In 2018, Pantaleon began the “Opportunities Project”. The purpose of the project is to contribute to the prosperity of our employees and their communities.
As part of this program, we started an alliance with FundaSistemas as part of their “Puentes” project with USAID. Puentes aims at improving youth employment opportunities either through continuing education, formal employment or entrepreneurship. Through this alliance, Pantaleon is supporting cane cutters from Quiché participate and get trained while employed at the mill and in their communities.
The pilot project lasts 18 months, executed in two phases. The first phase, during the harvest season at the mill, where 54 employees were trained in agricultural techniques, personal development and enterprise development. The activities also included a guided tour to farms dedicated to exporting crops and the creation of a demonstrative plot at the mill to help apply the agriculture techniques learned.
The second phase of this project is in the communities of Cunén and San Miguel Uspantán, Quiché. Starting in May, employees and community members will organize to continue working on their productive projects and the training schedule.
The goal of this pilot project is that by the end of the season, participants will be able to apply the skills learned to produce and harvest an export crop and organize into a cooperative.
To know more about the project Puentes you can visit: http://fundasistemas.org/index/programa-rngg-proyecto-puentes/
