Leadership for Community-Based Sustainable Development: Integrated Management of the Talamanca Initiative. Bocas del Toro, Panama and Talamanca, Costa Rica. April 21 – 28, 2008.
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Report to Ecoagriculture Partners on the Community Knowledge Service – Central America Learning Exchange: “Leadership for Community-Based Sustainable Development: Integrated Management of the Talamanca Initiative.” Bocas del Toro, Panama and Talamanca, Costa Rica. April 21 – 28, 2008. Asociación ANAI (Benson Venegas, Maribel Mafla, Dr. William McLarney, Diego Lynch, Roger Bonilla, Fernanda Sandoval)
Introduction Beginning on Monday morning April 21, 2008 and concluding 8 days later on Monday morning April 28, 2008, Asociación ANAI, la Asociación de Pequeños Productores de Talamanca, Ecoagriculture Partners and the Equator Initiative carried out an integrated learning exchange program between smallholder farmers and their communities from Talamanca, Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro, Panama, focusing on a diversity of activities being undertaken by Talamanca Initiative partners. Our main counterpart organization from Bocas del Toro was COCABO (Cooperativa Cacao Bocatoreña, R.L.). The main purpose of the exchange was to share the experiences of the Talamanca Initiative with farmer/leaders from the neighboring province of Bocas del Toro, with a special interest in experiences that have the potential to be integrated into the grassroots efforts being undertaken there by local farmers, communities and their organizations. These included integrated organic agro-forestry / ecoagriculture practices, landscape conservation and corridor connectivity, watershed-landscape river bio-monitoring practices, marine turtle investigation and conservation, and community eco-tourism, all being practical examples that together help one understand how to link natural systems conservation and sustainable productive activities by rural people. The long term objective was to prepare a group of natural leaders from Bocas del Toro to be capable and committed to positively influencing the implementation of sustainable agriculture and rural development strategies in their communities and region. A core group of twelve indigenous community representatives (11 from Bocas del Toro and 1 from the Costa Rican border community of San Miguel) participated in the exchange, which was facilitated by a group of 5 ANAI staff members led by exchange coordinator Benson Venegas, one staff member from Ecoagriculture Partners, and 22 members of local Talamancan organizations who participated in specific activities. Please see annex 1 for details of the participants and their organizations. 2
Objectives The agreed upon objectives for the learning exchange were: 1.
Design, develop and facilitate an initial learning exchange that enables smallholder producers in Bocas del Toro, Panama to learn from the experiences of Costa Rican smallholders currently engaged in the Talamanca Initiative, and establish the foundation for a long-term knowledge sharing process between farmers and communities in these two regions.
2. Strengthen the capacity of the Talamanca Initiative to be a ‘living’ learning centre for community-based practitioners and a broader range of stakeholders within the region and internationally [sharing of TI model at regional and international level].
The selection process The selection process considered members of COCABO from the more than 100 rural communities of Bocas del Toro served by the cooperative. Two long time members of COCABO who have previously served on the board of directors and in numerous voluntary roles, together with ANAI staff, identified an initial group of approximately 30 individuals who have distinguished themselves as natural leaders in their communities. COCABO staff were not considered. From this group, 20 individuals were selected based on geographic diversity, active participation in community organizations and processes, perceived selflessness, perceived likelihood of putting into practice new sustainable development activities, and likelihood of communicating the experiences and lessons learned during the exchange with other members of their community and organizations. Special effort was made to identify potential female participants, in light of the historical and culturally influenced very low participation of women in leadership positions within the rural communities of Bocas del Toro. A member of the selection committee visited each of these people in their community to inform them of the objectives and activities of the exchange and to gauge their interest and availability. After analyzing the results of the personal visits, fifteen people were formally invited to participate, with the expectation of forming a final group of 10-12 members. Two of the selected participants informed us ahead of time of conflicts that would not permit their participation, and two others did not show up at the agreed upon meeting place, for a total of 11 Panamanian participants. The Costa Rican participant was selected based on his border community’s close relationship with Bocas del Toro, his experience and deep understanding of the Talamanca Initiative process and his excellent communication and human relations skills. The final group of 12 was the ideal number that we were aiming for.
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Initiatives highlighted 1. Diverse organic agro-ecosystems with cocoa as the principal crop. 2. Rejuvenation of cocoa plantations by grafting superior varieties onto induced basal shoots of existing cocoa trees. 3. Organic and Fair Trade certification and marketing 4. The establishment, growth and activities of regional and community level producer, conservation and educational grassroots organizations. 5. Stream based biological monitoring as a conservation and bio-literacy tool. 6. Community based ecotourism. 7. Sea turtle conservation as a motor of rural economic development 8. Grassroots leadership development.
Description of the Learning Exchange Activities Annex 2 is a detailed agenda of each day’s planned activities (in Spanish). Below is a summarized description of each day’s highlights. Day 1. Arrival, Introduction, Community Ecotourism and Sea Turtle Conservation The participants arrived as scheduled in the Panamanian town of Changuinola. After successfully completing all of the legal requirements (the majority of the participants did not have a passport so special arrangements were necessary), the group entered into Costa Rica at the Guabito – Sixaola border crossing. They continued on to the community of Gandoca, and the Gandoca Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge. After an introductory session to introduce participants and create the conditions for a successful 8-day exchange, the focus of the afternoon and evening activities was to provide the participants with insights into a unique experience that brings together biodiversity conservation and community development with important roles played by the community, NGOs, the Costa Rican government and private initiative by community members. The research and conservation activities in support of the three endangered species of sea turtle that nest on Gandoca beach have been designed and carried out in a manner that maximizes the economic and educational benefits for the community’s inhabitants; the ecotourism services provided to the program’s staff and volunteers, as well as the tourists now beginning to visit, have become the motor of development of this community. 4
The participants had formal and informal interactions with project staff, volunteers, and a diversity of community members who offer services such as lodging, food, transportation and nature guide service. An important part of the conversation focused on the practical difficulties the Gandoca community members faced in beginning a new activity like ecotourism and developing new capabilities. In addition to a formal presentation of the sea turtle conservation program and the ecology of sea turtles, all the participants patrolled the beach after dark, and had the experience of attending to a nesting female leatherback turtle. They also had an interesting exchange with community members who are carrying out a related project that collects used plastic bags and transforms them into woven purses and carrying bags that are being exported to the United States. (Plastic bags are especially problematic for leatherback sea turtles, who mistake them for jellyfish, their principal food. After being ingested the bags block the turtles’ digestive system and the turtles eventually starve to death.) The group split into four smaller groups, each of which stayed in a different bed-andbreakfast, providing the basis for an analysis of what is involved in turning one’s home into a bed-and-breakfast, and how individual families can benefit from community conservation initiatives. Among the reflections this visit generated among the exchange participants: -
In Bocas, the tourism sector is focused on big investments, big hotels and resorts and housing developments for the wealthy. This is considered the only viable approach. So the participants found it very interesting to see local people who had developed their own cabins, extra rooms in their houses, and other associated businesses, which together represent an alternative tourism approach that is owned and managed by the local people from what had previously been an isolated rural community of campesinos. It was very powerful for them to see the reality that community-based ecotourism is possible.
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They saw that community ecotourism can create markets for crafts, which they now produce, but have few opportunities to sell. They saw that tourism can provide many local jobs beyond hotels and restaurants. 5
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There was a recognition that success requires a lot of training. They especially commented on the difficulties inherent in developing capable, bi-lingual guides and high quality service for clients.
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They were struck by how attractive a simple rustic lodge could be, provided it was clean and the attention was excellent.
