Since 2009, Seeds for a Future has enabled rural Guatemalans to dramatically increase their health, nutrition, and incomes. The Seeds Program employs a long-term strategy of self-reliance, using the following elements: 1) Providing training, seedlings, and starter animals that families use to create their own permaculture gardens and protein sources. 2) Nutrition and health education. 3) Micro-business coaching. As of 2025, over 5,200 families have graduated from the Program.
In Guatemala, malnutrition affects 47% of children under the age of 5 and up to 70% of children in indigenous communities. Limited access to education, climate change, and the pandemic have all worsened conditions in rural areas. These high levels of chronic malnutrition have detrimental and irreversible effects on the mental and physical development of children, and further perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
The Seeds for a Future Program fosters long-term food security through the practice of permaculture and regenerative agriculture. Families receive training, resources, and 1:1 support to build and maintain organic home gardens with nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens. Our team of local leaders provides further training in kitchen hygiene and raising small animal protein. This holistic, embedded approach is time-tested and puts home-grown food on families' tables every day!
By producing their own sustainable and nutritious foods, the chronic malnutrition and diseases that have long plagued rural Guatemala families can be significantly reduced. Self-sufficiency and self-reliance become embedded in the families, which also have a ripple effect on their community. An outcome of the Seeds Program is that it can also increase incomes, creating more choices and opportunities. These impacts become generational, breaking long-standing cycles of poverty and malnutrition.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
