Maya Villages
Economic and Social Empowerment Program
(Toledo District, Belize)
A Request for "C" Club support for a Global Grant
sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cochrane, Alberta
Contact: Michael Bopp, Chair, International Committee
Telephone: 403-852-8283 (cell); email: anyone@fourworlds.ca
Background
Three villages in the Toledo District of Belize near the southern border with Guatemala were selected for this project after considerable consultation with a local Rotary club and an extensive process of community engagement. These villages are Santa Cruz, Santa Elena and Pueblo Viejo. The residents of these villages are among the poorest people in Belize with an average income of approximately 1/10 of the average income of the rest of the country.
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Consultation about the proposed Global Grant and Bridging Project with a focus group of women from the three villages.
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A participatory community needs assessment was carried out in November 2018 by a joint team of Rotarians from the Punta Gorda Club of Belize and the Rotary Club of Cochrane, Alberta. The results of that needs assessment were verified through another community engagement process conducted by the same team in September 2019 (detailed needs assessment report available). The findings of these consultations are summarized below under the following five categories: 1) Improving agriculture; 2) developing other viable livelihood options; 3) improving the lives of women; 4) enhancing infrastructure, and 5) strengthening leadership and local development institutions. Following is a brief summary of those findings.
1. Improving agriculture: It is no longer possible for Maya households to earn the cash they need by selling surplus agricultural products as they had done for many generations before. Low demand, higher input costs and falling prices, soils depleted from monocropping and reliance on chemical fertilizers, and competition from Mennonite farmers who own large tracts of land and are highly mechanized are some of the common factors that have created the near collapse of the Maya agricultural economy. There is a strong need for some kind of farmer owned and operated organization to educate farmers about sustainable agricultural practices, new and alternative cropping methods, and more sustainable soil and land management practices; to work on value-added product development; and to provide systematic help with marketing.
2. Developing other viable livelihood options: Ninety percent of Mayan families are living below the poverty line, and many are living on less than two dollars a day, which is the global cut off for extreme poverty. Poverty is one important reason why many children are not able to continue their education past primary school and why people become ill and even die without access to adequate healthcare. Many communities in this area would like to further develop ethnic-tourism as an alternative to relying on the sale of agricultural products. Developing this sector will include incubating new products and new businesses through better access to credit, viable partnerships, technical expertise and markets. Value-added agriculture in the form of the production of products such as chocolate, jellies, jams and dried fruit are also possible options.
3. Improving the lives of women: Currently most Maya women are relegated to managing the household (a task made immensely difficult by the lack of access to clean drinking water and electricity) and bearing children. Most have not been able to go to secondary or post-secondary school. An initiative designed to improve the condition of Maya women might include the following components: the creation of special opportunities for women such as a small business training and loans program, promotion of secondary and post-secondary education for women, improved access to health services for women and their families, and the mobilization of men to be champions for improving the lives and wellbeing of women and of preventing violence against them. The fundamental problem runs deep into the history of Spanish rule, colonialism and the gradual erosion of traditional Maya culture, which highly valued women and afforded them an honoured place in family and community life. Currently, old guard community leaders tend to view women as second-class citizens and always prioritize sons over daughters in terms of providing educational opportunities. Women have little to no voice in community development decision-making, and the potential economic power that women could bring to the region has yet to be unlocked. Younger generations of men are seeing this issue and are open to supporting women's empowerment as a strategy that is good for everyone.
4. Enhancing infrastructure: The most pressing infrastructure need is for access to a safe water supply. A second urgent infrastructure need is for electricity that will make it much easier for students to be able to study and operate computers and tablets which they are expected to use once they are in secondary school.
5. Strengthening leadership and local development institutions: Community leaders were clear in identifying their need for capacity building that focuses on strengthening the institution of the Village Council as a development-promoting body. They want training related to community development planning, fundraising, financial and project management, community engagement, and other key issues related to improving economic and social outcomes for their community members. They want to become more effective at advocating for their needs with government. And, most of all, they want to become less dependent on outside charity and development assistance and more able to manage and sustain their own development. The development of a strong women's council is also seen as a vital need, because currently women are basically unorganized and unable to give voice to their needs and concerns or to work together to improve their lives and that of their families.
