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"Strong communities with healthy children and families are the foundation

of a strong civil society. " Elisa Sabatini, Executive Director, Via International

 

“Through my experience working with Los Niños-Via, I walked away with a renewed sense of the human spirit and a deeper understanding of what community truly means.” Kevin Kmiec, Loyola College

 

 

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Community Development

 

Building human capacity while addressing community-defined needs is a path to creating vibrant, engaged and aware communities around the globe. It is not a linear path but a

caracol de desarrollo or snail of development that advances and retreats both individually and collectively and values patience, persistence, and respect.. It is a slow, inclusive process that when skillfully implemented creates paths to self-reliance for an interdependent world.

 

Via International defines Community Development as a participatory process in which individuals identify community needs and organize themselves to take the actions necessary to improve the quality of human life. The development of each individual community member is an essential element of this process.

 

History and Philosophy

With 35 years of experience in grass-roots community development, Via International recognized that to make longer-term impacts, the people in a community needed to be involved in the solutions to their own hunger, poverty, and food security issues. Over time programs were designed to engage local community members to teach nutrition, develop family gardens and address environmental issues. Moreover, local community residents have developed into the leaders, facilitators and coordinators of these initiatives. As they develop themselves through lived experience and education, they create a web of trust and relationship that strengthens the overall community fabric.

 

As mothers in the programs gained knowledge, they realized that they often had no income to support the family economy. Micro-credit loans became an avenue to enhance family income and build community through solidarity loan groups. Other program participants worked with the organization to develop a university-credentialed leadership education program. Graduates have gone forward to gain employment working in community development with various community organizations, all partners of Via International.

 

Through participation, the capacity of community members expanded to greater levels of awareness and involvement. That expanding awareness created opportunities for residents to see beyond their own community. Reaching out created another avenue for community development, additional income and cross-cultural education through voluntourism. Communities are now organizing to receive visitors, share their reality, their dreams, and their work while receiving much needed support to enhance their community development efforts.

 

The path of community development is an integrated system that adresses both the needs of the collective and the human development needs of the individuals that make up that collective.

 

Partnerships for Community Development
Via International continues to support its community of origin in the US/Mexico border region while expanding through partnerships to enhance complementary programs in other regions of the world.