Location: El Torno, Bolivia
Funds Needed: $4,950 for initial irrigation infrastructure and first acre. $3,550 for each subsequent acre.
Project Brief
Feed The Hungry UK (FTH) is partnering with local leaders in Playon, El Torno, Bolivia, to establish a sustainable coffee farm that creates employment, develops vocational skills, and provides long-term funding for a Children’s Centre supporting abandoned and vulnerable children.
By planting up to 8 acres of coffee, the project aims to engage and empower local rural families while generating profits to sustain the Centre. Workers will be trained in cultivation, processing, packaging, and sales; building long-term capacity for both the community and the organisation.
The Need
Poverty remains a significant issue across Bolivia, especially in rural areas. Four in ten women live in poverty, and although men are more likely to find employment, they often leave their families behind in search of work. This has led to the breakdown of many family units, with children frequently abandoned or left in dangerous situations.
Many people are barely surviving on around $12 per day and around 2 million Bolivians earn less than $140 dollars a month. Most individuals would struggle to eat let alone live for less than $150, this was evident in 2021 reports. By the end of 2021, 26% of households were unable to afford adequate food.
The situation is particularly severe in rural areas:
• 80% of people in mountainous rural regions live below the poverty line
• 16% of children under 5 are chronically malnourished, rising to 23% in rural communities
• Nearly 50% of child deaths under 5 are linked to malnutrition
According to the UN World Food Programme, two-thirds of rural households do not earn enough to buy the minimum amount of food required for healthy living. The impact on children is especially devastating. Nearly half of all deaths of children under five are linked to malnutrition, and abandonment is a growing crisis as parents leave home in search of work.
The Children's Centre:
In Santa Cruz, Feed The Hungry are responding to this crisis through the creation of a Children’s Centre, now entering its final stage of construction. This centre is designed to be far more than a building. It will be a safe, nurturing home for some of the country’s most vulnerable children; those who have been abandoned, who have grown up on the streets, or who have been exposed to drugs, violence, and abuse. Many of these children are heartbreakingly young, some only three or four years old, and all of them carry wounds of neglect, hunger, and fear.
This vision began when Isaac and Anali left the UK in 2021, giving up their home and possessions to dedicate themselves to Bolivia’s forgotten children The Centre will not only offer food and shelter, but also love, belonging, and the chance for children to rediscover their worth.
Although construction has faced delays and challenges, the finish line is now within reach. When the doors open, the Centre will stand as a beacon of transformation, restoring childhood to those who have been robbed of it. And while the work begins in Santa Cruz, Isaac and Anali’s vision extends far wider: to see children across Bolivia placed into safe, nurturing environments where they can flourish.
The Solution - How coffee helps:
This project is designed so that each acre of coffee planted functions as its own self-contained package. One acre provides employment and training for a local family, while also generating income to support the Children’s Centre for abandoned children. As each new acre is funded and planted, the impact multiplies, one family supported, one step closer to full sustainability.
Each acre includes:
• Training for local workers in coffee cultivation and processing
• Use of drought-resistant coffee varieties suited to the region
• Access to irrigation through a shared rainwater capture system from nearby mountains
• Budgeted maintenance and support for long-term viability
Over time, these individual acre-projects will collectively create a thriving coffee farm that not only empowers families through employment and skill development, but also provides a reliable financial base for the Children’s Centre.
Funding even a single acre contributes to lasting impact; supporting a family, building local capacity, and sustaining care for vulnerable children.
The Opportunity
Each acre of the coffee plantation offers a self-contained opportunity to create sustainable change. By funding a single acre, you can directly enable:
• Sustainable financial contributions for the local Children’s Centre
• Employment, training, and stable income for a local family
• Seasonal work for local individuals during key phases like planting and harvesting
• Community skills development in agriculture, processing, and small-scale enterprise
When you support even one acre, you’re not just planting coffee, you're helping to dig roots for a crucial children's centre providing care for vulnerable children, and you’re planting a future for a local family. As additional acres are funded, the project grows, scaling impact acre by acre, family by family.
