Agros Blog

The following is from Nathan Hawkins, our Service Team Program Manager:

Hearing about the always powerful, sometimes stretching, often life-changing experiences people have while visiting Agros villages is one the most rewarding aspects of my role as the Agros Service Team Program Manager.

I will never forget the amazing impact an Agros Service Team had on one of the first team leaders I had the pleasure of working with when I first started with Agros.  The transformation was palpable and it affirmed for me the Agros values of participation and relationships.

Visiting an Agros village is an act of solidarity.  When one group steps outside of their comfort zone and another welcomes them into theirs, each group is affirming the value of the other: appreciating, validating, and encouraging.  The results are more than partnership; they include collaboration, and the potential for mutual transformation in the context of relationship.

Participation and fostering relationships are among Agros’ core values because we recognize them as the means to and context for sustainable transformational development.

Recently, I enjoyed a conversation with a leader from another development organization about the value of partners visiting Agros villages.  We both recognize the complexities involved and understand that for various reasons, fewer development organizations facilitate or even allow partners to visit where their investment is at work.  My friend appreciated with me the distinctiveness of Agros’ Development Model; he observed that because of our holistic approach, “Agros’ model includes tremendous opportunities for everyone involved.”

The vision of the Agros Service Team program is “to provide an opportunity to serve that transforms lives through life-giving relationships.”  Two of our explicit goals are to build and nurture relationships that mutually encourage one another, and the bonds that are formed are able to improve lives beyond material development.   In our trainings, we point out that transformation is not limited to one side or another of an Agros partnership.  By emphasizing mutuality, we recognize how we all benefit by participating.

I love when returning Service Team members share stories of transformation. If you’ve been impacted by an Agros Service Team experience, would you be willing to share in the comments section of this blog what the impact has meant to you?

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!

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.

Today Agros makes the exciting announcement that Hans P. Theyer has been selected as President & CEO, effective June 1, 2009.

By way of introducing Hans to the Agros community we recently asked him to respond to the following questions.

What drew you to the Agros position?

The possibility of helping and serving the poor in both the regions where Agros is already working, and in regions where Agros is considering to one day expand.

Agros has a model that actually breaks the cycle of poverty for rural communities. In developing economies, this cycle of poverty and suffering is passed on from generation to generation and sadly is not a condition children can easily overcome.

The key to breaking cyclical poverty for the rural poor is in taking a long-term, holistic approach. This must certainly include empowering families to work and increase their income, as well as helping them to build long-term assets. But in order for the economic component to be successful we must also look at the whole person within the whole community.

To use a familiar analogy, what Agros does is not only teach families how to fish, but how to sell the fish, and to care for the pond. And most importantly, Agros does this in a way where the families themselves become owners of the pond!

We already know that bottom-up strategies that empower rural families over the long-term are more effective than short-term, individual interventions. And for the rural poor, those families depend so much on land for food, security and shelter. Being able to own your own land for these families is not just a dream, it’s essential!

These are just a few of the reasons why I’m honored to be able to join and serve this unique mission!

And then from a personal perspective, working for Agros is a dream come true. Working at Agros is a place where I can integrate the personal, spiritual and professional realms. I come from a background in Latin America where men define themselves in terms of their careers and professional accomplishment, and this does not necessarily go hand in hand with personal growth and serving others.

As you think about the days ahead for Agros, what excites you the most?

It is hard to prioritize — there are so many things. Let me share just a few.

Today I was looking through pictures from our Program Director, Laurie Werner, of families in El Salvador signing their land title deeds after paying off their land loans. Even from a distance I can feel what this means to them and how, previously, obtaining land ownership was a far away dream. But now the dream for these families has come true.

As I’ve had the chance to interact with (Agros founder) Skip, the board and the Agros executive leadership team, it has indeed been a pleasure as they set such a high personal and professional example. I have also interacted with several Journey With a Village partners, and have seen how their eyes and smiles brighten when they speak of their experiences and their connection to their “extended families” in the villages. I can sense how enriching these partnerships are to villagers as well.

I also remember how the Agros staff welcomed me so warmly just a few days ago and I must admit this is one of the most dedicated and knowledgeable teams I have ever seen.

Lastly, for me as well as for my wife and two sons, this opportunity is a joy and a blessing.

Tell us about your past work experience and how it relates to Agros?

First, I believe that my experiences with rural realities in so many different countries give me a good understanding of the challenges our villagers are facing and how Agros’ holistic approach can offer a lasting solution. I have had the chance to work in South East Asia, China and India, as well as throughout Latin America. While these regions are all fairly different from one another, they also have commonalities and similar challenges in their underserved communities.

