Agros Blog

Today is World Humanitarian Day and we would like to draw your attention to this remarkable video as we also celebrate our international staff for all they do. While this video is not directly about Agros staff members, it nevertheless celebrates individuals across the world who work tirelessly for a better world.

Agros International serves in 5 countries throughout Central America. Each of these in-country offices are staffed with people who are passionate about ending rural poverty; passionate about seeing transformation take place in real lives.

Every day there are dedicated in-country staff who rise before the sun and head out to work in Agros supported rural villages. The villagers eagerly await their arrival as the staff are seen as true partners in this journey out of poverty.

Our community development and agricultural technicians provide villagers with the training and resources they need to pull themselves out of poverty. The community development workers help villagers strengthen leadership and entrepreneurial skills as well as promote greater gender equality and opportunity. The agricultural technicians work tirelessly with farmers on applying new and improved farming methods for the crops the villagers grow for consumption and income generation. Without such dedicated staff, Agros would not be able to provide the rural poor with the opportunity and support they need to break the cycle of poverty.

Please join us in giving thanks to our in-country staff from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua for all they do!

This is to announce a new job opening at Agros.  A general description follows below, and you can read more on our Careers page, including instructions on how to apply.

POSITION:  Direct Marketing Manager

The Agros Direct Marketing Manager will plan, manage, and grow all aspects of Agros’ General Donor segment. This segment, as defined by Agros, is made up of donors who make annual gifts to Agros –one time or cumulative–of $5,000 or less.

Balancing strategy and execution, s/he will bring strategic oversight and management of this segment, working to develop and increase overall giving through channel management and marketing expertise. This encompasses among others, expertise in:

• General donor fundraising
• Developing and implementing effective donor acquisition and retention strategies
• Direct mail and online giving engagement

The Direct Marketing Manager will implement a long-term strategy to grow this segment in conjunction with the Agros International 3-year Strategic Plan. The Direct Marketing Manager will directly oversee the management of all direct mail, online and monthly giving programs, and work closely in all aspects of resource development to create, market and support multi-faceted fundraising campaigns.

Additionally, the Direct Marketing Manager will also help in the writing and creative production of associated online & collateral material for this segment.

Go here to read more.

The following was written by Zach Eskenazi during his time in Honduras:

I have been working for Agros as a work-study student for over a year now. I have read and written many inspiring stories about the Agros villagers and the Agros in-country staff. A recent academic project has brought me to the Agros villages of Honduras, and I’ve learned that it’s one thing to read and write about the changes Agros brings about in the lives of the people we serve… and it is quite another to see these changes in action.

While it may not be possible for all of us to witness Agros in action first-hand, follow me as I take you through some of the events I have witnessed during my time in Agros villages:

My workspace in the Agros village of Brisas del Volcan was in the communal house, a place where the villagers gather and hold meetings. The communal house is also where one adult villager teaches others how to read and write.

Picture this, a petite woman and her husband used to have to work on land they didn’t own to scrape enough money together to feed their growing children. Because of the low pay, both husband and wife had to work long hours with very little time to do much else. After finding Agros and their own land, she no longer has to work daily in the fields with her husband. She is trying her hand at other income generating projects. And because she can read and write she sets aside two hours every afternoon to tutor other adults. One of her students boasted to me that she can now read at a third grade level. This is amazing!

On another day in Brisas del Volcan, I was invited to a meeting of the leadership committee. During this meeting, the villagers met with two people interested in buying some of their plantain crop. The village leadership as a group entered into negations with these buyers with confidence. The villagers were eager to sell the literal fruits of their labor but made sure not be taken advantage of. The meeting ended with a fair offer being made to the villagers for a portion of their plantain harvest. The villagers learned a lot from this interaction and are embolden to continue their plantain project. Before working with Agros, an experience like this was barely dreamed of! Now, the best dreams of these families are coming true.

At the end of the week the village Community Bank Committee met. This is made up of 12 women who have each received a loan from Agros for an income-generating project. Some of the women chose small animal husbandry projects while others are trying their hand at baked goods. One thing is for certain, they are confident that their income generating projects will have long-term benefits and will meet their families’ needs.

This was what was going on in Brisas just during one week. Imagine the things these villagers will achieve as they continue on the path to sustainable growth and development.

Also, you can be a part of the story of transformation in Brisas del Volcan by sponsoring this village through the Agros One Village program, where for as little as $15/month you can help these families continue to reach their dreams of a future free of poverty and hopelessness.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2010

Seattle-based non-profit launches one-of-a-kind online village sponsorship program

Utilizing cutting-edge technology, the Agros One Village program provides unparalleled access to sponsor Central American villages on their journey out of extreme poverty.

Agros International is proud to introduce a new online multimedia experience and monthly sponsorship program called One Village. This program leverages unique online technology in order to connect supporters to rural families in Central America. For as little as $15 a month, sponsors can make a difference in the lives of rural families working together as a village community to overcome poverty.

Agros is a Seattle-based non-profit organization that works with poor, landless farmers in Central America and Mexico. Through a unique, holistic development model, Agros extends loans to purchase farmland and then partners and trains farmers for 7-10 years in applying sustainable agricultural practices, all with the goal of enabling these families to create, develop, and eventually own a sustainable village. Agros has started 40 village projects across five countries.

