The proposal from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for their Agriculture for Basic Needs (A4N) project should not be funded. Although CRS includes meaningful participation mechanisms in program implementation and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) procedures, certain critical aspects of the project remain unclear and this is too large of a risk for a grant of this size. Project Background CRS proposed a three-year, four-country project with a $15 million budget. A4N intends to combat food insecurity in rural communities in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua by implementing programs that address poor crop and livestock yields. This builds from previous complementary HGBF programming in the region, Mi Cuenca, which cultivated …show more content…
Participatory Mechanisms Here, participation is defined as: the local population’s (targeted community) involvement, in addition to relevant local stakeholders, in the creation, content, and distribution of tools and resources to shape their lives and achieve their own goals. The program design has some mechanisms for participation, but the problems and objectives have largely been determined by CRS. CRS lists “shrinking plot size, unsustainable agricultural practices, poor soil, water shortages, increasing severe weather events, and rising costs for agricultural inputs” as key problems facing smallholder farm families. These key problems are seen as drivers of malnutrition and reduced resiliency and ability to cope with natural disasters at the household level, which weaken innovation, agricultural productivity and sustainable practices, access to financial services, market engagement, and the capacity of organizations at the community level. CRS expects that members of targeted communities can help develop objectives and goals to achieve CRS’s objectives through participation and therefore representation in the baseline assessment and also engagement in dialogue to develop community targets. During Year Zero, CRS’s baseline assessments in the target communities will determine needs, strategize and tailor programming, and develop target goals and indicators. After, A4N will foster community savings
The world we live in today is growing at an extremely fast pace. It seems to be that everyday there are more buildings being built, more concrete being poured, and more free land being destroyed. The cause of these events is the worlds’ population rate. Every day our population reaches an all-time high, every day we gain more mouths to feed, and every day we are losing ways to feed these mouths. Food insecurity has risen significantly along with the rise of our population. We must find ways to lower the food insecurity rate by finding new farming practices, making the public more aware of this issue, and doing more ourselves to make sure that we make a change to this problem.
When resources are limited, children struggle to stay in school and tend to fall behind. According to a census of the area in which Harvesters provides food to, “20 percent of children under age 18 in our region… is food insecure,” and of that twenty percent, “38 percent of the food insecure children live in households that do not qualify for federal nutrition programs” (“Harvesters”). My heart breaks every time I hear there are children starving in the world, but it is even more heartbreaking to know there are children in my hometown that are struggling to live off of the very little food they are provided. This is why I love this program because nothing is more fulfilling than seeing the eyes of a child light up when they see all that they get to take home with
(1.2) In a school participation means that everyone has to be involved and this involves
However, some believe, that a shift in the way we produce food may have some unintended consequences. They contend that poverty in nations such as Africa and Asia, is caused by the low productivity of the unindustrialized farm labor. The U.S. Agriculture Department projects, without reform, there will be over a thirty percent increase in the numbers of the ‘food insecure’ people in those nations over the next decade (Paarlberg 179).
Participation is the act of participating and being involved in activities, decisions, planning and sharing. Participation is important for the children as well as the parents in school settings. When parents and children are involved in decision-making it allows them to feel connected to the school and feel like their voice is being heard and wishes met. Children feel that their opinions and feelings matter, this is important to social skill development, as they will feel apart of the school community. Children who participate in school activities such as sports gain self-confidence and team building skills. Communication skills improve, stress is relieved and friendships build as children learn to trust and depend on their peers.
The food security in Haiti is another issue that must be described to understand it better. Via USAID the number of people living in extreme poverty is about 2.5 million Haitians, most of their income being forced to be spent on subsistence farming (Agriculture and Food Security). The need for more accessible and better food is very evident with statistics like 53.4% of the population is undernourished, 21.9% of the under 5 population has experienced stunting because of the lack of nutritional intake. The problem is not getting any better in 2000 the population that was undernourished was 55.2% to today where it is at 53.4% (Global Hunger Index). The evidence for food security being a problem is overwhelming and where most of our attention will be spent. The solution for this issue is heavily involved but our organization will address this issue through many different avenues. The center called “Training for Food” will provide a service that rewards Haitians for coming to workshops about how to farm effectively with
Active participation is recognising an individual’s right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible; the individual is an active partner in their own care or support rather than a passive recipient. This definition accentuates two key principles underpinning care: the rights of the individual and the independence or autonomy of the individual.
Strategic Goal 1 fosters development of rural communities in order to make them more self-sustainable and become economically
During this fourth dimension of expansion, CRS built on its tradition of providing relief in emergency situations and began to find a ways to help people in the developing world break the cycle of poverty through community-based, sustainable development initiatives. These programs, which today includes agricultural initiatives, community banks, health instruction, and clean water projects, ensure that the local population is the central participant in its own development and that a project can be sustained through
The price per acre of farm land doubled to $2,140 over the last 10 years. A lack of health care also hurts farmers as farming ranks as the fourth most dangerous occupation in the country, and young farmers often must choose between health care and paying for their farm. All of these obstacles and more make farming a difficult occupation to enter. We need organizations such as Young Farmers’ to provide support, education and training to help our nation’s most important
4.1The term active participation is when a person participates in the activities and relationship of everyday life as independently as possible; they are an active partner in their own care or support, rather than a passive recipient.
Before revealing plan 4.0, Mr. Brown explains the constraints, setbacks, and conflicts of the current world: skyrocketing food costs, steady increase of hunger (projected 1.2 billion by 2015), limited irrigation
Building a foundation together is building one that will last and one that will be finished together gradually over time. If we not only donate technology to these countries, but also work with them to fit the technology into their culture and lifestyles, then they will feel like they are a part of the solution. There are programs today working towards this goal. The following are descriptions of three programs dedicated to teaching small-scale farmers to become more self-sufficient.
Civic engagement refers to the ways in which citizens participate in the life of a community in order to improve conditions for others or to help shape the community’s future. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.
A definition of participation: for the purposes of this note a useful definition of public or community participation is that adopted by Stoker (1997) for ‘political participation’ (following Parry et al, 1992): members of the public ‘taking part in any of the processes of formulation, passage and implementation of public policies’. This is a wide-ranging definition, which extends the emphasis of public participation beyond the development of policy, to decision-making and implementation.