FUNCEDESCRI was founded in 1990 in response to the social and economic problems of the families affected by Guatemala´s Civil War (1960-1996). Our institution’s work began with service work and emergency relief projects that were developed based on local community decisions. The communities decided what problems most affected them and how they would like to move towards fostering their own community development. From the beginning, our work focused on sustainability and efficiently using local resources in order to decrease dependency on external organizations and companies. FUNCEDESCRI’s work is composed of technical training sessions and workshops that promote saving and strengthening cultural values. FUNCEDSCRI supports local and regional organizations that assume responsibility for the development processes their communities undertake. Our work aims to create a model for a better future.  

In order to continue cultivating local organization, we began working on self-evaluation processes with the communities in 1995. These self-evaluations helped the community members prioritize their needs and led to a work plan for the time period between 1996 and 2000. During these years, the communities directed the development of agricultural projects that established their seed funding.

At the end of the 90s, Guatemalans in various parts of the country suffered from a devastating famine. Given this crisis, the institution saw the need to increase the capacity of farming families to produce their food sustainably and therefore focused on improving family and community food security between 2000 and 2006. The organization has been primarily focused on fostering the process of achieving food security and sovereignty ever since.  

In 2007, the organization established a 20 year vision for our work in the communities. The main objective of this work is to apply sustainable agriculture techniques and appropriate technologies in our partner communities in order to achieve food security, which will guarantee healthy food production for current and future generations.

Our organization is currenly working on sustainable agriculture, farm animal care, appropriate technologies, and nutrition education so that families can produce enough food and fulfill their basic nutritional needs. FUNCEDESCRI also empowers our communities through the process of achieving food sovereignty by strengthening intercommunity alliances and community councils that foster local organization. Our hope is that communities themselves will guide their own process towards achieving sustainable community development and that they will organize locally to advocate for the rights they deserve.