Avalos Hernández José Ignacio
Organization: Un Kilo de Ayuda
Year Founded: 1984
Country: Mexico
Website: www.unkilodeayuda.org.mx
Video Video Interview 1 Video Interview 2 (Español) Video (Español) The organization combats malnutrition for children under the age of 5 in many communities throughout Mexico. Focus: Nutrition, Rural Supply, Social Development, Microfinance Geographic Area of Impact: Mexico Model: Hybrid Non-Profit Number of Direct Beneficiaries: 250,000 (2009) Annual Budget: US$ 60 million (2010) Recognition: Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum Background Mexico is firmly established as a middle-income country, albeit with huge gaps between rich and poor, and urban and rural populations. Deep poverty persists among the indigenous population in many states of the country, mainly in the south-eastern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. However, even in villages on the doorstep of Mexico City, it is not uncommon to find the majority of villagers subsisting on less than US$ 2 a day. After the 1994-95 peso crisis, access to credit became difficult for most small and medium enterprises and impossible for the rural poor. In 1995, although Mexico had the highest GNP per capita in Latin America, the prevalence of malnutrition in children less than 5 years of age was significantly higher than in Brazil, Venezuela or even Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the region. Un Kilo de Ayuda has played an important role in cutting the rate of malnutrition in many communities throughout the country. Innovation and Activities Un Kilo de Ayuda (One Kilo of Help) was set up to fight malnutrition among children under 5 years of age and pregnant mothers. The organization uses a methodology called the Integrated Nutrition Program (PIN). There are six main components: nutritional surveillance, anemia detection, nutritional education, neurodevelopment and early stimulation evaluation, waterborne disease prevention and nutritional package distribution. Un Kilo de Ayuda supplies nutritionally balanced packages to 50,000 children in rural Mexico every two weeks. Un Kilo de Ayuda also catalogues information on the children it serves in a digital database called INFOKILO, which was developed in partnership with Microsoft. This system is invaluable to the programme because it allows Un Kilo de Ayuda to track progress and make recommendations for interventions. For those children served, the programme has delivered annual weight increases between 5-8%, and a decrease by 1.5-3% of those with moderate and severe malnutrition. Eradicating child undernutrition in Mexico is Un Kilo de Ayuda’s goal. In addition to a solid nutrition programme, it boasts impressive community support and participation; the majority of Un Kilo de Ayuda personnel are volunteers. The Entrepreneur At age 22, José Ignacio Avalos Hernández started a youth movement for human values called Gente Nueva at a time when civil society organizations were regarded as highly suspicious in Mexico. Since then, Avalos has founded or inspired the establishment of many organizations based on improving individual capacities and helping the poor. Some of those organizations include: COFAS, a self-sustaining healthcare system focused on providing high quality healthcare to Mexico’s rural poor; Banco Compartamos, the fastest growing and largest microfinance institution in Latin America; and Mi Tienda (social business), a new kind of wholesaler that supplies small, rural shops with products at lower prices and in smaller quantities than traditional wholesalers.
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