Secondly, with a background in business, economics, and most recently having brought leadership to Microsoft’s rural computing efforts for emerging economies, I feel I can bring Agros a balance between strategic vision and a results-driven approach, knowing that strong partnerships, relationships, and teamwork are essential.

I have also worked both in the field and in corporate headquarters, giving me an understanding of “both worlds”, a valuable asset for managing our Seattle and country teams in the five countries where we operate.

Lastly, I have worked with and led multicultural and interdisciplinary teams, creating partnerships between many diverse entities, which is also the case at Agros. Creating effective partnerships across cultures, languages, and geographies is a key part of what Agros does.

As you look forward, what do you see in store for Agros?

A time for growth and larger impact! As I recently shared with the Leadership Team, Agros’ work is not only unique and effective, but transformative for everyone involved. Agros has done a good job sharing the work with their current base of supporters, but I believe we have an opportunity to gently but firmly take Agros’ light from under the basket and let it shine in many new places!

Globally, there are so many issues that cry out for sustainable solutions.  Whether it’s the world food crisis, environmental sustainability and over-consumption of resources, or the increasingly linked economies of the developing and developed world; we are in a time where Agros has much to offer.

Alleviating poverty is hard work. There are no quick solutions and so much depends on the generosity of supporters. However, I simply believe that Agros’ work is too effective, too transformative, and too important to not work as hard as we can toward that dream of “mil-Agros”  (In Spanish,  “a thousand Agros Villages” and/or “a thousand miracles.”)

Any last thoughts you wish to share?

Yes. I want to thank Skip, Susan Moulton and the Board, as well as the Agros Leadership Team and staff for how they have already welcomed me. And I can’t wait to meet our hard- working field staff and country directors.

I also want to thank our donors and partners for their support in making Agros the blessing it is for so many today, as well as for the many more rural, poor families we wish to touch. I look forward to meeting and getting to know our current family of supporters, as well as reaching out to new supporters and partners.

You all deserve my very best professional, personal and spiritual effort to assist in this transforming journey called Agros. Thank you.

I’m very excited to announce that Shannon Gallagher has joined the Agros team as the new Agros Annual Campaign Manager. We are grateful to have such a talented, committed person join our team. She brings a clear passion to serve, and a remarkable professional background.

Shannon’s previous work experience includes working as the Yahoo! Global Marketing & Programming Manager, Yahoo! Front Page, managing a multi-country targeted IP marketing program to better engage (localized content) and monetize (premium upsell) 90M international daily users adding millions of dollars in new revenue.  She guided a team of designers, web developers, and media specialists to implement simultaneous international internal marketing, co-branded and cause-related campaigns.

Shannon left Yahoo! for Africa, working in Mozambique as a Microfunds Fellow for Kiva (www.kiva.org). Returning to the US, she then went to work as Director of Marketing and Content for Graspr, Inc., an online video community that offers high quality instructional content on a wide range of topics.

She has a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, has studied in Venezuela and Chile, worked on projects in Bolivia and Argentina, and is fluent in Spanish as well as proficient in Portuguese. She also completed a Research Assistant Internship at the United Nations, Secretary General’s Office.

Please join me in welcoming Shannon to the Agros family!

The following is a joint op-ed article published yesterday (10/08/08) in the Seattle Times.  This was written by Tim Hanstad of the Rural Development Institute, Greg Rake of Agros International, and Marty Kooistra of Habitat for Humanity.

You can read the published op-ed at the Seattle Times website by clicking here.

Seattle groups work to secure land, shelter rights

By Tim Hanstad, Greg Rake and Marty Kooistra

Special to The Times

Many of us in the U.S. don’t think much about the relationship between land ownership and poverty. But for the 1.4 billion people on our planet who survive on less than $1 a day, land is the most important asset they could have. It is the crucial source of shelter, food, income and security. And for the poorest in the United States, land and homeownership remains the unfulfilled American dream. This past Monday’s World Habitat Day is an opportunity to call attention to the universal need for secure land rights and shelter.

For Padma, a woman living in rural India, becoming a landowner transformed her life. Like many women in developing countries, Padma did not have legal rights to property. She worked as a day laborer, when work was available, earning 18 cents a day. Her children, who came to the fields with her, ate only one meal of rice gruel a day, not enough to provide them with the vital micronutrients they needed to thrive. They squatted in poor shelter, with poor sanitation and the threat of disease, and were prone to exploitation.

