRODEFI (Association for Development of Ixil Families) José Itzep Ixcotoyac President and Legal Representative of APRODEFI Aldea Xix Address of the Organization: Aldea Xix, municipio de Chajul, departamento del Quiché Guatemala (Central América) Address for Correspondence: Aldea Xix, Municipality ofchajul, Department of El Quiché Guatemala, Central América Telephone (from the United States: 011 (502) E-

3 1. Presentation PART II La Asociación pro Desarrollo de la Familia Ixil (Association for Development of Ixil Families) is a civil organization established after the signing of Peace Accords Peace strong and enduring. This organizations hás worked for many years in the villages associated with the municipalities of Chajul, Nebaj and Cotzal (also known as the Ixil Área,) municipalities of the department (state) of El Quiché. Since its creation, APRODEFI has developed much experience working with families in the various communities of the Ixil, in such areas as Education, Health, Employment and others. The educational program has strengthened with the establishment of an institute (New Mayas Training Center), which educates children in primary, middle and high school. The focus of this education is to provide students in middle and high school with an agricultural and business orientation. The young men and women are prepared, not only in reading and writing, but also to work in chosen occupations. To this end, the center includes courses for specializing in carpentry, sewing, weaving, horticulture and baking. Centro de capacitación Throughout the year, many governmental and non-governmental organizations have cooperated with APRODEFI, providing funds for construction of school romos, dormitories, and a new ecotourism hotel. Other important aspects which characterize APPRODEFI are the community forums (meeting and workshops) held with parents, young people and children, authorities and leaders of the community, providing for mutual search for alternative solutions for the many needs and problems which affect the communities. One problem which is emphasized in all the forums is the lack of work. For this reason, the children do not receive their education, for the constant movement in search of employment. To this end, a plan was developed for the present project titled Purchase of a Finca for the practice of agricultura and the financial sustainability of New Mayas Training Center and the generation of rural employment. This will favour the students from the rural communities most dispossessed in the Ixil Area, in order that they can go farther academically and realize their dreams. This will also give the parents an opportunity for work with dignity in order to support their families. The finca is appropriate for the cultivation of corn, beans, organic coffee and wood. PART III

4 2. Description of the problem The New Mayas Training Center supports children and young people from rural communities in the Ixil Area. Nevertheless, each year there is great worry about the future of this Project because for many this has become the place where they believe they can realize their dreams. In the Ixil Area, it is the only educational center in the Ixil region which provides for middle school students and those in high school who live at great distances to board. On the other hand, the lack of employment opportunities in the Ixil Area (Nebaj, Chajul y Cotzal) presents a problem for rural men and women, given the situation that, in order to alleviate the lack of necessities, they must emigrate to the fincas (plantations) on the southern cost of the country or outside the borders in search of employment, thus seriously limiting family well-being as well as in education, health and other areas. Widespread poverty aggravates the problem. This insures that many parents cannot allow their children to complete their primary school education, much less at the middle school level and years beyond, 1 since the children must accompany their parents in their search for farming work, generating some income which helps to round out payment to near minimum wage. The great scarcity of land is another worry and its impact on families results in serious malnutrition. Many families have no lands at all and, if they have any, they are not suitable for cultivation, the only work people know. The municipalities of Chajul, Cotzal y Nebaj, are among the municipalities with the highest rates of malnutrition. This means that parents do not have the means, including land and work to counteract this situation, and thus they remain in poverty and in extreme poverty. (Designations used in Guatemalan economic studies.) Another factor which raises concern is the population growth. The municipalities which make up the Ixil Area count a population of 132,716 inhabitants, 2 distributed among the municipalities of Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal. According to the National Institute of Statistics INE, the general population growth coincides with a deterioration of conditions of employment and money throughout the population, and an increase in poverty from 56.1% en 2000 to 57% en 2002, and extreme poverty increasing from 15.7% to 21.5% for the same years. For the period , all signs indicate that there will be no strengthening of the state of productivity in the rural areas, which are already severely limited. 1 La matricula de inscripción de alumnos de primaria en el Área Ixil a inicio del 2008, fue de 16,034 alumnos, mientras que en el nivel básico fue de 1,207 estudiantes, lo que representa el 7.53%. Fuente Estadísticos de la Mancomunidad de Municipios (ERIPAZ 2008) 2 Nebaj, cuenta con 66,329 habitantes, de los cuales el 37% viven el área urbana y el 63% en el área rural, Chajul con 41, 213 habitantes, viene en el área urbana y rural y Cotzal con 25,174 habitantes, 31.23% viven en el área urbana y el 68.23% viven en el área rural. Fuentes Estadístico de las OMP de los municipios del Área Ixil.

