ViviendasLeon was founded in 2003 to create solutions to the interconnected causes of rural poverty in Central America. Our mission to “empower and equip rural families to be the agents of their own development” has shown time and again that people are willing and capable to work hard and succeed at changing their family’s…

During the  implementation of our HCT program in 2023, a third of the 20 women in the program had founded a cooperative two years previously.  They named it CoopEMEGA, an acronym for Cooperative of Entrepreneurial Women Managing Alternatives and Solutions. This group produces chili based condiments known as chileros that are popular in homes…

Angélica Epifania García was in our first HCT program in 2023, and now has a new small farm with a greenhouse and open area for row crops. She is 29 years old, married, mother of two children, and lives in Ciénaga Grande, neighborhood adjacent to Los Planes, in the municipality of Santa Lucía Utatlán.

We are thrilled to welcome Yamileth Alonzo Zárate, our most recent addition to the Guatemala staff as the Sustainable Farms Program Director.  Yami is an agronomist with experience in multiple areas of farming including food diversification and nutrition training, agriculture and business technical training, strengthening food security and resilience training, and disaster preparedness in…

“My name is Abigail Benavidez, I am 30 years old and I live with my husband and three children. I am a housewife and I participate as a volunteer in a parent work group at the La Gallina school. Last year I was encouraged to participate in the Human Training Program that ViviendasLeón…

Maybeline Chavajay Cotuc began work with ViviendasLeon in late 2022 as our human training program director. During the following six months she had met with and interviewed more than 30 families and launched our first human training program in the Los Planes and Paxub’ communities of Santa Lucia Utatlan. By July she…