Building Understanding through International Learning and Development
June, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 1 Inside this issue:
BUILD Newsletter
1 1-2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 BUILD 2008-2009 Team Members: Sharon Cho, Marcus Cheek, Sasha deBeausset, Molly Ferrill, Hillevi Jaegerman, William Merrow, Krista Morris, Mike Niconchuk, Amy Oullette, Emily Pantalone, Jeff Prevost, Rajesh Reddy, Chloe Rousseau, Zoe Schlag, Kathryn Taylor, and Katy Simon
About BUILD
Agriculture Project Computer Center Project Workshops and Trainings Ecotourism and Mapping Project Socioeconomic Evaluations What’s Next? Contact Information
About BUILD Guatemala
Mission: Building Understanding through International Learning and Development (BUILD) is an interdisciplinary student program of the Institute for Global Leadership to Tufts University. BUILD seeks to educate and immerse students on the theory and practice of sustainable development by partnering with rural communities in the developing world to research and implement sustainable initiatives for human, social and economic development. BUILD functions on a four pillar model: Education, Action, Solidarity and Leadership. The current BUILD team is working with the community named Santa Anita La Union, an organic, fairtrade coffee cooperative established by ex-guerillas in the Guatemalan Western Highlands. After working with the community composed of 32 families to identify short– and long-term development goals, the BUILD team designed the Community Development Project in which sub-projects addressing the following areas were proposed and designed: Agricultural Production, Agricultural Methods, Socioeconomic Status, Mapping and Ecotourism, and Technology and communication. After a year of grantwriting and fundraising, the comprehensive proposal was
Special Thanks
BUILD Guatemala Team in front of the new Computer Center made possible thanks to the financial support of the Davis 100 Projects for Peace Grants, The Clinton Global Initiative, Pura Vida, the Tisch College of Active Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, the Institute for Global Leadership, FUNDAP and FEDERAFOGUA, 123, and the hard work of our fellow BUILD team members.
Agriculture Project: Planting the Seeds of Development
After Hurricane Stan, Santa Anita’s production numbers were close to nil. Since 2005, production has been slowly increasing, but they are only using about 25% of cultivatable land. Although Santa Anita has been fortunate enough to build a strong relationship with Fair Trade importers in the US, the amount of coffee they are able to produce and export is still not enough to bring Santa Anita members who depend solely on their income from coffee out of poverty. BUILD believes that in order to improve the standard of living of a coffee-growing community we cannot overlook designing a project to increase production. (Continued on next page)
Above: Delivery of the first batch of the 20,000 plants, the families ready to receive their plants Right: Don Valerio carrying an armful of plants
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Thanks to our funders, we were able to sponsor the purchase of 20,000 coffee plants along with organic fertilizer, calc for neutralizing the pH of the soil, and sulfur for preventing fungus plagues, all to
ABOVE: BUILD and Santa Anita community members putting the finishing touches on the exterior of the computer center. BELOW: Kathryn Taylor and Chloe Rousseau cutting the ribbon and the inauguration
ensure the health of the new plants. We helped the families prepare for the arrival of the plants by digging holes and clearing land. We were also able to assist the families with the arrival of the
first 10,000 coffee plants. Thanks to these plants and collaborations with other organizations, we hope to see coffee production double within the next 5-6 years.
Computer Center Project: Constructing Opportunities
One of the greatest obstacles for Santa Anita as a farm involved in the international market has been communication with external groups such as potential buyers and visitors. Although they do have an email account, only one person manages it and only when he can get to the nearest town to use the internet café. All current buyers and visitors (including ourselves) have stories of hearing back months later, if it all, after sending an email. On an educational level, the Santa Anita schools serves as an educational center for grades K-10 from the surrounding communities but has very little to offer in terms of pedagogical tools and resources. BUILD worked together with the community to construct a fully functional computer center with 6 computers, a printer and internet. The local secondary school students contributed with mural designs, which they, together with BUILD, helped paint. The grand opening of the computer center, christened Centro de Computacion Rodrigo Asturias after one of the founders of the ORPA guerilla movement, was a communitywide celebration, complete with tamales, music and the local news. We gave free computer classes for two weeks to people of all ages and levels of computer knowledge, and trained 6 promising young students to be in charge of the center before and after school. It is now a fully functional and self-sustainable micro-business with very accessible fees of use for Santa Anita and the surrounding communities. The goal of the computer center is to optimize communication between Santa Anita community members and outside parties, to improve the quality of education in the local school, and to generate job opportunities for Santa Anita’s emerging youth.
