Seeds for a Future

The 2023 Seeds for a Future team.

Seeds for a Future

Seeds for a Future is a grassroots non-profit focused on training rural Guatemalan families in permaculture principles, microbusiness opportunities, and nutrition and health, to empower them to build healthier and more prosperous lives for themselves.

In 2004, a group of archeology volunteers working in the Chocolá area (Suchitepequez, Guatemala) wanted to try to help the people of the area with whom they had collaborated. In rural Guatemala, government services are minimal, and malnutrition, food insecurity, and poverty are widespread. The volunteers held a community meeting to ask residents what they needed most, and it became clear that their responses could be generalized to the fundamental underlying need to take better care of their families and create a better future for them. Seeds for a Future was officially founded in 2007 to help rural communities become self-reliant and thrive.

Seeds for a Future’s local staff provide coaching and technical assistance with:

Home production of plant and animal foods using permaculture principles
Income generation through raising and diversifying crops
Mother and child nutrition and health education
Kitchen hygiene and family-first aid

Photo: Families work together to start their nutrition garden. © Seeds for a Future

Based on the coaching and mentoring of families to provide the skills and materials they need for success, the Seeds self-reliance model also fosters the development of “home-grown” leadership, which facilitates the program’s spread throughout the community.

The program has enjoyed great success, with over 2,100 families completing it in 14 communities, and it continues to grow as new families enroll.

Photo: Mushrooms – nutritious, delicious, easy to raise and easy to sell. © Seeds for a Future

A program participant demonstrates how Seeds has helped him:

Gallery

Families receive seedlings and seeds.

Later, families learn to save and store seeds for continuous planting.

Seeds for a Future helps each family plan how they will use whatever space they have for the most benefit.

Containers can be very useful when space is limited.

Some families have more land and can plant enough for their own use and to share or sell.

Mandala-style permaculture garden.

In some areas, gardens need protection. This structure was built with locally available bamboo.

Enclosures mean neither eggs nor birds are lost to predators.

When food animals receive better care, they produce more rapidly.

Plenty of cucumbers for her family and to sell in the market.

Youngsters learn skills, and pride in their accomplishments.

Top Extensionist Julio helps a family “learn by doing” – one of the fundamentals of Seeds' Casa Granja program.

Seeds for a Future