VISION GUATEMALA: Organizational Development

With the success of ACMUV and COMUVI, The Coffee Trust is collaborating with other women’s groups outside the Chajulense region, sharing its knowledge, experience, and expertise of the Chajulense women. Vision Guatemala Atitlán (VGA) is an indigenous women’s group, located in San Juan la Laguna on the shores of Lake Atitlán. Visión Guatemala has been operating for 10 years, supported by a Swiss non-profit. However, Visión Guatemala has not had an economic development component or been financially sustainable.

In 2021, The Coffee Trust began working with VGA by first establishing trust and then by sharing our experiences and programs that we have supported. In 2022, Visión Guatemala Atitlan asked The Coffee Trust for help to become more financially sustainable.

Our approach is to introduce new partners to former and current partners. If new partners are interested in The Coffee Trust partner’s work, we introduce them and they visit each other. This is what happened with VGA and ACMUV/COMUVI. The Coffee Trust introduced Visión Guatemala to ACMUV. Leaders of VGA met with the leaders of ACMUV and decided to pursue a microcredit project of their own. Visión Guatemala became immediately enthusiastic about the microcredit program and asked The Coffee Trust to help design a similar project.

The Coffee Trust provided the infrastructure to help Visión Guatemala launch its own micro-credit program and continues to provide leadership and organization development skills training.

Visión Guatemala's strategy is to enhance its micro-credit program by infusing it with an entrepreneurial aspect while also providing sufficient capital to generate interest, thus contributing to the organization's sustainability. Visión Guatemala has been providing valuable services in the San Juan la Laguna region for 10 years. The unique entrepreneurial component of their new microcredit program may help VGA achieve the level of sustainability it has long aspired to achieve. Supported by The Coffee Trust, ACMUV, and COMUVI, they are on track to accomplish their goal of reaching financial sustainability within five years.