Agros Blog

We have some exciting developments in Agros Mexico right now with the opening of a new region in Chiapas.  Over the past year we have been working to assess the feasibility of working on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, to start new Agros communities with Guatemalan refugees who fled during the civil war to Mexico.  There are over 6,000 refugees who escaped to Mexico in the 1980s and have chosen to remain and become Mexican citizens.  Most live in poverty and suffer from discrimination for being both indigenous and Guatemalan.  Agros Mexico undertook a feasibility study and in the process identified dozens of potential groups with which we could work, to help the families break out of poverty through land ownership and the Agros model.

The first group that Agros will work with is in its final stages of the selection process, and a piece of land has been identified.  We are working through our village approval process and if all the key criteria are met will be starting this village in late August, including purchasing the land.  Twenty-five families who come from great suffering and turmoil will be given a new opportunity and new hope.

We have also been selected as finalists for the 2008 Global Development Marketplace competition through the World Bank, with a proposal based on the work to be started in this new region of Mexico.  The proposal is for $200,000 to help start two Agros communities with indigenous populations.  Out of the original 1,700 proposals they received, 100 organizations have been chosen to continue after a rigorous review of the applications by 200 development specialists.  Agros was one of them!

The 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, DM has awarded about $40 million (US) to more than 1,000 projects through global, regional and country level marketplaces.  Using DM funding as a launching pad, many projects have gone on to scale up or replicate elsewhere.

The 2008 DM competition sought proposals on the theme of Sustainable Agriculture for Development with sub-themes that address agriculture as an engine of growth, agriculture as an instrument of poverty alleviation and agriculture as a provider of environmental services.  We will now submit a more detailed proposal and are invited to attend the Marketplace Event September 23-26 in Washington, D.C. where 20 organizations from the 100 finalists will be awarded grants.  Both Sergio Sanchez, our Agros Mexico Director, and myself will be attending.  You can see the other finalists here.