Through the One Village website, donors are able to sponsor an actual rural village in Central America, and then follow that community online through first-hand stories, compelling photos, videos, panoramic photography, and project updates detailing village progress.

“We’ve learned at Agros that donors want to do more than just write a check to a worthy cause; they want to see the difference their donations make in real lives. Today, we are excited to invite people to the One Village website where they can experience and support a Central American village in an incredible journey out of extreme poverty,” shares Sean Dimond, Agros Communications Director.

In order to build this remarkable virtual experience, Agros International partnered with CrashShop, a Seattle-based interactive media studio specializing in innovative websites, to help develop the online technology. The One Village website is a first of its kind, integrating the WordPress Content Management System with Adobe’s Flash platform. “We believe in Agros’ work, and are thrilled to play a part in helping more people experience and sponsor Agros villages. It’s a privilege to help restore hope and dignity to the world’s poor through the One Village website,” says Michael Redmond, Founder & President of CrashShop.

To learn more about the Agros One Village experience, visit http://onevillage.agros.org/.

We’re so excited to share with you One Village—a unique opportunity to sponsor and walk with a rural village of Central America in a hope-filled journey out of poverty.

Using the power of multimedia, Agros International has created a truly one-of-a-kind online experience where—for as little as $15/month—you can sponsor and follow an actual village as they create new lives for themselves and their children.

For Agros villages, this steady stream of reliable support will help ensure that the development goals of the village can be met.  For sponsoring donors, the unique access via an online platform to the people and projects that comprise a given village is the closest one can get to actually being in a village short of traveling there. Through this journey, you’ll hear the voices of villagers and ambient sounds; you’ll see the beauty behind both the successes and ongoing challenges that the villagers face.

As you follow the progress of your sponsored One Village online, you’ll come to know the people more intimately through stories told in their own words, compelling photos, videos, and project updates.  And in addition, you’ll receive a quarterly update from your sponsored One Village via email!

1 – You Know About the Devastating Problem
Almost half the world lives on less than $2.50/day. More than a billion people go to bed hungry. Most of the world’s extreme poor live in rural areas and are landless.

2 – You Know That Agros Has An Effective Solution
Agros empowers entire rural villages to work their own way out of poverty by providing access to farmable land, long-term credit, and agricultural business training.

3 – Now… You Can Directly Help One Village Break Free from Poverty!

The need is great…the Agros solution works… and the One Village experience is a truly unique opportunity for you to directly help end rural poverty… One Village at a time.

EXPLORE the unique experience of One Village!

CHOOSE to be part of the journey!

SPONSOR One Village today!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2010

Seattle-based non-profit announces 40th village
New village enables 25 Guatemalan refugee families in Chiapas, Mexico to break the cycle of poverty through land ownership

SEATTLE, WA–Twenty-five hardworking, yet landless and impoverished families are getting an extraordinary opportunity to escape poverty—to own 175 acres of productive agricultural land so important to their livelihoods, and to build a thriving, sustainable community of their own.
Nueva Ilusión, meaning “New Dream,” is the latest and 40th village project launched and supported by Agros International, a Seattle-based nonprofit enabling the world’s rural poor to attain land ownership and break the cycle of poverty through a holistic and sustainable approach to village development.

Villagers in Nueva Ilusión—like the families in the 39 Agros-sponsored villages that have preceded them—will access the land critical to their survival and hopes for a better future through long-term loans from Agros. This land will be used to generate sustainable income to support their families, pay back the loans, and create a secure future. Agros —committed to ending the cycle of poverty in all its forms — will provide support every step of the way as families define a community vision, develop local leadership, and launch a strategic development plan that includes housing, irrigation, agricultural business training, micro-enterprise loans, and education and health programs. “There are no other organizations like Agros that we know of that use long-term credit for land ownership, combined with holistic development, to empower rural families to work their own way out of extreme poverty,” says Laurie Werner, Agros Director of Program.

Since 1982, over 9,000 poorest of the world’s poor have gained land, hope, and transformed lives in Agros-supported villages throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico. The Agros village model has caught on among villagers and supporters in recent years, with the number of Agros villages doubling from 20 to 40 within the past six years.

Agros has also won recognition for providing “lasting solutions to poverty” from an alliance of the World Bank, the UNDP, and the Inter-American Foundation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2010

Seattle-based non-profit enables land for 59 indigenous Guatemalan families
After three decades, refugee survivors of Guatemala armed conflict of 1980s return to their land as rightful owners

SEATTLE, WA–Fifty-nine indigenous Mayan Guatemalan families received titles to their land in early April, twenty-nine years after fleeing from violence incited by the civil war that ravaged rural areas 1960-1996.

These families, living in the village of Trapichitos in rural Quiché, Guatemala, including nearly 250 men, women and children, partnered with Seattle-based non-profit Agros International in 2000. Agros is a non-profit that enables the world’s rural poor to attain land ownership and break the cycle of poverty through a holistic and sustainable approach to village development.