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They were very interested in the program in which waste plastic bags are being woven into handbags for local sale to tourists and for export. They were interested in receiving training on how to make these bags, with the hope that they could be marketed through the channels created by this initiative.
Day 2. Talamancan Agro-Ecological Production Model After a short meeting to reflect on each participant’s experience at the four different bed and breakfasts and prepare them for the 2nd day’s activities, the group travelled to ANAI’s Finca Lomas experimental farm, where the rest of the morning was invested in two activities: 1) getting to know a diversity of exotic fruit trees with potential to be integrated into Bocas del Toro’s agroforestry systems as new commercial and/or food security crops; and 2) learning about and practicing field grafting of cocoa trees onto induced basal shoots as a low cost method to increase productivity of cocoa plantations. These two activities led to a very fruitful exchange wherein the participants from Bocas del Toro identified and proposed more specific future exchanges to help diversify their agricultural systems, help a large number of farmers learn grafting techniques, and develop a regional nursery. The conversation over lunch focused on the Talamanca Caribbean Biological Corridor, of which Finca Lomas is an integral part, on the work of the Biological Corridor association, on the theme of forest and habitat connectivity and on the role that agro-ecological farming systems can play in support of biodiversity conservation.
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In the afternoon, the group visited APPTA’s processing plant near Bri Bri, where cocoa is fermented and dried, fruits are processed into puree and packaged for export, and a regional nursery is being developed. The discussion included diversified farming systems, value added processing and local job creation, the high quality demanded by external markets and the importance of quality control, and an introduction to APPTA, the 1000+ member Association of Talamancan Small Farmers. Some of the interesting elements that were generated during this visit: -
COCABO members recognized that they have an extremely limited agro-industrial capacity. They were very interested in exploring how they could learn more from APPTA’s experience, how APPTA could guide them in developing their capacity and how they could work more closely together so that APPTA could process their products, thus creating new markets for the Cocas del Toro farmers.
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The farmers found the story of araza, its processing and marketing to be very interesting. They were interested in seeing if it would be possible to grow commercial quantities of araza in Bocas, to be processed and marketed by APPTA.
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They noted an important difference between COCABO and APPTA. Comparatively COCABO has a decentralized handling and processing system, and APPTA a much more centralized system. They reflected on the pros and cons of the two approaches, highlighting quality control, prices to farmers, job creation, and management needs.
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They expressed great interest in strengthening the relationship between the two farmer cooperatives. 7
After briefly passing by APPTA’s office, the group visited the diversified farm of an APPTA member, and continued to the Educational Farm, where they spent the night. The Educational Farm, one of the most interesting results of the Talamanca Initiative, is a regional training center that was started by ANAI; after a long process of developing local capacity, it is now owned and entirely managed by the Bri Bri and Cabecar indigenous groups, providing formal and informal training and education for the local population. After dinner, the group received an introduction and a general orientation to stream based biomonitoring, the focus of upcoming days 3 and 4, including a discussion of different fish species and their roles in the ecosystem. This discussion was illustrated with a selection of live fish, captured that day from a stream on the Educational Farm.
Day 3. Stream based biological monitoring as a community conservation monitoring and educational methodology The day began with a visit to the Rio Shiroles in the town of Shiroles, in the Bri Bri Indigenous Territory. The Rio Shiroles was chosen as an example of a typical medium sized Talamancan river which rates Poor on all biological indices, due to multiple anthropogenic stresses (for example, deforestation, sedimentation, road crossings through the river, agrochemicals, organic pollution from domestic and livestock sources, and garbage). Participants were asked to look at the river and describe the impacts they could see, leading to a discussion of human effects on rivers and their ecological consequences. This was followed by a boat trip across the Rio Telire and up the Rio Yorkin to the Bribri village of Yorkin. Several stops were made to discuss aspects of riverine ecology and riparian management. The main stop was at the Rio Bris, a healthy stream similar in size and physical characteristics to the Shiroles.
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Here the participants, together with the ANAI team, practiced three biomonitoring methods suitable for application in poor rural communities to enable them to measure the health of their rivers– IBIVI (ANAI’s innovative visual fish monitoring method), BMWP (based on sampling benthic macroinvertebrates) and SVAP (a visual assessment of physical habitat).
After arrival at Yorkin, dinner and a short introduction to Yorkin’s Stibrawpa Women’s group and their ecotourist facility, the data collected from the Rio Bris was used as a basis for teaching how to analyze field biomonitoring data; the Rio Bris data was compared with other examples of monitoring data collected by the ANAI team in Talamanca, including data from the highly stressed Rio Shiroles.
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Day 4. The relationship of Stream based biomonitoring, eco-agriculture, biodiversity conservation and landscape management The day began with a very interesting activity: each participant diagrammed a map of the watershed where they live on flip chart paper, including rivers, settlements, infrastructure, roads, farms and forests. These maps served many functions: they encouraged people to relate everything they were learning to their own life, community and environment; they promoted analysis of their current situation, how the various elements are related and the construction of each person’s vision of how things could change for the better; they helped people better see and understand the different elements in the Yorkin watershed and how they are functionally related; and they served as a backdrop for an analysis of how rivers function as biological corridors. Then the group hiked up to Cerro Mirador (Look Out Peak). Along the way, they shared information on the useful plants they found and commented on the relationships among the different land uses they encountered (forests, pastures, diversified multi-story agricultural systems, abandoned fields, and reforestation areas). At the look out, broad areas of both Costa Rica and Panama were visible with the Talamanca cordillera and La Amistad International Peace Park rising up in the upper part of the Yorkin watershed and beyond. The focus of analysis was on 1) the landscape level vision of land management taking into account livelihood, conservation and cultural objectives; 2) the relationships among indigenous territories, government owned protected areas, private and community conservation areas, private farms, rivers, roads, communities and infrastructure; 3) the function of rivers as natural corridors, the particular importance of diadromous fish and shrimps (species which must migrate between marine and fresh water environments to complete their life cycle) in Talamanca, and the relationships among different ecosystems; and 4) the information so far developed on the rivers of La Amistad, the consequences of building dams, and the ecological, economic and cultural value of La Amistad World Heritage Site. The walk back served as a backdrop to place the practice of community biomonitoring in its practical context within the landscape. 10
In the afternoon, the group visited the farm of a local farmer, to share his experiences in establishing a very diverse organic agro-ecosystem (through the planting of bananas, fruit trees, root crops, construction crops, and medicinal species into a cocoa-based productive system), to highlight the environmental benefits of organic ecoagriculture, and to understand the use of biomonitoring as a way to both measure the beneficial environmental consequences of these systems and to encourage farmers to implement them.
In the evening, each participant presented the map they diagrammed earlier in the day; each presentation generated a very interesting discussion. Several participants expressed that for the first time in their lives they saw the connection of activities and problems in their community with what is going on in the entire watershed. They understood and identified that some problems are endogenous (garbage, human waste water, pesticides, deforestation) and within their control, and that some are external (dams, commercial pineapple and banana plantations and their wastes) and out of their control. They also began identifying how certain activities have negative consequences for fish movement, which affects the availability of an important food source. Also, this exercise generated a certain amount of pride – their agroforestry systems and the forests they have protected were seen to have great value for the entire community and watershed.
