User:Sehome Bay/Agros International

Agros International is a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington that works to reduce rural poverty in Central America. Agros' mission is to see rural poor families own agricultural land, attain economic self-sufficiency, realize their own God-given potential, and pass on to future generations the values and resources that enable them to flourish.

History
Seattle attorney Chi-Dooh "Skip" Li registered Agros International as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization in 1984. His plan for the organization was to privately buy land and loan it to small communities of landless farmers until they earned the resources to purchase it. In 1986, Agros undertook its first village projects in Guatemala. After finding success with these two villages, Li and other Agros founders decided to purchase more land and establish new villages in Guatemala. In 1997 Agros expanded to Nicaragua, followed by El Salvador in 1999, Honduras in 2004, and Chiapas, Mexico in 2005.

Early on in Agros' expansion, Agros' staff and board of directors realized that land alone was not enough to overcome poverty. They extended the Agros model into a holistic development strategy providing both long-term land loans as well as training. Currently, the Agros development model includes training villages on community organization, land ownership, housing and infrastructure, sustainable economic growth, and community education and training.

Approach
Agros International focuses specifically on rural poverty. Three quarters of the world's poor live and work in rural areas. The organization's development model focuses on access to land ownership as the first step out of poverty and provides long-term, low-interest loans to groups of families that come together to form Agros villages. Once families have access to land, Agros provides additional support and training. Over a period of 7-10 years, land loans are repaid with income earned from crops and small-business activities. Agros starts new villages by leveraging the funds from repaid land loans. In many villages, coffee is one of the crops grown. Agros International partners with Camano Island Coffee Roasters to improve the lives of villagers. Camano Island Coffee Roasters donates a portion of its proceeds to Agros International.

Reach
Agros has started almost 40 developing communities in five countries throughout Central America. Agros has 18 active villages in Guatemala, 8 in Nicaragua, 5 in Chiapas, Mexico, 4 in El Salvador, and 3 in Honduras. Agros continues to increase the number of villages it supports and plans to expand to neighboring countries in the future. Agros has a goal to implement its poverty-alleviating model in 10 countries by 2015. New villages are often started in close proximity to existing villages to benefit from the experience of members of the established villages. All Agros staff are native to their respective countries.

Recognition
In 2008, Agros was awarded the prestigious 2008 World Bank Development Marketplace award for the innovative proposal to create two sustainable farming communities in Chiapas, Mexico. The project was awarded $200,000 in seed funds to provide long-term land loans and holistic development support to Guatemalan refugees living in Chiapas, Mexico. The World Bank Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identify and fund innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact.

Charity Navigator ranks Agros International as a 3 Star Charity.

The University of Idaho's Martin Institute gave the Distinguished International Service Award to Agros International for its work in Central America.