Villagers in Trapichitos—like the families in the other 39 Agros-sponsored villages throughout Central America and Mexico—have spent the past ten years defining a community vision, developing local leadership and implementing a strategic plan that includes housing, irrigation, agricultural business training, micro-enterprise loans, and education and health programs. Agros purchases the land and through long-term support, training and access to credit, families are able to repay the land loan. “Land ownership is critical to ensure vulnerable families are empowered to have a means to work themselves out of poverty,” says Director of Program Laurie Werner. “The Trapichitos families now hold titles to their property, a security and asset they can pass on to ensure a sustainable future for the next generation.”

Since 1982, over 9,000 of the world’s poorest have gained land, hope, and transformed lives in Agros-supported villages throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico. The Agros village model has caught on among villagers and supporters in recent years, with the number of Agros villages doubling from 20 to 40 within the past six years. To date, 210 families, about 1,370 people, have become proud land owners through Agros.

Agros has also won recognition for providing “lasting solutions to poverty” from an alliance of the World Bank, the UNDP, and the Inter-American Foundation, and is also a winner of the 2008 World Bank Global Marketplace Competition.

To read personal reflections about Trapichitos, read this blog post from David Carlson, Agros Donor Relations National Director.

A call for increased access to land to help alleviate poverty among the world’s rural poor was made last week by the president of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Kanayo F. Nwanze, as he opened the annual World Bank Conference on Land Policy and Administration.

Similar to Agros, IFAD believes access to land and productive resources plays a critical role in poverty reduction. In his opening remarks, Nwanze emphasized the need to create policies that increase access to land and secure rights to land for the millions of smallholders across the globe. Access to land is essential for economic growth and poverty reduction.

IFAD recognizes that while this is a complex issue affecting many regions, there are in fact solutions to ensure that smallholders have access to the land they need.

Here at Agros, we are working hard to implement one such proven solution.

Land ownership is a cornerstone of the Agros Development Model.  We help rural farmers access suitable land by providing them with capital needed to purchase the land, and then we partner with them for upwards of seven years as the community develops leadership, pathways to healthcare & education, and sustainable income through agricultural businesses.

Agros’ model is holistic.  Families are learning new farming techniques that focus on organic solutions to increase crop yields and reduce pests and weeds, as well as learning new techniques for raising small animals, which ultimately provide much needed supplemental nutrition and income. Together, these families are learning education, teamwork, and technical know-how are what it takes to create a community where everyone can thrive. And by ensuring that every current generation in an Agros village benefits from technical training and support, the Agros development model is meeting the urgent need to invest in young farmers to ensure food security and village continuity over time.

Through this model Agros has been successful in providing new hope to thousands of families throughout Central America and Chiapas, Mexico.  Agros, like IFAD, is committed to seeking out innovative solutions to rural poverty alleviation.

Click here to read the remarkable opening remarks from the IFAD President.

The following has been written by Susan Moulton, Agros Board Chair:

It is with great sadness that I am sharing with you the news of the death on April 20, 2010 of our beloved friend, Agros board member, and comrade in the fight to end rural poverty.

This beautiful message was posted on Mary Kay’s Carebridge site the morning of her passing:

“As the birds began a morning chorus, Mary Kay Burdick gracefully passed into the arms of God. She was never uncomfortable or in pain. The events of these final days have been exactly as MK wished. We have been able to grieve and laugh in nearly equal parts.”

Our hearts are also heavy and joyful in equal parts. Mary Kay contributed so much to the world she left behind: her CAN DO attitude and actions in serving the poor have been inspirational and have set into motion generational changes in the lives of so many. I am sad that so many of the families she served with all her heart will now never have the chance to encounter Mary Kay and the shinning light that burned in her so fiercely and brightly.

That light did not come without challenging many to ask questions that needed asking; it did not come without standing up for what was just and right no matter how uncomfortable it could be. As a close friend said, “Heaven needs to get ready, because when MK gets there she is sure to have lots of questions!”

Mary Kay raised her family the same way–by charting a deeply meaningful path, with love and engagement in all of life as a wife and mother. This path of love and engagement in the fullness of life will continue to be lived out by Mary Kay’s remarkable husband Don and wonderful children Morgan and Grady.

We miss MK fiercely, even as we celebrate the impact and legacy she has left in all of our lives.

Additionally, the following obituary was published in the Seattle Times:

Mary Kathryn ‘Mary Kay’ (Delay) Burdick, 51, Seattle community activist and former financial executive, passed peacefully into the arms of God on April 20, 2010. Her death followed a courageous three-year battle with cancer.

Born in Spokane on February 2, 1959, Mary Kay was the oldest of three children of Helen and John Delay. She graduated from Idaho’s Priest River High School, and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Idaho.

In 1981, she moved to Seattle and joined the accounting firm Price Waterhouse. She and Don Burdick were married in Seattle in 1983. Later, Mary Kay worked for Sullivan Payne Company as Chief Financial Officer, and for Costco Wholesale Korea as a buyer.

Charitable causes were central to Mary Kay’s life. She was particularly passionate about health care, serving as a community ambassador for the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH).

She also cared deeply about the impoverished, acting as a director for Agros, an organization dedicated to helping the rural poor in Central America and Mexico.