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Day 5. Community Ecotourism, Community Development and Stibrawpa After a closing session with the biomonitoring team, the focus shifted to Stibrawpa, the Yorkin Women’s Group, their ecotourism and community development activities, and the life of their members. (Stibrawpa is an indigenous women’s group that originally organized to support the elaboration and marketing of crafts. Over a period of about 15 years, they developed a thriving ecotourism initiative that has been recognized as a model in Central America in which ecotourism is a locally owned and managed motor of community development that not only does not harm the local culture but also strengthens it, and creates ever greater opportunities for community development - creating jobs, especially for women; promoting economic and gender equality; supporting the establishment of a local secondary school; and attracting a market for local crafts and agricultural products.
The history and evolution of Stibrawpa were presented and analyzed, with special emphasis on the ecotourism lodge, and the potential of ecotourism as a livelihood alternative in the indigenous communities of Bocas del Toro.
After lunch, the group visited the farm of one of the Stibrawpa members, Deysi Pitterson Gamarra, carrying out exercises to highlight the agrobiodiversity incorporated into the system (more than 70 species of commercial and subsistence food, spice, medicinal, craft and construction crops were identified) and to help reinforce the importance and utility of biological diversity in agro-ecological systems.
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Diagram that was made by one sub-group of the participants after visiting Deysi’s farm, establishing the relationships among the productive components of Yorkin’s agroecology farm systems.
They then visited the local secondary school, which Stibrawpa has had a key role in establishing, creating the opportunity to focus on the many important roles that a strong and committed local organization can play in promoting integrated sustainable development, including from one generation to another. During the rest of the afternoon, the participants began work on their action plans of what they could do to continue making progress towards an ecoagriculture and sustainable development agenda when they return to their own communities. For this, the participants formed three groups, each of which could foresee the possibility of working together because of geographic, cultural and social closeness.
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As the afternoon was winding down, Stibrawpa members demonstrated the cultural activities that are typically shared with guests, including practice with a Bri Bri bow and arrow and making chocolate. This served as the introduction to an analysis of the history and cultural significance of cocoa in the indigenous cultures of Talamanca and Bocas del Toro, the current role of cocoa as the backbone of the local agroecosystems, and the global importance of this region as a producer of organic, Fair Trade cocoa. After dinner, there was a session to reflect on the experiences of the past few days, followed by a cultural exchange of stories, legends and cosmovision.
The participants expressed that although they were tired, they were having a very good time and were very motivated to continue. They valued seeing the integration of agriculture, conservation, ecotourism, and general community development in communities very much like their own. They had a much greater appreciation of the value of a diversified approach, compared to a focus on seeking the one perfect solution. That considered that this integrated approach is, in fact, the indigenous way, and thus is very culturally appropriate. They understood that their cultural identity can be a very important strength for developing an ecotourism initiative.
They were also very happy to have such an open and profound exchange among Ngobe, Naso and Bri Bri indigenous people, who normally have almost no contact even though they live in the same region. They expressed a better understanding of things that affect their everyday life and limit their future, referring to struggles for control of land and resources, weak and often negative government interest, a governmental strategy of divide and conquer in order to insure that the new dams are constructed and upper class interests are protected, and the expansion of Ngobes into the Bri Bri territory, which Bri Bri and Ngobes leaders are only now beginning to address. They understood that they need much better communication to deal with these issues, and that this type of activity is very useful and important because it brings people together, informs, and creates positive opportunities.
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Day 6. Talamanca Initiative Overview. Tracking Sustainability. After a fond farewell to the women of Stibrawpa, the group travelled back down the Yorkin River to Bratsi, where a bus took them back to the Educational Farm, where the final two days’ activities would be centered. The rest of the morning was dedicated to two presentations and analysis: 1) The Talamanca Initiative and its experiences in integrating community based solutions to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and 2) An overview of APPTA, with emphasis on its decentralized community-based structure and function, and local leadership development. After lunch, the group travelled to the neighboring community of Sibuju, to visit the farm of an APPTA member to learn about the practical application of APPTA’s system to track social, economic, environmental and productive aspects of sustainability on each member’s farm. This monitoring and information system is a special initiative of APPTA, complementing the monitoring system used to ensure compliance with organic and Fair Trade certification requirements. This was followed in the late afternoon by a session to share APPTA’s experience in establishing organic and Fair Trade production and processing systems, certification systems, and marketing capabilities. After dinner and a short session to reflect on the day’s experiences, the tired but still motivated group was given the evening off so all could go to bed early.
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Day 7. Grassroots Leadership for Sustainable Development. The entire day was dedicated to a series of presentations and practical exercises designed to help develop each participant’s leadership capabilities, and the motivation to put these capabilities into practice to promote sustainable development and conservation in one’s community and region.
These activities were largely based on the DISC leadership training materials that the facilitator, Benson Venegas, learned during a course sponsored by Ecoagriculture Partners in conjunction with IICA, the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture. While not part of the program, in the evening two visitors to the Educational Farm accepted an invitation to share their experiences with the group: the head of the Costa Rican government health program in Talamanca, and the head of the Costa Rican At-A-Distance University’s (UNED) educational program for the Talamanca indigenous community, which is centered at the Educational Farm.
Day 8. Closure and Return Home. After breakfast, the group carried out a three part evaluation of their week of experiences: They each wrote a short statement on 5 questions; each person was taped sharing their thoughts, experiences and recommendations; and the group as a whole participated in a conversation facilitated by the Exchange coordinator. A certificate of participation was presented to each participant. All then began the journey home.
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Training Materials. Support materials were developed for each activities outlined in the program overview above. A complete set has been submitted to Ecoagriculture Partners as a hard copy.
Next steps identified Working in three groups, organized by geographic closeness and self-identification, the participants developed three action plans of things that could be put into practice upon returning home. The potential actions identified focused on communication and building consensus for sustainable development actions on a community and a regional level. The value of beginning to monitor their environmental changes was also given priority. On a personal level, most of the participants expressed a heightened motivation to work toward their farms being examples of well managed diversified agroecosystems. They also expressed great interest in engaging their neighbors and community to join them in identifying ways to promote sustainable development initiatives. ANAI and its partners in the Talamanca Initiative will be focusing their efforts on raising funds to a) provide follow up with the communities of Bocas del Toro, and b) carry out more exchanges. To this end, a proposal was submitted to a Norwegian NGO, The Development Fund, to carry out a learning exchange with participants from a number of grassroots organizations from Nicaragua and Honduras. The proposal was accepted. We are in the final stages of negotiating the terms of the contract. This exchange is tentatively planned for the month of November,2008.
Changes / Adjustments 1. While the sequence of a few of the activities was changed to accommodate useful opportunities, the original planned program was followed to a remarkable degree. Three sessions were eliminated in order to give more time to others: the eliminated activities were a short swim in the Rio Tscui river, an overview of the principals of marketing as they relate to community based tourism, and an overview of the experiences of ACTUAR (the Costa Rican Association of Rural Community-Based Tourism) and the Talamancan networks of community-based ecotourism.
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2. The activities of the afternoon of day 2 were to have been facilitated by the general manager of APPTA, Walter Rodriguez, who had a medical emergency and spent the day in the hospital in Limon. He was substituted by the President of APPTA, Juanita Baltodano. Because she had no time to prepare, the fluidity of the activities suffered. 3. Disaster befell us on our return to San Jose after the exchange. Our vehicle was broken into. The stolen items included 1) Benson’s computer with ALL of the transcribed and tape recorded information from the exchange (including all of the digital recordings – voice and video – of every session, notes on all of the analysis sessions, and the taped evaluations); 2) Ecoagriculture Partners’ camcorder; and 3) many receipts.
