IDEX

IDEX in Nepal: Lasting Solutions to Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:15:00 +0000

At IDEX's event on June 10, we screened a couple of films about our work, both of these multimedia pieces are also available for viewing on our website.

Watch both the Bangladesh and Nepal films on our site click here.

Or you can see the Nepal multimedia piece on YouTube at youtube.com/user/IDEXorg.

Let us know what you think and post a comment.

Women Leading Change - June 10

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:58:00 +0000

IDEX invites you to join us at 111 Minna for an evening dedicated to the work of exceptional women: women who challenge injustice and inequity to ensure a better life for their families and communities.

When: Tuesday, June 10, 6:30 – 10:30pm
Where: 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $50 – no host bar
RSVP: Purchase your ticket online, email idexevents@idex.org, or call Gillian on (415) 824-8384 ex 201.

Featured Speaker: Anne Firth Murray, Founding President, the Global Fund for Women and Consulting Professor, Stanford University. Anne has recently published her book, From Outrage to Courage, which will be available at the event. Learn more at www.annefirthmurray.org.

Wander through captivating images of our work in Nepal, Bangladesh and Guatemala as you enjoy sumptuous appetizers. Bid on prints in our silent auction. Preview our Silent Auction items. Don't miss the premier of IDEX's first multimedia video highlighting our work in Nepal.

Reconnect with your friends at IDEX! This evening will be truly enjoyable and a great opportunity to learn more about our work.

Can’t make it! Consider making a donation, enter our drawing, or contact Gillian at (415) 824-8384 to discuss your bids on Silent Auction items.

Women NGO-Leaders Call for Urgent Action in Zimbabwe

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:22:00 +0000

As violence continues to increase in Zimbabwe, a consortium of women leaders in that country are calling for urgent involvement from the African Union, the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Read the full statement here.

After the March 29 election in which the ruling party, ZANU-PF led by President Robert Mugabe lost to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), ZANU-PF has sanctioned violent attacks on targeted MDC supporters (real or perceived) in the urban and rural areas.

According to NGO leaders in Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF is conducting terror campaigns through the military and the youth militia. These campaigns are specifically affecting women and children living in the rural areas. Schools have closed due to the violence and teachers have leaving for their own safety. The figures are overwhelming. It is estimated that:
• 800 homes have been burned
• 10,000 people have fled their homes
• 40 people have been killed
• 7,000 teachers have fled their schools after being attacked or threatened

“Teachers have been upbraided by the ruling party for allegedly siding with the opposition during the nation’s disputed March elections, in which they served as poll monitors.” As stated in the New York Times.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) reports over 2,000 cases of physical torture and beatings. The youngest reported female victim is a 15-year-old girl who was stripped naked together with her pregnant mother forced to lie down and beaten on the breasts and buttocks.

Actions:
Visit Amnesty International’s website to take direct actions on urgent issues in Zimbabwe.

Contact the African Union:
AU Southern Africa Regional Office (AU/ SARO)
Tel: +265 1 775 335
Fax: +265 1 775 330
Email: oau-saro@malawi.net
Attention: Ms. Susan Sikaneta, Executive Secretary of AU/SARO

African Union Headquarters
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00
Fax:(251) 11 551 78 44
Website: www.africa-union.org
Attention: Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner, Political Affairs Commissioner
Email: JoinerDJ@africa-union.org
Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 ext 134
Fax:(251) 11 552 58 55

Message: Remind the AU that it is the role of the AU to step in as it is stated in The Constitutive Act of the African Union, which provides in Article 4 the "right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity [as well as a serious threat to legitimate order]."

Contact the United Nations in New York:
Website: www.un.org/
1-212- 963-8302
Ask for the office of Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
Message: Request UN intervention to help Zimbabwe. Cite the cases of violence (above) committed by the ruling party.

Resources:
Appeal from Women NGO leaders

Kubatana.net for the latest information on the elections, the run off and documented violence and news articles written across the world regarding Zimbabwe.

Allafrica.com for the latest news as it’s reported in 130 African news outlets. This is a good place to read the official line from the Zimbabwe state newspaper The Herald.

Last Day in Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Today, AFEDES invited me to join in two of their regularly scheduled activities.

In the morning, I attended a workshop the staff was participating in called "Popular Education." This was interesting because we were comparing different models of education. The most common one in Guatemala and many parts of the world is the model that transmits information from one person to the other, but without allowing the student to question or debate the information.

On the other hand, the "popular education" model allows the community members to come together to analyze a problem collectively and find solutions or ideas and then act upon them. The objective here is to construct a plan together, to come out of the meeting with next steps based on an exchange of experiences and perspectives. This is critical training for AFEDES staff to receive, as most of them are working directly with the communities and are facilitating groups of women to help address local issues and needs collectively which requires them to come up with their own solutions.

In the afternoon, I tagged along with Milvian, AFEDES’ Economic Development Program Coordinator and Luisa, an intern who's currently training women in basic veterinary medicine in the of village Yalu, a 45 minutes drive from AFEDES' office. I was pleased to see that the road to Yalu had undergone a lot of improvements. On a previous trip to Yalu three years ago, it had caused damage to the bus I was on and I ended up walking an hour to the nearest town. This time the trip was uneventful.

In Yalu, we met with representatives from the village's council, who want to find a way to address a huge problem they are having with harvest mites, also known as chiggers. The mites are a dangerous pest because they often carry a tiny parasite that carries scrub typhus. Scrub typhus causes fever, headache, muscle pain, cough and gastrointestinal symptoms. It is causing severe illness in children of this village in particular.

AFEDES facilitated the meeting for representatives to come together with a plan to submit to the government to support them with vaccines and medicine. Although this is not a direct service that AFEDES offers, where possible they try to respond to an issue the women have requested support in. This is an example of how AFEDES supports women's needs outside of their traditional programs.

This day was also a trip down memory lane, when I used to volunteer with AFEDES and would accompany them on their many activities to get a sense of their work. I also had another chance to visit another community I used to spend time with.

This was the final community visit that I had for my trip, and I'm happy that I got a chance to learn so much from the groups: AFEDES, APROSADSE, and ISMU.

Hopefully, you have been able to picture a little bit of what I have visited on this trip, and maybe it'll encourage you to visit Guatemala. This country is so beautiful and the people here are optimistic, working hard for their families. I feel grateful for having met them, and it encourages me to continue to support them.

Thanks for joining me on this visit!

Until the next one....

Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Women Weaving Livelihoods

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:44:00 +0000

I was thrilled today that I'd be visiting communities where groups of women are participating in AFEDES’ Foot-Loom Weaving Program.

This is a program AFEDES started last year after identifying a market opportunity for their weavers. Back-strap weaving is the traditional weaving method practiced by local weavers. With back-strap weaving the women hang their textile from one end on a pole and tie the other end around their waist, and they weave kneeling down. This weaving takes a long time and is labor intensive but it allows weavers to be very detailed in their work, making the product even more valuable.

Foreign markets have noticed the value and beauty of Guatemalan textiles and are offering opportunities to purchase orders of these products. But the back-strap method takes too long to fulfill orders. Foot-loom weaving produces textile products in less time and in a more uniformed way. However it is has been the custom that men weave with foot-looms, and so few women have the opportunity to learn this technique. AFEDES realized there were not enough foot-loom weavers to fulfill high-volume orders that could ultimately yield a good income. So AFEDES initiated the program to train women how to use the foot-loom.

The first community we visited was the village of Santiago Zamora, near the town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes, known for its colorful, detailed textiles that fetch a high value. Around 125 families live in Santiago Zamora, where typically women are traditional back-strap weavers and men are field laborers.

Here I met six women who are participating in the Foot-Loom Weaving Program. For many of them this is the first time they've seen a foot loom. I asked them, "Why did you want to learn foot-loom weaving?"

One of the students, Lucila, said, "The goal I had was to learn more weaving and to have the opportunity to learn to do other type of weaving products."

Lucila is a back strap weaver, currently the President of the group of women in Santiago Zamora that is receiving a microcredit loan from AFEDES. The group is called Bella Flor, meaning beautiful flower. The foot-loom is being housed at Lucila's house because she has the extra space. The women take it in turns to visit Lucila in order to practice their homework on the foot-loom.

AFEDES finds it initially has many women interested in the learning the foot-loom. But once the program starts the women unfortunately drop out for many reasons. Often it is an issue of time. The program requires weekly attendance plus time to practice their homework. As mothers, who are also working to earn an income by weaving on the back-strap loom, their time is limited.