5 Along with those former descriptions, the authorities and community leaders demonstrate great concern about how many of the youth, have organized into bands acting outside the law (gangs), committing illicit acts, including assaults and robberies, in their own communities. Nevertheless, authorities and community leaders recognize that much of this is because the youths have no opportunity to study nor to work. Therefore they must often migrate far from their communities, remaining mired in illiteracy and in ways of life which debilitate society as a whole as well as their ancestral culture. 3. The Project s Plan The Project consists in the purchase of a rural finca located in the aldea of Xonca, about two miles from the aldea of Xix, with an area of approximately one caballeria and a half, in order to grow corn, beans, pine trees for wood and organic coffee. In order to buy said finca, APRODEFI calculates the following use of the land. Fifty percent (50%) of the land will be used for the cultivation of organic coffee, which will be used entirely to sustain the educational center. Twenty-five percent will be allotted for growing corn and beans. Fifteen percent (15%) will remain in forest for providing lumber for the carpentry program, and the remaining ten percent (10% will be sewn with grasses for cattle, sheep and goats. This diversity addresses many aspects of the overall problem: education, nutricion, employment, and financial sustainability of the social projects supported by the association. 4. Description of the benefiting communities. The project will be centered in the aldea of Xix, of the municipality of Chajul, in the department of El Quiché, in the northwest of Guatemala, approximately 223 miles from de la capital. The populations of these communities make their living essentially by farming. Corn and beans in small proportions are the products principally cultivated, primarily for family consumption. The community beneficiaries, therefore, are those who count the fewest opportunities in education and basic services. 5. Reasons Why this Project is Necessary.

6 Actually, the New Mayas Training Center, with its seat in the aldea of Xix, of the municipality of Chajul, founded and administered by APRODEFI, has been supporting students from the most remote parts of the Ixil, by seeking scholarships. Nevertheless, each year this system remains a difficult endeavor, and undermines the stability and sustainability of the center. For this reason, the intent is to purchase the finca to insure a reliable cash flow and thus to continue offering education to the Mayan youth in the Ixil Area. The parents will no longer have to move their families in search of work. Instead, the Association will contract for their services to plant pines, pasture and coffee. In this way employment will be generated and the young people will have the opportunities to contintue their studies. The New Mayas Training Center offers various educational programs, such as primary education, middle school, and high school, including such courses as typing and computer, library, weaving, carpentry, sewing, baking and farming. All of these will depend upon the finca. Students in middle and high school take agricultural courses. The finca will provide them a place for practicing what they learn. It is planned to use the pine wood in the manufacture of furniture. Thus the carpentry courses, which are already an integral part of the center, will allow the association to fulfill its commitment to provide employment and suplí the demand in the local and national markets with quality products. 6. Project Objectives: General Objectives: That, through cash receipts generated by the finca, Mayan youth have access to a complete, competitive education, with emphasis upon on business finances. That in the future, familias will live in peace and enjoy abundance in their lives. Specific Objectives: - Purchase of an appropriate finca for the cultivation of corn, beans, wood, pasture and coffee. - Produce corn, beans and fruit for the use of boarding students and improve the nutrition of families dispossessed of land. - Make use of forest resources for the manufacture of quality furniture.

7 - Generate employment for parents of students of the New Mayas Training Center. - Produce 100% organic coffee. 7. Project Strategies The land will be best used according to its topography by dividing it into four parts. One part, (25%) will be used for the cultivation of corn and beans, by families who lack their own land suitable for farming and who will pay for the use of the land with a proportion of the harvest. This proportion will be used exclusively to feed the boarding students. Another part (15%) will be allocated for the use and progressive planning of trees suitable for lumber, which will allow the association to provide employment to the families and supply the Carpentry Project with wood. Another part, (10%) will be planted in pasture for cattle, in order to diversify the production of the finca, thus avoiding disasters due to bad weather. Finally, the last part (50%) will be used for the cultivation of organic coffee. Making good use of the wood of the pine trees. The land contains approximately 2500 pines ready to harvest, which will be used in the Carpentry Project, to produce furniture in sufficient quantity and high quality to supply the local and national market. Involving the parents, youth, community leaders and authorities (Active members of APRODEFI) in the entire process of the Project, in such manner to assist local development and creating a feeling of ownership. Creating sources of employment for the rural farmers already members of APRODEFI, thus reducing emigration of entire families to fincas to the southern coasts of the country as well as outside the borders. Developing permanent training programs (workshops and courses) to persons involved in the Project, as a means to guard the quality and quantity of the products. APRODEFI will be the responsible and administrative director of the Project, and commits its institution to the sustainability of the project.

