Family Economic Security

We help build and strengthen culturally relevant local and regional institutions to expand economic opportunities for families, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, social enterprises and other groups.

These institutions include:

• Business incubators and accelerators
• Community savings groups
• Technical assistance organizations
• Financial institutions
• Entities that help small businesses get their products to consumers

These institutions expand economic opportunities by providing new incentives, risk-sharing initiatives and financial products.

Our primary focus for economic security is on supporting agriculture, especially coffee, honey, the traditional milpa system of farming, backyard vegetable gardens and animal husbandry. We also help strengthen related value chains, from production to marketing, with a recognition of the central importance of territory and land to Indigenous communities of the Chiapas Highlands and inner Yucatán Peninsula.

We also support community ecotourism, as well as cooperatives and other organizations in the artisanal sector to increase income through market access and value chain strengthening.