AGROAMERICA WILL CREATE A HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER IN THE AREA OF THE TRIFINIO, SOUTHWESTERN PART OF GUATEMALA

Guatemala, November 2012. Agroamérica has begun the process of creating a Human Development Center-CDH- (for its initials in Spanish) in the southwestern part of Guatemala, region where a high number of the companies? workers live. Through health and education centers this center will contribute to improve the standard of living of the inhabitants of the communities located in the trifinio (point where three territorial divisions converge) of Retalhuleu, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango, specially for the workers of Agroamérica and their families.

The project comes to life due to the food security program- Happy Families- that has been implemented during the last four years in five communities, giving benefits to more than 400 participating mothers and their families and more than 500 children.

In order to improve the program and have a greater impact, Agroamérica made a partnership with the hospital of the University of Colorado-Colorado Children’s Hospital-, with whom they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to make the best of their experience on the public health topic and in programs for mothers in the rural areas, such as the program Colorado Bright Beginnings.

The mission of the CDH will be to grant opportunities for the integral development of low-income people, families and communities located in the southwestern trifinio of the country, to achieve their wellbeing, improve their standard of living and contribute to eradicate poverty in the area.

Agroamerica seeks to teach and implement self-management models for integrated rural development generating wealth and competitive development, through human and technical education and comprehensive health services, among the families of the trifinio.

The CDH will offer basic health and education services to more than 25 communities located in the southwestern trifinio, where more than 6,000 families live. This translates in benefits to more than 30 thousand people.

Progress

In the area of education, Escuela Fernando Bolaños, was founded 2 years ago with pre-elementary and elementary school. In the health area, a group of doctors of the University of Colorado visited the communities, made a diagnosis of the situation and a baseline study. In the area of infrastructure, students of architecture of the same university visited the zone, designed a health center, a research and training center, and proposed to build a housing development with local alternative materials and a community construction company.

At this time, a team from the University of Colorado is training the staff of “Happy Families” in a registry system; plans are being made for the medical clinics and the hostels for the doctors and a second phase for Escuela Fernando Bolaños is being built.