What is Self-Development?


Self-development as it applies in the context of sustainable international development usually begins with self-respect. Using Tia’s villages as an example, once the Community Health Workers or Promotoras develop confidence in their abilities and personal worth, they organize and begin looking for other ways to improve their lives and their communities without outside supervision and encouragement.

Without any suggestion from Tia, each example appears spontaneously in almost every Tia village:

  • Promotoras and villagers organize themselves and set goals.
  • As a group, villagers lobby for needed services (education, social services) from their local governments.
  • Villagers meet together to resolve local problems.
  • Knowledge and skills are shared.
  • People pool their money to send a neighbor to town to buy veggies and meat, normally unavailable or expensive where they live.
  • Residents realize that setting goals as a group and working together, they can do almost anything.

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    tiafoundation

    The Tia Foundation is a small, Arizona-based NGO dedicated to driving sustainable health solutions in rural Mexico.

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