Women stop coming to the training because of transportation costs. Often the women in the program have to travel to a neighboring village to attend the training. This is the reason Lidia left the group. She already knew a little about foot-loom weaving, and when AFEDES announced the program, she immediately signed up. But with the high costs of transportation, she left the program to save the money for her family. She told her husband how sad she was to leave the program, so her husband encouraged her to return. She's happy now that she's back and has the support of her husband.

Our next visit was with the women of Santo Domingo Xenacoj, where I met 11 women participants of the Foot-Loom Weaving Program. A few of them had familiar faces; from the time I was a volunteer at AFEDES.

Gloria Estela is the President of the group of women in Santo Domingo Xenacoj that has also received microcredit loans from AFEDES. In addition, she's the trainer of the Foot-Loom Weaving Program. Thanks to her, many women are learning a new skill that will help them generate more income in the long-term.

When we started talking the women shared with me if they were married or single. Every time someone said she was married, someone would say, "But she wishes she was single!"
"Ha, ha, ha," the rest of the women would laugh.
Another one would say, "I'm living with a partner."
"But she's still looking!" someone else would say.
"Ha, ha, ha," responded the group of women.

When they finished, I asked if they wanted to know about us. ‘Us’ being me, Milvian - AFEDES Economic Development Program Coordinator, Gloria - AFEDES Community Trainer, and Marlon, a photographer accompanying us who was the only man present. "Yes," someone said, "but especially we want to learn about the photographer's status."

"Ha, ha, ha," - the laughter just didn't seem to end!

After our conversation, the women showed me what they had learned from Gloria Estela. We were having so much fun; we ended up leaving very late from the community. It was a long day, but very rewarding!
Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Changes at AFEDES

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:34:00 +0000

After a restful Sunday walking around the beautiful colonial city of Antigua and falling in love again with traditional textiles shopping at the local market it was back to work on Monday.

I caught the bus near the local market that would take me to AFEDES, located in Santiago Sacatepéquez (45 minutes from Antigua). On the local buses in Guatemala, there is a driver and his assistant who collects the bus fare. I'm always surprised how fearless these assistants are because they stand right next to the front door, which is open, while the bus travels at 50 miles/hour. In my opinion the assistant is just asking to fall out.

Getting to Santiago takes two buses, a route that I'm very familiar with, as I was a volunteer with AFEDES in 2005. Already I can see changes in this city. There are shopping malls being built and the city feels bigger. My local doctor while I lived in Santiago is now the city's mayor! The biggest change of all is AFEDES, which has expanded to a new building that has three floors and so many offices that I kept getting lost.

Last year, AFEDES went through a strategic planning phase and as a result, have redefined their mission, vision and values, and have even changed their name. They are now called "Alliance to Foment Equality and Development by the Women of Sacatepéquez." Their acronym has remained AFEDES because it has already established credibility and value in the field.

2007 was an election year in Guatemala and AFEDES wanted to inform women about their right to vote and help them become more aware of the electoral process. This initiated AFEDES’ Advocacy program. Through this program AFEDES offered workshops on voting and the electoral process. They gave the workshops to 26 groups with an average attendance of 15 people. AFEDES also organized five workshops on leadership development focusing on activities that reflected on the political, social and economical context that rural women are living in today's Guatemala.

In addition to the Advocacy Program, AFEDES is currently running three other programs: Economic Development, Health, and their newest program, Education and Training for Personal Development.

Microcredit falls under the Economic Development program. AFEDES works with 27 groups of women that offer microcredit. One of the results of strategic planning was the need for AFEDES to redefine its microcredit groups so as to better encourage women to work collectively and establish their own self-sustainability.

Last year, AFEDES was able to provide seed funding to 31 women who wanted to start a community store stocked with day-to-day items. This project was a first-time experiment to support women from different communities who wanted to be part of a collective microenterprise, independent of AFEDES. The store has had challenges; over half of the women have dropped out, leaving behind 15 women to run the store. Nevertheless within one year of opening, the store has already broke even.

As a result of the Economic Development program, AFEDES was able to give out 80 scholarship loans to students of primary, secondary education and vocational school education.

A new area AFEDES is beginning to explore is transitioning women farmers working in conventional farming to sustainable agriculture. AFEDES has already participated in visiting sustainable agriculture projects, supported by FUNDEBASE, in San Martín Jilotepéque to start putting together a plan that will gradually support this transition.

AFEDES’ Health Program has added an interesting focus. AFEDES carried out a needs assessment survey to identify what services were in demand from its health program. Unfortunately, there was high response from women suffering from domestic violence. The women requested AFEDES work with men, to help change their attitudes. AFEDES knew that organizing a meeting for men would be difficult, so instead they targeted the one place where they knew men will always go, church. Women who responded to the survey would say, "My husband will hit me and then he'll go straight to church" or "My husband doesn't show up for household chores, but will loyally go to church." As a result, AFEDES is starting to build conversations with many fathers and priests in different communities to talk about this issue and are planning a religious/spiritual course with a woman's perspective, as most rural women are faithful religious practitioners.

In addition, AFEDES is also becoming involved with reported sexual violence cases by providing resources and support to women victims. AFEDES staff accompanies the women victims to the police, justice hall and anywhere they need to go to pursue their case.

Their newest program, Education and Training for Personal Development is in its inaugural year. It offers more formal training to AFEDES staff, Board members, and group leaders. Planned themes for this training are women's rights and cultural and ethnic identity, among others.

This year is marking a new chapter for AFEDES, where the goal is to stimulate women's empowerment. It's exciting to see where this will lead AFEDES and how this change will impact women in the communities of Sacatepéquez in the next few years.
Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Into the Wild, Guatemala Style

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Last night I was so tired that I went to sleep really early, unfortunately I also had to wake up early, even though it was Saturday! This was my last day to visit communities with APROSADSE.

Our first visit was with a group called Women in Action (Mujeres de Acción) - who have been receiving microcredit loans from APROSADSE for quite some time now. On IDEX's last trip to Guatemala, I had visited this group, and some of the women recognized me! I sat down to talk about their work and how they feel about their participation in the group.

Many of the women here are new members, but five of them have been in the group since the beginning. Most of them are working individually with chicken-raising projects. Talking with them, the women offered several comments about their projects and how grateful they are to be in a group where they can share their problems and accomplishments and have support from one another.

Maximiliana, who is 47 years old and married with nine children, explained her biggest challenge was finding affordable chicken feed. This echoed comments given by a group member from the community of Chi Armira. Berta, whose project is quite big as she has 1,000 chickens, says that she's a bit worried now because some of her chickens seem to be getting ill and she needs to have a vet check them out.

Other stories were more positive like Maria Julia's story. Maria Julia has had great success with her egg-laying hens and now sells eggs in her community. She was invited to join the group by her mother-in-law and now she is the vice-president of the group, even though she has only been with the group two years. Being vice-president has encouraged her to speak up more and see that she can be one of the leaders of the group. Like today for example. The president of the group was unable to be present because she was studying, this allowed Maria Julia to open the meeting and introduce the group members.

Maria Julia's mother-in-law, Maria Elena, is one of the five women who started the group Women in Action. She's also had success raising chickens and local varieties of turkey. During Christmas time she can sell her turkeys at a high price and earn a good income from those sales. As a result Maria Elena has bought a cow that is providing her family with milk. Ever resourceful she also uses the chicken's waste to make organic fertilizers for her plot of agricultural land. I visited her at her home and on my way noticed the local primary school Los Pi ños Xesuj, also supported by APROSADSE, only through its education program.

After talking with the women, I said my thank you's and good-bye's and went on to my next visit.

I was driven on a long, unused road down to a small valley where I would meet Hector and the land where he cultivates his tomatoes, beans and corn. When I met Hector, he was approaching me with two boxes filled with tomatoes on his back, only supported by a cloth that was wrapped around his forehead.

I looked to see where Hector was coming from and was shocked. He had climbed up a narrow path along the edge of a cliff, where one false step could have lead to a horrible fall. Balance was hard enough to maintain with my own purple purse - can you imagine with two boxes of tomatoes tied to your head?

Hector showed me how he is transitioning to organic farming as he learned that it is both cheaper and more sustainable in the long run. He said to me,
"APROSADSE has been the one to show and teach me about organic agriculture and they've supported me with my first microcredit to invest in this project. I'm working hard to achieve my dream of having my own land to be able to support my family well and pay the education of my children. I also want to help contribute to community projects such as the school. I believe that we should support our community in any small way, because that is how we can improve our living situation."

