Strengthening a little bakery, supporting the initiation of a sewing shop and constructing a community ball court – examples of the work of APS in Cauca, Colombia

In Colombia, Alianza Por la Solidaridad conducts projects in the areas “livelihood protection”, “infrastructure” and “social”. The team working in the area “social” explains that regarding their work “the principle necessities of the villages in which we work are the strengthening of the interventions of the public institutions and the State as well as the increase of educational and work opportunities for the young people”. Therefore, APS works with children, adolescents, women and community leaders to strengthen their independence and increase their opportunities. It is also aimed to establish a contact between the State, public institutions and the communities. Regarding infrastructure, many houses do not have bathrooms or floors and the access to water is not always guaranteed. Therefore, the infrastructure projects include the improvement of the houses, the construction of aqueducts as well as the support of community infrastructure projects. From a livelihood protection point of view, aspects like the Colombian conflict have caused the loss of cultivations of the region, now the majority of products of the basic food basket are brought from the cities, often at lower quality and higher costs. Besides, the diets of the families are little equilibrated, based on carbohydrates and with a strong lack of vegetables and proteins. To increase and recuperate food autonomy and security, APS implements family and community projects, especially, but not only, agricultural projects. The agricultural projects include the provision of and training of the handling of pigs, laying hens, guinea pigs, rabbits and vegetable gardens. Non-agro projects are, among others, little shops, bakeries, hair dressers and mechanical projects.

But the projects can best be explained by looking at concrete examples, such as those of Carlos, Ana and José:

Carlos: Thanks to new equipment for my little bakery I can now produce more efficiently

Carlos is married to María and they have one boy of two years. Like the majority of the people in his community, he cultivates café. In addition and together with his wife, he also runs a small shop that includes a bakery. However, the shop did not generate sufficient income, so that for years they had economic problems during the non-harvest months.

In 2013, APS supported them with machines for the bakery and assortments for the shop as well as with technical trainings. Carlos confesses that now “the form of work is a lot easier, before it was very antiquated”. The days when he harvests café, María stays in the little shop. In fact, it is her who always attends the clients. “We have the same objective, we move forwards to have a better future for our children”, explains Carlos. Thus, the family earnings have increased and with the additional income, the family is now improving their house. Their objective is to keep working reach the day when their little business turns into a small company.

Ana: It was always my dream to have a small sewing shop

Ana is 48 years old and has been managing a small sewing shop for half a year. “I fulfilled a dream that I have had all my life long and that I did not thing would come true”, she says. I have been practicing this profession for a long time, but due to economic reasons, I could not develop it into a business. Ana tells me, that when she was pregnant, her husband sold a horse to buy her a sewing machine and Ana produced all the clothes for her daughter. Later, she had the possibility to take a class on how to manufacture garments and she started to also weave for other people. Ana confirms that this is something that she loves to do. When in December 2013 Alianza por la Solidaridad asked her what business she would like to develop, she knew the answer immediately. Thus, APS supported her with two sewing machines, an ironing table, an iron and small utensils. Ana explains that, although she lives a bit remote, she already has a lot of work. Every time she leaves the house, she carries a measure, the people order the clothes, and she conducts the work and delivers it to the person. While before she only worked during the harvest period as a day laborer, she now works every day in her own business. Ana´s work has increased the family income and thanks to that, the family now is constructing a house that is located more centrally and easier accessible. Ana is convinced that in that way her dream will become true: “to run a real and bigger sewing shop”.

José: The whole community helped to construct the sports court

Since a while, some leaders of José´s community have had the idea of constructing a sports court, but they did not have the resources to buy the necessary material. Thus, when APS arrived, the community decided that the community infrastructure project should be the construction of the court.

José coordinated and organized the community to construct the court. The work was not easy, because the village is located two km above the road. “The whole community, without exception, collaborated to carry, among others, the 500 bultos of cement (1 bulto = 50 kg), 30 kg of wire and 100 cubic meters of river material up to the village”, explained José. Each ascent took between 30 and 40 minutes and the people went up five, six and up to eight times a day. In mid-July, after three months of community work, and with the help of a master, they finished the court. In September they celebrated the inauguration with a sports week to which the community invited the neighboring villages. By now, men, women and children have formed teams and are regularly practicing basketball and micro-soccer.

Katharina