Evaluation process. The group carried out a three part evaluation of their week of experiences: They each wrote a short statement on 4 questions; each person was taped sharing their thoughts, experiences and recommendations; and the group as a whole participated in a wide ranging conversation facilitated by the Exchange coordinator. Unfortunately, the taped sessions and the notes from the group evaluation were in the stolen computer. The individual statements have been transcribed and are included as Annex 4. In summary, the exchange was rated by the participants to be 9+ out of 10. Very high grades were given to the practical activities, which were the great majority of the total. Participants also valued very highly the leadership training activities. The lowest grades were given to the parts of the farm visits that specifically focused on cocoa management, as this is something with which they all have a lifetime of their own experience. At the same time, several aspects of the farm visits were highly valued, including the agro-diversity initiatives, grafting, and systems to measure and track sustainability. There were many examples of things that they would have liked to have been able to have explored more deeply, but few examples of things that they would have sacrificed in order to have freed up time for this. The overall analysis of the participants was that, for the first time in their life, they felt they had a general understanding and overview of sustainable development, of what are the main relevant elements as it relates to them, their communities and their life, of how these elements fit together and relate to each other, and of specific, tangible actions that can be taken to move forward a sustainable development agenda. They felt empowered because of new knowledge, new understanding, and new skills. They also highly valued the new relationships made with leaders from other communities of their region. 18
The participating group represents an intriguing potential for leading sustainable development initiatives in Bocas del Toro.
Other Activities 1. The main facilitator of the exchange and key ANAI staff member Benson Venegas participated in the Ecoagriculture Leadership course facilitated by IICA and Ecoagriculture Partners in Costa Rica during the month of November, 2007. Among the key results of this participation are a) Benson deepened his understanding of the issues surrounding the expansion of pineapple cultivation in Costa Rica, and the threats and challenges that expansion of export-oriented conventional agriculture presents to efforts promoting ecological agriculture; b) he established new friendships with leaders in the community of people within Central American who are working to develop eco-agriculture approaches; c) the experience of being part of this leadership course helped fine tune the design and implementation of the Talamanca – Bocas exchange; and d) he learned new leadership training methodologies that were adapted and put into practice during the Talamanca – Bocas exchange. 2. A proposal for a second CKS exchange to be facilitated by the Talamanca Initiative was jointly developed by ANAI and the CKS International Secretariat. This proposal was submitted to The Development Fund of Norway, who agreed to partially finance an exchange with Central American grassroots groups during the second semester of 2008. 3. This program allowed ANAI to contribute to the publication of the policy brief “Applying the Ecosystem Approach to Biodiversity Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes” published as part of the ‘Policy Focus’ series of communications produced by Ecoagriculture Partners in collaboration with other organizations.
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4. Benson Venegas played a key role in supporting eco-agriculture objectives in three international events. a) At the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) preparatory meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 13) that took place from 18-22 February 2008 in Rome, Italy, Benson focused on strengthening community engagement and conservation of agricultural biodiversity in 'official' CBD preparations, highlighting the role of farmers and communities in implementing the CBD's Program of Work on Agriculture, and developing plans for the community dialogue space in the COP9 in Bonn. The Talamanca Initiative was a very useful example showcasing how people’s needs can be fulfilled while natural and agricultural diversity are being conserved. He was also a panel member of the side event: “Community-based and Indigenous Farmer Organization’s Experiences in Conservation of Agricultural Biodiversity”, organized by the CKS, UNDP Equator Initiative and Ecoagriculture Partners. b) Benson also participated in the Strategic Planning Meeting for the Community Knowledge Service, Bangalore, India during October 2007, sharing the experiences of the Talamanca Initiative and establishing links with key members of the CKS Asia and CKS International. c) At the COP9 of the Convention on Biological Diversity during May, 2008 in Bonn, Benson was a member of the team that facilitated the participation of the invited grassroots groups from around the world, organized via the Community Dorf Dialogue Space. Benson also co-facilitated a dialogue among local leaders, civil society organizations and global leaders who participated in the COP9. Additionally, together with CKS and Equator Initiative members, he helped facilitate the initial steps for the formation of a Latin American Community Knowledge Service partnership.
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Review of Original Objectives for the ANAI-EP agreement: There were four main objectives in the Ecoagriculture Partners / ANAI agreement document. They are listed below with a brief comment for each. 1. Design, develop and facilitate an initial learning exchange that enables smallholder producers in Bocas del Toro, Panama to learn from the experiences of Costa Rican smallholders currently engaged in the Talamanca Initiative, and establish the foundation for a longterm knowledge sharing process between farmers and communities in these two regions. Comment: This is a fair description of what was achieved. 2. Strengthen the capacity of the Talamanca Initiative to be a ‘living’ learning centre for community-based practitioners and a broader range of stakeholders within the region and internationally [sharing of TI model at regional and international level]. Comment: ANAI’s and the Talamanca Initiative partners’ capability to carry out a high quality knowledge exchange was greatly enhanced by this experience. While there are other aspects to the learning center that were not part of this exchange (e.g. internships, courses focused on specific themes, work exchanges), and the experience with this group of participants (all indigenous, all from one region - that region being very similar to Talamanca, all having experience as cocoa farmers, low level of formal education) cannot be extrapolated to all future groups, this exchange unquestionably strengthened both the capability and the confidence to continue developing the TI as a living learning center. 3. Develop a long-term strategy to support, strengthen and upscale the Talamanca Initiative. Comment: A proposal to do this has been written. Please see Annex 3.
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4. Enable experiences and lessons learned from Talamanca Initiative exchanges, and initial learning exchange to be shared with Community Knowledge Service partners at the local, regional and international level. Comment: The experience of carrying out this exchange and the partial success in raising funds for a regional / international exchange to be carried out in November represent big steps towards accomplishing this objective at the local and regional levels. The Talamanca Initiative experience and lessons learned were shared at the CKS regional meeting in Bangalore, the SBSTTA 13 meeting in Rome, and the COP9 of the CBD in Bonn. ANAI is now much more capable of continuing to share the Talamanca Initiative experience with CKS partners at all levels. Having worked closely with EP’s CKS Coordinator Claire Rhodes and Equator Initiative staff through all stages of this exchange and the international meetings, the ANAI-CKS-Ecoagriculture Partners-Equator Initiative partnership has been strengthened in many ways, creating greater capability to move this process forward.