There is a river that runs by his land and as a result, Hector has free access to water that helps to reduce his farming costs. I needed to cross the river to see his other land. Fortunately, the river was low since it is the dry season. I remembered the river scene from Into the Wild and I thought to myself, "I hope I can cross back." If I couldn't, then I guess I wouldn't have minded. The place was beautiful, surrounded by tall, green pine trees and dappled sunlight. Some of the pine trees had been carefully trimmed in order to allow sunlight to shine through to the land. Combined with the music of the river flowing by, it created a peaceful world away from the buses and typical urban noise.

It was a good way to end my field visits with APROSADSE.
Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Chicks on a Plane

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:07:00 +0000

I visited two communities today, El Carmen and Chi Armira, that both work with APROSADSE's Agroecology Program. They were both groups that had received microcredit from APROSADSE for the first time.

The first group is based in the small community of El Carmen in the village Varituc. There are 30 families that live in this community. The community is about 20 minutes by car from APROSADSE's office in San Martín Jilotepéque, the nearest town, making it quite isolated. Varituc has a reputation for migration. A lot of its men have migrated to the United States in search of better opportunities for their families. This is a profound loss as not only does this break up families, but the remaining family usually has a debt to pay, which are the fees for the husband to leave.

We met a group of 13 women who were participating in APROSADSE's programs. Four of them received microcredit for a cow-raising project. Patrociña was the one who spoke the most and at one point said, "Please excuse my fellow women peers, who are too shy to talk today."

Patrociña has a very optimistic personality. You wouldn't think that she was missing her husband. He left ten months ago, leaving her behind with their five children to find more opportunities to sustain his family from the United States. Patrociña is one of the two women who go to APROSADSE to attend the health training workshops. They come back to share what they learn with the rest of the group. Patrociña says she has benefited from the cow-raising project since it has helped pay for her children's education and has provided milk for them to drink.

In the next community of Chi Armira, we visited a group income-generating project that is raising 600 egg-laying hens. Chi Armira is much closer to San Martín Jilotepéque and so people have access to the local market. This group of four members has been working with this project for a while, initially another organization was supporting them and there were 13 people in the group. But most women left after the first year because their husbands didn't allow them to work with the group because it required too much of their time. Who would cook them dinner?

The President of this group has been on her own with her two children for ten years since her husband left for the United States. She mentions how her husband wouldn't like to see her working with a group but she likes it, so she's doing it anyway. They have had challenges with this project because the cost of the chicken feed is very high right now. They're hoping to sell the hens in three or four months to earn income, which they will reinvest in the project.

As we walked towards the chicken coop I saw a mother hen with lots of chicks everywhere running around. I tried to pick one of them up to check how they were doing but they ran so fast. The mother hen was did a good job protecting them and it became quite a challenge. But when the coast was clear I caught one! They were very healthy. One of the group members said I could take two of them with me, but I told her it might be hard to take chicks with me on the plane.

Clearly the APROSADSE’s Agroecology Program offers communities an opportunity to enhance community’s nutrition, develop agroecology skills and improve income for their families.

Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Growth in APROSADSE

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:46:00 +0000

I left Guatemala City today to travel 1 hour into the highlands to the state of Chimaltenango where I wended up a long winding road to San Martín Jilotepéque. I was visiting APROSADSE, an organization that IDEX has been supporting for over 3 years now, and who has focused its programs on health, education and agroecology. When I arrived, I was invited to talk with 3 of APROSADSE's Board members to discuss the work of APROSADSE and the Board’s participation.

It's Nicomedes second year of being President of APROSADSE Board, but he has been participating in their programs for 25 years! A married man with 3 daughters, Nicomedes recognizes the positive impact APROSADSE has had on him. As a child he only finished fourth grade before he had to find work to help support his family. When he was a grown adult, he saw that APROSADSE was offering a long-distance education program for people over 15 years old to finish primary and secondary education. He took the opportunity and completed his secondary education. He's happy that he completed that education program and now he works as one of the health promoters in his community.

Perfecta and Marta were the two other Board members present, one a midwife and the other a health promoter, like Nicomedes. Marta, a single mother, was also inspired to participate in the long-distance education program, but only completed the 7th grade "due to circumstances of life," However, her training in health, provided by APROSADSE, was enough to help her find a job as an assistant nurse in a health clinic in Antigua, a popular tourist spot relatively close to Chimaltenango. Now she has returned to San Martín Jilotepéque to work with the Ministry of Health. What does she do there? Well, there is only one doctor who travels once a month to her community. They are called mobile doctors. For the rest of the month Marta is the doctor in her community.

Perfecta hasn't been able to go to school. Instead, she has been focusing on her work as a midwife to her community in the village of Varituc. As a Board member, she comes to all the training workshops that APROSADSE offers including health and agroecology. The health trainings have really helped the quality of her work as midwife. She received a midwife kit that APROSADSE distributed through their health program, which she is grateful for because now she has the proper tools to do her job.

Two years ago, when IDEX visited APROSADSE, the health program was just restarting (after a long period of hiatus) and served only 22 communities. Now they help 130 communities. Almost all the communities within San Martín Jilotepéque! Last year they trained 80 health promoters and 66 midwifes. In addition, they offered training in nutrition to 18 groups of 270 participants from the communities. They've been also strengthening their relationship with San Martin's health center to serve many more people in the town. One of the things that impressed me was that they remodeled their warehouse in the basement into a day care center so that the mothers can bring their children to APROSADSE's office when they want to attend training.

Not only a midwife, Perfecta is able to help her community with livestock rearing and some agriculture projects. Even though she does not work in agroecology herself, she can still help community members due to her knowledge that she acquired by attending to the agroecology workshops at APROSADSE. Last year, APROSADSE was able to train 22 agroecology promoters from 13 communities. Agroecology focuses on livestock rearing and transitioning from conventional farming to organic farming. APROSADSE also has a veterinary store at their office, which serves 416 people from 32 communities in curing animals, providing treatment and selling medicine at affordable prices.

In addition to the long-distance education program that Nicomedes and Marta participated in, APROSADSE has a scholarship program. They gave scholarships to 137 students last year to study primary and secondary education. Another activity APROSADSE carries out is a "summer" program (summer here is from October to December) to 181 secondary school students, giving classes on a range from subjects such as environment, micro-enterprise and sexual transmitted diseases. Like FUNDAESPRO, APROSADSE also involves the parents, and have met with 80 parents 10 times last year to talk about different subjects such as nutrition, environment, interpersonal relations, pregnancy, etc.

Through their agroecology program APROSADSE implements a microcredit initiatives, where they promote group savings and facilitate monthly technical assistance to each group. When APROSADSE distributes microcredit to a group, it does it in one of two ways:
1) Provide microcredit to a group for a group income-generating project; or
2) Provide microcredit to a group, but for individual income-generating projects.

APROSADSE also supports individual microcredit outside of a group, these are approved by the Board. They target community members who can't form a group in their community yet want to receive a microcredit to carry out an agroecology related income-generating project, usually after attending APROSADSE's workshops. One of the great things about APROSADSE is that their workshops are open to everyone, and that's how many people come to learn about APROSADSE's other programs.

These are not all the activities that APROSADSE is carrying out, but already this can show how they've grown since the last time that IDEX visited them. I'm looking forward to meeting the people that benefited from these programs when I start my community visits tomorrow.
Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

Health, Housing, and Painting the Town Red

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:55:00 +0000

I woke up early today to visit a community near the city of Patulul in the state of Escuintla, about 2 hours southwest of Guatemala City. ISMU was taking me to a community called Canton Luciana where around 145 families were living near a latex rubber plantation.

ISMU was invited to come to the community to carry out a needs assessment survey to see where they can best support these families. The two crucial areas that needed to be addressed the most was the improvement of housing and health issues.

A previous government program had started training 5 women in this community to become health monitors. However, the government program only trained them in children's health, and not any of the diseases that afflicted adult community members such as diarrhea and respiratory health issues that could be prevented. As a result, ISMU coordinated a series of preventative health workshops to train health monitors. Trainings included a practical workshop to make herbal shampoos, creams and cough syrups.

ISMU also organized the visit of an expert to come to the community to teach and facilitate themes requested by the community such as conflict resolution.

For the longest time there was a conflict between two families that had been a caused by a community member's chicken trespassing to the neighbor's garden to eat some flowers. No one knew the origin of this conflict until the conflict resolution workshop. By facilitating the discussion the community members learned how to express themselves better and resolve these conflicts sooner rather than later.

