Our

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Habit training

Savings, hygiene, nutrition, reading, and study. Work with women

Education, autonomy for children, potential development, and self-esteem. Production potential

local organizations and production potential.

CAMBIOS

Employment generation Environmental sustainability Social capital Skills and abilities

Social organization

EDUCATION

FOOD SECURITY

HANDICRAFT PROGRAMS

HEALTHCARE MICROCREDIT

SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT

AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Letter from the President

Roberto Gutiérrez

On August 15, 2022, FUNDAP - The Foundation for the Integral Development of Socioeconomic Programs- celebrates its 40th anniversary.

It was within the Board of Directors of the Association of Managers of Guatemala that, under the presidency and leadership of Dr. Rodolfo Paiz Andrade, it was proposed to create an entity that would be dedicated to the study of the social and economic them. Thus, Rodolfo Paiz as President, and Jaime Camhi as Secretary of the Board of Directors, signed the legal instruments that would give birth to the new Foundation.

However, at the end of the period of that Board of Directors, it coincided with the emergence of other entities with the same purpose, so the new Board of Directors of the Managers’ Association decided not to continue with the project, leaving only legal status in force.

Costa Rica for a graduation of INCAE students -we remember that Fito was Academic Director of that entity-. While in San José, he met Mr. Federico Dürr, representative of the German Hans Seidel Foundation, who told him that they were interested in starting operations in Guatemala, but as a requirement there had to be a counterpart. Fito answered him immediately and, upon his return to the Guatemalan capital, he contacted the Association of Managers, which granted him the use of legal status. It was then that Fito invited a small group of businessmen to be part of the new project, and on a trip that small group, and in the planning of objectives, I suggested that any project executed by the noble Foundation be in the West of the country. I explained the reason and it was accepted as a commitment that has been fully complied with. The reasons given were and densely populated at a rural level, with families subsisting on precarious agriculture and trade; with very little -sometimes zero- infrastructure (roads, schools, health posts, etc.), which condemned young people to a life of emigration or poverty. The proposal

As it was a time when a certain democratic opening could be glimpsed (1982-1983), the of the sectors were invited to a “dialogue on the future of the country”. important: university professionals, businessmen, military, students, community leaders, guerrillas

possible.

the search for peace and harmony in Guatemalan society.

The next project that was carried out with the support of the Hans Seidel Foundation was to bring administrative training to small-scale producers, a project that for two years trained several hundred entrepreneurs (carpenters, tailors, masons, merchants, etc.) in which FUNDAP has been involved with great interest and professionalism.

The year 1985 was an important turning point in FUNDAP, when it was invited to form the “management committee” of a USAID fund to promote development projects; all this of supporting wool artisans (including sheep farmers from the Sierra Madre and Los model” was formulated and implemented in Nahualá, Sololá, supporting wood artisans; company for the products of cooperative paths. At the same time, an important project of forest services and preservation of the environment was started, with which it has been promoting reforestation, agroforestry and forest management ever since.

An important contribution to local economies has been the Microcredit Program, which manage to grow their enterprises. This program continues to be an important element of

After a few years, the Foundation acquired a small farm near the City of Quetzaltenango (formal headquarters of the entity), in which a Technical Center has been built, which adults of both sexes in various productive and service activities, ranging from a nursing

What emerged 40 years ago as an incipient idea, has become an institution that transforms lives through support in training, learning, assistance and accompaniment, which FUNDAP provides with the help of a highly trained human team focused on values

Francisco Roberto Gutiérrez Quetzaltenango, April 2022