Experiences and lessons learned 1. The most strongly felt conclusion of the facilitation team is not so much a new lesson learned but more a reinforcement of previous lessons learned. A successful learning exchange creates many new opportunities. But taking advantage of these new opportunities to make tangible changes is greatly enhanced if time and resources are available to follow up with the participants and support the implementation of new activities. Any progress made by being able to provide follow up in turns creates even more new and greater opportunities. At whatever point further follow up is limited or no longer possible, there is frustration as one contemplates what might be or what might have been. In this case, there are currently no available resources for follow up – and this is something that needs to be addressed. Investment in fundraising to mobilize resources that can support follow-up must be a key priority, in order to realize the full potential value of the exchange – for both the facilitating organizations and the participants. At present, this is a source of frustration for both the facilitators and the participants. 2. While the theme of ‘connectivity’ was treated at various times during the exchange, its potential as a unifying concept needs to be more strategically taken advantage of. In addition to having a higher profile in general, it should be more directly woven into each day’s activities and concepts, and should also be the main theme of one of the summary, ‘bring everything together’ sessions during the last day. 22
3. ANAI’s and the Talamanca Initiative’s capability to carry out a high quality knowledge exchange was greatly enhanced by this experience. Everything that happened during the week reaffirmed our belief that practical experiences are the best way to share information, knowledge, and skills with campesino and indigenous practitioners. They also create the most useful context for exploring general themes, issues and abstract concepts. 4. While the schedule was incredibly intense, the participants were actively engaged and interested at all times. There was no point at which the group faltered. Every day, and every session, was new and exciting, a reflection of the practical nature of most of the activities, the high relevance of the themes and activities in the life of the participants, the diversity of the themes and activities, and the skills of the facilitation team. 5. There was an interesting tension that played out during several of the analysis sessions. While the facilitation team kept trying to steer the focus onto tangible actions that could be put into practice, at the personal-family level and at the community level, the participants kept returning to the need to change the regional dynamic of mega-projects being imposed on them (especially large hydropower dams). There was a strong feeling that individual and community actions were insignificant compared to the huge impact of imposed mega-projects. People’s perception of the degree to which they have control over land and resources greatly influences their motivation to make the sacrifices necessary to implement sustainable development initiatives. In counterpoint, participants also mentioned that economic security and feeling confident about their own accomplishments and knowledge motivates and empowers them to tackle the bigger issues. They also recognized the importance of capacity building of their local organizations as a way for them to address the bigger issues. 6. The enthusiasm of the participants with regard to monitoring and mapping helped us to more deeply understand that monitoring is an extremely valuable tool for education, raising awareness, motivation, and even organization of rural inhabitants, including monitoring of streams, biological diversity, environmental health, social and economic elements, sustainability, agricultural systems, and organizations. Not only do people like to do it, monitoring leads directly to a higher interest in doing things that improve the situation being monitored. It is essential to get people actively involved in actually doing the field work of 23
monitoring and analyzing the results. It is ideal when the object of monitoring is at the lowest possible level (my farm, my micro-watershed, my community organization) and when comparisons with larger levels of analysis (the community and regional landscape, the watershed of the main river, the regional level cooperative) are also possible. 7. The potential of the partnerships (ANAI / COCABO / APPTA / Ecoagriculture Partners / Equator Initiative) to carry out activities to achieve common goals was much more enhanced through working together than through meeting together. Doing things together builds common capabilities, trust, camaraderie, understanding and commitment. It is important to keep developing strategies that allow common work on practical activities with tangible results, even if small. The potential created can be even more important than the immediate result. 8. Peer to peer sharing was one of the main elements of the methodology used - farmer to farmer, indigenous to indigenous, local organization to local organization. During the many years that ANAI has been carrying out the Talamanca Initiative, many local people have acquired extremely valuable skills, knowledge and experience. When balanced by the contributions of skilled facilitators, there are important advantages inherent in the peer to peer sharing. In addition to the ease of communication, the deep mutual understanding engendered by common life experiences, and the feeling of belonging which can be hard to establish when the ‘teachers’ are professionals, this unquestionably contributed to the visitors’ truly believing that they too could do everything that they witnessed and learned about. Additionally, for the Talamancans who shared their experiences, the recognition of the value of their skills, knowledge and experience was empowering, contributing to an even greater motivation for them to continue their efforts. 9. The skills, knowledge and experiences shared can be correctly characterized as new and innovative for the exchange participants. Yet part of the reason they were so successfully transmitted, understood and learned is because they are also strongly rooted in people’s daily experiences. The new crops are valuable additions to the already existing cocoa plantations; the grafting techniques were learned by working with basal shoots of cocoa, a crop very familiar to all; the indigenous ecotourism lodges visited are patterned after typical houses; the fish people learned to monitor are all well known. The participants were receptive and quick to pick up on so many new things because they built on already existing knowledge, they were accessible, and they reinforced positive aspects of the people’s culture and daily lives. Also, because it was so much fun!
24
10. ANAI, members of the Talamanca Initiative and the participants would all like to express their thanks to Ecoagriculture Partners and the CKS International Secretariat for making this exchange possible through financing and leadership. Thank you!
Participants from left to right: Luis Gamarra, Crescencio Palacios, Maribel Tito, ZacarĂas Nuboni, Narciso Bonilla, Elvira Quintero, Yin Gallegos, Claire Rhodes, Benson Venegas, Ernesto Quintero, RubĂŠn Miranda, Cirilo Cerrud y Ernesto Morris.
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Intercambio Bocas del Toro – Iniciativa Talamanca TI CKS 1 21-28 de Abril, 2008 Participantes del intercambio 1. Crescencio Palacio 2. Ernesto Moris 3. Elvira Quintero (Directivo ONGAAVAR) 4. Maribel Tito (Directivo Mery Ngobe) 5. Rubén Miranda 6. Yin Gallego 7. Luis Gamarra 8. Zacarías Nuboni (Directivo COCABO) 9. Narciso Bonilla (Directivo COCABO) 10. Ernesto Quintero 11. Cirilo Cerrud (Directivo ASOGUADABRI) 12. José Luis Zúñiga (Directivo ASACODE) Equipo de facilitación: Benson Venegas Claire Rhodes Roger Bonilla Fernanda Sandoval Dr. William McLarney Maribel Mafla Participantes locales Adelina López Olga Obando Xiomara Sosa Gerardo Matute Danilo Vanegas Samuel López Juanita Baltodano Vilmar Moya Rolando Reyes Walter Rodriguez Longino Selles Walter Estrada Eusebio Chole Bernarda Morales Prisca Morales Miriam Morales Daisy Pitterson Heliodoro Selles Rolando Morales Porfirio Hidalgo Dr. Efrain Retana Marvillí Vargas
Community Pueblo Nuevo Escobal Valle Risco Junquito Changuinola Arriba Silico Creek San San La Gloria Valle Risco La Gloria El Guabo San Miguel
Coordinador del intercambio. Ecoagriculture Partners Apoyo. Injertación. Agrobiodiversidad. Biomonitoreo Acuático. Biomonitoreo Acuático. Organization ADESGAMA ASACODE Cabineros de Gandoca Guías de Gandoca WIDECAST Agricultor de Watsi Presidente, APPTA Producción, APPTA Contador, APPTA Gerente, APPTA Directivo, APPTA Inspector orgánico, APPTA Finca Educativa Stibrawpa Stibrawpa Stibrawpa Stibrawpa Stibrawpa Telesecundaria Yorkin Agricultor de Sibujú CCSS UNED
Notes on the participants’ organizations. There were 12 participants in the exchange – 11 indigenous leaders from communities of the Panamanian Province of Bocas del Toro, and one community leader from a community in Costa Rica, along the border with Panama. All are local leaders although not all are formal leaders of a formal organization. Organizational descriptions of ANAI, APPTA, and COCABO are included in the project agreement document. Among the other organizations that were represented are: ONGAAVAR: a Women’s organization from Valle Risco, the largest indigenous community in Bocas del Toro. The name is a Ngobe indigenous acronym. Mery Ngobe: a Women’s organization from the Junquito - La Gloria region of Bocas del Toro. The name means Ngobe women. ASOGUADABRI: a community based group from the border community of El Guabo, Panama. The Association of El Guabo, of the Bri Bri ethnic group. ASACODE: a community based group from the border community of San Miguel de Sixaola, Costa Rica. The Association for the Conservation and Development of San Miguel. ADESGAMA: a community based group from the border community of Gandoca. The Association for the Sustainable Development of Gandoca and Mata de Limon. Cabineros de Gandoca: a community based group from the border community of Gandoca, of the families who manage bad and breakfast operations for conservation volunteers. Guías de Gandoca: a community based group from the border community of Gandoca, of young nature guides, who offer tours in the Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. WIDECAST: a Talamanca based non-profit association focused on marine turtle conservation Finca Educativa: a regional training center owned and managed by the Bri Bri and Cabecar indigenous groups. Stibrawpa: a community based indigenous women’s group from the border community of Yorkin. The name means Women Artisans Working Together. Telesecundaria Yorkin: A secondary school that provides teaching using tapes and computer programs, that is designed for communities where it is impossible for the children to attend a formal secondary school. CCSS: The Costa Rican Social Security Health Organization. UNED: The Costa Rican National ‘at-a-distance’ university.
