Federal programs in Mexico do little to support communities

There is a town called Guadalupe Miramar about six hours from Oaxaca City. It’s a small town that may seem isolated to many of us, yet it isn’t in comparison to many of those found in the Mixtec sierra of Oaxaca.

For 14 years, Coffee Kids has worked with a partner organization called The Center of Support for the Popular Movement of Oaxaca (CAMPO). Within CAMPO there is a group of women called the Rural Women’s Union of the Mixteca (UMCAMIX). UMCAMIX was created with purpose of helping women find solidarity among each other and strengthen their business skills with the ultimate goal of making them self-sufficient members of their community. When UMCAMIX began, there were 80 participants. Now, 10 years later, there are 25.

Under the current president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, there is a federal program called Oportunidades. Under previous presidencies it was called Solidaridad. The program began with a large donation from the InterAmerican Develoment Bank. This donation was soon used in its entirety, and the program now relies on borrowed funds to continue its work, thereby making it unreliable and fairly unpredictable.

Perhaps the proposed idea was a positive one: to bring education, health and development to rural Mexico. The program’s coordinators, though, soon realized that people have to work long hours every day to make ends meet. They don’t have time to attend federal workshops. And so, the government began to pay for their attendance. These workshops, however, are taught by students, and there is little to no follow up. There is no collection of data, monitoring of progress, or measurement of impact. There is an initial payment and then nothing. Over time, these workshops have become a way for the government to buy votes in areas where voter turnout is low. Now, 90 percent of the women in Guadalupe have access to Oportunidades.

The international programs department has found over the years that this may be creating a bit of competition in the coffee-growing regions of Mexico. More than once Coffee Kids has planned a visit to a community with plenty of anticipation only to find out that Oportunidades happened to plan a visit to the same community on the same day. Participants are only paid if they show up to the government meetings. This results in a lower turnout for Coffee Kids.

Women involved in the federal program cannot understand why the UMCAMIX women continue to work on their own projects rather than relying on those of the government. The women of UMCAMIX believe in sustainability. They are proud of their personal achievements, and know that the day government funds are no longer available, they will be able to provide for their families.

Margarita Elodia López López is the president of UMCAMIX. She lives one to two hours walking distance from Guadalupe. She explained that thanks to their hard work and savings, the women were able to buy land and build a two-story home out of bricks and wood with an eco-bathroom and a kitchen.

They have learned from their failures as well as from their successes. When they were building their meeting house, they made the mistake of using their savings and dipping into the pharmacy’s funds. Many of the townswomen pointed fingers and laughed at how they had used up all they had. Due to their good credit history, though, they were able to take out a line of credit and replenish the pharmacy’s goods. This experience taught them about the importance of record keeping, savings and responsible financial management. They’ve not only recovered from their mistake, they’ve gotten ahead.

As Coffee Kids International Program Director Jose Luis Zárate and International Program Coordinator Pedro Pérez walked through Guadalupe, they saw the Oportunidades-funded nurseries with withering plants and soil that was not properly prepared for planting. They saw the need for groups like CAMPO to truly teach sustainable farming practices, conduct follow-up evaluations and work toward building self-sustaining communities rather than communities dependent upon government handouts. They saw community members looking forward to their next government-paid meeting rather than toward new projects that would better the community.

UMCAMIX is a strong example of the pride, knowledge and sense of solidarity that can be built upon when programs are created with the long-term benefit of the community in mind. These women feel a strong sense of ownership of their projects and the ways in which they’ve not only helped themselves, but the entire community. Coffee Kids works closely with its partner organizations to ensure that the work we do is sustainable and built from the community up.