The Province of Esmeraldas is one of the regions with the highest poverty rate in the country, which is why we have been working in the communities of Sálima, 10 de Agosto and Macará since 2016, to respond to the serious consequences of the earthquake.
In mid-March 2020, the government of Ecuador declared a state of health emergency for Covid-19 and imposed a total quarantine (except for essential work and mobility necessary for the supply of food and medicine). With a population that lives mainly on informal jobs, the emergency has also become a social and food emergency. Local communities have highlighted to us the imminent danger of closing the economic activities born with the “ Sunrise Ecuador ” project due to the lack of customers to whom to sell the bakery and chicken production. This would have meant the loss of a source of income for the families involved. Furthermore, for over 800 families it would have been impossible to cover their food needs during this period. This is where the Emergency project “Esperanza” which provides the purchase of bakery and livestock production, to safeguard jobs, and the free distribution of these products to families in greatest need. The process of strengthening the capacities of communities so that they can be protagonists of their own development takes on a new value today, in fact, even in this moment of emergency, aid, although with external support, will be largely managed by people from the same community because the change for a better future is in the hands of everyone and above all of each of them.
Activities: – Purchasing and transporting raw materials for food production – Purchasing poultry production and community bakery products – Organizing logistics for food distribution with local institutions to over 400 families
