Growing Grassroots Organizations in Mesoamerica
As the effects of USAID closures, deportations, and economic shifts ripple through Mesoamerica, our work to strengthen local organizations has become even more vital.
We’ve partnered with the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA) and Coordinadora de Mujeres Líderes Territoriales de Mesoamérica (CMLT) over the past two years to support community-based organizations in strengthening their institutional capacity.
One organization from Mexico – the Regional Association of Foresters of Totonacapan (LIMAXTUM) – participated in the program, as well as three organizations from Guatemala: the Association of Agricultural Women of Santa Marta for the Development of San Sebastián (AGRIDESEM), the Association of Agroecological Promoters of Jalapa (ASOPROAJ) and the Unión Huista Integral Agricultural Cooperative.
Throughout the process, these organizations conducted a diagnosis of their organization’s needs and strengths, developing long-term strategic plans with the guidance of local facilitators.
“We are currently facilitating organizational strengthening processes that involve working with organizations to establish what conditions they are in, what their challenges are … we are establishing the level of progress they have made, but also identifying those limitations or barriers that are not allowing them to grow. We work with people of the organization to define what to do to solve those problems, and from there, develop a strategic plan for the coming 4-5 years.” – Magdalena Ixquiactap Tuc, Regional Facilitator, Guatemala
In the short term, participants are leaving the collaboration with clear, strategic action steps to strengthen their organization and work towards specific goals.
In the long term, this effort is part of supporting broader stability in the region. Ultimately, building stable, rooted organizations is part of building stable, rooted communities. Participating organizations’ strategic plans are oriented towards this long-term vision, focused on developing sustainable economies, practicing and expanding agroecology, regenerating native species, and revitalizing Indigenous cultural practices and languages.
Through the strength of their organizations, our partners are reaffirming the sovereignty of their people.
From building sustainable local food systems to protecting local biodiversity, these organizations are growing their capacity to meet community priorities using their own assets and knowledge, on their own terms.
And this is just the start. This month marks the end of the pilot program with the first four organizations, but we hope to be part of replicating the process with many more. Our other partners will also share these methodologies and learnings with smaller groups they support, expanding the effort through grassroots networks.
We believe the most enduring solutions to the region’s challenges will come from ground-up organizations – we just need to help provide the resources they’ll need to grow.
