Belize is a country with one of the highest indices of poverty in the world. The poverty rate is highest in the Toledo district, which includes a sizeable population of indigenous subsistence farming families. This indigenous subset alone accounts for 40% of the nation’s poor (The Caribbean Development Bank Poverty Assessment Report, 2012). Poverty is perpetuated due to the limited access to educational opportunities, basic infrastructure such as roads, health care, supporting facilities, and youth programs.

PODER is a small community-based group in southern Belize that envisions addressing these problems by encouraging educational opportunities, social responsibility, community participation, environmental awareness, and entrepreneurship. At PODER we feel that everyone deserves equal access to empowering opportunities that can lead to a better future.

Here's how you can help! This year,  we will be providing 30 Indigenous women with a 5-day training to teach them how to add value to commonly grown crops to help improve economic security for their families, as well as provide them with a larger role in the family farming business. We would like to ask for your support in raising $10,000 USD before March.

If 500 people donate just $20, we can attain our goal, but they have to hear about us first! If you could kindly share our cause amongst your network, your family, friends, and coworkers, we would be very grateful.Your support to our work is forever appreciated!