Guatemala

Community development planning and implementation in El Estor, Guatemala. From September 2004 through February 2006, SCDI was engaged by a Canadian mining company to provide community development planning for a proposed nickel mining operation in the El Estor municipality of Guatemala. The mining operation is in an environmentally sensitive area of eastern Guatemala on the shores of Lake Izabal where the local population consists mostly of indigenous Mayans (Q’eqchi). SCDI designed the community development program applying its basic principal of utilizing the services and supplies needed by the mine to fuel development of local jobs and enterprises that would result in a sustainable community eventually independent of the mine and outlive it. The initial phase of the program would focus on improvement of health, education and infrastructure but eventually lead to improved socio-economic conditions in the Izabal region. SCDI was instrumental in the founding of RAXCHE, a community development foundation established by the company. RAXCHE completed a Regional Strategic Plan in a community-wide participatory process to assess the needs, aspirations and priorities of the communities in the region. The plan will guide future socio-economic development in the region.