Overview

We are 8 Students from the University of St. Gallen, and are proud to take over the collaboration with the Swiss-Guatemalan NGO Niños en Xela , with which we have been creating a successful impact for the women and children of Xela for 4 years now. We are all united under one project: to help create and preserve sustainable jobs and economic activities for women and children in Xela, to generate lasting social and economical benefits for the entire community. The project is taking place in a small community of single women and their children in a rural area around Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. After building stoves and latrines, last year's team decided to create a cooperative to empower women to generate sustainable revenues from agriculture. This year, our project is based on three pillars: 1. Perpetuating the cooperative project while ensuring its sustainability This will be achieved through hiring an agronomist to help the women have higher yields and finding a new piece of land for them to farm on. 2. Extending the women's revenue base through animal rearing We will provide the women with pigs or chickens, while educating them on how to rear the animals successfully, ideally setting up a breeding process. 3. Shifting mindsets Our project has the ambition to show and convince the women of Xela and their children that an escape out of poverty is possible. For this we will provide them with 8 computers to both enlarge their reach on and awareness to the world. We also aim to collaborate with an e-commerce that would be willing to sell traditional objects made by the women on their website. This would add another source of revenue to their current income. If you believe you could help us in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us or to talk about the project around you! Joanna, Kin, Biancamaria, Marko, Eloi, Ray, Nicolas and Julia