Synergism
Greetings and salutations from here to there.
One of the blessings of limited resources is that it encourages the synergism of collaboration, cooperation, and alliances. Darwin, Natik’s Project Coordinator in Santiago Atitlán, has facilitated several Institutional alliances since joining the team in early 2025.
As you know, last year we piloted the Sustainable Livelihoods Project, which passed the test of time and talent and has now graduated into a Natik program! We began with our partner organizations in Santiago Atitlán — Asociación Pueblo a Pueblo and Nuevo Amanecer.
The objective was to promote sustainable development and local entrepreneurship as a way of strengthening their economic autonomy which simultaneously support local micro enterprise initiatives. PaP’s initiative was related to their decade of training in beekeeping and honey production and ANADESA strengthened their community-based tourism.
This entrepreneurial project is structured around several strategic components, with business capacity strengthening as a core pillar. This work has been advanced through a partnership with University EARTH Futures under the “Resilient Agri-food Systems” project.
Through this collaboration, PaP and ANADESA participated in a structured training process that included mentorship sessions and interactive engagement with Agro Conecta. This combination maximizes the benefits of experience-based practices by integrating them into theoretical, formal, strategic systems.
The result is significant improvements in organizational planning, implementation, and long-term sustainability. One of the practical results from this process was a feasibility study for the commercial initiatives, including technical, market, and financial analyses.
The participants also developed price catalogs, established commercial partnerships with intermediaries, implemented post-sales strategies, and created social media promotion plans, among other useful activities.
These advances reflect the commitment of the partner organizations. Their active engagement was inspired by their confidence in the strategic alliance between Natik and the Resilient Agri-food Systems initiatives.
Even though there was significant progress in 2025, continued support is essential to consolidate the commercial viability of these initiatives. Therefore, we’re all thrilled that EARTH Futures throughout 2026 will continue supporting PaP and ANADESA in 2026.
We’re all looking forward to them being able to successfully transition from theoretical and technical training into viable, sustainable incomes for themselves and the communities they serve.
The university’s project for this year will include several focus areas in addition to agritourism, such as youth and artisan empowerment. For this reason, EARTH has decided to launch an internal call among its strategic partners, such as Natik, to find out whether other partner organizations are interested in participating! This invitation has been extended to our other partners in Santiago.
The due date for application for this wonderful opportunity is TODAY, so stay tuned for the rest of this story!
Thanks for accompanying us on this journey!.
Saludos,
Anita Smart
Executive Director