In addition, Mary Kay was a director of the Eastside Housing Alliance.

Mary Kay was often engaged in many other causes and was a frequent volunteer. Many people knew Mary Kay as a skilled financial officer, and still others knew her as a passionate gardener, Scout leader, active learner, go-to person, tireless advocate for the poor, or simply special friend.

Her husband Don knew her as best friend and faithful companion. To daughter Morgan and son Grady, she was an actively engaged mom who taught by example to love travel, seek adventure, be curious, treasure learning, explore boundaries, and make thoughtful choices.

Mary Kay’s faith was an integral part of her life, particularly after being diagnosed with metastatic cancer. She studied actively and shared her religious principles with her children. Her deeply held beliefs served as the foundation that allowed her to counsel and comfort not only fellow cancer patients but also others who are suffering.

Although disease was part of Mary Kay’s life for several years, it did not define or consume her. She became an optimist, a proactive student of cancer care, and made her own informed decisions about medical treatment.

In addition to her active engagement with PATH and Agros, she continued to travel widely, including trips to South Africa, Cambodia, Thailand, Nicaragua and much of the European Union.

While receiving enhanced cancer treatment in Germany, she kept a blog and interspersed her treatment updates with tales of her travels in Europe, revealing her great sense of adventure, optimism and curiosity.

Mary Kay is survived by her husband Don, daughter Morgan, and son Grady, all of Mercer Island; sister Cindy, and brother John (Angela), both of Spokane; and parents, John and Helen Delay of Priest River, Idaho.

A mass of celebration will be held May 10 at 3:00 p.m. at Saint Monica Catholic Church, Mercer Island.

Please direct remembrances to PATH.org and Agros.org.

The following was written by Ann Edwards, an Agros supporter and member of a Journey With a Village partnership with the Agros village Brisas del Volcán.  Ann recently travelled to Brisas del Volcán, and reflects on the incredible changes she’s seen in the village over the last four years.

One of the benefits of traveling to Latin America as part of an Agros Service Team is the long plane ride home. Before life as we know it consumes us, we have time to reflect, ponder and listen. While the geographical distance between us increases, the relationship and love that we share with our village friends stays constant. And the lessons that we have learned continue to reshape our thoughts and actions as we resume our lives.

Such was my experience in mid-March when I traveled to Honduras with a group of 12 to visit the village Las Brisas del Volcán. While I have had the pleasure of visiting on two other occasions, each trip reveals the things that are constant and the things that have changed. The constant for me is always the warmth and friendliness of the people. We are met with smiles, hugs and kisses, primarily from the women and children. This trip, there was a noticeable difference with the men, as they too came forward and greeted us with affection.

Each trip begins with a tour of the property and the changes I have seen over the past 4 years are incredible. The land is very hilly, rocky and difficult to cultivate but the jungle slopes of several years ago have been replaced with acres of plantains and revitalized coffee plants. The men are so very proud of their land and what their hard, back-breaking work has provided for their families and their futures. We spent the rest of the week sharing a variety of activities, sometimes with just the women or children and sometimes “helping” the men in the fields.

While the agricultural changes were truly amazing, the most impressive changes for me were the changes I saw in the people. For the first time, I saw men holding and playing with their children; grandpas helping their young grandsons with the craft projects. The children were able to sit attentively, listening to the lesson and waiting for their turn, so different from the chaos we encountered on the first trip. All of the children are now able to attend school as their parents can afford uniforms. The younger women are stepping up to leadership roles and shared their ideas for micro loan projects from making and selling tamales to raising pigs.

This is now a community of men, women and children who have land to work, enough to eat, and a sense of hope because they have experienced the transformation that previously had only been a far off dream.

I was also impressed with the Agros staff that spent the week with us in the village. We were well hosted by Joel, the country director, who communicated his thorough understanding of the economic needs of the community in order to be self sustaining. Jose Lino is not just an experienced agronomist but he is a delightfully friendly gentleman who has won the respect and trust of the men. And Nohemy has been so effective in teaching and encouraging the relational changes that were so evident. All of the staff seem to have found a good balance between providing instruction and assistance and then letting the community make their own decisions and changes.

And now that I’m home…. I think about my friends in Honduras, knowing a little of how they spend their days. I can pray for them specifically by name and by need. We are all so much more alike than we are different and my greatest frustration is my inability to communicate on a deeper level. So, I keep studying my Spanish and look forward to the day when there will be no language barrier!

Journey with a Village (JWAV) is an Agros International program that builds partnerships between rural villages in developing countries and businesses, churches, individuals and community groups that are committed to their support.  Members of the JWAV program are given the opportunity to visit the village they are supporting as part of an Agros “service team” trip.

Terry McNichols is part of an Agros JWAV program and just recently returned from a service team trip to El Salvador. Terry maintains a blog called “Grace and Gravity” and wrote about the recent trip to El Salvador. This was Terry’s fourth trip to this village and this time around was able to ask a group of women in the village what they would do if they “won the lottery“.

Here is what the women in the village had to say:

Monday, February 8, 2010

If You Won the Lottery….