Katy teaching the children how to use a computer for the first time.
Workshops and Training: Improving Methods
Over the course of the year, BUILD was able to collaborate with FUNDAP— a Guatemalan NGO that specializes in Agricultural and Community Organization workshops and training, among many other programs. BUILD’s relationship with FUNDAP is essential as we lack the agricultural expertise necessary for the implementation and success of our projects in Santa Anita. Since January of 2009, FUNDAP’s Agricultural Engineers have been carrying out weekly theoretical and practical trainings based on what BUILD and Santa Anita had together identified as agricultural needs. This way, each family is able to improve their farming methods to ensure better maintenance and production, without any additional cost to them and minimal time input. We have sat in numerous trainings, and we have seen that attendance and attitude has improved after seeing the use of the skills learned in the training. We are in constant communication with FUNDAP about the progress of our projects in the community and the organization serves as a vital link between BUILD and Santa Anita.
ABOVE: Jeff preparing the bags of soil for the 30,000 freshly grafted seedlings RIGHT Don Gavino pointing to the coffee sprouts
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Ecotourism and Mapping Project: Expanding Horizons
Santa Anita's developing ecotourism project represents the an additional opportunity for BUILD to help diversify job opportunities and raise additional revenue for the community. BUILD members were trained in geographic information system (GIS) and used a GPS to make a map of the farm, including every trail. We also identified and photographed medicinal plants, birds, insects, and animals that can be found in Santa Anita, using both the local knowledge of community members and the expertise of biology professors at Tufts. In the following months we will create and print field guides and trail maps so visitors to the community can gain a better understanding of the incredible biodiversity present in Santa Anita. BUILD is also working with the coordinators of the ecotourism program to standardize methods and is designing a computer course targeted to strengthen communication with potential visitors and expand publicity for all that Santa Anita has to offer.
ABOVE: Zoe Schlag and Molly Ferrill map the trails using a GPS. BELOW CENTER: Mike Niconchuk playing with the children
Socio-Economic Evaluations: Setting Standards
Over the course of the semester, the BUILD team designed a comprehensive survey that would be conducted with every household. The goal of the survey was to have a better idea of the reality of the community members of Santa Anita. Because the BUILD team plans to have a long-term relationship with Santa Anita through various projects aimed to benefit the community, it is important for us to regularly evaluate community demographics when we initiate our tion, and Political Participation. Not only does the process allow us to begin to monitor the progress of the community over the years due to the different projects that are being implemented, it also allowed us to get to know every family personally and give them an opportunity to ask any questions and express any concerns. The results of the survey can be found on BUILD’s website. TOP: Jeff, Hillevi, Zoe and Molly working on the map project ABOVE: Don Mincho speaking about the incoming plants at a community assembly.
project and regularly over the years. We carried out one oral survey with each of the 32 families that compose the community. The different topics of interest were: Community Composition, Education, Technology, Economic Situa-
Moving Forward: What’s Next?
In addition to the possibility of beginning BUILD projects in other countries, BUILD plans to continue working in Santa Anita with new groups of Tufts students for years to come. We will following up on the success of the Agriculture projects as well as continuing to develop the computer center and Ecotourism project. Through continued communication with Santa Anita facilitated by the computer center, we will continue to share resources and experiences for the benefit of communities in need. BUILD hopes to begin collaborating with Guatemalan University students to further the sense of solidarity among Santa Anita, Tufts, and Guatemala as a whole to continue to work towards a common BUILD members not afraid to get a sustainable future. little dirty.
Check out our website!
www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/ programs/build
BUILD c/o Institute for Global Leadership 96 Packard Avenue Medford, MA 02155 United States of America
BUILD Mission Statement: Building Understanding through International Learning and Development (BUILD) is an interdisciplinary student-led program of the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University. BUILD seeks to educate and immerse students in the theory and practice of sustainable development by partnering with rural communities in the developing world to research and implement sustainable initiatives for human, social, and economic development.
Phone: 617-627-3314 Fax: 617-627-3940 E-mail: buildprogram@gmail.com
Above: Minchito flashing a smile at the camera
A Very Special Thanks to:
The Institute for Global Leadership Davis 100 Projects for Peace The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service The Clinton Global Initiative Pura Vida Coffee FUNDAP Sherman, Heather, Su, Matt and all of the other wonderfully supportive people at the IGL Matt, Mike and Colleen at Just Coffee