Another requested topic to be addressed was sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS. In most communities in Guatemala, HIV/AIDS is still a taboo subject. When someone dies of HIV/AIDS, people will usually not reveal the true cause of death. Instead, they'll say the person died of severe bronchitis, or any other illness that exacerbated the HIV/AIDS patient. The health monitors did request specifically to have this theme be taught separately for a group of women, men and youth.

These talks in general were considered a success, as more than 100 people attended each session. The session with the worst turnout still attracted 75 people. More people would have come, but it was raining. After these sessions, the health monitors follow-up with private conversations with the community members to see if they had more questions or comments about the topic.

ISMU also addressed was the housing improvements. ISMU hired an architecture to design blueprints for a 42 meter squared house that was both affordable and utilized as much space as possible. ISMU then coordinated with FONAVI (National Fund for Housing in Guatemala) to fund this project. FONAVI finally agreed to provide funding but had some strict requirements including collecting paperwork of each family who wanted to be part of this project. At first, the community members didn't believe that this project would happen and didn't bother to get their paperwork together. But once they saw many families applying, people started to find their paperwork. As a result ISMU improved a total of 91 houses.

One curious requirement that FONAVI asked for was that the roof of each of the new houses would be painted red, so that when the governor would fly on his jet plane, he could see all the houses he helped construct through FONAVI, and thus, feel proud of himself. Really, I'm not kidding!

Tomorrow I leave Guatemala City and head to the highlands to visit APROSADSE.
Photo credit: Marlon Garcia

ISMU's Day-Care Facilities

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:41:00 +0000

Today I visited 2 day-care centers supported by ISMU and one of its member organizations, FUNDAESPRO. Each day care facility is in high demand and caters to 30 children from 7am to 5pm.

The first one is located in Tierra Nueva, a community considered "high-risk" in terms of security and is suffering from a lack of access to potable water. Many of the single mothers in the community work in one of the maquiladoras in Guatemala City. The day care center has been essential for these mothers, as they can now leave the children in a safe space where they'll receive education, learn about hygiene habits and also be given a balanced meal.

Without the day care center, the parents have few alternatives and fear that without proper care their children could be exposed to abuse and gang violence that is unfortunately prevalent in some of these marginalized urban areas.

The parents recognize the importance of the day care center and on their weekends they are helping to remodel the kitchen. They are currently replacing the wooden walls with solid cement block walls, which will protect the kitchen equipment from theft. The day care center itself was made of wooden walls, but thanks to funds sent by IDEX, the walls are now built with cement blocks, which enhances safety and makes for better decoration inside the day care center.

The second day care center was located in Mezquital, a huge community in the marginalized areas of Guatemala City, near a popular bus station. The day care center is in front of a local market, making it nearly invisible among the crowds of people. I saw a man with a gun next to the entrance and I asked, "Does this place have its own bodyguard?"

"No, those are private bodyguards people hire when they want their car to be protected. It's very common for cars to be stolen here." An ISMU staff member replied.

We entered a beautiful pink room, where all the children were running around screaming with their fireman hats on. The day care center in Mezquital used to be very small and dark, but now I entered a large, spacious, well-lit room. IDEX supported this expansion, which now includes an extra room, bathrooms and a secure patio space.

Both day care centers are full of decorations and interactive toy "corners" where children can have access to an educational playtime. FUNDAESPRO has developed a manual to run these day care centers, which includes material for pre-primary education. There used to be no materials for this age group until FUNDAESPRO published this manual. They have now submitted this to the Ministry of Education, which recognized its value, reprinted it, and has made it accessible nationwide.

FUNDAESPRO ensures that parents are involved in their children’s educational and development, and invite the parents to meet once a month to discuss different issues these children can face, like domestic violence. FUNDAESPRO has seen the positive changes in the parent's attitudes. When they see the parents come to the first meeting, their usual comment is: "Feel free to hit my child, if s/he is behaving badly." And FUNDAESPRO say, "No, that's not the way to treat a child." Over time, after the monthly meetings have run their course, the parents start getting more involved with the day care center and will help out, as the parents from Tierra Nueva did by spending their weekend time in remodeling the kitchen.

Once they're old enough to go to primary school, FUNDAESPRO will follow-up with that child until the third grade. In almost all the cases, these students are doing great and achieve good grades.

Just leaving the day care centers, one can see the harsh realities these children face every day with the lack of security and the bad infrastructure of the community. I feel so grateful that people are on the lookout for these children, and are ensuring that they are getting a real chance to enjoy their childhood, as free as they can.

Photo Credit: Marlon Garcia

ISMU - Building Communities

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:26:00 +0000

Today, I went to visit one of IDEX's oldest partners, ISMU, based in Guatemala City. ISMU works with 22 communities from 7 regions/states, benefiting around 35,000 people. ISMU was founded in 1992 to strengthen community-based organizations in marginalized urban areas by building community organizational skills, encouraging active participation in the communities and stimulating leadership among community members. In this way, ISMU has allied itself with several community-based organizations that are now known as ISMU's member organizations. Now ISMU has grown its impact over 15 years later, focusing on 4 different areas: job training, education, community capacity-building and housing.

In the morning I met with ISMU staff and current Board Members. Each Board Member represents a different member organization and they, together with the staff, took turns in updating me on ISMU programs.

Last year, ISMU went through a strategic plan phase where they analyzed their strengths, weaknesses and their overall work in the communities. During this process, the Board Members would meet once a week (twice, if needed) to go over the programs together. Due to these regular meetings, the Board members became more united and were encouraged to become more involved in ISMU's work.

ISMU's Job Training program focuses on supporting small community business initiatives in different ways. One example is the training ISMU offers to community members, particularly women, to learn a simple skill that will help them make a product from home and can generate income. One of the Board Members is the trainer of the arts and crafts training program, where she just finished training 40 women on creating handmade cards. This training was hugely successful as women were able to start selling cards in time for Valentine's Day. Not only that, 10 of the women have replicated this training with other women in their communities.

Another way ISMU supports this program is through its microcredit program. ISMU has 55 people from 5 community groups actively participating in this program. ISMU provides a microcredit loan to each group member and supports the group by meeting with them once a month to offer training or to facilitate discussions on different themes such as self-esteem, conflict-resolution and adolescent issues, among others. Even though there is a peer-support approach for each group to repay the microcredit, each member is responsible for going to the bank to deposit their loan repayment. Thus, ISMU staff doesn’t collect the money, just the deposit slips. In this way, it builds responsibility and ownership among the group members.

In its Education program, ISMU is supporting almost 200 students from over 13 communities with scholarships. These scholarships cover tuition fees, school supplies, uniforms and transportation fees for those who live very far away from their nearest schools. ISMU shared with me that their scholarship program is different to the traditional scholarship, as they're not given based on good grades, but on the families' harsh living conditions of extreme poverty. So they don't want the program to be just about completing each child's studies, but to also integrate it with youth development activities to address challenges these students face in their daily lives once they leave school and go back home.

After the strategic planning phase, a new project emerged for ISMU's Community Capacity-Building program, which is to develop a group of monitors. The monitors will be community members representing one of ISMU's programs in one of the communities where they work. These monitors will be the link between ISMU and the communities. ISMU realized that one of its weaknesses was not being able to best identify the needs of the communities, and thus, the monitor will be trained and encouraged to detect these needs to then work together with ISMU to address this issue. Bringing this group of monitors together will facilitate a space and moment for all to exchange information, ideas and share suggestions to best address the challenges in their communities.

Last, but not least, ISMU is hoping with their Housing program to improve the living conditions of families living in extreme poverty. When ISMU goes into the communities, one of the issues they evaluate are housing conditions. ISMU met with Catalina Mendoza from the community of La Verbena who lives in a 3 by 3 meter square room, just enough space to fit a bed. How many people live in that room? You ask. Five people! When ISMU heard about this situation, they started working with community members on how to improve it, and are currently negotiating with Catalina's neighbors to allow them to extend her space onto their lands to give her a better living condition. This is just one of many examples of how ISMU is impacting in their housing program.

In addition to these programs, ISMU is always finding ways to collaborate with different organizations to better support the communities. A recent collaboration with OXFAM GB and ESFRA has ISMU focusing on responses to natural disasters. Disaster relief often overlooks a plan for rehabilitation. Once the disaster has struck and the victim is out of immediate danger, there is no process to rehabilitate and support that person to rebuild his or her life. ISMU is hoping to change that by providing the appropriate training to different community members who can lead this response in the event of a disaster.