By Terry McNichols

I wonder what you would answer if I were to ask you what you would do it you won the lottery.  What would you buy first?  Second?  Then what?  What would your other family members say they would choose?  On our trip to El Salvador, we invited the women of the community to come to a “conversation circle” and told them they could ask us anything and we would ask them questions.  Everyone was allowed to pass if they didn’t want to answer.  This would not have worked if we had tried this on one of our earlier visits to this community.  But by the time we had visited 3 or 4 times, we thought it was worth a try.

We were surprised at the turnout of women, old and young.  We kept adding chairs and enlarging our circle.  We asked them several questions and they asked us a few, such as how old we are and what we (women) do.  The women in this community haven’t had much to look forward to in the past other than having babies and working all the time,  and they were very interested in what we do in the world.  We were saddened to hear later that they really had a lot of questions they would have liked to ask us, but were shy.  Maybe by the next visit they will have gotten up the nerve to actually ask us.  They got a laugh out of our insistence that we really do look a lot better than we do when we come to visit!  They all are clean and neat and we are all in our REI zippable pants, work shirts, sweat running down our faces, hair straggly, no makeup.  We aren’t used to the heat and have a hard time keeping our “looks” intact!  It was fun to show them a couple of pictures of ourselves actually looking nicer!

One answer that made us sad was the question “What do you do for fun?”  They talked about a Patron Saints Festival in February.  But “what do you do for fun in a normal week?”  The answer?  “Nothing.  We work all the time except when you come to visit!”  They really couldn’t come up with the concept of “free time.”

But the big question was reworded from the lottery to “What would you do if you had a whole lot of money all at once?”  After a long pause, one of the braver women said, “I would buy enough food for my children and family.”  Another said “I would pay off our land.”  “What else?” we asked.  Nothing.  Nothing at all.

I am ashamed of our wealth at times like this.  These families lost 30% of their beans and 70% of their corn crop in Hurricane Ida.  These are their main food crops.  We raised money to help Agros make sure they have food supplies until their crops recover.

I do recognize that there are many in our own country who also do not have enough to eat.  But most of us would have an entire “wish list” of things that we would name were we asked the lottery question!  And enough food for our families wouldn’t even make the list!

Here are a few photos from the trip:

At Agros we depend on volunteers to help our office run smoothly and help ensure we are achieving our mission of ending rural poverty in Central America and Mexico. Over this past year we have had many wonderful and capable volunteers. These folks have come from varying backgrounds and all have offered us so much. This year we would like to honor three  volunteers for providing Agros with outstanding service.

Jenna Swalin began volunteering with Agros in February of 2009. She first learned about Agros while researching different NGOs in the Seattle area and was impressed by the Agros development model and the strength of the Marketing and Communications Department. In the Communications Department, she worked on expanding Agros’ presence on social networking channels and helped with the development and production of other communications pieces including the newsletters and blog entries. When asked what she enjoyed most about her work at Agros Jenna responded, “There are so many amazing and inspirational stories of change, of families that have transformed their lives through working with Agros. Having the opportunity to learn those stories and to convey them to the public was a blessing.” Jenna has just recently returned from Argentina and is looking for work similar to what she has done for Agros.

Alex Richey learned about Agros through a family member and after some research, he found that by volunteering at Agros he would be able to learn more about Latin American culture and help those who are living in poverty. Alex began volunteering at our reception desk in September of 2009. He also helped the Development staff with various tasks. He most enjoyed helping with preparations for the Tierras de Vida fundraiser. When asked what his greatest reward from working with Agros was, he responded, “The people I met. Agros is a collection of innovative, brilliant people, and the company demonstrates what individuals can do to alleviate poverty in Central America.” Alex is currently teaching math to young people in Honduras, and his Agros experience reminds him how much he as an individual can help those that are less fortunate.

Arun Thomas learned about Agros through an enthusiastic presentation of an Agros Journey with a Village (JWAV) trip during a short-term mission introduction at University Presbyterian that he and his wife attended in 2001. In the fall of 2003, Arun and his wife had the opportunity to go on a service team trip to La Esperanza in Guatemala. They enjoyed the experience so much they returned to La Esperanza 6 times within in the following 4 years.  As a result of Arun’s extensive experience with Agros Service Teams and given his background with computers, he volunteered to develop and manage TeamAgros.net, the website/database Agros uses to manage all individual traveler and team specific information.  Arun also participated as a “Champion” for the Agros village of San Diego Tenango in El Salvador and he helped build relationships with that village which he felt was a little more difficult due to the different dynamics between Agros and the villagers. Arun appreciates the long-term sustainable approach Agros takes to development. Arun shares, “The relationships with the villagers and other team members are what keep us going. I am reminded every time that God is at work in peoples lives, whatever their circumstances are; and that he wants us to encourage one another–I feel the villagers encourage us to be more thankful for what we have materially and to exhort us to hope for what we can have relationally with God and with each other.”

Thank you  Jenna, Alex, and Arun… and to all Agros volunteers working to serve the poor with such passion and generosity.

CATALYST Strategic Design Review has just published their most recent edition, and included is a beautiful layout and article on Agros.