Today, Padma is a landowner. She earns $5 a day with the flower business she started on her small plot of land. The income allowed her to build a home, grow plenty of food and send her children to school, giving them a future full of possibility. With help from RDI, a Seattle-based nonprofit that helps governments provide secure land rights for the poor, the government of India is now giving the same “micro-land ownership” opportunities to millions of families like Padma’s, providing shelter, food security and economic prosperity at little cost.

Padma’s story is not uncommon. In the Ixil region of Guatemala, landless rural residents spend days marching to the coast to work on plantations. In return, they are offered “rights” to plant corn and beans on land that is only marginally productive, leading to malnutrition and hunger. This migration means that families are either separated or, more often than not, everyone who can must go to work. As a result, few children attend school.

Last year, five of these young people graduated from a Guatemalan university. This was possible only because their parents purchased land through another Seattle-based nonprofit, Agros International. With the land, the parents no longer had to migrate and the children were able to go to school. Four of the five graduates were daughters, and all have moved back to their villages to give back to their communities.

The work of these Seattle-based organizations demonstrates the many benefits secure land tenure provides: food security, women’s status, economic development and sustainable housing. Secure land rights give people a reason to invest in their land, improving agricultural production and environmental stewardship. It also reduces urban migration and creates political stability.

These struggles for a secure place to live aren’t isolated to developing countries – they happen right here in Seattle. For a family of refugees from Ethiopia, their recent escape to the U.S. was a dream come true. But the only apartment they could afford in Seattle was cramped and infested by ants. The house was filled with mold, and the plumbing and electricity did not work so the family lacked heat. When they applied for help from Habitat for Humanity, they were initially turned down.

Although Habitat for Humanity strives to serve as many families as possible, it is a constant challenge to secure enough land in Seattle for all needy families. Fortunately, the city of Seattle donated property and the family now lives in a simple home with a 30-year, affordable mortgage.

In the Sept. 29 issue of Newsweek, one week before World Habitat Day, editor Fareed Zakaria described land rights as one of the five most important things that can help solve our world’s problems. The efforts of local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, RDI, Agros, World Vision and others demonstrates Seattle’s role as a global leader in innovative solutions to some of our world’s greatest issues, and shows the power of land rights and shelter in creating a safer, more secure world.

Tim Hanstad is president and CEO of the Rural Development Institute (RDI); Greg Rake is president of Agros International; Marty Kooistra is CEO of the Seattle/South King County Habitat for Humanity.

Today Agros received the incredible honor of being one of 22 award recipients at the 2008 World Bank Development Marketplace competition. Program Director Laurie Werner and Agros Mexico Director Sergio Sanchez were on hand in Washington, D.C to receive the $200,000 award. As follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Agros International wins prestigious World Bank Development Marketplace 2008 Award
$200,000 grant will benefit indigenous rural families in Chiapas, Mexico

SEATTLE, WA – An innovative Agros International proposal to create two sustainable farming communities in Chiapas, Mexico was one of 22 award winners at the 2008 World Bank Development Marketplace competition.

Out of 1,800 applicants and 100 finalists, the Agros International project was awarded $200,000 in seed funds to provide long-term land loans and holistic development support to Guatemalan refugees living in Chiapas, Mexico. “Lack of access to farmable land seriously undermines the ability of these refugee families to break free from the cycle of poverty. This award will enable 60 families in two new Agros villages to work their way out of poverty,” explains Agros President, Greg Rake. “Agros is deeply honored to be one of the 22 Development Marketplace award recipients. This award will have a profound impact on the landless, poor in Chiapas, Mexico.”

The Agros development model is a uniquely holistic approach to alleviating rural poverty. By providing long-term land loans to the poor along with integrated technical services and training, entire communities are empowered to escape the devastating effects of extreme poverty.

Founded by Seattle lawyer Chi-Dooh Li in 1982, Agros International has previously won recognition for providing “lasting solutions to poverty” from an alliance of the World Bank, the UNDP, and the Inter-American Foundation. The Agros model has been implemented successfully in 37 village communities throughout Central America and Mexico, impacting over 8,500 people.

The World Bank Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identify and fund innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. Since its inception in 1998, the Development Marketplace has awarded close to $40 million (US) to more than 1,000 projects through global, regional and country level marketplaces.