ISMU's work isn't easy at all. On top of that, ISMU staff risk their lives by traveling to these communities, as the security in Guatemala has worsened in the past few years. But ISMU feels strongly about continuing its work in these areas because these communities need the most support. And in spite of all the dangers, one can sense that this has not stopped the community members from working hard to improve their lives and that of their children.

Katherine

Bagels in Guatemala City

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:13:00 +0000

Katherine Zavala, IDEX's Coordinator of Programs is traveling again. This time Katherine is visiting our partners in Guatemala: AFEDES, APROSADSE, and ISMU. Catch up with her news on our blog.

Sunday, April 13

Today I arrived at Guatemala City to start my two-week site visit trip to visit three of IDEX partners in Guatemala. I was quite the zombie, as I had taken the traditional red-eye flight from San Francisco to Central America. The airport at Guatemala was a shock as it has been largely expanded since the last time I was here and it took forever to get to the immigration stop. Being a zombie, I was so out of it that when I got to the immigration officer I had not filled any form (nor had I received them, as I was probably skipped by the flight attendant who hands out these forms because I was dead asleep!). Fortunately, unlike other immigration officers I know, the officer was nice and gave me a moment to fill everything in.

It was only 10am by the time I arrived at my Bed and Breakfast (B&B), which turned out to be very cozy and very clean. This is the first time I've stayed in this area, so I decided to check it out and walked to the nearest mall.

Hanging out at the mall wasn't really how I wanted to spend my first day in Guatemala. But there I was with my cappuccino and bagel.

Walking back to my B&B, I past some of the chain hotels and chain fast food restaurants. McDonalds was two blocks away from my B&B, so ultimately it became my place for dinner.

But in spite of all these American businesses, I can tell that I'm in a different environment. It's really nice to be back in Central America. I can't wait to visit our partners!

Betty Makoni Recipient of 2008 Ginetta-Sagan Award

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:25:00 +0000

IDEX is excited to announce that Betty Makoni, founder of Girl Child Network (GCN) in Zimbabwe has been awarded the 2008 Ginetta-Sagan Award for Women's and Children's Rights.

“We are transforming victims into survivors, survivors into leaders. We help girls stand on their own feet and fight back against violence and exploitation.” Betty Makoni.

Since we first started supporting Betty and GCN, IDEX has been inspired by her work. It was a great honor for IDEX to nominate Betty for this award and even greater pleasure to know that her work and that of GCN is being so widely recognized.

This prestigious award, overseen by Amnesty International, comes at a time of even greater uncertainty in Zimbabwe. The results of the Zimbabwe Presidential election still undeclared nearly 2 week after the election and growing tension in the country.

Amnesty International has organized An Evening With Betty Makoni on April 23, 2008 at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco. If you wish to attend, please RSVP by April 18 with Katia Roux on (415) 252-1750, ext. 203.

International Women's Day

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Throughout the world, on March 8, women celebrate International Women's Day. This day commemorate the challenges and struggles women have to face to realize their human rights.

OWDEB, one of our grantees in Bangladesh wrote to us and sent us photos from their celebration. Each year, to honor the day OWDEB organizes a rally and march in Chittagong to support sending girls to school by providing the required uniforms the girls need to go to school.

OWDEB's Chief Executive, Shyamoli Mazumder email us about the event and writes:

Poor mothers are our participants, a mixed awareness and cultural activity keeping the theme for Women and girls child we are observe this day gloriously. At the same time we hope that our fight for equal property rights will [be successful] in this year in Bangladesh, for which we are working from 1995 from our OWDEB through various campaign. It will help us to promote and protect our women's human rights here more effectively.

ACD Wins Excellence Award

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Fresh from our visit to Bangladesh, comes some good news from the Association for Community Development (ACD). ACD and its founder, Salima Sarwar* have both been selected to receive the UN-Habitat Award for Gender and Rights-Responsive Sustainable Cities in Asia and the Pacific.

The award acknowledges excellence and innovation in the creation and implementation of either programs or policies in urban communities and cities throughout Asia and the Pacific. And this was certainly borne out by what we saw.

Angori, 15 dropped out of school as her family needed her to earn and income. She became involved with ACD 12 months ago and attended life-skills based education, and training on vegetable cultivation. After her training and with the help of ACD, Angori took a small loan of $29 to plant guava trees.

Her friends supported her and helped her care and water the trees. Angori travels to market about one hour away to sell the guava fruit, this income has helped her family immensely and Angori hopes that one day soon she’ll be able to return to her studies.

It is this type of work that creates lasting solutions to poverty in communities around the world. IDEX congratulates Salimar Sarwar and ACD for receiving the UN-Habitat Award.

*Photo courtesy of Jan Stürmann.

Learning Bengali

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:25:00 +0000

Hi Everybody,

Writing from our hotel in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Just finished the last day of field visits.

I hit a wall today, physically. I was just too exhausted to really be present while being paraded around various villages. I'm ready to be home.

But I've been picking up some basic Bengali (Bangla), which has been fun. If I stayed here for another week I might be able to hold a really simple conversation. So far I can say: Hello, Goodbye, Thanks, How are you?, I'm doing fine, Everything is alright, Friend, Beautiful, Breakfast, Water, 1-2-3, My name is, I'm from America, I work at IDEX, I speak a little Bangla, What?, and Where is the toilet? Of course I'll forget it all by next week.... sigh.

My motivation? Part of the challenge in Bangladesh has been that the translation capacity of the NGO staff from Bangla to English hasn't been as good as I would have hoped. And Bengali village women are a gregarious bunch... they all talk at once, shouting and laughing and interrupting each other. So I'll be sitting in these meetings and they are all going on for a while at me, arguing and cajoling and telling stories, but I get the three sentence simplified version of something that just went on for ten minutes.

And Bengali society is anything but simple. It's the most densely populated country in the world (137 million people in an area that I would hazard to guess is smaller than Texas), but the majority of the population is rural. There are so many different dynamics going on. It's a predominantly Muslim society, but there are various different kinds of Muslim identity. Most folks seem to follow a relatively liberal kind of Islam, which I believe has Sufi roots. But there is also a fundamentalist movement, which has a political base in some rural areas. I get the sense that there are some parallels here with the U.S. in that the majority of Americans are Christian in the "I celebrate Christmas and occasionally go to church" way, and then there's this small but powerful movement of evangelicals.

Also similar to the U.S., there are major swaths of people who are not in the dominant religion. In this case, the major minority is Hindu, but there are also small Christian, Buddhist and animist groups. So there is a lot of variety here. A few people have sworn to me that everyone gets along just fine, "Really, we're all friends! No problems at all." they say rather insistently. But the founder of one women's rights organization, who is Hindu, tells me that anyone who insists that there is no discrimination against Hindus is lying or in denial (maybe sort of like the people who insist that there's no racism in the U.S.?). Amongst other problems, the military-backed government, who has accused her of being a spy for the Indian secret service, has harassed her.

So, a bit about the orgs I've visited in the last week or so. It's in some ways very similar to the stuff that IDEX is supporting in Nepal. Everyone is working to form women's self-help groups in rural villages. Through this process women go through skills development training, leadership training etc. and in most cases can apply to get small loans for income-generating activities. An interesting variation here is a major focus on a rights-based approach, where women learn about their legal rights and are encouraged to speak out against domestic violence, early marriage, trafficking and child abuse.

Two of the organizations we've visited here, ACD and OWDEB, are working at many levels of village life, not only directly organizing the poorest women in the villages, but also helping start Community Forums made up of village leaders, including the local schoolteacher, doctor, journalist, politicians, etc. These folks come together once a month to talk about whatever problems the village is facing, particularly (but not exclusively) as relates to women's issues and child rights. They intervene when there is domestic violence, or child marriage (marrying anyone under 18 years of age is illegal, and people are beginning to take it very seriously). They act as mediators in situations of family conflict that threaten to turn (or have turned) violent. They help women file court cases and get legal and health services when they've been sexually abused or trafficked. They encourage parents to keep their kids in school, and help families get their children registered. They encourage women to register to vote. In some cases they also take on infrastructure issues, like how to get potable drinking water, toilets or decent roads.

