Nestled in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, the small rural town of Pistishi-Tolte or the Devil’s Nose, was once plagued by extreme poverty, with nearly all of its residents living in dire conditions. Deemed one of the poorest parts of Ecuador, most residents relied solely on agriculture to make a living, working day and night in the fields to scrape by. After witnessing these unfortunate circumstances, a local nonprofit organization, AVANTI, came up with a plan to lift the town out of poverty. AVANTI’s initiatives in education, agricultural innovation and community empowerment have significantly improved Pistishi-Tolte’s economic and social conditions. Through its efforts, the town has begun its journey to economic recovery.

AVANTI’s Education Initiatives

AVANTI saw how the lack of education structure impacted the community’s ability to find and hold down higher-paying jobs. It tackled this problem in three ways:

1. It built the infrastructure to house educational opportunities, starting with a library and multiple schools.
2. It worked on restoring and acquiring the proper educational equipment in the town. The nonprofit set up a computer laboratory in the library and provided educational materials for schools and nurseries.
3. It organized and finalized educational programs, such as computer classes at the library and English and reading courses at the school and completed the special education programs.

This groundwork to improve education and literacy was set in place to improve employment rates due to better education and higher-paying skills.

AVANTI’s Agricultural Innovation

The NGO improved the overall farming experience for the existing agriculture system in Pistishi-Tolte. It also accomplished this goal in three ways:

1. Its new school system implemented an agricultural training program. This program allowed for more effective and efficient training on technology and sustainable agriculture practices both in person on the field and in the classroom.
2. It created and implemented an organic uvilla program. This technique was used to introduce crop rotation and organic farming to grow golden berries. By educating the farmers on organic farming methods rather than chemical-heavy traditional methods, the farmers gained confidence and saw results in better crops.
3. It created a community to pool resources and share knowledge since farmers came from all over the town to receive education in these new methods.

These AVANTI’s initiatives increased food security and reduced poverty due to higher incomes from better crop yields.

Prioritizing Health in Community

One of the ways AVANTI empowered the community was by emphasizing health in the town. It focused on achieving this goal in two ways:

1. Providing spaces to seek medical treatment or for health education. It built a primary care health center to give instant medical attention to critical cases and oversee medical brigades. In addition, by constructing the library and other community spaces, the community was able to acquire education on health and wellness to improve their lives.
2. Providing access to aid: Bringing aid to families. It was able to transport life-saving health care items to homes, such as water filters, first aid kits and fire extinguishers.

These efforts set in place a system to improve the livelihood of all residents of Pistishi-Tolte.

Conclusion

AVANTI turned a town suffering from extreme poverty and being one of the poorest places in Ecuador into a thriving city out of poverty’s grasp. The nonprofit used infrastructure and systems in education, agriculture and community empowerment through health to achieve its goal. AVANTI provided safe places for the people to learn to improve their job pay, farm with sustainable practices to improve crop yields and get access to health care to improve their quality of life.

– Rachel Venable

Rachel is based in Berkeley, CA, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Pixabay