Rural Guatemalans win financial support from UN agency
17 June 2008 - The United Nations agency tasked with reducing rural poverty is lending $17 million to Guatemala to help authorities
boost development in the Central American country's central and eastern regions.
About 30,000 smallholders, micro-entrepreneurs, artisans and landless peasants will receive upgraded infrastructure and
other assistance under the project, which has a particular focus on young people, women and people of mixed Mayan and
Ladino origin.
Some of the participants will be able to take part in courses in business management and marketing, and access will be
increased to such resources as land, water, technology and farm credit.
The project was signed last week at a ceremony in Rome, the headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), by representatives of the agency and Guatemala.
IFAD said the scheme will now be implemented over the next six years in El Progreso, Zacapa, Jalapa, Jutiapa and Santa
Rosa departments.
ENDS