By getting respected village leaders involved and interested in the issues affecting the poorest women, the NGOs are building bridges within the community such that there are resourceful people there to support the women long after the NGO workers are gone. As an outsider, it's been fascinating for me to talk with these powerbrokers, doctors, lawyers and teachers, and hear them speak passionately about their commitment to women's empowerment. And the gender dynamics of the room speak of their sincerity: of the ten to twenty folks involved, usually close to half are women, and they speak with the same confidence as the men. Definitely not my stereotype of a predominantly Muslim society.

Well, I have much more to tell you but I've run out of time...

We start the journey home tomorrow night and I'll be back home by Mon afternoon, Inshallah.

There will be lots of great photos to share and hopefully some multimedia slideshows to upload to the web in a few weeks’ time.

See you soon!

Yael

Nepali Women Rising

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:54:00 +0000

Hi,

We spent the last couple of days with Women's Awareness Center Nepal (Nari Chetna Kendra to locals). It was cool to visit with them after seeing ASHA's work because it was almost like fast-forwarding 10 years.

WACN started off in 1991 helping build informal savings and credit groups similar to the ones I visited in Okarpauwa. Over time they have helped the groups come together to form 36 larger, more powerful cooperatives ranging from 200 to 865 members each. These are formal legal institutions, giving them more structure and staying power. Most of the cooperatives function completely independently of WACN at this point, with their own local staff and offices. It's a great model, as they don't depend on NGOs or international donors to grow.

Together, WACN's cooperatives have over $2.5 million dollars of capital in circulation. They use this money for the typical loans I mentioned before - sustainable agriculture, buffalo rearing, opening small shops, sending kids to school, etc. But the structure of the cooperative also allows women to come together around a myriad of other issues. One cooperative we visited in Kavre grew so powerful that they took over the local 'forest users group' - the committee of locals who work with the government to manage the forest. When a group of wealthy landowners appropriated the forest for their own use, the women rose up in protest. The leaders of the cooperative were arrested, but they convinced the police of their cause and were immediately released, at which point they marched to the local government office to protest. They filed two lawsuits and eventually prevailed, saving the forest from destruction.

We spent most of our visit at individual members' homes, seeing how their lives have improved due to their involvement with their local coop. My favorite visit was with a woman who doesn't have enough land to grow food. She eventually built up enough loan capital to buy 4 buffalo, and now sells hundreds of liters of buffalo milk per day (we drank some hot milk in tall glasses - delicious!). She makes even more money selling the manure, and has enough left over to run her own mini-biogas plant. This contraption, built with training and technical support from WACN, converts the methane from the manure into fuel, which is piped into her home to power a gas burner. Awesome!

Well, I would love to tell you more stories, but I’ve got to run... I'm off to the airport to catch a flight to Bangladesh to visit with more groups there. I don't know how much Internet access I'll have there so don't be surprised if it's a while until you hear from me.

Namaskar,

Yael

A Great Start to the New Year

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Hi everybody,

Jan (the photographer traveling with me on this trip) and I spent the first day of the year on a FANTASTIC site visit with ASHA Nepal (one of the organizations we fund) in Okarpauwa municipality, a hilly area about 45 minutes NW of Kathmandu. Most people here, like the majority of Nepalis, are subsistence farmers. The cab made a slow climb on a winding road to a small settlement, where we met in a centralized area with members of three women's groups from two villages. Some had walked for two hours to meet with us.

Boy, these are some empowered women, and so affectionate. By the end of our visit they were hugging me, stroking my hair and competing with each other to invite me to their homes ("I will feed you goat's milk," said one. "But I have buffalo milk, come with me!" said another.) One of them hoisted me into the air, told me that I look like her daughter, and said she would like to adopt me. She and I decided by the end that we are relatives and walked with our arms around each other.

These women are clear about what they want for themselves and their community, and how the savings and credit groups are a means to get there. They exuded total ownership over the process, even though they were not organized before the professionals from ASHA Nepal showed up here just three years ago. I have no doubt in my mind that they will continue long after the community development professionals are gone. In fact, the field worker comes less than monthly now, and still they meet without fail on the 29th of every month with their logbooks to turn in their savings quota (a sort of membership fee) of 50 Rupees (75 cents).

They greeted us sitting in a circle on mats in the mud-baked patio of a woman's home. Sitting cross-legged, we bowed in the traditional greeting and introduced ourselves, requesting their permission to take photographs to show back in the United States. The women reservedly waggled their heads in agreement. Little did I know that there were some major camera hams amongst the group. One woman kept interrupting to come up with creative ways to pose photos. She brought out her logbook and savings quota and asked the treasurer to pretend they were having their monthly savings meeting just for the camera. She later posed with her seeds and then hugging her goats. Later as we walked down the road, the women brainstormed excitedly about other shots we might want. They took us to the stream to pose washing their vegetables for market, and then showed us their best crops.

The women went on at length about the improvements to their crop yields they have achieved with sustainable agriculture training provided by ASHA, and the links to the market they have made as a group. They can sell collectively in bulk more effectively than trying to sell the 5 or 10 pounds each one produces separately. And now, for the first time, a vendor comes up the road every week to collect the crops, where before they would have to trek to the city to sell at the market.

They bubbled with enthusiasm about their yearly vegetable exhibition, in which a jury of 5 peers decides which woman grows the best crops. In addition to the admiration of her neighbors, the winner gets a watering can and a weeding trowel. The women call upon her for advice on how to improve their yields. They said that this competition has motivated them to work hard and implement everything they have learned, and that the results have been very marked from one year to the next. Some of them also went on an 'exposure visit' to another municipality where women have implemented a more intensive permaculture program, and they have adopted what they learned there. For example, they plant marigolds near their vegetables, as these flowers protect the crops from pests.

Some of the women brought out their seeds and showed me how they have learned to protect them from moths in jars lined with local herbs and ash, whereas before they hung them in handkerchiefs which would get eaten through. Through more effective seed saving, they keep funds previously used to travel to the city and buy seeds at market. Similarly, they told me how they used to buy insecticides, even though they couldn't read the directions on the bottles. Now they know how to use herbal preparations to fight common pests, and they are happy that their children eat pesticide-free.

One teenage girl read us a poem she composed in honor of our visit, chanting it with another woman. The poem was an elegy to the nutritious vegetables they now can grow that help them stay strong and work together. It seems we aren't the only ones who value organic food.

So what about that savings quota? They told me with great pride that their current loan funds had reached $500 - $1000 per group. This is entirely from their own earnings, so they owe no institution or moneylender. They use the fund to take out three-month loans to buy a goat, or pay school fees, or lease land. They charge 18 - 24% APR (they set the rate themselves, which they say is far below the moneylender rate but enough to grow their fund) and repay their loan as a lump sum in three months with their earnings. When I asked they said it hasn't been hard for them to both collect their savings quota and pay back their loans. They have learned to plan ahead, but if they fall short one month they might go work for a few hours as a wage laborer, or borrow the amount from a friend or two.

The women see the group fund not only as a means to improve their family income and standard of living, but also as a means to contribute to their community. One group (they call themselves the Jalukini group after a local variety of yams) dances together in peoples' homes during the festivals and asks for a small donation towards their group. With the funds collected and a portion of their savings, they have donated money this year towards building a secondary school and founding a temple to the Hindu god Shiva. Now that's grassroots fundraising!

Another group (the "Kurilo" or Asparagus group) has set aside a fund for emergencies that might arise amongst themselves or the neighbors. This same group has spent the interest the fund has grown to begin construction on a vegetable collection stall near the road for all the women in the community to be able to store their harvest at nightfall. Currently they descend the steep hillsides starting at 1am to meet the purchaser who comes in his pickup truck at 2 or 3 in the morning.

With support from ASHA professionals, the women went to the municipal office for the first time to present a proposal handwritten on their official Kurilo letterhead requesting support for the construction of the stall, which will double as their group meeting space and area to receive visitors. The municipality has pledged 10,000 Rupees (about US$150) towards the construction. Next week the group leader will go to the municipal office by herself to ensure that they carry through on their pledge.

Similarly, the group presented me and the ASHA board chair with an official proposal carefully written on letterhead, requesting support not only for construction of the market stall but also for literacy and math classes, and ongoing agriculture training. They made it clear that they do not expect us outsiders to provide major charity, but instead appreciate anything we can provide in addition to what they will already do for themselves.

With the leadership skills they have learned, some of the women have joined the community water committee, previously only open to men. The committee raises funds to bring potable water tanks to the area, and advocates with the municipality about their water needs.

They then showed us the 'tin trunk library' provided by ASHA Nepal, which is literally an aluminum suitcase full of training manuals on health, gender issues, agriculture and other relevant issues and the lending logbook showing which woman borrowed which booklet (1/3 to 1/2 of the women in each group have been to primary school).

