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|
Agros International |
| Founders |
Chi-Dooh "Skip" Li |
| Headquarters |
Seattle, Washington |
| Area served |
Central America and Mexico |
| Focus |
Rural Poverty |
| Method |
Long term land grants and technical
training |
| Revenue |
$4,107358 (FY 2006/07) |
| Motto |
Land, Hope, Life |
| Website |
www.agros.org |
Agros International is a non-profit
organization based in Seattle, Washington that works to reduce
rural poverty in Central America.
History
Seattle attorney Chi-Dooh "Skip" Li registered Agros
International as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization in 1984. His
plan for the organization was to privately buy land and loan it to
small communities of landless farmers until they earned the
resources to purchase it. In 1986, Agros undertook its first
village projects in Guatemala. After finding success with these two
villages, Li and other Agros founders decided to purchase more land
and establish new villages in Guatemala. In 1997 Agros expanded to
Nicaragua, followed by El Salvador in 1999, Honduras in 2004, and
Chiapas, Mexico in 2005.
Early on in Agros' expansion, Agros' staff and board of
directors realized that land alone was not enough to overcome
poverty. They extended the Agros model into a holistic development
strategy providing both long-term land loans as well as training.
Currently, the Agros development model includes training villages
on community organization, land ownership, housing and
infrastructure, sustainable economic growth, and community
education and training.
Approach
Agros International focuses specifically on rural poverty. Three
quarters of the world's poor live and work in rural areas[1]. The
organization's development model focuses on access to land
ownership as the first step out of poverty and provides long-term,
low-interest loans to groups of families that come together to form
Agros villages. Once families have access to land, Agros provides
additional support and training. Over a period of 7–10 years, land
loans are repaid with income earned from crops and small-business
activities. Agros starts new villages by leveraging the funds from
repaid land loans.
| Poverty Statistics by Country |
Poverty rate: % of national population[2] |
Poverty rate: % of rural population[3] |
Number of Rural Poor (millions)[4] |
| Guatemala |
60.2 |
68 |
4.7 |
| Nicaragua |
69.3 |
77 |
1.9 |
| El Salvador |
47.5 |
56.8 |
1.6 |
| Honduras |
71.5 |
81.5 |
3.1 |
| Mexico |
31.7 |
40.1 |
9.7 |
Reach
Agros has started almost 40 developing communities in five
countries throughout Central America. Agros has 18 active villages
in Guatemala, 8 in Nicaragua, 5 in Chiapas, Mexico, 4 in El
Salvador, and 3 in Honduras. Agros continues to increase the number
of villages it supports and plans to expand to neighboring
countries in the future. Agros has a goal to implement its
poverty-alleviating model in 10 countries by 2015. New villages are
often started in close proximity to existing villages to benefit
from the experience of members of the established villages. All
Agros staff are native to their respective countries.
Recognition
In 2008, Agros was awarded the prestigious 2008 World Bank
Development Marketplace award for the innovative proposal to create
two sustainable farming communities in Chiapas, Mexico.[5] The
project was awarded $200,000 in seed funds to provide long-term
land loans and holistic development support to Guatemalan refugees
living in Chiapas, Mexico. The World Bank Development Marketplace
is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and
supported by various partners that identify and fund innovative,
early-stage projects with high potential for development
impact.
Charity Navigator ranks Agros International as a 3 Star
Charity.[6]
See also
Notes
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