Actions Taken as a Results of the Needs Assessment
In consultation with Rotary partners in Belize and with village leaders, a twofold plan was made.
< >In the long run, it was agreed that an application for a global grant would be prepared and submitted in time for the May deadline for submission of district grants in Alberta in 2020In the short run, it was recognized that the time it would take to prepare a global grant, secure matching funding, submit, get approved and get money to the ground would probably take a whole year, and would therefore leave these communities hanging in a process that had begun with initial visits in 2018. It was therefore decided to immediately mount an interim or "bridging" project. Accordingly, a small bridging project focused on women's economic empowerment and livelihood improvement was launched in the fall of 2019 and continues to this day. This much smaller project was funded directly out of the Rotary Club of Cochrane's International budget for $15,000. An additional $5000 is being raised from other sources, including district funding in Belize applied for by the Punta Gorda Club.
The Proposed Global Grant
Following are the primary goals of the proposed Global Grant, entitled Maya Villages Economic and Social Empowerment Program
Goal #1: Through training and mentoring support, to strengthen the capacity of grassroots people, village leaders, councils and other groups providing leadership in each of the three villages that are in the project area to design, support and manage social and economic development initiatives that contribute to greater household and community prosperity and wellbeing.
Goal #2: Enhance the role and voice of women in community decision-making and development-promoting initiatives through training, support for the formation of women's councils, and access to small grants for women's livelihood improvement projects.
Goal #3: Facilitate the design and implementation of three small (one each for youth, men and women) and one larger village level economic and social development projects in each of the targeted villages (that will facilitate learning how to lead and manage development initiatives by actually doing development initiatives) through the provision of training, seed grants and mentoring support to village-level leadership bodies and to project implementing teams.
Goal #4: Enhance the capacity of village institutions and leaders to develop effective relationships and partnerships with government and nongovernment agencies that will be able to help address critical development issues and challenges.
Proposed project duration: 24 months.
Beyond two years: We view this project as a pilot through which some communities will be improved and strengthened, but also through which implementing partners, including several Rotary clubs in Canada and one in Belize, will learn how to effectively work with these Maya villages to build capacity for sustainable economic and social development. There are more than 40 Impoverished Maya villages in Toledo District, and our intention is to expand on the basis of what is learned from this initial project to a much more regional approach that will involve many more communities. However, that will be a phase II project.
Proposed global grant total budget – $150,000
An invitation to Learning
Rotary International has shifted its focus in global grants toward building grassroots capacity and toward sustainability rather than simply giving charity. In the past, many international Rotary projects have focused on delivering some good to communities: installing water systems, solar lighting systems, building schools, houses and other infrastructure—in other words, going in and figuring out that people need XYZ and then figuring out how to give it to them. So, in comes the Rotary people who build XYZ or somehow put it in place, and that's it. Project a success.
The challenge is that those kinds of projects most often don't leave behind any grassroots capacity to deal with the next develop and problem that comes along, or often even to deal with the breakdown of the XYZ solution that was brought.
The Rotary club of Cochrane has undertaken this project in Belize explicitly as a learning opportunity. Through hands-on engagement with many of our club members, we are learning how to take a participatory, community-driven and sustainable approach to improving economic and social outcomes.
We invite any and all Rotary clubs to join us in this learning adventure. We especially invite potential "C" club contributors to join us as partners in on the ground learning. Send some people down to Belize with us. Help us to design training, coaching and mentoring processes or to deliver them. There are 1001 things to do, and therefore a thousand and one ways to learn.
The Ask
Join us as a "C" Club contributor to a great project. But don't wait. We urgently need your commitment now (by April 15). The money will not flow out of your accounts until sometime in the new Rotary year when the actual project is approved.
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