Link for Health » Development Groups

Profile: CHOICE Humanitarian

Laura — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:21:25 +0000

CHOICE Humanitarian is ending poverty by focusing on sustainable village development. Our goal is to connect motivated villages to resources and tools to change their lives. By building skills, capacities and leadership of the villagers – the entire community brings itself out of the cycle of poverty.

CHOICE, which stands for Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange, was started in 1982 by Dr. Tim Evans. Having returned from living in the Altiplano of Bolivia for ...complete post

Profile: Transitions – UPDATED

Laura — Sat, 29 May 2010 00:22:47 +0000

UPDATE: Everyone should check out Transitions’ great new website at www.transitionsfoundation.org. Mobilization, health, rehabilitation, education, leadership…

The Transitions Foundation is committed to making a difference in the lives of Guatemalans who may otherwise have few opportunities to grow, to learn, and to become literate and productive contributors to their Guatemalan culture. They provide rehabilitation, vocational, and educational training to disabled persons through the services offered at Transitions’ training centers.

Program Objectives:

To provide life-skills training and ...complete post

Profile: Build a Nest

Laura — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:51:13 +0000

Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency.

To address some limitations to microfinance, Nest has developed a new way to ...complete post

Profile: A Thread of Hope

Marian — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:49:13 +0000

A Thread of Hope is a fair trade web store featuring items from Guatemala. Eliza Strode, the owner, is a clinical social worker who went to Guatemala in 1997 to learn Spanish. Previously a food co-op manager in Cambridge, MA, she visited a number of artisans’ cooperatives in Guatemala. Eliza started selling Fairly-Traded products from Guatemala in 2001. She has spent three to four months per year since 2007 in Guatemala working on a volunteer basis providing technical assistance to ...complete post

Profile: Maya Traditions

Laura — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:17:43 +0000

In 1988, Maya Traditions founder Jane Mintz, an experienced social worker (MSW) and weaver, began working with indigenous women artisans living in poverty in Guatemala. She observed that their skill of backstrap weaving was a chance for them to earn a stable income for their families while working from home doing what they were already good at. Maya Traditions was founded to help these skilled artisans succeed and preserve their cultures through access to a ...complete post

Profile: University of Washington Guatemala Project (UWGP)

Laura — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:20:55 +0000

The University of Washington Guatemala Project (UWGP) is a group of University of Washington students and recent alumni working to provide scholarships and vocational training for their peers in Guatemala. Their project is jointly designed and supported by UW students/alumni and the Movimiento de Trabajadores Campesinos (MTC), a non-governmental organization based in San Marcos, Guatemala.

This project, organized entirely at the initiative of students in the UW’s 2005, 2006, and 2007 Exploration Seminars and Study Abroad ...complete post

Profile: The Borlaug Institute / Texas A&M

Laura — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:25:08 +0000

The Borlaug Institute provides the global outreach of Texas A&M Agriculture. Their faculty, scientists, and students are involved in over 100 countries around the world to better international agriculture. Funded by the USDA, the Borlaug has implemented a three-year agricultural extension program to benefit the indigenous Mayan communities in Guatemala.

Agriculture in Guatemala: Technology, Education, and Commercialization (AGTEC) will increase access to new markets, technology, and knowledge for high-value agricultural products in Guatemala, including bioenergy crops and non-traditional ...complete post

Profile: Vanderbilt University Center for Latin American Studies

Laura — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:27:05 +0000

In 2006, The Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) was designated a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education. While maintaining one of the strongest concentrations of Brazilianists of any university in the United States, the Center’s renowned faculty also has particular strengths in Mesoamerican anthropology and archaeology, the study of democracy building and economic development, Latin American literature and languages, and African populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Center ...complete post

Profile: Ak’Tenamit

Laura — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:37:41 +0000

Ak’ Tenamit means “New Village” in the Q’eqchi Mayan language, because their organization is transforming life in the Q’eqchi villages of eastern Guatemala. Those villages are located around the Río Dulce, far from the nearest road – most are reached by a boat trips and hikes through the rain forest – and they lack electricity, running water and basic sanitation. When Ak’ Tenamit was founded in 1992 by a small group of foreign volunteers and ...complete post

Profile: Fotokids

Laura — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:12:51 +0000

Teaching children to dream is the first step in their believing in a future.

Fotokids was founded by ex-Reuters photographer, Nancy McGirr in 1991, with 6 children from the City’s vast garbage dump. Over the years, the organization has grown to include both rural poor and urban gang areas. Fotokids, including an environmental photo project in Honduras, now serves130 children from 6 distinct communities. Students are given educational scholarships covering primary school through university. Although documentary photography remains ...complete post