Agenda Intercambio Binacional “Liderazgo para el Desarrollo Sostenible Comunitario: Gestión Integrada de la Iniciativa Talamanca”
Provincia Bocas del Toro, Panamá y Región de Talamanca, Costa Rica Del 21 al 28 de Abril del 2008 Ente Facilitador: Asociación ANAI INTRODUCCION La Iniciativa Talamanca involucra la colaboración y cooperación de más de 20 asociaciones, organizaciones de base y comunidades. Ha contado con el apoyo de una gran variedad de personas, instituciones y donantes, con el liderazgo de ANAI, APPTA y CBTC. Estas tres organizaciones socias – cada cual con su programa y objetivos específicos – comparten la meta común de mejorar la calidad de vida en Talamanca a través de la preservación y el uso ético-ambiental de su increíble biodiversidad y ecosistemas. Comparten la creencia fundamental que la clave para alcanzar la conservación y el desarrollo sostenible es el manejo exitoso de estos temas por la población local. OBJETIVO GENERAL 1. Facilitar un intercambio inicial que promueva que los pequeños productores de Bocas del Toro aprendan e intercambien experiencias alrededor de la Iniciativa Talamanca, para fortalecer el liderazgo y la capacidad de gestión ambiental en pro del desarrollo sostenible de sus comunidades. OBJETIVOS ESPECÍFICOS 1.1. Los participantes conocerán iniciativas productivas y agro-ecológicas que mejoren la calidad de vida de las familias y contribuyan a la conservación de la riqueza biológica de plantas y animales, para las futuras generaciones; facilitando y estimulando un liderazgo creativo local hacia la sostenibilidad ambiental, cultural y económica. 1.2. Establecer las bases para un proceso de intercambio de experiencias recíproco en el largo plazo, entre finqueros, comunidades y organizaciones de ambas regiones, centrado sobre mejores prácticas, éxitos, fracasos, metodologías participativas, procesos organizativos, lecciones aprendidas, capacidad gerencial y liderazgo local en la gestión del desarrollo sostenible comunitario. Liderazgo para el Desarrollo Sostenible Comunitario: Gestión Integrada de la Iniciativa Talamanca
A continuación se detallan las sesiones temáticas del intercambio durante los 7 días de duración del evento.
COD
A
B
MODULO
#
Programa Comunitario de Especies en vías de extinción (Tortugas Marinas) en Gandoca.
A1
Modelo de Producción Agro-ecológico talamanqueño (APPTA).
B1
A2 A3
B2 B3 B4
B5
B6
C
Biomonitoreo de Ríos de Talamanca, la ecoagricultura y el manejo de paisajes
C1 C2 C3 C4
C5 C6 C7
D
YORKIN / Turismo Rural Comunitario, Redes de Turismo y desarrollo comunal
D1 D2
SESION Introducción al evento: programa, objetivos, expectativas y reglas. Programa de Conservación de Tortugas Marinas en Gandoca La participación y la gestión comunitaria en el manejo colaborativo y la conservación La estrategia de diversificación y mejoramiento de la calidad productiva agrícola. Planta de Procesamiento de Productos Agrícolas (APPTA) Modelo de Producción AgroEcológico Talamanqueño La Capacitación Local. El concepto de la Finca Educativa Indígena de Talamanca Sostenibilidad de Finca: Sistema de Monitoreo participativo – Guía Certificación Interna de Fincas Mercados Alternativos para los productores: Orgánico, Comercio Justo y Mercados Locales. Introducción al Ecosistema de Ríos Definición términos y conceptos de biomonitoreo de ríos Aplicación Práctica: Biomonitoreo de Ríos Diagrama Participativo de una Cuenca y devolución de resultados del monitoreo realizado. Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Visión grande de Paisajes. Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Visión Ribereña de un Río. Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Ecoagricultura (manejo del paisaje desde la Finca). Introducción al Proyecto Ecoturístico de Stibrawpa, Yorkín. Concepto Turismo Rural Comunitario (TRC): Agroturismo, papel de la mujer y su relación con el desarrollo comunal
D 1 X
D D 2 3
D 4
D 5
D 6
D 7
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
2
D3
E
Desarrollo Integral Sostenible Comunitario (DISC): Sostenibilidad, liderazgo y la revitalización de la identidad cultural en el largo plazo
E1 E2
E3 E5
E6
E7
Estrategia de trabajo en redes de turismo rural comunitario a nivel local y nacional Intercambio Cultural Participantes #1 Auto-Diagnóstico para la búsqueda de soluciones por parte de los participantes del intercambio. Intercambio Cultural Participantes #2 El liderazgo colectivo orientado hacia el servicio de la comunidad con un impacto regional. La Personalidad y la transformación del líder: Conocerse a si mismo para promover el cambio colectivo. Comunicación efectiva y Red de Conocimiento Social.
Sesiones Plenarias: Lecciones y síntesis del día y su relevancia. Cierres del Evento: Evaluación del evento (logro de objetivos del aprendizaje). Llenar formulario de evaluación. Futura relación con el grupo. Conclusiones y recomendaciones. Entrega de Certificados.
X X X X X X X X
X X
X
X
X
X X
Al final del intercambio se habrán abarcado las siguientes técnicas metodológicas: Total Técnicas Metodológicas Descripción Impartida por expertos locales 18 Charlas Maestros Locales Ejercicios de auto-diagnóstico y conceptualización 10 Dinámicas-Ejercicios 9 Aprendizajes Prácticos 7 Plenarias 5 Visitas a Fincas 4 Visitas a Sitios de Ecoturismo 2 Intercambios Culturales 2 Eventos de Cierre 1 Hora de esparcimiento
grupal Aplicación práctica de herramientas de mejores prácticas Evaluación y síntesis del día. Lecciones aprendidas Visitas didácticas y de aprendizaje a la finca de pequeños productores. Experiencias de ecoturismo in situ Intercambios para fortalecer la comprensión e identidad cultural Conclusiones, recomendaciones, futuro a seguir. Momento de recreación grupal
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Lunes 21 de Abril. MODULO A: Participación Comunitaria en la Conservación de Tortugas Marinas (especies en vías de extinción) en Gandoca. (DIA 1) 8:30 – 15:00
Encuentro en Changuinola: Traslado de las comunidades de origen. Realización de trámites migratorios. Almuerzo. Viajar a la frontera con Costa Rica e viaje a la Comunidad de Gandoca. Ubicación de hospedaje y tomar refrigerio.
