Eliminating Poverty
A personal perspective from Chi-Dooh “Skip” Li, Founder, Agros International
The final presenter at the Strum Executive Innovation Summit gave an inspirational point of view of what it means to serve. His experienced takeaway? Helping the poor is not easy. But the satisfaction is immense. And if you do it, do it because it is the right thing to do.
Skip is the founder of Agros International. The story of Agros began in 1984 in Guatemala: in the mountainous Ixil triangle where impoverished families were emerging from hiding to rebuild their lives after a heinous civil war.
At the time, Skip Li, was a young Chinese lawyer living in Seattle, and had been called several years earlier to go to Guatemala. Hearing a Latino missionary speak of the desperate need for land access among the peasant farmers of Central America, he leaned in. The seeds of Agros, and the vision to reunite impoverished farmers with the land that was their livelihood and birthright, were planted.
Skip traveled to Guatemala, and by 1984 began rebuilding the first Agros community in a tiny rural village decimated by war. His dream grew to encompass a plan to offer families a fair opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through a long-term partnership with local staff specializing in a program of land access, agricultural training, financial empowerment, preventative healthcare, and educational access.
Chi-Dooh “Skip” Li
Skip’s vision then, as today, was to repair the network of relationships that enable individuals to live dignified and healthy lives within thriving communities - relationships that poverty, exacerbated by civil war, had severed.
Today, Agros has helped more than 10,000 individuals build new lives for themselves by facilitating land ownership and providing technical assistance, training, capital loans, and village infrastructure to support the work and vision of community members.
It partners with a variety of national and international development organizations. These alliances along with the Agros in-country and U.S. staff maintain a strong commitment to the accountability and success of Agros’ villages. Agros’ genuine commitment to providing hope and opportunity to the rural poor through private land reform has earned the trust of the people it serves.
Poverty is complex - it affects all areas of life. It robs health, security, stability, opportunity and hope from individuals, families, communities and countries. A family cannot thrive if all their energy and time is spent on just surviving.
Agros’ mission is to see rural poor families own agricultural land, attain economic self-sufficiency, realize their God-given potential, and pass on to future generations the values and resources that enable them to flourish.
Their work is focused on poorest of the poor, those living in extreme poverty. The World Bank defines poverty as income less than $1.25 per day. The average income for families prior to joining an Agros community is just $.50 per day.
Of the 1.2B people who live in poverty, 74 percent of them are in rural areas. 1.74 million are in Central America. Recent rural poverty rates for the countries where we Argos focuses are:
Nicaragua: 63.3%
Honduras: 68.5%
Guatemala: 71.4%
The Agros model has helped more than 10,000 people move sustainably out of poverty during these past thirty years. The approach is holistic, designed to address the complexities of poverty. They understand that no one thing causes poverty and no single solution will eradicate it. Therefore, the model addresses the five areas that have learned can create sustainable change for those living in poverty:
Land
Market-led agriculture
Health and well-being
Financial empowerment
Education
Skip’s inspiration and dedication was infectious and had many in the room thinking about the satisfaction they might achieve if they were to get involved in eliminating poverty. Skip sensed the energy in the room and left everyone with 3 lessons to guide their journey:
Take risks
Be true to your word, don’t overcommit
Help the poor without an agenda
— John Mathes, Director of Brand Strategy