VIDA - Reversing a Nutritional Crisis in Mexico

A project of the Himalayan Institute and Sustainable Earth Solutions, Inc.

In Mexico, a staggering 70% of adults are either overweight or obese, the highest rate on the planet. As healthy foods aren't readily available, many also suffer from malnutrition.

VIDA is a project that improves nutritional access in rural Mexico through compact home gardens and dietary counseling.

These partners are pioneering a training program designed to train nutritional counselors in Sierra Norte, Mexico on how to teach families about nutritional health. These counselors will be teaching 500 families, or 2,500 people, to improve their nutritional health by giving lessons and helping them start organic family gardens. The families will then have the opportunity to sell the surplus produce at community markets and spread the knowledge they have gained through the program.

With growing pressure on the environment to provide for an ever-increasing population, it is important to ensure people have access to good and healthy foods. This project will not only help the people directly involved in the training. The knowledge will be spread throughout communities with the help of community interactions and produce markets.

Program Details

• Our team of experts trains up to ten top nutritional counselors, who train 50 nutritional counselors;
• Each counselor helps 10 families build gardens;
• Immediate nutritional health relief for 2,500 people;
• As families take their surplus crops to the market, they earn incomes and improve diets in their communities;
• Family farming cooperatives bring better nutritional access to the 1 million plus residents of the Sierra Norte region.