The Hunger Project (Mexico)
The Hunger Project is a global, non-profit, strategic organisation committed to sustainably ending world hunger. Its vision is a world where every woman, man and child lead a healthy, fulfilling life of self-reliance and dignity. Its mission is to end hunger and poverty by pioneering sustainable, grassroots, women-centred strategies and advocating for their widespread adoption in countries throughout the world. The Hunger Project (THP) is active in 23 countries throughout the world, with its global headquarters in New York.
In 2020/2021, the Eurofins Foundation supported The Hunger Project in Mexico to implement a comprehensive, bottom-up, women-centred strategy for sustainable development in Oaxaca, the poorest state in Mexico, and thus reach indigenous and rural people who are often excluded from most development processes.
This programme focuses on training and empowering local volunteer leaders, particularly women, to advocate for themselves and the resources they need based on their own assessments and goals for their community. These leaders then oversee the development of their villages, including access to clean water and sanitation, launching community gardens and nutrition training programmes, rediscovering indigenous crops for healthy and diverse diets, creating income-generation activities, and upholding the rights of women and children.
The grant has helped THP create healthier communities equipped with the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources, directly impacting a total of 743 people.
THP also supported the installation of 101 new rainwater harvesting systems, which directly impacted 565 people, almost half of whom were women. An additional 11 new systems are scheduled to be installed in the near future.
Communities are taking the lead and building long-term plans. Committees, alongside water promoters (women and men with the necessary expertise), are coordinating to prioritise the installation of water systems in additional communities. Their work will include creating a process to share water with multiple households within the community.
Local people are leading this continued work. Ultimately, the project’s self-ownership is leading to a mindset change that goes far beyond the direct impact of the work carried out by the project.
In 2021/2022, Eurofins Foundation’ support offered THP-Mexico’s indigenous partners intensive in-person and e-training in leadership skills and digital literacy – assisting them in reaching key objectives toward their economic autonomy.
In Oaxaca, 112 indigenous women entrepreneurs gained skill in using their smartphones to photograph artisanal crafts and native food products, using social media channels for product sales, using email to leverage their social networks.
In Chiapas, 30 Tseltal women from the Aguacatenango community began creating their collective vision as artisans – a process that will eventually allow them to generate their own income. 149 women also started forming savings groups.
Also in Chiapas, 119 Tzotzil women from two cooperatives strengthened the commercialization of their products. They have started reflecting on participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and its usefulness in relation to tracking their cooperatives’ operations and revenue.
In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renewed its support to this initiative.
The project had a significant local impact on promoting inclusive economies and the economic autonomy of rural and indigenous women. This was achieved through social enterprises and small-scale producers, and through the principles of feminist, social and solidarity economics. These principles are designed to address hunger, extreme poverty, and climate change. The aim is to share learnings between culturally and geographically distinct regions to promote inclusive and resilient local economies led by rural and indigenous women.
Building on prior Eurofins investments – in which groups were established through invitation –THP-Mexico expanded the capacities of 196 indigenous female entrepreneurs (ages 18 to 60+) across 20 municipalities. THP trained the indigenous women entrepreneurs in transformative leadership, entrepreneurial mindset, feminist economy, and commercialisation of indigenous products, accompanying them in the development of their social enterprises.
The primary products these women entrepreneurs produce are handmade/hand-dyed/ hand woven textiles. Part of the product development made possible by the project was expanding know-how for dying thread using natural pigments. The wares the women create using these threads include blouses, shirts, skirts, bags, napkins, and tablecloths.
THP-Mexico also facilitated an intercultural, cross-pollination exchange amongst indigenous women leaders from Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatan. Together, women identified the collection of water as a key barrier to their economic and civic participation and began the process of planning and managing water together with their communities. The indirect beneficiaries of this project include the entrepreneurs’ approximately 784 family members.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
