New Partners for IAIA

IAIA's volunteers have always planned to work with partners in Belize, hopefully a nationally-known NGO to offer the benefits of experience and Belizean expertise, and a village-based partner, to work closely with IAIA on village issues. This year, we were able to accomplish both those goals.

Help for Progress is a Belizean NGO based in the country's capital, Belmopan. Its objective is very compatible with IAIA's: the promotion of sustainable community development in Belize. Elias Awe, Executive Director of Help for Progress, has been a guiding force for IAIA in Belize since before we established a presence here, and he has continued to be helpful, both financially and with HfP's expertise, especially with IAIA's importation of humanitarian aid goods. Several months ago, IAIA and HfP formalized our partnership. We will work together for sustainable development and community empowerment in the Toledo District.

Also needed was a village-based partner for accomplishing these goals on a day-to-day basis. This has been tough to accomplish. We had hoped to work with an organization or cooperative that would take over the resources and management of the Columbia Opportunity Center. We learned soon, however, that we were up against a village-wide distrust for "groups" as most cooperatives that have formed have gone sour, with each group, rightly or wrongly, eventually accusing its leadership of mismanagement, especially of resources and funds. People now strongly tend to avoid new groups.

Since the Toledo District is the most impoverished region of Belize by far, grant funding for development projects is widely available. We have continued to communicate to villagers that IAIA needs to work with a partner in Columbia to obtain funding and manage projects together.
Recently, several youth, having already received high school (or higher) degrees and facing a very bleak employment situation regionally, have offered to work with IAIA on the development of income-generating projects in Columbia, forming a village-based association, tentatively called the Columbia Development Association. They said they are aware of others who will be interested, and a Power Point presentation is being designed to explain the concept to potential members in the Association. We have high hopes that this can become the "group" we are looking for and that the village youths will be able to work with the cooperative concept in a new and successful manner.

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