I recently had the opportunity to take Claude Nikondeha, founder of the Amahoro Network, to see our work in Nicaragua. Claude is from Burundi, and he is interested in contextualizing and implementing the Agros development model in East Africa. This is what Claude shared with his network after our trip:

Dear friends,
Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Latin America for the first time. I arrived in Nicaragua to learn first-hand about the work of AGROS INTERNATIONAL. Upon my arrival, I immediately recognized that the people of Nicaragua are wonderful people with the most beautiful language, living a simple life of caring for each other and the land that God has given them. As I walked through their communities and witnessed the pride in their agricultural accomplishments, I was impressed with their eagerness to work hard to bring about lasting change in their villages. Their joy was contagious, and I found myself infused with deep delight with each encounter, with each story told and each meal shared together. Cultivating and owning your own land, is good news, indeed!

The vision of Agros is “to restore hope and opportunity to the world’s poor.” In other words they go after what Jesus called ‘the least of these’ and give them tangible hope in the form of farmland. For the last 25 years, Agros has been doing rural community development in Latin America with a simple but very transformative process — building self-sustaining and thriving communities.

While mistakes have been made, it is success that thrives as Agros creates communities with land, local leadership, homes, and a spirit of generous hospitality. Their work is a visible manifestation of God’s good news to the impoverished people of Latin America.

I went to Nicaragua hoping to be inspired for ‘the least of these’ in my own homeland of Burundi. Indeed, the rural farmers of Nicaragua inspired me beyond what any book or essay on rural development could have ever done! These are people who are getting their ‘first chance’, their first real opportunity to build a home, own land, run a business, lead in their village and experience the goodness of God’s provision. Their industrious and gracious spirit reminds me of my African kinsmen, and I feel like I have got a glimpse of hope for the countryside of Burundi.

For many years I have looked for a way to sustain healthy development in a rural setting and a communal culture. I believe this is it, this is what it can look like! Agros offers a paradigm that offers me hope; it is a model that can deliver real transformation on the ground. This model allows communities to grow, leadership to develop and opportunity to spring up like wild flowers. I have seen what is possible in Nicaragua, and I believe that it is possible in Burundi and across rural Africa. By partnering with the poor and making land, agricultural knowledge, community development and leadership training available to them, good things can grow. This can be good news for Africa! This summer while my family and I spend time in Burundi, one of the things we will be exploring will be a potential local NGO who can partner with Agros to bring this opportunity to the poor of Burundi.

Amahoro,
Claude Nikondeha

By now many of you on our mailing list will have received an invitation to Tierras de Vida 2007 (TdV). Below is a brief interview with Doug Haley, the Agros Resource Development Associate in charge of making the event happen this year. The event is open to all, so please come – and bring a friend!

What is Tierras de Vida?

“Tierras de Vida” is Spanish for “Lands of Life”. The event is Agros’ yearly fundraising event, and the theme this year is “Challenge Despair — Bring Dreams to Life”. This year we hope to bring together and inspire upwards of 350 people by the life-changing work Agros is doing in Central America and Mexico. Through words, photos, music, and video — we will connect you to the hearts of the extraordinary people we serve. Guests will get a sense of the need that exists in these countries, and they will hear what Agros is doing to meet that need. I guarantee you, people will come away from this event deeply inspired!

What will people experience at TdV this year?

This years event will include great food, music, colorful settings, drama, a new video, and speakers from both the Northwest and Nicaragua. Our founder, Skip Li, will emcee the evening. Tim Dearborn, from World Vision, will be our keynote speaker. Other speakers include Libby Boatwright from Lake Grove Presbyterian Church in Oregon, and Mario Gaitan, our Country Director in Nicaragua.

Why is this event important to Agros?

Not only are the funds raised at this event essential in helping us break the cycle of poverty in Central America and Mexico, we also want people to hear and see the joy of transformed lives. The stories of the people in Agros villages are simply incredible, and we want people to hear them and be inspired!

Who is coming?

Everyone is invited! This is a perfect setting for those who already know about Agros as well as those who are curious and want an introduction to our work. So please invite your friends and come join us for a fun night!

When and where is it?

TdV is being held in Upper Gwinn Commons at Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, November 3, 2007. There will be a reception at 6:00 with dinner, and the program begins at 7:00. The address is 3310 6TH Ave West, Seattle. Click here for a map.

How can I get tickets?

You can order tickets in three ways. You can order online at Brown Paper Tickets, or by calling the Agros office at 206-528-1066, or by emailing Doug Haley at dough@agros.org. Tickets are $50 and include both dinner and the reception.

Anything else?

