MADRE partners with Muixil, a community based organization of Indigenous Ixil women in Guatemala. Together, we founded Farming for the Future, a collective income-generating project that provides the Ixil women living in poverty with economic independence and food security and empowers them to demand their political rights.
Indigenous Ixil women living in Quiche endured 36 years of civil war and today are among the poorest people in Guatemala. Many of the women have survived rape, torture, and forced displacement from their ancestral lands. Many widows and single mothers are the sole breadwinners for their households and most families don't earn enough to purchase basic necessities. This results in the highest infant mortality rate in Central America and one of the world's worst rates of malnutrition for children.
Based on a community-centered model of micro-enterprise, MADRE establishes small chicken farms as a source of food security and income for Indigenous women in Quiche communities. This project improves families' diets by providing eggs for protein, generates income for women, and builds participants' technical and business skills. This in turn creates more economic opportunities for women and their families in Quiche.
Farming for the Future empowers Ixil women with the necessary skills and resources to combat poverty in their communities. Higher incomes and improved quality of diets enables Ixil women to live healthy lives and become economically self-sufficient. Promoting the active participation of Ixil women in the political, social, and economic life of their community increases women's status, and reinforces their voices as community leaders.