8 8. Beneficiaries of the Proposed Project. Direct Beneficiaries children in the primary grades in the aldea Xix students of the Middle School from 20 communities in the Area Ixil who will board in the New Mayas Training Center Vocational High School students from communities throughout the Area Ixil parents of students from the New Mayas Training Center teachers - Indirect Beneficiaries - The population who are not beneficiaries of local markets of the three municipalities in the Ixil Area. 9. Duration of the Project The Project will require five years before it is completely operative.the production of wood and coffee constitute sustainability for an indefinite time. 10. General Activities a. Search for financing from organizations and foundations. b. Legal transfer of the land to APRODEFI at the Registry of Property in Quetzaltenango. c. Cultivation of basic grains (corn, beans and others) d. Training and workshops on the best use of the wood, in coordination with INAB, PAFMAYA, ITEMAYA (Governmental Agencies.) e. Training for the planting of organic coffee in coordination with the Association Chajulense, MAGA y ANACAFE. f. Acquisitions of supplies (seeds, bags, organic fertilizers and tools). g. Construction of a forest nursery for pine trees for the cultivation of wood. h. Construction of a nursery for organic coffee. i. Cutting and replanting of pine trees. j. Construction of furniture in coordination with PAFMAYA and ITEMAYA k. Planting organic coffee. l. Following, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project. 11. Project Results

9 Short Term: - Corn and beans for the consumption of boarders of the New Mayas Training Center and for families who lack land. - Source of work for the betterment of families. - Generation of income for families and for the communities. - Reduction by 5% of student dropouts due to lack of economic resources. - Production of furniture of high quality and sufficient quantity to supply the local and national market. Long Term Production of Organic Coffee International market for the exportation of organic coffee and certified lumber. - Diminish migration to fincas in the south of the country on the part of the fathers of the family. - Stabilize the labor pool. - Provide for increased sensitivity regarding the importance of Education and its necessary components in order to talk about practical elements of rural development. - The project will provide for 100% of costs for the New Mayas Training Center, through the exportation of furniture and organic coffee. 12. Chronology ACTIVITIES PLANNED PROJECTS YEARS YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR Examination of the finca and evaluation of profitability Approaching foundations and organizations with economic resources to help buy the finca. Transfer and legalization of the land with the Department of A technical study of the finca Complete purchase of the finca All documents in order and registered in the name of APRODEFI

10 Property Registration Quetzaltenango in Cultivation of Basic grains corn, beans and others Training and workshops on how to best make use of the wood in coordination with Guatemalan agencies el INAB, PAFMAYA. Training for growing organic coffee in coordination with the Association Chajulense Acquisition of supplies (seeds, bag, fertilizers and tools.) Prepare a forest nursery for new pine trees and another for coffee plants. Cut some existing pine trees. Replant new trees. Plant organic coffee Coffee ready to harvest. Follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the project. Families consider these Basic grains to be their primary foods. It is expected that authorization will be granted for use of pine trees for wood. from the finca. Clear knowledge regarding the cultivation of organic coffee. A nursery for pine trees. A nursery for coffee plants. Furniture is manufactured in the Carpentry program. Organic coffee will be cultivated on half a caballeria. Coffee exportation to the nacional and internacional market. Will follow all activities of the Project. 13. Budget

11 No. LOCAL DONATIONS CONTRIBUTIONS IN DOLLARS REQUESTED TOTAL DONATIONS I. DIRECT COSTS 1 LAND $125, $125, Purchase of the finca, with an area of 451,256 square meters. $125, $125,OOO.OO 2 TOOLS AND SUPPLIES $ $ Seeds for Pine trees $ $ Fertilizers (preparation and $ handling, including wages) $ Tools (seed cartons, bags, $ pesticides and fumigation bombs, machetes, hoes, overalls and other $ ítems.) 3 TRAINING $ $ Training Materials $ $ Meals $ $ Honoraria for Trainers $ $ DAY WAGES $ $ Payment for 3,500 day s labor, at the rate of Q ($6.25) X number of days $ $ TOTAL DIRECT COSTS $18, $ $143, Evaluation Two methodologies for evaluation will be used each year. The first part will be with the participation of beneficiaries, through seminars and workshops of discussions balancing those activities which they have completed and how these can fulfill the stated objectives. The second part will be technical in nature, that is to say, measuring the process both qualitatively and quantitatively, utilizing for this the instruments for follow-up, technical and financial reports. (Contracts will bemade for external audits.) 15. Map

12 Aldea where the Project will be centered. Municipal Division Dirt road Footpath Photos of the Property Road or path leading into the property and the panoramic view. Pine trees ready for harvest. Topography of land appropriate for planting pines.

13 Area suitable for cultivating organic coffee. Area suitable for growing corn and beans. Two creeks flow through the finca. This is one and the other is in the area for growing corn and beans.