PC(USA) - SDOP - Projects - Central America


	Central America Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua

	Belize

	Flower Water				$12,000

	Fifteen co-op members came together to grow crops during the dry season. This project enables them to provide money for themselves and their families and thus sustain themselves. (2006)


	Costa Rica

	Octavio Ortiz Community				$12,000

	A group of people organized themselves to sell their produce directly to the consumer by purchasing a used five-ton truck. The truck will be used to transport cattle, grains and vegetables and thereby improve the standard of living of the community members. (2006)

	Community Development Association				$25,000

	This project is focused in a community that lacks a working water system that produces clean drinking water for everyday use. The creation of a potable water system for the entire community will have a tremendously positive impact on the everyday quality of life in Cabanas. (2006)

	Development Association				$15,000

	This is a project comprised of 216 women from four communities that came together to farm and thus produce, consume and sell quality food. Group members also raise chickens and rabbits. The members received training in organization, administration and accounting. The project will help the women, their children and other family members move out of poverty. (2006)

	Job Creation Project, “Tortillas La Unica,” Women’s Union of Ococa (Grupo UMO), San Jose				$3,109

	This group of women is responding to the economic crisis in their community by creating locally paid jobs through the production and sale of tortillas. The project serves as an example to other women who want to organize in the same way. (2003)


	El Salvador

	Community San Luis, Cumunidad Aguacayo				$20,000

	This community had to buy water from the municipality, which is two kilometers from the community. By building a well with an electronic pump, more than fifty-seven families will experience improved health, nourishment and a huge savings in transportation expenses. (2003)

	Adesco/Pastoral Agents, Berlin, Usulutan				$25,000

	A group of 81 families living three or more kilometers from the city of Berlin came together to develop a way to bring electricity to their homes and farms through the installation of solar panels. Such a system reduces the costs families now pay for batteries, gas lamps and candles and improve health and safety conditions as well. (2004)

	Production of Brown Sugar Loaf, Community El Chaperno de Santa Maria de Ostuma, Santa Maria de Ostuma Municipality				$27,000

	In early 2001, this agricultural community was completely destroyed by an earthquake. This project is aimed at reconstructing their sugar cane crops, which will result in the production of jobs. (2001)


	Guatemala

	Development Committee “El Rincon,”San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango				$12,500

	Deforested land is not only unproductive, it is also vulnerable to mudslides. Wood used for cooking from these forests is now not only hard to find, but was a health hazard due to the smoke. This project will grow trees to reforest newly acquired, but badly deforested land and build improved cooking stoves. (2004)

	Development Local Group, La Esperanza				$10,000

	Not having an opportunity to study and develop a trade, this community needed to develop an alternate form of income. They discovered that there was money in garbage. By sorting the local garbage, they were able to find valuable items that could be resold. This project provides them with the machinery and training they need to do this more effectively and efficiently. (2004)

	Indigenous Association of Integral Development				$20,000

	Low-income people came together to fight poverty conditions in order to generate income for their families by raising and selling chickens. They will also learn how to administer the poultry farm. SDOP funds will enable them to purchase needed materials for the poultry farms. (2005)

	Cooperative Zelabaj in Guatemala, Zelabaj, Quetzaltenango				$20,640

	This project provides the women of this community resources and training necessary to begin and manage their own businesses. They will learn to sew, use computers, market and sell products, and manage their own accounts. (2001)


	Honduras

	Producers of Cream and Cheese San Isidro				$19,800

	Co-op members of this group deliver cream and cheese by bicycle. Unfortunately, they are limited to the area they serve by this means of transportation. The group decided to purchase a truck to increase their deliveries and sell more products and a freezer to store excess product. (2005)

	EBENEZER Women Micro-Company Francisco-Morazan				$17,600

	The group organized to create a company to make sewing products, which will drastically change their life conditions and improve their economic viability. (2005)

	Luchando Por La Vida, Trujillo, Colon				$13,400

	Imagine improving the health of an entire village of 10,000 people while also generating income for members of that same village. This group of nine women will now be able to produce mosquito nets, which will not only dramatically reduce the number of malaria cases but also increase employment opportunities. (2003)

	Strengthen the Land for Cattle Guayaman, Intibuca				$19,042

	In an effort to diversify their current failing rice farming, this group purchased and raises cattle to improve the nutritional intake and obtain better health care for their families. (2002)


	Mexico

	Construcciones Ecologicas Lopez SC de RL, Ciudad Obregon, Sonora				$27,525

	This community, using local and natural resources, such as mud, straw, reeds, bamboo and the like, will now be able to build more affordable and comfortable homes with the equipment they are able to purchase. (2003)

	Workers Rights and Union Democracy, Reynosa				$19,000

	Through the formation of this group, workers in this community will be able to realize and protect their rights in areas of compensation, the use of hazardous products, racism, sexual harassment and other injustices. (2003)

	Women of the Community, Tamaulipas				$9,710

	Widows and single mothers who are unemployed or earn low wages have decided to increase not only their standard of living, but also their self-esteem by developing handcrafts and clothing for sale in their community. (2003)

	Colonia Cinco de Mayo, Noglaes				$16,400

	A group of eleven single mothers and fathers are working together to begin a sewing factory that will make use of their skills so they can improve their living standards. (2003)

	Las Mujeres de Esperanza y Fe, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahue				$10,000

	This sewing cooperative of 23 women will produce handcrafted items to improve standards of living through education in bookkeeping, English, marketing and leadership development. (2001)


	Nicaragua

	Hermanamiento San Luis Mo. Rio Abajo, San Juan de Limay				$14,407

	Water is critical to life. But, clean water is even more important. With this project, individual families will be able to have clean, running water in their homes, grow vegetable gardens, raise poultry and do other activities, which will promote improved nutrition. (2003)

	Roofs for Housing, San Buena Ventura Development Committee				$18,255

	This project entails providing roofs for 125 families. Previously, 90 percent of houses in this community had plastic roofs. The project is needed because of the poor living conditions of these families.

	Families from El Corozo, El Jicaro, El Zarzal, Santa Teresa and El Castillo				$17,700
	A group of poor families lacking basic services and access to schools, health services and markets came together to build wells, repair roads and construct a pedestrian bridge. The roads and bridge will link their community to markets for their agricultural products and thus help to increase the families’ incomes. (2006)



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