New farms expand our programs in the Sutiava Indigenous Region of Nicaragua
La Gallina is located in the rural area of the indigenous region of Sutiava, 12 km south west of the city of León. It is near other communities where we have been working for many years, and represents an expansion of our program in the region. In March 2024 we completed a capacity training (HCT) program with 20 women who successfully graduated and have been preparing to begin the sustainable farming program.
Women and single mothers are our largest group of farmers
In La Gallina there are 71 families, and of those, 76% are headed by single mothers, reflecting a common demographic in rural communities throughout Central America and the vulnerability and insecurity of children and women, who have no income and live in conditions of extreme poverty.
How our program works:
To alleviate poverty and restore communities, we support women and families with our capacity training and sustainable farm development programs, providing social, emotional and technical training, followed by materials to create a family farm, ongoing farm training, and weekly technical assistance, to grow their own vegetables. These are for their own consumption and the surplus, up to 75% of their crops, are sold generating income that helps cover the basic needs in their homes and their children’s school expenses. This work has proven transformational for many women and families over the past 10 years in Nicaragua, where the children of farming mothers are graduating from secondary school and attending college in disproportionate numbers relative to their communities.
Multiple strategies within our core programs
One of our training strategies is to create a demonstration food farm at the local school which serves as a training site for students and families to learn how to select land, sow seeds and transplant germinated plants into furrows. This has allowed families to better assimilate the training workshops on farming methods.
Launching our latest farm project
In April of 2024 we delivered fencing to six families to start the farming program in La Gallina. They were given practical training in the school farm we had built in March this year.
Abigail Benavidez, testimonial:
“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 taught in the community.…
I learned a lot from the workshops that made me change my way of thinking. I found the sessions on self-esteem to be very important. Through them one learns to value yourself, love yourself and make good decisions. Today’s phrase for me is: “women must fight for our lives beyond the difficulties that arise before us.
Now that we are starting our family garden I feel excited. I am going to feed my family better. We will eat vegetables that we grow, rather than going without due to the high prices for vegetables in the city markets. After years without any help, our community will start to improve now that ViviendasLeon has arrived to help us make use of our fertile land.”
You can read more about the La Gallina community and it’s history in the stories below.
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