Rainforest Partnership » Chipaota

Nourish International Volunteers Summer in Chipaota

Lucia — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:41:14 +0000

Here is an update from our Nourish International Volunteers that have been in Chipaota all summer….

Things are going well here in Chipaota. We were warmly welcomed into the community and have been holding regular meetings with both the piassaba and artisan groups. The piassaba group is progressing well on its own and is beginning to build its workshop. The majority of the money we raised is going towards building the workshop. As long as we keep the momentum of the project flowing, the workshop should be up and running by the end of the month.

We are working on helping with the organization of the artisan project. Due to the tremendous number of responsibilities that the women of the community face beyond the artisan project itself, the project is slightly more difficult to implement. However, the community is doing an excellent job. Progress is being made in the areas of scheduling and organization, and we showed the women several pictures of other artisan projects from stores in Austin and Arizona. Finally, work is being done on creating some sort of logo that they can attach to their products. We hope to aid in focusing the project onto a small number of excellent products rather than an array of quality products.

To read more about the Nourish International volunteers and their experiences in Chipaota, check out their blog!

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Updates from the Chipaota Project!

Lucia — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:15:27 +0000

A lot has been going on down in Chipaota over the last few months! Here are a few highlights from the ongoing project with the Chipaota community:

The first ECOMUSA General Assembly was held to explain the finances of ECOMUSA to the community. Noe and I were there to help ECOMUSA answer any questions from community members regarding financial transactions.

In April and May, 2,400 kilograms of piassaba palm fiber were sold.

The ECOMUSA director has met with another interested buyer who has agreed to purchase the palm fibers for $1.48 per kilogram.

I met with Director Pedro Carrasco, who has offered to help with the process of making and selling the brooms. He proposed having 3 workshops, one in each community, so that members of the community can get involved.

We are excited to have student volunteers with Nourish International here in Chipaota working on our broom making project. Check out their blog to read more about the great work they have been doing!

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Project update in Chipaota

Lucia — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:53:45 +0000

Since December, the community has now had 5 sales of harvested fiber for a total of 4,900 kilograms. The sales have been favorable thus community members are excited as they are becoming more familiar with the local market for this product. But they have also noticed that there is a huge difference if they manage to manufacture and market fiber brooms for sale rather than selling the raw fiber raw. Marketing a value-added product not only will let them earn more money but also generate many jobs in the community. So the implementation of the management plan is going very well
Coordinating with the board of the communal company and the committee for self-defense, there were 3 outings into the forest this month to patrol and monitor the work of harvesting of the fiber and to see if there are threats from neighboring communities that are extracting fiber illegally in the communal land/management area land. Also, we began the practice of marking harvested plants with cards made of recycled plastic bottles (idea of Uliver’s wife!) labeled with permanent marker to mark and track the next harvest and cleanup activities. As a result of these patrols, it is known that there are threats from illegal harvesters from neighboring communities in remote areas.

In mid-February, we held a meeting in the multisectoral Chazuta District Municipality (MDCH) convened by the MDCH at the request of the Native Community of Mushuck Llacta Chipaota. They invited the various stakeholders in the harvesting and marketing chain of piazaba fiber including villagers, National Police, INRENA, Carriers, authorities from neighboring communities to Chipaota, CIMA, among others to address the issue of illegal trade and extraction of Piazaba fiber. Control mechanisms were agreed upon with neighboring communities, the national police and the MDCH to control lawlessness in the district. Days after this meeting, the authorities visited neighboring communities to discuss and formalize agreements to control illegal harvesting of Piazaba fiber, as pledged at the meeting of MDCH. Everyone is happy at the results and the wider understanding of the management plan area and consequences of illegally harvesting there.

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