Improving Food Security of Chorti & Xinka Indigenous Families
Partner: Centro Integral De Educacion Cientifica Patzun
This one-year village development project is taking place in the region of Copan Ruinas, Honduras, and Jalapa, Guatemla, and is being operated by Floridalma Lopez, from the Centro Integral De Educacion Cientifica Patzun, a Guatemalan education centre.
The program makes use of peer training and community cross-visits among women of the two areas, considered two of the most impoverished indigenous groups in Central America.
The Maya Chorti is an indigenous population living on either side of the Honduran/Guatemalan border. They have the lowest UN Human Development Index in Central America. Women’s groups in villages near Copan, Honduras have successfully implemented a program focused on installing improved stoves in their homes and learning the successful management of laying hens.
The Xinka is a non-Mayan indiginous group in neighbouring Jalapa, Guatemala, that shares a similar position on the human development index. This group has developed a successful school that focuses on healing the fear these women face, and transforming them into a force for development in the communities.
The program has three main facets: a native hen program, a smokeless stove initiaitve, and a food storage initiative. An estimated 100 families will receive either training in the raising of native hens or stove development; and there will be a community corn supply project including establishment of a storage facility to stockpile corn during harvest, for use and sale when personal stores run low.
For more information on the project, please see the “Project Agreement” and “Report” links to the right.