Imagine if you can what it would be like to live life in crushing poverty, with no hope for anything different. Can you imagine living without dreams or hope? Worse yet, can you imagine someone who has lived in poverty for so long that they have lost the ability to dream?

The work we do at Agros allows rural poor families to not only dream, but to actually work to make those dreams come true. We are seeing this unfold in over 6,000 lives throughout five countries. Come see how you can be part of “Challenging Despair and Bringing Dreams to Life“!

Click here for more.

As Agros continues to grow and serve the rural poor in Central America and Mexico, our team in Seattle is growing as well. Our current office location in the University District can no longer accommodate our space needs for the US staff. We are looking to relocate to a larger facility and could use your help!
We’re looking for the following:

• 4,000 – 6,000 sq ft.
• Geographic area: Northgate to SoDo/Columbia City; west of Lake Washington
• Public transit accessible; economical parking highly desirable
• Current lease ends in February – looking to move early 2008

We are doing a traditional search working with Dean Johnson from CBRE but also want our larger Agros family to be aware of our need. Please send any information or leads to Kathy Riper at kathyr@agros.org. Thanks.

This is to announce a job opening at Agros, for the new position of Service & Education Manager.  Following is a brief job description:

Primary Job Description:
Expand and manage the Agros program to train and educate partners, including donors, JWAV (Journey with a Village) champions, service team leaders and others. Oversee the entire Service Team (ST) program, maintain service team program materials, continue development of new educational and training materials about Agros’ program, and work in coordination with Agros’ Resource Development staff and Agros’ program staff as it pertains to working with partners.

Click here for more information.

This is to announce the opening of a new position at Agros. We’re seeking qualified candidates for a Service Teams Logistics Coordinator. Please read the full details on the Agros Careers page, and feel free to forward the opening to any qualified candidates.

Here at Agros, we believe that ending poverty is about restoring relationships. And anyone who cares about real relationships knows that it is not always easy, or efficient.

In North America we are constantly looking for ways to make life and business more efficient. Efficiency is part of what it is to be entrepreneurial; finding ways to do something better, faster, all the while cutting down on expenses. In today’s world, this often means eliminating personnel through technological advances such as online purchases, self check-out stands at stores, Automatic Teller Machines, etc.

Even in real estate technology, our penchant for efficiency has almost eliminated the need for real estate agents. In today’s world if you want information about the house, you don’t even have to pick up the flyer under the sign. You can go to a website and find out all you want to know about that house and more, with photos at every angle. You can virtually go through the entire selection process without even meeting the seller or dealing with an agent face-to-face. All in all, it can be a pretty depersonalized process. And yet it is efficient.

At Agros, we also believe that efficiency is important, but not in a way that sacrifices relationship. Dealing with the core, root issues of poverty, we are committed to the transformation of real lives over the long haul. Our commitment is to entire villages over the course of many years, and so relationship is integral to everything we do and to who we are.

When we talk about buying a piece of land for a new village, it is the culmination of a very complex and lengthy process that involves lots of people and lots of relationships, and at every step of the way Agros emphasizes the relationships involved – from the farmers and their families who will eventually own the land, to the relationship with the seller. It may take a year or more to form and get to know a group before Agros even begins to look for land. We don’t hire a real estate agent to look through the Multiple Listings for large farms. The people in the group look for the land. Can you imagine trying to buy a house with 30 other families involved in the process? That’s what is involved in an Agros purchase of land.

Once the land is identified, then the study and negotiations begin. Again, this is not a simple process. It involves lengthy studies at various legal offices; there are no title offices that have everything on file to make sure there is only one owner, no liens, etc. These negotiations are a very personal process for all involved. During conversations for a recent farm in Nicaragua, the owner invited all 20 people who were visiting to have a meal.

So, why does Agros go to such lengths to actually buy a piece of land – why spend so much energy focused on relationships over the course of so many years? We’ve learned that those who suffer from extreme poverty have lost their most basic connections; connections to land, to community, to one another. Poverty can never be reduced to mere economic measurements. And while we believe that providing economic opportunity is essential, we have learned that alleviating the root causes of poverty is about restoring these broken relationships in all their forms.

This is why Agros cares about relationships. They are integral to everything we do. It’s a simple idea, but a complex task. And while it may not always be efficient, perhaps a better question to ask is – is it effective? To hear villagers answer for themselves, watch this clip from our newest video:

Agros Helped To Remove All Our Misery

So while all of this is going on in the field, in my next blog post I’ll talk about how Agros goes about a similar process here in North America to develop relationships with potential partners….stay tuned!