Guatemalan village takes
charge of its future

By Joaquina Rodríguez Ruz

An hour’s drive from Guatemala City is Conacaste village. The ICA selected it for a Human Development Project (HDP) in 1978. A research team from North America and Latin America, which included George West, Inga Bessin and Father Rafael Dávila, visited the village and explained what the project was about. Concaste residents accepted the proposal and sent a delegation of 10 people for training at an HDP set up in Caño Negro, Venezuela. From this point on, they were excited about what was coming. Concaste, like many of the communities chosen as pilot projects by the ICA all over the world, had a low self-image. Many of its inhabitants had no access to basic services and education was not a priority. Even villages on the outskirts of Guatemala City looked down at Concaste.

After the delegation returned from Venezuela, the villagers and ICA volunteers from North America prepared a community questionnaire and created a 20-year development plan. It envisioned a series of projects but the most profound change was people discovering that the future of Concaste was in their hands.

The first project accomplished was providing the town with electricity. Another important one was a pre-school program run by the village with support from the ICA. Its highlights included training courses in Imaginal Education Methods, multiple intelligence abilities and four kinds of learning methods. The program expanded to eight other villages. Other projects soon followed: a drinking water system and small industries like bakeries.

Today there are three such industries exporting their products to other communities. The streets are paved. There are four kilometres of paved roads. The village has begun a cooperative that contributes to the welfare of the majority of inhabitants. There is an agricultural association. Farmers now use drip irrigation; even some of the youngsters have adopted new techniques to protect their crops. Women have continued sewing classes, which are now equipped with electric sewing machines.

The exchange of ideas with facilitators and people from other towns through various ICA programs has led to a major shift in the culture of people. It has also been a moving experience as summed up in the village slogan: “Conacaste, people with their hearts in the right place”.

We still have challenges ahead and are devising strategies for these. Many people have left the village, others are just beginning to make their dreams come true.

Joaquina Rodríguez Ruz is a staff member of ICA Guatemala.