The article includes a case study, chart, map, and in-depth articulation of Agros’ work to help rural poor communities create their own sustainable economies.

From their website, “CATALYST articles and posts emphasize the value of applying the creative design process to the solution of complex challenges.”

We all know that systemic, generational poverty has multiple causes.  Alleviating poverty in any region is hard, complex work.  From the magazine’s editorial perspective, strategic design is achieved (in any discipline) when sustainable systems are put in place that solve multiple problems.  This article is an attempt to show how Agros’ development model embodies the principles of a sustainable, holistic, and strategic solution to poverty.

There are two versions of the article, one that includes the full layout and design, and the other in simple text:

READ THE RICH-TEXT VERSION /  READ THE PLAIN TEXT VERSION

Many of you have subscribed to receive the most recent Agros blog posts by email.  Unfortunately, the blog subscription system developed a bug that kept us from pushing out blog posts on a timely basis.

This bug has been fixed, and we will resume sending blog posts to you on a more regular basis.

A recent article from Yahoo News México, discussed a crisis in the rural economy of México. Farmers in rural México have seen their purchasing power decrease by 44 percent. This has affected their ability to buy basic goods such as food, clothing, and medicine. This decrease in purchasing power has caused many in rural communities to migrate to the cities in search of higher paying jobs. The Mexican government has tried to improve the situation in rural areas by issuing families monthly allowances but this unfortunately has not helped improve the situation.

While issuing monthly allowances will help the rural poor of México in the short-term, it will do nothing to alleviate poverty in the long-term. If people are living hand to mouth and are not given opportunities to invest in their families and their communities they will remain poor.

Agros seeks to end poverty by providing farmers and villagers with the necessary tools to build strong, functioning rural economies. Giving people the tools to create jobs for themselves is just one way in which Agros helps whole villages break out of the cycle of poverty.

Agros works in Chiapas, México and the villages there have had a very positive and successful relationship with Agros. Agros México utilizes a farmer centric approach to sustainable rural development and it may help reverse the situation taking place in rural México.

Here in the US we can all push for rural economic development policies that address the deep rooted problems that cause inefficiencies in these markets and ultimately subject millions to an existence of grinding poverty.

Bill Gates, founder of the Gates Foundation, recently gave his first major public address on the topic of agriculture development at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa. Gates discussed the need for the development of agricultural systems that incorporate productivity gains and sustainability.

Gates finished his address with a call for a more farmer-centered and holistic approach to agricultural development, saying,“Poor farmers are not a problem to be solved; they are the solution – the best answer for a world that is fighting hunger and poverty, and trying to feed a growing population. If farmers can get what they need to feed their families and sell their surplus, hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people can build themselves a better life.”

Not surprisingly, Gates highlighted Africa as a region in need of agriculture development. But another region in critical need of agriculture development is right here in our own backyard, Mexico and Central America, home to 21 million impoverished citizens.  Most of this poverty stems from inequalities in land distribution. Many farmers in Mexico and Central America have no land to work because of decades of policies denying them access and rights to land. Farmers in Mexico and Central America like farmers in Africa need resources and tools that will allow them to apply a holistic approach to their development in order to break the cycle of poverty.

Agros International agrees wholeheartedly with Gates that poor farmers are not a problem to be solved, but rather they are the solution. Agros is in the business of helping rural farming communities work themselves out of poverty. The Agros development model bridges the need for technological solutions with the need for true sustainability.

Land is a cornerstone of the Agros development model. Once rural families have access to land, Agros agronomists assist them with crop development techniques that take advantage of local conditions, markets, and necessary inputs. Agros works with community members to develop agriculture systems in the village that will be used long after Agros departs.

Not long thereafter, Agros village members become the teachers as they impart that same knowledge to other villages in the region, and to their children, who continue the practice of farming in a less destructive, more sustainable way.

The same applies for Agros holistic community development work in a village.  The goal is to leave behind a thriving, sustainable community free of poverty for generations to come.

Agros’ development model is proven to work. When leaders in the development field talk about the need to find technological yet sustainable solutions to agriculture development, we offer the Agros development model as an example of success that could be applied across geographies.

Fair warning: this is long!  However this post is also an attempt to answer two fundamental question at the heart of everything we do:

“What is poverty… and… what is Agros doing to help?”

(Note: if you want the short answer, then watch this video!)

These are basic questions we hear all the time.  Whether it’s on Oprah or at a U2 concert, people hear the statistics, see the pictures, and may even weep at the stories of “the poor”, but with so many approaches and definitions and attempts to help, what does it mean to really end poverty?

The first questions that often come up are numeric in nature: “How many people are poor?”  “How much money do they make?”  “How much money are you asking me to give in order to help?”

Answers are of course numerous.

For example, in terms of the numbers and economic indicators, the World Bank estimates that approximately 3 billion people fall under the international poverty line of $2.50 a day.

In other words, according to the World Bank, almost half of the planet lives in poverty.

Think about that.  Half the planet.

(And in Central America specifically, where Agros works, more than 60% live in poverty.)

But what is poverty?

Poverty is a complex phenomenon, no doubt.  Income is an important component, but access to healthcare, education, employment, sanitation, and clean water also have a tremendous impact on quality of life.

