PROGRAMAS
Our 8 work programs contribute directly to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations Development Program; and promote the adoption of "Solutions Based on Nature" to the great challenges of the Guatemalan Society.
Arcs of Life
FUNDAECO has supported the conservation of natural forests, contributing to the protection of key habitats for endemic and threatened species of plants, reptiles, mammals, birds and amphibians.
FUNDAECO also promotes long term sustainability for the protection of forests through the Caribbean Guatemala REDD+ Project, with the participation of more than 500 landowners and the ambitious effort to protect 55,000 hectares of forest during the next 30 years.
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Living Oceans
We protect marine life and implement strategies for coastal community’s development of Guatemala and Mesoamerica.
FUNDAECO has established a network of 9 Fishery Replenishment Zones, in which communities participate and benefit from the sustainable management of marine habitats.
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Eco Villages and Sustainable Development
We support families through productive and sustainable development projects, as part of our strategies for poverty reduction. These projects include agroforestry systems with cacao, black pepper, cardamom and cinnamon.
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Healthy and Empowered Women and Girls
FUNDAECO seeks to empower women and girls from isolated communities within protected areas in Guatemala, through access to sexual and reproductive health, access to family planning methods and education, and the promotion of leadership opportunities. Empowered women will make the best decisions for their families, their communities and the environment.
Through the program “Healthy and Empowered Women and Girls” FUNDAECO has integrated sexual and reproductive health issues within its overall approach to protected area management, and sustainable community development. The design, establishment and operation of local Women Clinics has become a vehicle for women´s empowerment and increased participation in all aspects of community life, including the improved management and protection of natural resources.
FUNDAECO promotes the culture pertinence of the services provided in the clinics; for this, community midwives are trained and registered with the Ministry of Health to ensure that services are provided in the local maya languages (including Mam, Chuj, Q´anjobal´and Q´eqchi).
During the past 11 years, FUNDAECO has established 34 Women Clinic rural areas, where Sexual and Reproductive Health services are provided for women and girls reaching a coverage of more than 16,000 people. Providing SSR services to the most remote places of the protected areas of Izabal, Petén, Huehuetenango and Quiché.
In 2015, in order to strengthen the impact of the program, FUNDAECO created a support line to promote primary, secondary and higher education among young girls, who are the most vulnerable to dropout due to early pregnancy. To date, the scholarship program has graduated over 200 teenagers and young girls from the elementary and high school. In 2019 alone, 48 young girls were granted with a scholarship in the Caribbean region of Guatemala, most of them motivated by their participation in the Basic Human Rights and Women Empowerment Diploma.
FUNDAECO has created an alliance with the Ministry of Education to develop processes of integral education and SRH in more than 60 educational establishments in Huehuetenango and Izabal.
. FUNDAECO ´s innovative model breaks traditional barriers among disciplines, ensures service delivery to indigenous women in isolated communities within protected areas, combines modern healthcare with traditional indigenous knowledge, empowers and supports traditional midwives and links them to the Public Health services,
ensures sustainability of “women´s clinics” through self-management and user fees, focuses on creating demand with a culturally pertinent perspective among rural youth, and links maternal and neonatal health with sustainable rural development and biodiversity conservation.
We believe this model can bring a focalized solution to the many structural problems affecting women, thus creating in well organized and empowered communities.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
-Improve women and girls health conditions, with an emphasis on Sexual and Reproductive Health, in rural populations living in protected areas.
-Promote and grow opportunities for comprehensive scholarship training and youth leadership for girls and boys, women and young men in protected areas.
-Promote women economic empowerment through community organization, local development and resilience to climate change
Impact Indicators:
A network of 45 Community Women Clinics providing basic health and SRH services with cultural relevance to indigenous women and girls living in remote protected areas.
A total of 200 grantees from the scholarship program, assuming community leadership roles and promoting their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights.
A fair-trade network of women lead sustainable entrepreneurships, making non-timber handicrafts
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Ecotourism and Ecological Culture
We empower communities to participate and benefit from eco-tourism in 5 Nature Reserves in the Caribbean Region
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Sustainable Cities
We work in the establishment of the Metropolitan Greenbelt, a network of 4 sites that provides ecosystem services, education and recreational areas for urban population, as well as a habitat for endemic and threaten species.