I encouraged the women to ask me any question, even things that are personal, as I know it isn't every day that a foreigner shows up in their community. They asked me what I do. As I was about to explain my role at IDEX, one of the ASHA members gently suggested that instead I tell them what my daily routine is like as a woman, and they could share the same with me. Boy, it was humbling! 4am rise, go to fetch water from 2 hours up the hill (in dry season), clean, wash clothes, prepare breakfast, feed animals and then the workday in the field starts (when I say field, you should picture a slope on a mountain at about a 45 degree angle. These women must have serious thigh muscles, not to mention deltoids from the enormous loads of firewood they carry on their backs). In the evening they collect firewood and fodder for their animals before preparing dinner.

Incidentally, here as in most of Nepal the forests are collectively managed, a model of sustainable resource management that has reduced deforestation and is seen as a model in other parts of the world. Oy, I wish I had asked them about that! But I was already overwhelmed with just making sure I got the full story about their work in the group.

When they learned I have a young son, the women asked me if I nurse him, and looked happy to hear that I do. When I told them I had weaned him just weeks ago in anticipation of this trip, they looked at me sympathetically and said it must have been hard for me. They could clearly sense that I miss my little guy. Until now they had maintained a polite distance, but as we got up to take a group photo they surrounded me with hugs and warm strokes on my belly, asking me to stay the night. I wish I could have!

Tomorrow we get picked up at 7am to visit two women's cooperatives in the hills of Kavre district with Women's Awareness Center Nepal. So it's off to bed for me...

Wishing everyone a great start to the year!

Yael

A Nepalese Feast

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Hi all!

Here is my entry from the night we arrived, December 30. This one gives a quick overview of the political context of our visit, and the kind hospitality of our first host.

I have arrived here at a fascinating moment in Nepali history. Less than one week ago, Parliament agreed to completely abolish the monarchy in four short months, relegating the once-powerful King Gyanendra to ordinary citizen status and transforming the last Hindu kingdom on earth into a constitutional republic. From what I gather, this same king was until recently an autocratic head of state who wielded control over the Royal Army and used it to repress social movements in the name of combating terrorism. Last year as part of the peace process he was stripped of most of his powers. This was in part a concession to the powerful Maoist insurgency, but also a political response by Parliament to the overwhelming rejection of King Gyanendra by the general public, who had mistrusted him ever since the prior King, King Birendra, was killed by the Crown Prince Dipendra in the Palace Massacre murder-suicide, which vaulted him to power in 2001. Now, Gyanendra will be dethroned for good and his family's divinely granted powers abandoned forever.

This news has renewed hope for an end to the 10-year civil war as the Maoists have tentatively pledged to rejoin the government. My impression is that it also means a newfound feeling of openness, as people are less scared of the soon-to-be ex-Royal Army and perhaps the soon-to-be ex-armed insurgency. I had been warned by others who visited recently not to ask any direct questions about the Maoists and not to expect any direct answers. So I was planning to keep my mouth shut.

Yet at least one community development professional we met just after we arrived expressed his sympathies for the armed movement, quite loudly and without prompting, in the public space of our hotel lobby. He said that thanks to the Maoists, rural and indigenous people have become much more active and vocal in demanding change, and this has sped up progress for human rights in ways never before seen in this country. The Maoists, in his view, helped the people see the King for the wealthy autocrat that he is, bringing him down from his divine, oppressive, pedestal. It is thanks to them, he told us, that minority groups such as the Indian-identified Madhesis, ethnic Tibetans and so-called 'low-caste' groups have also begun agitating for their rights, having been denied citizenship for centuries.

I have a hunch that some of the other people we are scheduled to meet feel much differently about the insurgency, including the bombings and summary executions that I understand have been very much part and parcel of the Maoist strategy. I wonder if they will feel as safe to share their views in this still-shaky moment of ceasefire.

After that informal chat in the lobby, we were off to our first encounter with Nepal -- or at least one prominent citizen of Nepal. We had been invited to dinner at the home of Rita Thapa, a renowned women's rights activist. Most recently, she is the founder of Voice of the Citizen, a group dedicated to conflict transformation and advocating for the rights of internal refugees and widows of the violent conflict.

As darkness fell, we embarked on a taxi ride through the narrow roads jam-packed with bicycle rickshaws painted in riot of colors, VW Combis crammed full of women in silk saris, buses, cars, diesel trucks decorated in many hues and belching noxious fumes, motorbikes (a few driven by young cosmopolitan women wearing tight jeans and high heels) and brave pedestrians seemingly narrowly escaping death. We veered onto a main highway past the Royal Palace -- where the 'tiger sits trapped in his gilded cage,' according to our friend in the lobby, and into a massive traffic jam. The cab driver explained that this was due to Losar, the Buddhist New Year also know as Lhochaar in Nepal and celebrated by one ethnic group, the Gurung people. As of last week Losar has become one of five new national holidays as part of a nominal effort by the government to recognize the validity of the minority and indigenous cultures that make up something like 1/3 of the population.

As we left the main road the city was enveloped in darkness. Arriving at our destination, we removed our shoes. Rita ushered us into her beautiful two-story home by candlelight as she explained that her area was currently undergoing 'load-sharing.' The government has implemented a policy in which each sector of the city is plunged into blackout from 5 to 8 pm for a few days each month. This is related to a nation-wide energy shortage that has lasted over a year, due to causes unknown. According to the Nepali Times, some people suspect powerful businessmen of deliberately withholding fuel to drive up prices.

Over an appetizer of carrot-cinnamon soup and greens freshly picked from her garden, Rita shared how as a young widow she left a career at the UN convinced that it was time for women in Nepal of all castes and economic means to find ways to support their own initiatives. Her efforts led to the founding of TEWA, the Nepali Women's Fund, which raises funds locally by bringing together groups of middle-aged homemakers to raise funds through walk-a-thons, raffles and other grassroots means. With these funds it supports women's empowerment initiatives all over the country.

Rita eventually turned TEWA over to a new generation of leaders. Her plan had been to study abroad, but then the Palace Massacre occurred and the conflict escalated. Hundreds of people were dying daily and widows and orphans were crowding into Kathmandu with nowhere to go.

She interrupted her narrative to check the rice on the stove. I admired the wood-carvings and paintings of the Buddha decorating the spacious living room and warmed my hands by the small space heater which came on as the lights returned. We padded in our stockings to the dining table as she and her colleague Vickram told us about their latest effort, Voice of the Citizen. For six years they have worked with displaced youth and widows to provide psychological and social support while holding peace vigils and advocating for an end to the violent conflict.

Rita projects the passion of a committed activist and the kindness and warmth of someone who feels comfortable interacting with people of all walks of life. I later was told that she is the daughter of a former Prime Minister of Nepal, one of many who have founded NGOs (non-governmental development or human rights organizations) in the last 15 years. Though she possesses a poise that fits her social station, I detected no snobbery. She spoke quietly about the emotional strain of the war and the toll it on her personally as it has the rest of the country. With a faraway look in her eye, she told us that she is grateful for the solace of Buddhism and especially the meditative practice of cooking.

Perhaps after two days of airplane peanuts my taste buds were feeling neglected, but the food was indeed exquisite. Small bowls were laid in front of us with a Nepali feast similar to - but much better than - the North Indian food I've eaten in Berkeley. A light chicken curry, creamy cheese curds in spinach (equivalent to Indian palak paneer), rice with fragrant black lentil dahl, and a pickled local fruit that tasted like tamarind on steroids. Later we were treated to Rita's homemade yogurt spiced with cardamom, pepper and chunks of fresh strawberries. Having had the real McCoy, I may not be able to enjoy those Trader Joe's microwaveable packets of 'authentic South Asian cuisine' ever again.

Feeling restored, we gave Rita our sincere thanks and took a cab to our hotel to rest in preparations for the busy day ahead.

Happy New Year... from Nepal

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:42:00 +0000

Yael Falicov, IDEX's Director of Programs is spending New Year visiting IDEX partners and grantees in Nepal and Bangladesh. Her first blog gives her initial impressions of Nepal and the New Year to come!

Hi Everyone,

I'm writing from Kathmandu, Nepal on New Year's Eve in a hotel in the raucous tourist district of Thamel, with salsa and electronica blaring out of the nearby bars and clubs.

Whew. What a way to usher out 2007. Where to start? So many things to tell you, and I've been here for little more than 24 hours. I am a bit giddy from everything and perhaps a bit incoherent so feel free to skim, I won't be offended in the least.

