HELPS International supports economic efforts that promote opportunity and individual initiative.

Poverty is one of the chief scourges of mankind; it has an impact on people of all ages, races, and gender.  It is total in its effect, depriving people of basic necessities of life and debilitating the human spirit.  It creates a circle of despair that lasts from generation to generation.  For example,  poverty was one of the major contributors to the 36-year civil conflict that tore Guatemala apart.

The poverty in all of Latin America is far reaching.  In Guatemala, FUNDESA, one of the nation's oldest and most respected non-governmental organizations, has studied poverty and found that, nationwide 57% of the population are poor and 27% are extremely poor.  One quarter of Guatemala's population lives on less than $40 per year.  This means that over 2.9 million people live in abject poverty.    

The FUNDESA chart below documents that Guatemala has the highest levels of poverty in the region.  Demographic trends insure that the problem is getting worse, not better, because Guatemala's population is growing between 2.6% and 2.8% per year.  This is one of the highest growth rates in the world, and the growth is concentrated among the rural poor.  The United Nations Development Program estimates that the average indigenous woman has seven "live" births. 

HELPS has found  three basic areas of economic levels in Guatemala:

1.  The "first world" economy based on cash, manufacturing, services and factors similar to the US mainstream economy.

2.  The  urban poor population

3.  The indigenous rural poor population

While all three are important,  HELPS views the indigenous rural poor as the major area of focus.  The rural poor are among Guatemala's most poverty stricken, but with emigration to the cities, they become the urban poor very quickly .  The rural poor feed illegal immigration to the United States as well. 

Historically, strife among the population in these basic areas of economic levels in Guatemala resulted in a 36-year civil conflict, only ending in 1998.   Nevertheless, very little has changed for the poor rural areas, where conditions are not improving.  HELPS believes in addressing the poverty of the rural poor as the highest priority.

Remember:  Malnourished people revolt; well-fed people do not.  The following are two examples of HELPS' efforts to  improve the economy :

HELPS Coffee 
One area of special interest to HELPS is the coffee industry. Currently, Latin America and other coffee producing regions of the world are in economic crisis because of the world's highly competitive increase in coffee production. Even though Guatemala is renowned for some of the best quality coffee in the world, mass unemployment became widespread throughout the country, and Latin America in general.  To counteract this, HELPS' sells its own privatley-labeled Guatemalan coffee, and ALL the proceeds go to relief efforts.  For more information about HELPS premium Guatemalan coffee click here.

The HELPS Corn Project  

To understand the engine that drives the rural economy of Guatemala, one has to understand the tradition of corn production.  One's knowledge of the economy  can be tested by whether one knows the current price of corn.  It has been said that, "Corn is the Maya and the Maya are corn."  Little has changed in the rural indigenous villages since the "corn god" became the supreme deity in Guatemala centuries ago.  Today, corn production continues  as the main economic "life" in rural indigenous villages.  

HELPS believes that increased corn production is the key to the relief of rural indigenous poverty.  Improved corn yields equal an  improved Guatemala.  HELPS, through its work in the rural highlands in cooperation with its partner DISAGRO, devised a corn production program which promises to bring real economic change for the better to the region.  The basic aspects of this program are as follows:

1.  HELPS uses the network and technical expertise of DISAGRO to distribute a "corn product" agricultural development system.

2.  This product is distributed through the HELPS' stove network of 80+ non- governmental, governmental and private organizations. 

3.  Ultimately the goal is to replace some corn production with protein and cash crops, which will improve diets and give additional money and security to the villages. 

In tests  with the "HELPS corn program" and the traditional method planted side by side, results show over three times the yield of the "HELPS corn program" versus the traditional corn production methods.  Not only is the yield higher, but because the crop "comes in" two months early, there is the real possibility in most areas of Guatemala of having two-crop years.  In subsequent years, cash crops can be introduced to increase income. 

Given that the average farmer has slightly less than two-and-a-half acres of land, the "bottom line" means that: 

1.  The individual farmer and his family will have enough food for the year.

2.  The farmer will be able to pay off the loan for the seed and fertilizer.

3.  The farmer can sell the extra corn and put some money in his pocket.

The result of the HELPS corn program cannot be over-estimated.  From stabilizing and invigorating the Guatemalan economy, to positively addressing  emigration  to the cities and North America, this is the ultimate win-win situation.