Health:

Malnourishment in the first five years of a person's life, affects the capacity of an individual to learn. It will limit access to more and better opportunities throughout their lifetimes.

26% of Ecuador's children under 5 years old suffer of malnourishment. Due to altitude, higher percentages are found in the highlands (31.9%). Quito is not the exception. The capital city is located on 10,000 feet and registers approximately 30%.

Regardless Ecuador's natural abundance, this problem affects children throughout the country. In spite of a growing education budget, children with malnourishment fail in school, and competitiveness for the country is plunging.

Economic Development:

Ecuador ranks 103 of 131 countries in the world competitiveness index. If youth cannot understand the new challenges of this century, poverty remains as our horizon. Ecuador urges sustainable policies.

Since dollarization in 2000, the cost of food in Ecuador increased dramatically. It is cheaper to buy a Peruvian potato instead of producing it. The result: Thousands of peasants leaving their lands to find jobs in cities.

This project activates the local government, private sector, and communities, horizontally. Based on the microfinance principle of solidarity groups, communitarian organic orchards activate a "clan" organization inherent to our culture. The goal: achieve a better future together.

Agriculture:

Ecuador is a megadiverse country. The variety of crops reflects it. As we import we loose knowledge, income, diversity, and food security.

Empoverished neighborhoods in Quito domiciles people who's main activity was agriculture. By training, following up, and certifying organic production, agriculture becomes the way to bring solutions as a citizen of a larger community, the city, and the country.

Native knowledge and agro-practices of each participant build this opportunity. Ancient delicious and nutritious recipees are rescued. The goal:bring cultural pride back to the table.

This is a demand-driven program that responds to a group of 8 people that decide to start a new organic venture. Triple Salto supports initiatives with volunteers and/or financial support. The priority groups are:

1. Empoverished families in the periphery of Quito. Hundreds of families arrive to Quito and occupy land as invasions. Today Quito suffers from sprawl and exclusion against newcomers. This program activates neighborhoods as democrat and participatory networks. The modus operandi: use available green spaces in properties to develop organic orchards while empowering citizens to decide on a healthy diet based on their own means. A consequence is the inclusion of newcomers to the city blend.

2. "Healthy School Program": Quito's Municipality supports schools with an integral curriculum that complements with adequate physical, environmental, and sanitary conditions to deliver an optimal learning space. Agriculture adds to these standards. Triple Salto supports this policy on education with international funding and the participation of volunteers.

3. Children and teenagers involved in their organic orchard at school. Public schools gather mainly low income families. This program seeks to bring to the school curriculum, sustainable agriculture and nutrition as part of education. The goal: a new space for children and teenagers where they acquire the ownership and responsability of growing their own food.

4. Senior citizens rescued from the streets who face indigence and starvation. Beyond their deteriorating physical and mental conditions they suffer loneliness. We seek to include them in a productive way.

To date the results are:

89 integral orchards

406 family orchards

19 school orchards

1 tree nursery

3 seedlings sites

100 micro greenhouses

63 irrigations systems

52 guinea pig houses (guinea pigs are more nutritious than beef)

11 biomarkets

27 microentreprises

8 cooperatives

7400 people trained in workshops

TOTAL of people involved; 48,000

This program started in 2002 as an alliance between various for and non profits. Quito's local and regional governments lead this initiative. However, volunteers arrived as a proposal of Triple Salto to engage international youth and funding.

Malnourishment was recognized as a symptom of deeper complexities: internal migration from rural to urban areas; discrimination; sprawl; unemployment; increased violence in adults and teenagers, and poverty. Quito understood that without proactive participation of all its citizens, competitiveness will become an utopia. Quito wants a sustainable growth. How?

• Welcoming newcomers. Inviting them to blend and be part of the solution and not the problem.

• Empowering people to manage their own health and economy.

• Understanding the consequences of malnourishment in their children now and in their future.

• Low income families are learning while engaging in an economic activity that has already become a secondary source of income for thousands of families.

Your project is the start of a joint sustainable venture.

1. 40-50m2 greenhouse: Wood structure covered with plastic. Cold nights "burn" crops.

2. Wormeries: 2 Brick wormeries for the school or neighborhood's organic waste produces humus for the crops. We also need to buy worms.

3. Buy seedlings; native and fruit trees. Plant vegetables/trees.

4. Work once a week in another orchard to motivate different groups while understanding the big picture.

5. Cook vegetables from the orchard for your group and the children you will be working with.

6. Paint a mural for the school, let imagination fly!

7. Learn how to recycle paper.

8. Visit other sites in the country with sustainaible ventures.

8. After you leave, permanent technical assistance will be provided for capacity building, production, organic certification, and commercialization. The goal: the creation of a sustainable supply chain. A microbusiness incubator offers legal support to new ventures.

1. Alicia Guzman:

With nearly 130 projects implemented in 17 provinces and various fields: environment, government, social responsability, economic growth, etc. Over 600 volunteers have joined these projects.

To date, nearly 237 volunteers have completed 30 projects in this program: greenhouses, microgreenhouses, wormeries, irrigation systems. Currently, as the volunteer coordinator of the program, my role is to involve more volunteers around the world.

In the past 8 years, the experience acquired as country manager with volunteer companies in the UK prove that partnerships between local governments, for and non profits, and volunteers bring success and sustainability to social ventures.