Intangible factors–including discrimination, empowerment, community support, or having a sense of basic worth and dignity are hard to measure, but are all critical determinants of poverty.

At Agros, we have seen that poverty affects the whole person within entire communities.  It’s impossible to isolate single factors that affect just individuals. Therefore, our approach and definition of poverty is holistic.

Agros defines poverty as ‘broken relationships’. We use this definition to create a basis to understand and interact with the multiple dimensions of poverty.

What does this mean?

For the poor (and particularly the rural poor), all of the fundamental connections and relationships that make up a sustainable way of life are damaged or destroyed. This results in the destruction of access to basic community systems, opportunities, and material resources, but also the erosion and eradication of human dignity and worth.

When we define poverty as broken relationships, we’re not speaking in platitudes.

You can measure and quantify the systemic and pervasive effects of broken relationships through per capita poverty statistics including life expectancy, undernourishment, unemployment rates and literacy rates.

Further, the fundamental failures of local systems, infrastructure, and services are exacerbated when village-level relationships with local and national municipalities and institutions break down, resulting in little or no access to education, healthcare, credit, or sustainable employment opportunities.  The resulting desperation is an underlying cause of families being forced apart for months and years to work in urban areas, distant plantations, or immigrating to find work in other countries.

You can measure these broken relationships in the amount of time family members spend broken apart as one or more attempt to migrate for hard-to-find work.

If these broken relationships can be measured, what does this look like in human terms?

Imagine: that your husband and 13 year-old son spend four months of the year working on a coffee plantation hundreds of miles away for extremely low wages. You are left alone during these months, hungry and desperate to provide for the remaining children. You have no access to public services or clean water, and hunger is pervasive.

Imagine: You stumble into a dirt-floor shack after a day of back-wrenching labor. Your work for the day has earned you less than a dollar to feed a family of four children.  You depend on agriculture for your survival and livelihood, but do not own land of your own, so are forced to rent a small parcel of hard, dry land to eke out a meager crop of corn and beans. You go to sleep at night listening to your children crying themselves to sleep with hunger.  The despair is crushing.

Imagine: A barefoot child walks for miles to collect water and firewood for the family. She has never been to school, never owned a book, never been taught to write her name. If she becomes ill, access to medical care is non-existent or limited. There is nothing in her future but more of the same – hopelessness created by the cycle of extreme poverty.

At Agros we see firsthand the impact of broken relationships within extreme poverty.  But most importantly, we also see that these relationships can be restored.

We’ve learned, however, that in seeking to truly eradicate poverty you cannot reduce the solutions  to just the individual or even family level.  To create true, lasting transformation it is critical to address how the causes of extreme poverty stretch across communities and destroy entire generations.

Given all of the above, the basic question that drives everything we do at Agros is this:  what does is take for an entire community to lift themselves out of poverty?

This is the internal question we ask ourselves in response to the more basic question of “how can you help?”

Our answer is in five parts.  Five components, really.

The Agros development model is designed to restore the multiple broken connections between individuals and their communities, empowering them to build back both economic prosperity and human dignity.  We do this through a unique, integrated, holistic model that encompasses five core components:

Community Organization
Help families define a vision for a new community and develop the local leadership required to create a self-sustaining, thriving community.

Land Ownership
Work with families to identify and purchase agricultural land on credit and use their payments to purchase land for other new communities.

Community Education & Training
Create opportunities for adequate healthcare, education, adult literacy and spiritual growth.

Housing & Infrastructure
Implement community and individual construction projects such as houses, schools, irrigation systems, latrines, infrastructure and community centers.

Sustainable Economic Growth
Develop agricultural production and support income-generating activities through microenterprise loans and technical training.

These five components form an integrated approach that we call 360° development. The components are based on this notion of enabling communities to restore for themselves the basic relationships that make up a healthy, thriving, sustainable community.

Economic considerations are key–income, business development, loans and credit:  But looking holistically–empowering women, establishing a community leadership structure, literacy, family planning, access to healthcare, and most importantly–restoring basic human dignity… these are all important parts of the whole process.

And you’ll notice that while these are issues that people in “developed” nations strive to answer, they are nevertheless human issues and must be addressed in even the most remote, rural, impoverished village.

And while we take a holistic, community-based approach, we believe that every life has worth, and every family matters. And rather than base our work exclusively on an assessment of needs, our approach seeks to build on the values, dreams, and resources of the families themselves.

You see, at the heart of all of this, we do not believe the poor are a problem to be solved.  We believe that have what it takes to list themselves out of poverty.

So we don’t work with a village community by imposing a “development program” based on top-down, theoretical solutions. Instead, we work through a participatory, values-based planning process that results in a master plan being created by the community themselves.  This plan will encompass the five components of the Agros model, but the specifics of implementation will be created by the families themselves.

And it takes time.  There is no easy solution to generations of extreme poverty.  However, by empowering villagers to identify, enhance, and grow their own capacity for achievement, social, environmental, and economic sustainability for everyone in the village is ensured.

