ALDEA: Advancing Local Development through Empowerment and Action, Inc.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
More than half of Guatemalans live in poverty, and the country has the fourth highest rate of chronic childhood malnutrition in the world. In rural indigenous communities, where 40 percent of people live on less than $1.90/day, chronic childhood malnutrition can affect up to 90 percent of children. Stunting is the telltale sign of chronic malnutrition, but this devastating problem also causes cognitive impairments that prevent children from reaching their full potential. ALDEA works alongside communities to improve health and well-being through an integrated approach that includes agriculture and nutrition, sanitation infrastructure, family planning, disaster risk reduction, and community empowerment.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Building Healthy Families through Community Mobilization, Nutrition, and Infrastructure
Our overarching strategic objective is to improve the health and well-being of Mayan families in rural Guatemala through lasting, community-driven solutions. To accomplish this objective, we use a process of community mobilization that targets a major health-related problem in Guatemala: chronic childhood malnutrition.
As communities work together to address high rates of chronic childhood malnutrition, they also acquire the skills necessary to move forward with their own development processes in the future to address other self-identified needs.
Our approach consists of three strategies that mutually reinforce each other:
Strategy 1: Mobilize and empower communities - including men, women, and youth - to work together to achieve local development.
Strategy 2: Support communities to improve their basic infrastructure.
a) Increase access to potable water and environmental sanitation (including latrines, gray water filters, and efficient stoves).
b) Assist communities to respond to natural disasters and reduce their vulnerability to future disasters.
Strategy 3: Support families to improve household nutrition.
a) Improve food security by introducing ecologically sustainable agriculture techniques adapted to the effects
of global climate change (food production, storage of basic grains, and development of family gardens).
b) Teach families to achieve healthy nutrition during the first 1,000 days (pregnancy and the first two years of
a child’s life).
c) Increase access to family planning information and methods
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of water projects built
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
As sister organizations, ALDEA and ABPD are working together to address the principal needs of rural, predominantly Mayan communities in the Department of Chimaltenango in Guatemala. ALDEA is a 501(c)(3) organization based in the U.S. and focuses on advocacy, education, and fund development to support ABPD’s work in the field. On the ground in Guatemala, ABPD, a largely-indigenous organization, empowers rural villages to address the devastating effects of poverty and disadvantage. Through a grassroots development approach, ALDEA and ABPD help communities understand and tackle the root causes of the multifaceted problem of chronic malnutrition in infants and young children. The process is designed to achieve both short-term and longer-term results. In the short term, our programs lead to measurable improvements in chronic childhood malnutrition by supporting families to improve water and sanitation, infant and young children feeding, family planning, and other key drivers of malnutrition. Equally important, the positive experience of mobilizing to reduce chronic malnutrition gives community
members the improved organizational and problem-solving skills they will need to find locally-driven solutions to additional priorities going forward.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our overarching strategic objective is to improve the health and well-being of Mayan families in rural Guatemala through lasting, community-driven solutions. To accomplish this objective, we use a process of community mobilization that targets a major health-related problem in Guatemala: chronic childhood malnutrition.
As communities work together to address high rates of chronic childhood malnutrition, they also acquire the skills necessary to move forward with their own development processes in the future to address other self-identified needs.
Our approach consists of three strategies that mutually reinforce each other:
Strategy 1: Mobilize and empower communities - including men, women, and youth - to work together to achieve local development.
Strategy 2: Support communities to improve their basic infrastructure.
a) Increase access to potable water and environmental sanitation (including latrines, gray water filters, and efficient stoves).
b) Assist communities to respond to natural disasters and reduce their vulnerability to future disasters.
Strategy 3: Support families to improve household nutrition.
a) Improve food security by introducing ecologically sustainable agriculture techniques adapted to the effects
of global climate change (food production, storage of basic grains, and development of family gardens).
b) Teach families to achieve healthy nutrition during the first 1,000 days (pregnancy and the first two years of
a child’s life).
c) Increase access to family planning information and methods
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our approach to grassroots development draws on over 50 years of experience working in partnership with Mayan communities. In 1962, Dr. Carroll Behrhorst founded a vitally needed health program in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. From the start, he trained community promoters to play key roles in advancing durable solutions to the root causes of poverty. Within a few years, the program grew into a creative engine for community health and development activities, pioneering an array of village-based approaches. ALDEA was established in the United States in 1967 to support this innovative program, and we continue to work within his philosophy of community development more than 50 years later. In 2006, ALDEA helped to create Asociación BPD in Guatemala (ABPD), an independent organization that ALDEA funds to carry out our work.
The ABPD Executive Director has over 20 years of experience working on development issues, and has directed ABPD for eight years. He holds an MS in Environmental Management and has worked for international and local development organizations including UNDP, ILO and Oxfam. ABPD has supported the construction of sanitation infrastructure in over 80 villages, building over 4000 latrines and gray water filters. Overall, our development strategy has been very effective. We have not only partnered with communities to build needed infrastructure, but we have created a sustainable program by providing training to, and empowering, local leaders.
Our Guatemala-based field staff is Mayan and come from the area of intervention. They speak the indigenous Kaqchikel language and have an intimate understanding of the context of the population with whom they work. We implement our projects using the internationally recognized SARAR method. This participatory training method has been recognized for its suitability for rural populations, and emphasizes the strengths, knowledge and experiences of the individual communities.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 2006, ALDEA has partnered with 111 communities where we have constructed 70 water systems benefiting more than 35,000 people, installed 7,278 gray water filters and more than 7,000 latrines and efficient stoves, and trained 2,500 women on combating childhood malnutrition. Over 4,500 women, youth, local authorities, and men have engaged in our community mobilization and empowerment programs. More than 11,000 people have learned about family planning through our programs, and in our earlier work we constructed 24 community schools.
During our 2019 fiscal year (July 2018-June 2019) 1,809 families took part in the challenge of improving their own lives with our support, meaning we worked with more than 10,000 people. We have significantly reduced the rate of chronic childhood malnutrition in the nine communities in which the full program was implemented thanks in large part to these fiscal year 2019 accomplishments:
- 613 women, 83 men, 182 youth, 99 local authorities engaged in leadership development & empowerment training
- In the 4 communities completing their first year of partnership with us, 19% of women in our programs now participate in development committees (up from 3% initially).
- In the five communities graduating from our program, 33% of women in our programs now participate in development committees (up from 1% initially).
- 4 water systems completed with 2 in progress, serving 945 families.
- 525 vented latrines installed.
- 870 efficient stoves installed.
- 254 gray water filters installed.
- 659 women with 392 children under 5 trained in healthy nutrition practices.
- 676 women participated in agriculture training; 90% of families have gardens.
- 977 households received home visits by a family planning specialist.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
The COVID pandemic makes it difficult to collect feedback in group settings and has restricted our a
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
ALDEA: Advancing Local Development through Empowerment and Action, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 02/02/2024
Deborah Walters
Wayne Gilbert
Bruce Robbins
Deborah Walters
Yvonne Gatz
Jonathan Maupin
Cynthia Sultz
Thomas Sharpe
Gordon Starkebaum
Pamela Winthrop
Cary Hill
Cindy Swatek
Johnny Walker
Oscar Torres
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No