Seeds for a Future Is Transforming the
Lives of Rural Guatemalans
Families in rural Guatemala have struggled with malnutrition and food insecurity for generations, leading to an ongoing cycle of poverty that's hard to escape.
In 2009, Seeds for a Future implemented its unique, comprehensive program to address these issues. Due to the program's impact and success, it continues to flourish throughout Guatemala.
Seeds for a Future isn’t only providing aid.
Instead, it incorporates a long-term strategy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
The Seeds program trains and empowers its participants to achieve greatly improved nutrition and health outcomes while increasing their income opportunities.
In addition to training, Seeds for a Future provides the starter seedlings and protein animals that will best serve each family's nutritional needs.
The practices used by the program's participants to achieve food security, better health, and increased opportunities become familial and community traditions.
These traditions are passed to future generations, contributing to healthier and more vibrant communities for generations to come.
Seeds for a Future operates with three core elements:
- Countering malnutrition and food insecurity by providing the training, seedlings, and small animals that participating families use to create their own permaculture gardens and protein sources.
- Nutrition and health education for mothers and children with an emphasis on “The First 1,000 Days”.
- Increased income opportunities by participants selling their excess garden and protein production.
Fifteen years of field testing and fine-tuning have paid off, thanks to the hard work of the Seeds staff and financial contributions of all sizes from engaged citizens around the globe.
Our results as of 2024:
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The Program serves 19 communities located in 10 states across Guatemala.
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Over 4,800 Families have graduated from the Program
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38,400+ people have benefited (avg family size = 8.0)
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Thousands of home gardens created and maintained
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Thousands of protein animals raised
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20,000 native fruit, cacao, and timber trees planted and producing
Seeds for a Future Program Locations
The INCAP Research Study of the Seeds for a Future Program
An independent, randomized controlled trial of the Seeds for a Future Program was conducted from 2014 to 2017 by the internationally respected Institute for Nutrition in Central America and Panama (INCAP).
Funded by the Nestlé Foundation of Switzerland, INCAP’s research revealed that Seeds for a Future’s strategies and methods produce measurable positive improvements in the health of participating mothers and babies.
Follow-up interviews showed an extraordinary level of sustainability – more than 80% of study participants reported continuing one or more actions they had learned from the Seeds for a Future program.
To discover more about Seeds' food security and self-reliance Program, be sure to view our Program Outline and FAQs page.