An Agros village is highly organized, socially supportive, commercially competitive and environmentally sound.  As families thrive under new conditions of stability and security, they are able to develop agricultural businesses; develop and own assets; establish new pathways to education and healthcare; and forge partnerships with other organizations and government municipalities.

All of these integrated benefits and experiences result in the transformation of a community, and are passed on to the next generation.

After living in so many generations of poverty characterized by a fundamental degradation of human dignity, as families are given the necessary training, support, and capital to build a better future, not only is poverty alleviated, but basic human dignity is restored for everyone involved.

Want to see what this looks like? Watch this video!

Agros is in the business of poverty eradication for the long-term. We do not believe in simple, easy ‘fixes’ to complex problems. Our model provides a framework in which communities are capable of indefinitely maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society.

The vision and impact of Agros’ work is designed to end rural poverty across entire rural villages and through multiple generations.  And with 40 village projects across five countries, this is happening… one village at a time!

As many of you know, Hurricane Ida hit El Salvador late Saturday, Nov. 7, fed by 145-kilometer-per-hour winds and causing heavy flooding. The Category 1 hurricane left over 130 dead and thousands displaced.

We are saddened to report that our four Agros El Salvador communities have all been impacted, as follows:

• San Diego de Tenango: The road is inaccessible, a portion of their crops have been lost, homes have been damaged, and families’ health have been impacted.

• Nuevo Renacer: Roofs are leaking and floors have turned to mud. There is considerable erosion to the access road and a loss in basic grains and vegetables.

• La Esperanza: Severe erosion to the road as well as significant loss of basic grains has been reported.

• El Milagro: A large portion of the families’ basic grains were lost.

We are in daily contact with our El Salvador staff, and plans are underway to help these villages recover and rebuild. We will keep all partners posted as this process continues.

In August of 2009 we wrote an article about chili pepper production in Agros villages in Nicaragua. In October of this year the new harvest is in and the results are great!

Six Agros communities in Nicaragua have become a source of chili peppers for Chiles de Nicaragua, S.A, a Nicaraguan chili exporting business. These six Agros villages have negotiated contracts with Chilies of Nicaragua to guarantee a market for their chili peppers. Chilies of Nicaragua provides Original TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce, a company of Louisiana, USA, with a large share of the chili peppers that they use in their popular Tabasco sauce.

Through agricultural loans and technical training and support from Agros, families in El Eden and San Jose started a pepper project in March 2006. Since that time, the success of the project increased to 115 families in six Agros communities. This year these communities have harvested 18 acres of chili peppers amounting to a combined yield of 69,993 pounds of chili peppers!

This harvest has earned the communities approximately US $31,352 in gross income. In addition to the huge efforts put toward production, the villagers themselves applied the training received from the Agros technical staff to pursue and negotiate a contract with Chilies of Nicaragua that guaranteed purchase of their chili pepper crops.

Learning new techniques, gaining experience negotiating with an exporter, and receiving a fair price for their crops has contributed to increased confidence among the chili farmers and their families.

San Marcos community leader, Hector, describes growing peppers as a challenging project; one that requires new techniques, lots of time, and many participating hands for the product to succeed and give positive results. “It’s not that easy to work with chili peppers,” mentions Hector. “You have to know when and where to cut, how hot the plants are, and then there are three days when you have to handle the peppers that burn your hands. We’ve also gotten used to working under the hot sun. This isn’t what’s important though. The important thing is that the income from these plants will provide for our needs like education, nutrition, medicine, and improving the quality of life in our homes.”

José, another community leader, agrees about the valuable opportunity this work provides. “A poor man doesn’t have anything except the choice to wake up early and fulfill his duties –more so for us now with the pepper project. It’s our turn to work hard and repay our debt. We won’t rest until the bright sun comes out on the new day when, even though we wake up to work, we will own our own land.”

Pedro, a college student starting his last year of studies in Agronomy, is from the Agros village of La Esperanza. Next year, he will be the first college graduate from his community and his family could not be more proud. Unfortunately, many children who grow up in rural communities in Guatemala do not have the same opportunities or support that Pedro received growing up in an Agros village.

A recent article from The Economist, A National Shame, examines the extreme social, economic and political inequality in Guatemala. In certain indigenous areas of rural Guatemala, chronic malnutrition affects over 80% of children. Malnutrition results in stunted growth and learning difficulties for children, greatly compromising their potential future productivity.

“A National Shame” describes how the government’s failure to provide basic services to rural indigenous populations has resulted in severe underdevelopment: two-thirds of rural Guatemalans live in poverty.  These people were” totally abandoned in the mountains with no infrastructure, no education, no health,” says Rafael Espada, the vice-president of Guatemala. If the government continues to fail to provide good schools and health care for the majority of people, the article concludes, malnutrition will continue.

In Guatemala, Agros works with indigenous communities to help families achieve food security, obtain access to essential services, and start productive agricultural businesses that enable the entire community to overcome extreme poverty.  As rural families in Guatemala build thriving communities, they are able impact both neighboring villages and their regional economy.

We are directly challenging the despair so many feel when faced with constant hunger and extreme poverty.  Working in one of the most impoverished regions in the world, Agros is bringing practical, long-term, sustainable solutions to thousands who were once desperately hungry, and without hope.