:: AIR Facts

OBJECTIVE OF THE ORGANIZATION:

AIR was founded by Political Science Professor Anne M. Hallum in 1992 at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. AIR's objective is to assist local communities in Central America to conserve their environment through reforestation, sustainable farming, and education. AIR's approach is to develop self-sustaining environmental programs that can be managed and implemented directly by community groups, not by outsiders.

PROJECT LOCATION:
AIR projects are currently operating in 30 to 50 rural indigenous communities in the Departments of Chimaltenango and Solola, Guatemala. The number of communities is estimated because each of AIR's field promoters works closely with five or six villages for a few years, and then they will move on to other villages once the community projects become self-sustaining. Thus, we incrementally add new communities to the program. In addition, AIR has just begun projects in rural communities around Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

AIR'S TEAM:
AIR's staff in Guatemala is composed of 8 individuals: the Executive Director, Cecilia Ramirez; six field promoters and a full-time secretary. The field promoters, or "tecnicos", are specialists trained in the area of agroforestry, and AIR employees are Guatemalans who come from the regions in which AIR works. This is important for the success of AIR's programs since the staff have the ability to relate to the groups with which they work and are able to communicate with them in their native language: Cakchiquel, Mam, or Spanish. At Stetson University, DeLand, Florida, AIR maintains U.S. Headquarters and the eight-member Board of Directors meets. All North Americans donate their professional time to AIR's success. Student volunteers from Stetson University, from Japan, England, and the U.S. Peace Corps are also important members of AIR's team, as are the hundreds of individual donors, clubs, and churches.

BENEFICIARIES:
AIR works with organized community groups-- including several women's groups-- that have demonstrated an interest in conserving their environment. The direct beneficiaries of AIR's projects are the members of the community groups and their relatives, totaling over 1500 rural indigenous families. In addition, the environmental improvements resulting from these projects will benefit the entire regional population. AIR has partnered with the Guatemalan Ministry of Education and the British Embassy to publish and present an environmental curriculum that is being used in 166 school classrooms, reaching thousands of school children. AIR has begun a three-year training program for a class of 150 farmers in sustainable farming methods to reduce their use of dangerous, expensive chemicals. This individualized training is then supplemented by occasional radio programs for farmers that are produced by AIR and broadcast throughout Chimaltenango. These educational efforts demonstrate that AIR is planning for long-term improvements, as well as addressing immediate environmental problems.

 

Mountain Villages in the Dept of Chimaltenango, Guatemala where AIR is Working in 2002-03
No.	Community	Responsible AIR technician
1	Patzicia (2 groups)	Carlos Hic
2	Patzaj
3	Tecpan (Xetonox)
4	Hierba Buena
5	El Tejar
6	Comolapa - Las Tomas (school)
7	Comolapa – Escuela Pavit (school)
8	Estancia de la Virgen (San Martin Jil.)	Don Miguel Lopez
9	Aldea Xejuyu (San Martin Jil.)
10	Aldea Tunayes (San Martin Jil.)
11	Comolapa – Escuela Xiquin Sanai (school)
12	Escuela en Panicuy (San Martin school)
13	Escuela de Sacala, Las Lomas (school)
14	El Tejar – San Miguel	Pedro Miguel Lopez
15	Comolapa – Simajhulehu
16	El Tejar – Santo Domingo
17	Itzapa
18	San Juan Comolapa
19	Escuela Paraxaj, Comolapa (school)
20	Tecpan	Jose Luis Iquique Socoy
21	Poaquil
22	Acatenango, Pajales 2
23	Tecpan, Instituto Telesecundaria (school)
24	Chimaltenango, Escuela Montecristo (school)
	Sololá	Josue Ajcalón
25	El Tablón
26	Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan
27	San Andres, Chipop

Source for small map: http://www.deguate.com/infocentros/guatemala/Geografia/images/chimaltenango.gif
Source for large map: http://www.cepredenac.org/04_temas/mitch/map/guatemala/chimal.htm

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