Climate Action Mexico Project #36387

Home Gardens for 200 Families, Oaxaca, Mexico

by EcoLogic Development Fund

Project Report | Sep 28, 2020
Moving Forward in San Jose Chiltepec

By Severiana Dominguez | Project Technician, FARCO-EcoLogic

Ofelia shares her hopes for her garden & community

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Greetings from La Chinantla! First of all, thank you so much for your generous support during GlobalGiving’s recent Little by Little Campaign. You have made it possible for us to move forward with the implementation of home gardens where they are greatly needed in the community of San José Chiltepec. Over the last weeks I have been focusing on:

Getting the green light from local authorities the Municipal Council of San José Chiltepec to hold our workshops. As I mentioned in my last update, during the pandemic we have prioritized safety and have been following all guidance from national and local authorities. As such, we needed to get permission from the municipal authority and present a plan outlining the safety protocols and measures that would be taken, based on the recommendations of the Secretary of Health. In advance of the first workshop, we carried out a disinfectant cleaning, distributed face masks, and hand sanitizer to workshop participants. In addition, during the workshop, we ensured that the proper distance was maintained between each participant.

Holding a workshop on the establishment and management of home gardens. Last week, I led the workshop on the use and management of home gardens. The 10 families we worked with emphasized their importance due to the improvement in food security. They are very interested in producing their own food with fast-growing species that they can use in the shortest possible time, such as radish, onion, squash, cucumber, green beans, and chili peppers. These vegetables are part of their daily diet and due to the increase in prices and shortages in local markets, they have become a necessity.

Visits to 10 families where the home gardens will be implemented. After the workshop, I visited the sites where each family will establish its home garden and made specific technical recommendations for each place. At each site, we decided where the best place would be and established the basic layouts to begin orchard management tasks. The next step will be to prepare the substrate to establish the seedbeds and finally planting the seeds.

I look forward to keeping you updated as we move forward--we truly could not do it without you! I hope you and your loved ones continue to stay safe and healthy.

In solidarity,

Severiana Dominguez, Project Technician

Oaxaca, México

Selecting and establishing garden sites

Transporting materials to the community

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Jun 2, 2020
Home Gardens: Resilience During a Pandemic

By Marco Acevedo | Program Officer, EcoLogic

Learning about our home gardens in Honduras

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

I hope you and your loved ones have been able to stay safe and healthy during these unprecedented times! Just like in most countries around the world, in Mexico, we are feeling the effects of COVID-19. Since March, we have been on orders to stay at home and practice social distancing. Our priority is to keep our staff and communities protected. The number of Coronavirus cases in my country have been steadily increasing, but have concentrated mostly in urban centers. The more isolated and rural communities where we work remain vigilant, practicing safety measures, and keeping outsiders from coming into their villages.

We had scheduled a workshop with the communities for March 15 to implement an agroforestry parcel with cacao and home gardens. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the activities because of COVID-19. Of course, our work hasn’t stopped over that time. We keep in touch with the communities through phone calls and providing vital information about the situation and the safety measures that should always be considered.

Overall, the EcoLogic team and our partners have also taken advantage of this time to share experiences with each other, discuss our work on the ground, and how we can improve or enhance our interventions. It has been a very enriching experience, to have the time to take a step back and have these discussions with our own team, and outside experts as well. The virtual workshops that we had included topics like agroforestry with cacao, gender inclusion, community empowerment, home gardens, and similarities and differences in all the countries where EcoLogic has presence and projects.

These home gardens are providing resilience and helping rural families in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras navigate these challenging times right now. Thank you! But we anticipate there will be broader food insecurity as the ability to get key supplies or sell their products in town centers continues to be restricted. This is, of course, a big concern. We are in dialogue with our local staff and partners, to continue providing support in this regard--expanding our work with home gardens to respond to immediate needs.

We’re eager to resume our activities once the government gives the “green light.” I look forward to keeping you updated on the experiences of these communities as we move forward in these challenging times. Thanks again for your support, it gives me the strength to keep fighting for my people and my country each and every day!

In solidarity,

Marco Acevedo, Program Officer, EcoLogic Development Fund

Uses of home garden products in Guatemala

Another nutritious garden product in Guatemala

With colleagues on remote session (me: lower ctr)

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Jan 29, 2020
Update from Oaxaca

By Severiana Dominguez | Project Technician, FARCO, Mexico

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

The five families who were supported by GlobalGiving in 2019 established their local home gardens and produced cucumbers, coriander, chives, pumpkins, watermelon, and green beans.

These families were trained on how to trace and identify areas for the establishment of their home gardens. Our objective with this group was strengthening and anchoring capacities to develop holistic management of family gardens. We were able to achieve success by supplying families with basic food and organic products. We emphasized the use of simple but efficient practices without the use of pesticides or fertilizers, so families could continue learning and promote these practices to other families.

At this moment we are conducting meetings with the families who participated in the establishment of home gardens to start the 2020 planting process. Leveraging the experience from the previous cycle we will use the same planting beds for the next season and we will add an additional training to make organic fertilizers to enhance their home gardens. We are also going to incorporate a seed bank to lower the costs and secure the seeds for future production cycles.

In addition, we worked with the community to develop a comprehensive analysis of five non-timber forest products that grow in La Chinantla Baja (xate palm, coffee, vanilla, cacao, and Maya nut). The communities have been analyzing the information on each of these products in relation to production, market, minimum requirements to sell, costs and benefits of the product. The community has now organized and is interested in developing a business plan around vanilla production.

We are very proud of our results and we look forward to the next update--we couldn’t do it without you!

Thanks again for your support

Severiana Dominguez, Project Technician

Severiana, the author, during a planning session

Vanilla growing in La Chinantla

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