15:00 – 16:30
Sesión #A 1: Bienvenida, Introducción y Revisión de la Agenda del Intercambio. • Intercambio Introductorio (45 minutos): • Introducción a Talamanca y Costa Rica (Generalidades) • Descripción de objetivos y metodología integradora del intercambio. • Orientaciones generales del intercambio de experiencias. • Dinámica-Ejercicio #1 (45 minutos): Potenciar la participación de los participantes. Fortalecer la autoestima individual y el sentido de grupo. Sesión #A 2: Programa de Conservación de Tortugas Marinas en Gandoca. El programa de conservación de tortugas marinas de T a l a m a n c a inició en 1986 en la comunidad de Gandoca, y ha servido para salvar miles de huevos de tortugas de especies como la Baula, la Verde y Carey, principalmente del saqueo y la erosión, creando condiciones de estabilidad a las poblaciones de tortugas que anidaban en esta playa y que estaban en peligro. Actualmente, la conservación de tortugas marinas se ha convertido en el motor económico de esta comunidad, generando ingresos seis veces mayores a los que se generaban anteriormente con la venta ilegal de los huevos de tortuga, por medio de la prestación de servicios de alimentación, hospedaje, “tours”, transporte y otros a los voluntarios, investigadores y turistas que visitan el proyecto. Como uno de los proyectos más exitosos en el mundo en este campo, ha sido un modelo que ha contribuido activamente al establecimiento de proyectos similares en Plaplaya en Honduras, Chococente en Nicaragua y Bocas del Toro en Panamá.
Objetivo #1: Describir el cómo un proyecto de conservación puede convertirse en el motor del desarrollo de la comunidad. 16:30 – 17:30
•
Charla #1: Perspectiva comunitaria sobre el Proyecto Conservación de Tortugas Marinas. Integración de la participación, conflictos y desarrollo local con la investigación y conservación de tortugas marinas.
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Sesión #A 3 – La participación y la gestión comunitaria en el manejo colaborativo y conservación de las Tortugas Marinas en Gandoca. Objetivo #2: Conocer sobre la ecología de las Tortugas Marinas. 18:00 – 19:00
•
19:00 – 20:30
CENA (90 MINUTOS) en cabinas de Xiomara
Charla #2 - Aprendizaje Práctico #1: Entrenamiento Dinámico sobre la ecología de Tortugas Marinas. Joanna Hancock / Danilo McCarthy. Lugar: Finca Cangrejo.
o Plenaria #1: Conversar durante la cena con invitados de la comunidad sobre la visión local del programa. 20:30 – 23:30
•
Aprendizaje práctico #2: Avistamiento nocturno de tortugas en Playa Gandoca. Participación activa en el monitoreo de las baulas.
NOTAS:
5
Martes 22 de Abril. Modulo B: Modelo de Producción Agro-ecológico talamanqueño (APPTA). (DIA 2) 6:00 – 7:00
DESAYUNO (60 MINUTOS) en su cabina.
7:00 – 7:15 7:15 – 7:45 7:45 – 8:30
Introducción del programa del día. En las cabinas de Xiomara. Traslado de Gandoca hasta la Comunidad de Mata de Limón. Caminata hasta Finca Lomas. Sesión #B 1 – La estrategia de diversificación y mejoramiento de la calidad productiva agrícola. La promoción para la d i v e r s i f i c a c i ó n d e c u l t i v o s o r g á n i c o s para las familias de Talamanca fue el principal enfoque de trabajo durante la primera mitad de la década de los 80’s. Anteriormente, los pequeños productores dependían exclusivamente de la producción del cacao como única fuente de ingresos. Luego con la llegada de la enfermedad provocada por el hongo de la Monilia, muchos productores con pocas alternativas y opciones, se vieron forzados a vender sus tierras o a cortar árboles para vender su madera. Para el desarrollo de esta iniciativa, se usaron viveros comunales como un medio para producir plantones de cacao y frutales, como centros de capacitación comunal, y como puntos focales de organización comunal. Se diversificaron las fincas locales, creando nuevas oportunidades que permitieron a los finqueros mantener sus propiedades y fortalecer su manera tradicional de vida.
Objetivo #3: Conocer diferentes variedades de Frutales que pueden servir para enriquecer los sistemas agro-forestales y dar seguridad alimentaria. 8:30 – 10:00
•
Visita Finca #1 (Finca Lomas, 60 minutos): Banco de germoplasma de frutales con potencial económico y de seguridad alimentaria, para ser incorporados en sistemas agro-forestales (SAF) basados en el cacao.
Objetivo #4: Hacer injertos y conocer sobre los beneficios e importancia. 10:00 – 12:00
•
Aprendizaje Práctico #3 (2 horas): Introducción y entrenamiento en hacer injertos.
12:00 – 12:30
ALMUERZO (30 MINUTOS). Finca Lomas. (Doña Olga)
12:30 – 13:00
Regresar al camino.
13:00 – 14:00
Viajar a la Planta de Procesamiento de APPTA en San Box Box, ox, Bribri. 6
Sesión #B 2:
Planta de Procesamiento de Productos Agrícolas.
APPTA, la Asociación de Pequeños Productores de T a l a m a n c a , se constituyó formalmente en junio de 1987, como resultado de un largo proceso de análisis y gestión comunal. Es una asociación de agricultores orgánicos de toda la región, que ha luchado por hacer posible que los pequeños productores tengan éxito en un mercado competitivo, maximizando la producción y los beneficios ambientales de sus sistemas productivos. APPTA ha desarrollado una planta de procesamiento local para cacao y banano orgánico, con controles de calidad y estrategias de mercado, así como un programa de certificación orgánica. Además, se han creado nuevos mercados para algunos productos. El precio “premio” que reciben los productores por sus productos orgánicos certificados varía de un 15% a un 60%. Ahora, más de 1500 productores talamanqueños tienen agro-ecosistemas establecidos, combinando productos comerciales, con estrategias de seguridad alimentaria, en un sistema de siembra en múltiples estratos verticalmente, que son estructuralmente similares al bosque y que funcionan como el Bosque Húmedo Tropical; produciendo cacao orgánico, frutas y tubérculos en agro-ecosistemas, obteniendo un mayor ingreso y estabilidad económica y proveyendo también beneficios ambientales. Estos beneficios han alcanzado las comunidades más alejadas. Los productos son procesados localmente, creando nuevos trabajos. El mercadeo de estos productos por parte de la cooperativa ha resultado en mejores precios, beneficios que son distribuidos equitativamente.
Objetivo #5: Aprender sobre el papel de la agroindustria como una estrategia para el valor agregado y la agro-cadena en el desarrollo rural y enfrentar la demanda del mercado. 14:00 – 15:00
•
Aprendizaje Práctico #4: Recorrido por la planta de procesamiento de APPTA. Apoyo del personal técnico de la planta. Charla Introductoria. o Dinámica-Ejercicio #1 A: Modelo Sistémico de la Finca Agro-ecológica de Talamanca en la interacción entre sus componentes y su estratificación vertical y horizontal. Ejercicio integrado con Visita Finca #2.
15:00 – 15:15
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS) en Bribri Centro.
15:15 – 15:45
Continuar hacia Watsi para iniciar la actividad siguiente: Sesión #B 3: Modelo de Producción Agro-Ecológico Talamanqueño (APPTA) Objetivo #6: Caracterizar las relaciones verticales y horizontales y entre componentes productivos del sistema agro-ecológico talamanqueño. Objetivo #7: Conocer el cómo se integra la conservación, la seguridad alimentaria y el desarrollo ecológico amigable.
15:00 – 17:30
•
Charla #3 – Visita Finca #2 (Don Samuel): Introducción al Modelo de producción talamanqueño: Charla Walter Rodríguez y visita a Finca de Don Samuel (Watsi). Dinámica-Ejercicio #1 B: Aplicar formularios. 7
17:30 – 18:00
Viajar a la Finca Educativa en la comunidad de Shiroles
18:00 – 19:30
CENA (90 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa Sesión # B 4: La Capacitación Local. Indígena de Talamanca.