In the morning we had a long office meeting with one of the groups we began funding recently, ASHA Nepal. After hearing a lot so far about the NGO 'business' as a money maker for the elites, I am happy to confirm that they are quite legitimate in their commitment. I was pretty impressed overall, and am looking forward to our field visit to the villages tomorrow, where we will be meeting with indigenous Tamang women participating in sustainable agriculture projects through their savings and credit group.

In the afternoon we ate momos (Nepali fast food: delicious dumplings stuffed with chicken and buffalo meat - so much for my vegetarian leanings!) and then the ASHA board chair Amod took us on a tour of perhaps the most prominent Hindu temple, where his uncle is a head priest. Interestingly, though he comes from the Brahmin (priest) caste and a very devout family, Amod himself is not religious. A public health professional, he seems more drawn to the temple of academia and the scripture of peer-reviewed journals.

As non-Hindus cannot enter the sacred areas, we instead climbed the hill above the temple, passing many small structures carved with some very sexually explicit images - whoa! Here, the ascetics (sadus) hang out and inhale gangha, the god Shiva's favorite smoke. As we climbed the steep path surrounded by chattering rhesus monkeys, one toothless sadu with a grizzled, a friendly face and tattered orange robes said in perfect colloquial English, "Welcome! Hey, you are about to get a GREAT view." Exchange the robes for jeans and the monkeys for gutter punks, and we could have been on Haight Street in San Francisco.

At the summit we looked down on the banks of the river at the smoking funeral pyres of the dead, where family members gathered to watch their loved ones pass on to another life. Creation, destruction: it's all out in the open here.

From the temple we walked down the hill over a sewage-strewn river and took at taxi where we witnessed sunset at the other-worldly Bouda stupa, which I recognized from photos that my parents took on their visit here over two decades ago. At this Buddhist shrine, the massive painted eyes of the Buddha stare out at the crowd of hundreds who are circling clockwise in worship. Flowers bloom on the steps and small wooden troughs feed the black pigeons roosting on the golden steeple above the Buddha's knowing stare. Around the shrine are small rooms, some of which contain massive golden prayer wheels spinning at top speed. I was told it is good luck to walk with the wheel, so I made my turn in a few times. In one room, I almost ran over the caretaker, who is just about two feet tall and was sweeping away ashes with a twig broom.

About a dozen worshippers, both Nepali and Western, some with shaved heads, prostrate themselves thousands of times daily on wooden mats in front of the shrine. Just across the road, next to internet cafes, restaurants and shops brimming with hippie tourist tchotchkes like Tibetan singing bowls and sand paintings of mandalas, there are sacred temples painted with elaborate murals. In return for putting small change in a collection box, a priest doused my forehead with holy water and waived incense, chanting methodically near a massive golden Buddha as images of fierce Tibetan monsters stared at me from above. In the still air, women in saris prayed silently.

Even Amod, a professed non-believer, comes to this place when he feels troubled. Although only something like 20% of Nepalis are Buddhist, he explained that the Hindus are also Buddhist. Perhaps it this is why Buddhism has permeated the whole society. I can understand why.

Staring at the familiar images, I was flooded with memories of my Dad, who explored Tibetan Buddhism late in his short life. Tears overwhelmed me as gave thanks silently for life and for all the ways he and Mom deliberately exposed me to other cultures and opened my mind to the world. Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Mom.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope to write more soon -

Yael

IDEX Board Member is Hero Among Us

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:29:00 +0000

Pilar Gonzales joined the IDEX board earlier this year. Like all our board members she brings critical expertise and experience to guide us. Recently her work and focus on charitable giving caught the eye of People Magazine who feature her in this week's edition.

Pilar was also featured as a philanthropist on local Fox news, KTVU by Paul Chambers. You can view the 2-minute interview here: http://www.ktvu.com/video/14902562/index.html.

IDEX Grantees in Africa Receive Recognition

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:30:00 +0000

At IDEX it is our privilege to hear many inspiring stories of women who have extraordinary vision and strength to create change in their communities.

IDEX has recently learned that the determination and dedication of 20 women in Africa has been recognized by the African Women of Empowerment Award.

We are proud to announce that three of these women are IDEX grantees.

Prudence Mabele, Positive Women's Network in South Africa;
Betty Makoni, Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe; and
Sizane Ngubane, Rural Women's Movement in South Africa.

Prudence, Betty and Sizane join 17 other women in Africa who met the criteria of an Empowering Woman which is defined by the committee as a woman who:

1. Is a positive role model and demonstrates leadership in her chosen field;
2. Has made an impact at local, national and/or international levels;
3. Has been the first to initiate an activity that made living conditions better for others;
4. Embodies excellence and leadership in her field of endeavor, and
5. Has shown courage in public life and public service or is/has been involved in a great cause for the betterment of humanity.

The award will allow the women to better document their work and receive greater visibility on both a national and international level. IDEX warmly congratulates all of the winners of the African Women of Empowerment.

For more information visit www.womenempowering.org.

Cyclone Sidr - We need your help!

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:47:00 +0000

IDEX is raising funds for our grantees in Bangladesh who are organizing emergency relief efforts to help communities impacted by Cyclone Sidr. Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh on Thursday, November 15, with winds of up to 150 mph (240km/h) and a tidal surge of several meters which devastated lives, homes and crops.

Shyamoli Mazumder, Executive Director of IDEX grantee OWDEB, emailed to say:

We are in real trouble due to this natural disaster. But this time water could not touch us at Chittagong, only heavy rainfall and wind blow at the rate of 150-200km/hr.

At our field area, crops are almost destroyed, bamboo house are in very
bad condition, and in urban areas electricity and water supply is now [back on] after three days.

Packing winds over 220km an hour, the cyclone demolished houses, crops,
trees and shrimp farms along its trail of devastation, over an area of thousands of square km.

We the community, NGOs, and Govt are in action but we need more shelter to save our people in near future.

Our grantees in Bangladesh are ideally situated to respond quickly when such a disaster occurs as they have the infrastructure and ability to identify those in greatest need.

The funds will be used to provide meals and clean water to families. Our goal is to raise $50,000 that will provide 100,000 individuals with potable water and 2 meals per day.

This food and water will ensure people have enough to eat during a critical time period. In the aftermath of disaster, sickness and disease unfortunately become more prevalent. A healthy diet and a clean source of water, coupled with rehydrating salt and saline will help people fight disease. Families will be in a stronger position to evaluate what they have lost and identify resources to help them rebuild their lives.

Please give generously to provide food and potable water to those in greatest need.

To learn more visit the BBC website.

UN Adopts Declaration Protecting Indigenous Peoples' Rights

noreply@blogger.com (IDEX) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:16:00 +0000

Followers of Katherine's trip to Chiapas (see August 2007 posts) will be interested to learn that yesterday the UN adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. This important document calls for "the recognition of the worlds' 370 million indigenous peoples' right to self-determination and control over land and resources".

Read the full story at OneWorld.net.

At IDEX we are overjoyed that the UN has adopted this declaration, but realize that it is still the role of civil society to ensure that these rights are observed, protected and upheld.

IDEX and our partners have sought to defend the rights of indigenous people for many years as it is our firm belief that poverty in many communities is a result of policies that negatively impact indigenous peoples.

The following story, as told by Gerado, a Mayan community leader in Chiapas, Mexico, highlights the challenges facing indigenous people, the need of the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, and the impact of civil society groups who work to protect these rights.

"The mestizos (non-indigenous people) here have been trying for years to run us off our land, to gain complete political, social and economic domination over us. They used to own all the stores in town and would sell to us at high prices so that they could get rich. There were days when the problems with them got so bad that we had to sleep in our cornfields to avoid gunshots.

We decided that we needed to organize to fend for ourselves. Slowly we started learning about how to organize a cooperative, how to use a scale, what a kilogram is, what the different merchandise is in a store. We were practically blind, we were ignorant, but we learned. We opened a store and now we can buy from ourselves, we can support ourselves. We thank Mr. Jorge Santiago and the staff of DESMI for helping us to learn and to believe that we could do this. It has been wonderful to have people come here who really listen to us, who are interested in a true interchange of ideas. We may not have much money, but we know how to use our human resources well. Despite repression, despite our poverty, despite the violence we've faced, our cooperative has survived for 20 years. It's well worth it." Gerardo, treasurer, Our Father of Tila Cooperative Store, Chiapas, Mexico.