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Partnerships to Advance Development in San Luis Potosí

July 2, 2014

slp_partners_showing_family_garden_harvest.previewPartners in San Luis Potosí have identified what they want to change in their community, and they are making it happen.

The Hunger Project-Mexico facilitated Vision, Commitment, Action workshops through which partners developed four solid priorities to improve their community:

  1. Vision 1: Food security
  2. Vision 2: Adequate and sustainable sanitation
  3. Vision 3: Safe stoves
  4. Vision 4: Adequate housing

To address their first Vision, community members partnered with two Mexican Government bodies, the National System for Integral Family Development (DIF) and the Strategic Project for Food Security Mexico (PESA), to plant organic and diversified family gardens. They have also started a seed bank of affordable and native seeds. The community has since yielded multiple successful harvests leading to local sales and crop exchanges within their community.

Learning from these fruitful partnerships, The Hunger Project-Mexico also helped identify local authorities in the village of Tampamolón Corona, such as municipal presidents and SEDESOL representatives, to support progress on community members’ second Vision: Adequate and Sustainable Sanitation. Community members presented their vision to the local authorities, and delineated the plan to acquire eco-friendly and adequate bathrooms using composting toilets. Impressed by the community initiative and convinced of the importance of achieving their vision for their community, local authorities pledged their support of the project despite not having the financial resources. The government had allocated resources for sanitation according to what the national level dictates; San Luis Potosí partnerships are demonstrating that the communities can shape their own paths.

San Luis Potosí community partners are committed to making their community what they want it to be, and they’ve decided such an endeavor cannot be done alone. But they no longer are depending on partnerships as ways to merely receive aid. They are shaping their partnerships themselves, and are on their way to improving the lives of their families and their whole community.

July 2, 2014