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The mission of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) is to provide farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests.

Our Smaller World group in Honduras is en route safely back to the US as of Friday, July 3. The group was able to work with SHI participant families in the countryside and enjoyed the generous hospitality of the Honduran people despite the political tensions at the national level. SHI's Honduran affiliate, FUCOHSO, continues its work with families in the villages as the countryside remains calm. We continue to hope that FUCOHSO staff and participant families see their country quickly return to political stability.

Since the organization's start in 1997, SHI has planted more than 2.3 million trees and converted thousands of acres to sustainable uses; thereby saving tens of thousands of acres of tropical forest from slash-and-burn destruction.

SHI has worked with more than 1,800 families and over 2,120 students in 50 schools throughout Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua implementing alternatives to slash-and-burn farming, the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the region.  More than 600 families have graduated from the SHI program and no longer need assistance.  Working with local field personnel trained by SHI, our participants have:

• Planted more than 2,300,000 trees.
• Converted more than 9,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving over 45,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
• Sequestered 73,425,000 pounds of carbon as a result of our planting efforts.*
  
• Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 4,700 organic vegetable gardens.
• Increased farm income up to 800%.
• Built more than 750 wood-conserving stoves (saving 7,500 trees per year)
  

* These results estimated by Environmental Services, Inc. based on information provided by SHI.

Recent Highlights

Did you know Oprah Magazine profiled Sustainable Harvest's unique partnership with Cotton Tree Lodge in Belize?  Click here to read it!

Tune into a radio interview with SHI Founder & President, Flo Reed & SHI-Belize Country Director, Nana Mensah, on his recent visit to Maine.  Click here to listen to or download the podcast.

SHI has earned Charity Navigator's highest 4-star rating for the third consecutive year! With an exceptional score in organizational efficiency and low overhead, we spend just 8% of our budget on administration.

"Only 10% of the charities we've rated have received at least 3 consecutive 4-star evaluations, meaning that Sustainable Harvest International outperforms most charities in America in its efforts to operate in the most fiscally responsible way possible. This "exceptional" designation from Charity Navigator differentiates SHI from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust."

~ Trent Stamp, President of Charity Navigator

Featured Business Sponsor: GoodSpark

"We love the fact that this Sustainable Harvest Internatioanl is providing long-term assistance and empowering the people and communities they are helping to improve their lives and the environment around them.  They work only in communities where they have been invited by local people. They seek partnerships with an in-country organization that shares their goals. Because their projects are locally initiated and supported by in-country organizations, the work will continue long after they have left an area."

GoodSpark is a national nonprofit designed to engage young professionals and inspire them to support quality charities that make a difference. Adding value by recommending a manageable selection of compelling charities that meet their demanding standards, GoodSpark offers donors both choice and simplicity. Sustainable Harvest International is one of less than two dozen charities endorsed by GoodSpark.

GoodSpark sponsors the work of SHI field trainers to teach Central American farmers how to grow the food they need to support their families without destroying their environment, and without resorting to farming techniques that damage their own health or the health of their children.

Belize
Today, the eight Field Trainers in Belize work with over 323 families in 32 communities, and 142 families have graduated from the program.
 

Honduras
The nine Field Trainers in Honduras work with a total of 563 families in 38 communities, and 336 families have graduated from the program.
 

Nicaragua
The eight Nicaraguan Field Trainers work with 222 families in 24 communities.

 

Panama
The four Field Trainers in Panama work with 110 families in 14 communities, and 131 families have graduated from the program.