ALDEA: Advancing Local Development through Empowerment and Action
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Mission Statement
We organize our work around one overarching objective: to reduce chronic childhood malnutrition in Mayan communities in rural Guatemala. The cornerstone of our programs is empowerment. We develop the leadership and problem-solving skills of women, men, and youth to address both the dietary and environmental root causes of childhood malnutrition. We focus on preventing malnutrition from occurring in the first place by emphasizing good nutrition during the first 1000 days – the short window of opportunity that includes pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life. Helping communities provide good nutrition and a healthy environment during this critical window of opportunity provides a lifetime of lasting benefits to children.
About This Cause
ALDEA: Advancing Local Development through Empowerment and Action (formerly Behrhorst Partners for Development) has been involved in health and development in the Department of Chimaltenango in Guatemala since the 1960s, when Dr. Carroll Behrhorst founded a vitally needed health program. From the start, he trained community leaders and promoted durable solutions to the root causes of poverty. Within a few years, the program grew into a creative center for health and development activities, pioneering an array of village-based approaches. ALDEA was established in the United States in 1967 to support this innovative program, and we continue to do so more almost fifty years later. In 2006, ALDEA helped to create Asociación BPD in Guatemala (ABPD), an independent organization that ALDEA funds to carry out our work. Approximately 80 percent of the population in Chimaltenango is indigenous Kaqchikel. Throughout Guatemala, social and economic marginalization has left the indigenous worse off than the rest of the population. This pattern holds true in rural Chimaltenango where between 50 and 90 percent of Kaqchikel children under five are suffering the dire consequences of malnutrition. In 2012, ALDEA and ABPD developed a joint strategic plan to reduce the rate of chronic malnutrition among these children, putting a new generation on the road to health and well-being. We do this by using an evidence-based, integrated approach that is grounded in a synthesis of international research, results from previous project evaluations, inputs from members of local community development councils, and advice from other key informants. Because they are complementary and mutually reinforcing, these components help to reduce chronic childhood malnutrition, giving a new generation the opportunity to reach their full potential. Our Components: 1. Mobilize and empower communities to achieve local development. 2. Nutrition education and focus on the first 1,000 days. 3. Increase access to water and household hygiene and sanitation (latrines and vented stoves). 4. Ensure food security (sustainable agriculture). 5. Increase access to family planning. 6. Assist communities to respond to natural disasters and reduce their vulnerability to future disasters. Our integrated approach: Empowering women to actively participate in community and household decision-making about community infrastructure, food production, and child care Empowering young people to become change agents and emerging leaders in their communities Focusing on the first 1,000 days, and encouraging breastfeeding and the timely introduction of appropriate weaning foods Assisting communities to build potable water systems that bring clean, running water to every home, reducing exposure to water-borne illnesses Installing more efficient cook-stoves that use less firewood and reduce the indoor air pollution that causes respiratory problems and other illnesses Building vented latrines and training communities on hygiene and sanitation Helping families to start home gardens and raise goats for milk to diversify the traditional local diet of corn and beans with animal protein, vegetables, and grains Increasing access to information about family planning and providing family planning methods Strengthening community resiliency to recurring disasters We begin our approach by working with the existing Community Development Committee to develop the project agreements, which include the inputs from ALDEA, the local municipality, and the community itself. Our Guatemala-based ABPD field staff is Mayan and come from the area of intervention. They speak the indigenous Kaqchikel language and have an intimate understanding of the context of the population with whom they work. We implement our projects using the internationally recognized SARAR method. This participatory training method has been recognized for its suitability for rural populations, and emphasizes the strengths, knowledge and experiences of the individual communities. Using this approach, communities identify their problems and the solutions to these problems without relying on input from development experts. Once these issues have been identified, ABPD works in partnership with the communities to resolve these issues. Our water and sanitation projects provide communities with the infrastructure they need to combat gastrointestinal illnesses. These components include household safe drinking water systems, gray water filters which reduce the contamination caused by used water, latrines which safely dispose of human waste, and efficient stoves that use less wood and create a home environment free of smoke. Even adequately nourished children can lose valuable nutrients and become malnourished due to high incidences of diarrhea caused by lack of access to clean water and latrines. Smoke from stoves inhibits the proper absorption of nutrients and causes respiratory infections that weaken children’s immune systems, making them more susceptible to illness. Improved hygiene and sanitation offers children a better opportunity to achieve and sustain a healthy level of nourishment. Our nutrition education component offers training to women on exclusive breastfeeding and the gradual introduction of solid foods to children at six months. We provide training on preparing nutritious recipes and appropriate forms of cooking. The agricultural component offers the opportunity to have a family garden for the production of fruits and vegetables, offering diversity to the contemporary diet of grains and beans. We teach sustainable techniques for improving grain production (beans and corn) and post-harvest management. Guatemala is being severely impacted by climate change, and we seek to adapt to this new reality by introducing appropriate seed saving techniques, terracing, and other strategies. Our goat program provides children between the ages of two and five and women with needed animal proteins via the consumption of goat milk. The family planning component promotes trainings on the benefits of being able to decide how many children to have and when, and facilitates access to family planning methods for interested families. The number of and spacing of children has a tremendous impact on the nutritional status of children under five. The community empowerment component works primarily with women and youth. Women and youth become aware of their specific rights and responsibilities, and learn to become leaders, allowing them to actively participate in their communities’ development. Our theory is that empowered communities lead their own development and create healthier communities over time. Our disaster risk reduction component supports communities in identifying risks to which they are subject as well as their vulnerabilities and their capacity to reduce said vulnerabilities by creating disaster risk reduction plans. In the event of a natural disaster, we work with communities on their recovery, especially as it concerns food security and water and sanitation. As part of each of our trainings, we share biscuits and other refreshments that are made in the area and are enriched with highly nutritious plants such as moringa, chia, or amaranth. These are especially important to women and children. Vitamins and micro nutrients are also provided to the program participants. In order to be successful in reducing chronic childhood malnutrition using our integrated approach, we have to focus immediately on raising the current nutritional status of children via food inputs. The full integrated approach is implemented in a two year period. During our first year in a community, we train local promotors who then train the community on proper maintenance and use of the stoves and other infrastructure. During the second year of the project, our staff continues to assist and monitor the promotors. Once the project ends, we return to evaluate the status of the projects every six months. Each of these evaluation periods includes personal interviews with families to determine if they are using the stoves properly, and to ensure that the stoves are being maintained. If stoves are not being properly utilized and maintained, we hold additional trainings on the benefits of the stoves, and proper maintenance and usage. Sustainability is built into our projects by virtue of the fact that the community itself selects their projects, develops their plan of action, and enlists families and individuals for the training, maintenance and construction of the infrastructure.