I have served the Ecuadorian government as Food Security National Manager in a $20 million subsidy for children between 3-5 years old. I have worked for USAID as a Project Officer for the Economic Growth department. Internationally, I designed a project for 4 countries in Central America as a corporate alliance that involved the Whole Foods, Grameen Bank, and others. I have been a Humphrey Fellow at UNC Chapel Hill, a Rotary Fellow in Sweden, and a student in France and Germany. Currently, I work at Ecuador's School of Government coordinating the foreign policy program.

2. Nathalie Guzman (Tachi): Has worked with over 200 volunteers as a project leader in Ecuador and Peru. Tachi makes things happen on site. Speaks English, French, and Spanish. Her areas of expertise are Sociology, History, and project management. Nathalie has strong leadership and great sense of responsability with the community. She has been a volunteer in the Ecuadorian jungle and in France.

3. All staff on the project are agro-engineers with years of experience in training low income families, a total of 15. Each one of them has leadership skills and a strong compromise with partner communities thad ad up to 50,000 beneficiaries.

The mind set that we want to promote in these projects is one of mutual understanding, where all parties are learning from their differences.

We have proved throughout dozens of projects in schools that the arrival of volunteers and the time they spend with low income children, whose parents suffer alcoholism and in some cases beat them up, has an enormous positive reaction. Not only they look upon to volunteers as mentors but their grades increase in around a 30%, the interest in other languages and geography increases.

With this said, the project is not a destination, for the volunteer, the project is a process. The person that arrives to the project is different from the one that leaves the project. Volunteers learn some new skills like preparing cement, planting trees and vegetables, but over all they leave with a new perspective of life. 14 ways to contribute:

1. With the conviction of wanting to live a new adventure.

2. With the aim to learn from a different culture, people, food, and language.

3. Giving always the best.

4. With their hands that will sum to other hands to build a new greenhouse and plant more food for poor families.

5. With creativity to communicate, to paint, to cook, to play.

6. With a small financial contribution.

7. With a smile.

8. With the curiosity to ask anything that is not clear.

9. With the maturity to embrace racial, economic, religious differences.

10. If requested by a community or school, teaching English.

11. If you play an instrument or cook, bringing your talents to interact with the children and communities.

12.Telling your experience to other people.

13. Helping us create a blog with videos, pictures, stories about your own experience.

14. With your feedback to improve, correct, and grow.

Nope! There are always many ways to communicate. It is better if you speak Spanish but if you have two hands, and the will to work, this is your project.

We will send a list of basic related vocabulary that will help you. If you are coming for the language skills they will definitively get better, but you can also take lessons in Ecuador. Cost of one to one classes ranges between $5-$8 per hour. If you travel to Ecuador before the start of the project for language lessons we will help you find a Spanish School. However, there will be bilingual staff on site.

All groups will start an urban organic orchard project (please check profile) so you can gain language and skill confidence.

If you don't speak any Spanish by the start of the project, you can always invent ways to interact with the Ecuadorians you are working with. You can cook, play volleyball, soccer, or anything you know and like. Language is only one way to communicate, it is up to you to communicate the best you can.

There are other differences that can become a bigger barrier than language. We request our volunteers to be aware of the way they dress, the accesories they bring and cultural differences.

Summer 2009, 5 UCDavies and 2 Standford Nourish volunteers as well as 1 med student from UNC Chapel Hill and 45 British high school students came to our projects. Please check the Nourish blog and do feel free to ask them directly about their experience. They had the same questions you have regarding the country, accomodation, project, language, community, Triple Salto, etc. We encourage you to ask as many questions to any of us or former volunteers: afg5@email.unc.edu

The required budget for each group includes technical assistance of an agro-engineer, materials to build a 40-50m2 wooden structure greenhouse, tools, 2 wormeries, buy the seedlings/trees and plant them as well as the bus fare for every volunteer, and support the construction of at least two familiy microgreenhouses in different neighborhoods.

Other secondary projects will include painting a mural, building or restoring a family microgreenhouse or irrigation system, recycled paper workshop, visiting other greenhouses and microenterprises.

Human Resources:

This projects is based on the participation of all actors:

1. Community/school.

2. Volunteers (6+)

3. Agro-engineer: 1-2

4. English teacher: optional

5. Bilingual staff member: 1= $600

6. Municipality

7. Project coordinator

8. if school, school project coordinator

9. administrative expenses: communications, transport, logistics (not volunteer transport): $400

10. Communicator: to engage newspapers, radios, etc.

Financial Resources:

Materials:

1. Greenhouse 40-50m2:

Wooden structure $750

Covering materials: 500

Bank of Tools: $200 per group

Security gear for each volunteer: $50

Transport materials: $200

Tomato and vegetable seedlings: $100

Fruit & native trees: $100

Volunteer Transport: $1.50/day/volunteer. One volunteer=$30/month. 8 volunteers=$250

Irrigation system & fumigation gear: $300

Wormeries: $250

2. Family microgreenhouses:

Wood structure: $250

Plastic: $150

Seedlings & trees: $70

3. Mural:

Paint & brushes: $200

4. Recycled paper workshop: $100

Due to changing conditions, these figures have a 15% margin of error. The inflation and number of volunteers can move the figure higher. Since this project will be implemented in Summer 2010, we are including the projected 10% inflation rate Ecuador has as of October 2009. An additional 5% has been added to make sure we are accurate. If any money provided is not implemented in this one project, it will be donated to other micro (greenhouses) or micro enterprises operating in this program.