A response to the food insecurity in Guatemala

A response to the food

insecurity in Guatemala

About the project

The project entitled A response to the food insecurity in Guatemala is an initiative that responds to the alert that CARE Guatemala issued due to the aggravation of the food insecurity situation in the country, and to which the Start Network responded through the Start Fund.

The worsening of the food insecurity situation was caused by an accumulation of crop losses, which originally occurred due to concurrent droughts, but was recently caused by the effects of the rainy season, plus the increase in the prices of food, agricultural inputs, and fossil fuels. All of these factors have caused a greater vulnerability, mainly for families in rural communities, especially indigenous families of the Q’eqchi’ and K’iche’ groups, in the departments of Alta Verapaz and Quiché.

CARE Guatemala provides the necessary help to communities to face the current emergency crisis of food insecurity, through the distribution of food kits and nutritional supplement kits.

Objectives

To ensure food security for one month for 1,792 families (with an average of 5 members each), providing food kits that consist of an average of 2,200 kilocalories per day.
To provide nutritional supplement kits for one month to 1,815 people in situations of nutritional vulnerability such as pregnant women, children under 5 years of age, elderly adults, and people with disabilities.

Participants

10,685 participants, consisting of families affected by food insecurity with a special focus on high-risk groups, such as the indigenous population, people who have suffered losses of crops and/or livelihoods, marginalized people, people in extreme poverty, pregnant women, lactating women, children under 5 years of age, people with disabilities and elderly people from five townships in Quiché and three in Alta Verapaz.

Results

The promotion of food security through the distribution of food kits —with the necessary 2,200 kilocalories per day, per person— which will have a positive impact on the affected families, and which will be complemented with additional nutritional supplements for the vulnerable groups.

FOOD KITS: The provision of food kits to 8,960 people in Quiché and Alta Verapaz.
NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT KITS: The provision of nutritional supplement kits to:

-990 children under 5 years of age.

-330 pregnant and lactating women.

-495 elderly people, and people with disabilities.

Results

The Association of Community Health Services (ASECSA).

It is an association integrated by community-based organizations with extensive experience in responding to natural disasters, such as food insecurity, floods, COVID-19, among others. It has multiple years of presence in the defined territories and a good understanding of the context, in addition to strong relationships with local authorities, communities, and interested parties. This partner is in charge of the project implementation in Alta Verapaz and in the townships of San Andrés Sajcabajá and Nebaj in Quiché.