Page 29 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
PRESBYTERIAN WORLD SERVICE & DEVELOPMENT
Breaking Cycles
of Poverty
presbyterian.ca
WINTER 2022
PRESBYTERIAN
29
By Guy Smagghe, PWS&D Director
Diego is an eight-year-old boy who looks for recyclable materi- als in a landfill in Guatemala. It’s also what his parents do to earn a small amount of money every day to put food on the table.
Veronica is a 15-year-old girl in Malawi expecting her first child. The baby’s father has abandoned her. She’s terrified that she’ll be forced to drop out of school be- cause she’s pregnant.
In too many places in the world where poverty is handed over from one generation to the next these situations are more the norm than the exception. PWS&D works with locally based partners to change the cycles that keep people in poverty. We start with the premise that everyone has the basic right to sufficient food, a safe shelter, a healthy environ- ment, access to health services, affordable and quality education,
and a livelihood that allows for life with dignity.
When we support schools, as we do in Guatemala, we help boys and girls gain the founda- tional skills to potentially learn trades that can give them a living income. Educated girls become less vulnerable to early marriage and pregnancy, increasing their chances at escaping poverty. Studies have shown a direct link between years of schooling and age of first pregnancy—when a woman has more education, she will delay pregnancy and have higher income earning potential.
When youth have access to vocational training, then career opportunities like nursing, tailor- ing, mechanics or accounting be- come possible—jobs with more predictable and higher incomes. They will no longer have to seek daily work as labourers in ardu- ous conditions. They will access quality food more easily, and
In Guatemala, students receive an education at Francisco Coll School, improving their prospects for the future.
will be able to afford health care services when needed. Cycles of poverty are broken and whole families rise out of poverty.
Increased access to informa- tion is a key strategy in people’s empowerment. Helping children go to school, training youth with vocational skills, or reacquainting farmers with sustainable farming practices all lead to greater op- portunities and higher income- generating potential. This is the focus of much of the work of PWS&D’s partners.
Diego has had the opportu- nity to go to the Francisco Coll
school in Guatemala, supported by PWS&D. Though his fam- ily benefited from the income he contributed, his parents agreed to his attendance with the hope that his schooling would allow him to get into a trade that would give him a safer and more reliable income than scavenging in the dump. PWS&D has recently en- hanced its support to the school by providing scholarships to stu- dents pursuing secondary and post-secondary education with the goal of breaking the cycles of poverty that they have been born into.
In Malawi, girls like Veronica can join mothers’ groups, where they can also participate in sav- ings groups. These groups em- power girls to continue their edu- cation, receive vocational training or access loans to improve their livelihoods. With PWS&D’s sup- port of these initiatives, Veronica has been able to get on her feet despite the factors that seemed to be working against her.
These stories demonstrate how cycles of pover ty can be broken and how PWS&D’s partners work at finding sustainable ways out of poverty.
Assessing to Respond in Guatemala
By Emma Clarke, PWS&D Communications
A key part of designing sustaina- ble development programs is ask- ing, “What might be preventing someone in this community from living a full, healthy life?” This can be done through a situational as- sessment: a systematic process that gathers data from community stakeholders and uses the data to determine how to respond most effectively to the greatest needs.
In 2021, PWS&D completed a situational assessment in Gua- temala with our partner Fraterni- dad de Presbiteriales Mayas. In existence for over 30 years, this organization provides vocational support to Indigenous women, while also helping them develop greater self-esteem and leader- ship skills. PWS&D has a long history of working with Frater- nidad to help women build their spiritual, social and economic ca-
In 2021, PWS&D studied the causes of food insecurity in Quetzaltenango re- gion through partner Fraternidad de Presbiteriales Mayas.
low wages combined with high food prices, and low food supply within a community. And it can cause terrible hardships, such as the loss of a child due to severe malnutrition, or separation be- tween family members who leave seeking higher-paying work.
The findings from the situation- al assessment revealed that many Indigenous families farm their own food from very small plots of land. Between eight and 10 acres of land are necessary to produce enough food to feed an average family. In Quetzaltenango, each family has an average of 5.8 acres of land—whereas women- headed households have access to just two acres each.
This, combined with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent hurricanes Eta and Iota, has caused many in the region— and almost four million people in Guatemala—to be food insecure.
Help needed
One of the major needs in Quetzal- tenango region is training on how to produce more food, and how to get better nutrients from what is available. Together with Cana- dian Foodgrains Bank, PWS&D is planning a response to address this need. It will support people living in Mam and Quiché, two of the three municipalities studied.
The new food security pro- ject will focus on female-headed households and will include train- ing in agroecological methods to improve farmland, both now and for the future. The response will also help families produce food through kitchen gardens and di- versify their diets through a higher variety of crops.
Based on the knowledge that when someone is hungry it is difficult to live a healthy, active life, PWS&D’s new response to hunger in Guatemala will seek to holistically help 400 families.
pacities. Our work is coordinated in shared partnership with the United Church of Canada.
When food insecurity takes root
The assessment studied the needs of families in three com-
munities in Quetzaltenango re- gion. For many of them, food insecurity is a daily reality. Food insecurity means a family does not have consistent access to nutritious food. It can be caused by many factors: for example, in- ability to find regular employment,