Ten years with our feet on the ground: Pata Pila's impact on the most vulnerable communities

A decade of presence, commitment and real impact

In 2025, the NGO Pata Pila marks 10 years of sustained work in some of the most vulnerable regions of the country. Ten years of being where we are needed, with professional teams, concrete action and a deeply human outlook.

What began as a response to child malnutrition in Yacuy, Salta, became an organization present in Salta, Mendoza, Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires, supporting thousands of children and mothers living in contexts of structural poverty.

"Reaching where no one else does" has been the mission from the start. And doing it with early diagnosis, professional care and interdisciplinary work, from within and with our feet on the ground.

Ten years of impact in numbers

These are some of the achievements that mark the road traveled:

• 👶 +10,000 girls and boys diagnosed for the first time
• 🧒 +3,000 girls and boys in nutrition programs
• 🤰 +650 pregnant women supported through their prenatal process
• ✅ +1,000 nutritional recovery discharges
• 🥛 +76,000 kg of milk delivered
• 👩‍⚕️ +78,000 professional consultations carried out

Every number represents a story. Real lives that found an opportunity. Mothers supported, childhoods protected, communities strengthened.

Early diagnosis and professional support

One of the keys to Pata Pila's work has been detecting nutritional and health risks in time so we can intervene more effectively.

Support is provided by an interdisciplinary team that includes:

• Pediatrics
• Nutrition
• Early stimulation
• Social work
• Early childhood education

All of this with a direct, sustained presence on the ground.

But it is not only about assistance. It is about promoting development, connecting families with the health system, and giving them back dignity and basic rights.

A network that keeps growing

Besides the health and nutrition programs, Pata Pila has developed over these years:

• Early childhood spaces
• Vocational training programs
• Infrastructure works for access to water
• Climate emergency campaigns (such as the recent response during the Pilcomayo River overflow in 2025)

This growth was possible thanks to coordination with:

• Public bodies
• Individual donors
• Strategic allies from the private and social sectors

The words of Diego Bustamante, founder of Pata Pila

"We turn 10 and it is truly incredible to look back and see the whole road we have traveled. I learned that nothing is achieved alone, that real impact happens when the dream is collective. Every community we were able to support was possible thanks to people who put in their bodies, their professions and their hearts. May this anniversary not be just another celebration, but a push to keep walking together."

— Diego Bustamante, founder and General Director of Pata Pila

The horizon ahead

Ten years are not a finish line, but a starting point.

The challenges are still enormous, but Pata Pila is ready to face them with more strength, more presence and the same conviction that guided every step: changing realities from within.

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With your monthly donation, you can be part of this story. Help us reach more communities, more mothers, more children who need us.

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