NORMA I LOVE FOUNDATION
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Introduction

Within the village of Mocoron there exist about 1000 indigenous adults who mainly live on a subsistence barter economy. They are extremely poor where 80% are unemployed. Some of the reasons for this are because of the rapid increase of village children and the lack of agriculture and forestry enterprises. It is difficult to harvest the land because of inadequate top soil to grow crops for consumption and commercial use. They have to cut further into the jungle as to grow more rice, corn, beans, and yucca, which is becoming even more difficult. One bad harvest either through not enough rain or too much rain would be devastating for the villagers. There are signs of hunger among the children in surrounding villages. The adults want to develop various trades as to obtain cash to buy basic necessities such as rice seed, shoes, clothing, and to up grade their homes which have no running water or are not protected from rain or wind..

Right now the villagers are in the beginning to harvest the jungle for mahogany lumber, along with having an on going tree replanting program. Many want to take raw lumber and manufacture quality furniture to sale world wide. They want to learn better gardening techniques as to produce vegetables and fruits for domestic consumption and to sale the excess to the markets.

Mission Statement

The main purpose and objectives of the Norma I Love Foundation is to provide education opportunities for the La Mosquitia people. Specifically its wants to work toward establishing a vocational school that will teach trades and help villagers start their own business projects.

Second the Foundation wants to preserve the rain forest by coordinating reforestation projects and help the villagers grow quality vegetables and fruits out side of the forest. It also wants to provide eco tourism that will be productive in educating people why the rain forest needs to be preserved and how it can bring in needed cash to the community.

Third, the foundation is providing quality health for the people by hosting medical relief teams and teaching the people sanitation and how to purify its water.

Brief History

Ever since 1988 Norma Love has been brought in huge quantities of supplies through out La Mosquitia. During Hurricane Mitch United States officials depended on her for directions and contacts to give needed relief to thousands of villagers through out the region. She has hosted many other relief missions groups.

One of her greatest achievement is building a kindergarten in Mocoron through the help of the Canadian government. Being a teacher by profession her main affinity is the educational enrichment of the children, thus she has brought huge quantities of educational material and has provided proposals to various organizations to have better educational facilities for the village.
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Norma has helped organized the Mocoron and Walpakira Women’s Associations and has worked among the women to establish various business projects. Because of her efforts other non government organizations are providing among the women micro credit loans and establishing pig and poultry farms.

La Mosquitia Women Associations

One of the Norma I Love Foundation’s major priorities is to help the Mocoron Women’s Association become more effective. To this end the Foundation wants to provide further assistance to the women’s following business projects:

1. Establish their own plantation to grow rice, bean, and yucca as to sale to the markets
2. Establish their own restaurant
3. Set up sewing trades and sale needed clothes to other villagers
4. Starting a pig farm
5. Having their own green house to grow vegetables and start up plants for fruit and mahogany trees

The Foundation intends to provide specialist to teach the women in business fundamentals and needed trades.

It also wants to provide electricity so the women will have refrigeration to preserve food and provide lighting at night for sewing and educational classes.

Future plans are in the making in establishing or expanding other women associations through out other villages.

The Foundation will provide exotic and cultural adventures for eco tourist from which tour income will help finance the Foundation’s humanitarian work. Profits specifically will bring new technology to the schools such as laptops, solar panels, and to help build a vocational school.

Tours will bring people to the rain forest and observe exotic birds, monkeys, alligators, the puma, and various other exotic animals. Tourist will visit villages by lagoons for fresh water swimming and travel by dug out canoes. They will be resting on a Caribbean beach for swimming and sun bathing.

Vocational School

The Norma I Love Foundation ultimate goal is to establish a vocational school which will focus on teaching trades that can be immediately applied in starting up various businesses. It will provide funds to recruit volunteers to teach mainly women and older children in how to establish businesses, saving groups, credit unions, modern gardening techniques, furniture and wood crafts, sewing and shoe making.

The Foundation will introduce a computer learning component within the vocational school for high school students and adults and such computers will be a resource for e-learning, community business development and marketing products through out the internet.