El concepto de la Finca Educativa
En 1991, se estableció el C e n t r o Regional de Capacitación “ A s o c i a c i ó n F i n c a E d u c a t i v a - A F E ” en el Territorio Indígena Bribri de Talamanca. Este centro atiende a más de 2000 personas cada año, brindando cursos y talleres en agricultura, salud, tecnología apropiada, conservación y liderazgo para las comunidades indígenas locales. La Finca Educativa es manejada por una junta directiva local y un comité ejecutivo, quienes tienen como objetivos inmediatos la capacitación de los miembros de las comunidades y la consolidación de la sostenibilidad financiera e institucional del centro. Adicionalmente, los f i n q u e r o s h a n s i d o c a p a c i t a d o s en el manejo de nuevos productos y los sistemas agrícolas, creando nuevas fuentes de trabajo en las fincas familiares; ellos han creado beneficios ambientales como el mejoramiento de los suelos y la calidad del agua, conservación de hábitat clave y secuestro de carbono, y por lo tanto un mejor bienestar en la comunidad.
Objetivo #8: Reconocer la importancia de la capacitación local bajo el concepto de la Finca Educativa y su impacto en la formación de los recursos humanos en Talamanca. 19:30 – 20:00
20:00 – 20:30
•
Charla #4: El Modelo de la Finca Educativa “Aprender haciendo. La gente de Talamanca tiene una excepcional conciencia e interés por los asuntos que desafían la región hoy en día”
Plenaria #2: REFLEXION DEL DIA 2: Reforzar conocimientos del día y su relevancia. Incorporación de las experiencias de los participantes. Introducción al Programa del Día Siguiente.
NOTAS
8
Miércoles 23 Abril. MODULO C: Programa de Biomonitoreo de Ríos de Talamanca, la eco-agricultura y el manejo de paisajes. (DIA 3) El Programa de Biomonitoreo de Ríos de la Asociación ANAI inició en el 2000. Es una iniciativa altamente participativa de monitoreo biológico enfocada en los ríos y quebradas, y por medio del cual las comunidades locales obtienen información relevante para la toma de decisiones y el manejo y uso apropiado de la tierra. Los peces y los pequeños animales (macroinvertebrados) de los ríos son considerados y utilizados como excelentes indicadores de la salud del ecosistema de los ríos y de la calidad del medio circundante. La metodología de trabajo evalúa tres elementos: 1) una serie de métricos o categorías de análisis con peces, que representan diferentes aspectos de las condiciones de los ríos; 2) los macroinvertebrados que viven en el fondo de los ríos; y 3) las condiciones físicas del río y su cauce.
Objetivo #9: Desarrollar destrezas prácticas para el biomonitoreo de ríos y quebradas. Objetivo #10: Analizar los datos de campo recolectados y establecer la relación entre los usos y los impactos en el contexto del manejo de la cuenca.
5:15 – 6:15
DESAYUNO (60 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa
6:15 – 7:00
Sesión #C 1A: Introducción al Ecosistema de los Ríos: Ir al Río Shiroles. Invertir 20 minutos discutiendo impactos evidentes en este sitio y su relación con índices bióticos, como una introducción inicial al programa del día.
7:00 – 9:30
Sesión #C 1B: Introducción al Ecosistema de los Ríos: Viajar hacia Bambú, para tomar el bote de Bambú para transportar el grupo hasta Yorkín. Hacer escalas de camino para poder discutir aspectos del paisaje. Introducir los conceptos geomorfológicos relacionados con los patrones de corrientes (rápidos, remansos, y pozas) y otros aspectos más.
9:30 – 10:00
Sesión #C 2 – Definición términos y conceptos de biomonitoreo de ríos. Charla #5 (30 minutos): Charla introductoria sobre Biomonitoreo de Ríos y sus métricos de medición. Maribel Mafla. Bill y los voluntarios quedan Río abajo, capturando ejemplares de especies de peces para colocarlos en peceras.
10:00 – 10:15
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS)
en Río Bris
9
10:15 – 16:30
Sesión #C 3: Aplicación Práctica de las Herramientas de Biomonitoreo de Ríos. •
Aprendizaje Práctico #5 (30 minutos): Identificación de peces en forma participativa, recuperando el conocimiento local de los mismos.
•
Aprendizaje Práctico #6 A (2 horas): Práctica de Biomonitoreo. Capacitación en el uso de equipo y formación de grupos de trabajo. Se divide el grupo en dos. La mitad con macroinvertebrados (Maribel), y la segunda mitad con peces (Bill). Se trabaja con cada grupo por 2 horas y luego se cambia.
ALMUERZO (45 MINUTOS) en Río Bris •
Aprendizaje Práctico #6 B (2 horas): Se intercambian los grupos. El segundo grupo pasa a macroinvertebrados con Bill, y el primero con peces con Maribel. Se acumulan los datos e información de campo.
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS) en Río Bris •
Aprendizaje Práctico #6 C (1 hora): Evaluación de las condiciones fisicas en Río Bris. Completado el trabajo con peces y macroinvertebrados, todos participan juntos en SVAP, una herramienta para evaluar las condiciones físicas del río y su cauce. Se divide el grupo nuevamente, y se comparan los resultados al final.
16:30 – 18:00
Recoger el equipo e iniciar caminata hacia la Casa de Mujeres en Yorkín (45 minutos). Ubicar sitios de hospedaje y asearse para la cena.
18:00 – 19:00
CENA (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
19:00 – 20:30
Sesión #C 4 – Diagrama Participativo de una Cuenca. Objetivo #11: Diagramar el patrón de drenaje, las microcuencas, los usos y sus impactos, como punto de partida para discutir las interacciones ambientales en el área de influencia de la comunidad. • Dinámica-Ejercicio #2: Elaborar un mapa base de la comunidad. Reunir los participantes en grupos afines de cuencas o microcuencas. El concepto de cuenca pone de relieve las interacciones ambientales y productivas en el territorio de la comunidad. Ubicar y analizar aspectos como: abastecimiento de agua, deforestación, cultivos convencionales, erosión, contaminación, sobrepastoreo, y calidad del agua, etc. •
20:30 – 21:00
Aprendizaje Práctico #6D: Devolución de los resultados. Análisis de la información de campo. Valoración de los métricos.
Plenaria #3: REFLEXION DEL DIA 3: Reforzar conocimientos del día y su relevancia. 10
Jueves 24 Abril. MODULO C: El Programa de Biomonitoreo de Ríos de Talamanca, la eco-agricultura y el manejo de paisajes. 6:30 – 7:30
DESAYUNO (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
7:30 – 8:00
Sesión #D 1 – Introducción al Proyecto Ecoturístico de Stibrawpa, Yorkín. • Visita Sitio Ecoturístico #1: Recorrido Proyecto Stibrawpa: El etnoagroturismo indígena. Presentación del proyecto e infraestructura.
8:00 – 11:00
Sesión #C 5 – Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Visión grande de Paisajes. Objetivo #12: Conocer la utilidad práctica del biomonitoreo y su relevancia para Bocas del Toro. • Visita Sitio Ecoturístico #2: Caminata hacia el Cerro Mirador. Ubicación de elementos del paisaje binacional de la Cuenca del Río Yorkín. o Aprendizaje Practico # 7: Las Plantas del Bosque (José Luis Zúñiga). Socializar nombres y usos de las plantas.
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS) en Cerro Mirador o Charla #6: Conocer la práctica y la utilidad del Biomonitoreo, y su relevancia en Bocas del Toro (Bill McLarney). o Bajar del Cerro Mirador al Río Tskuy 11:00 – 12:00
Sesión #C 6 – Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Visión Ribereña de un Río. • Visita Sitio Ecoturístico #3: Bañarse en el Río. Visión Ribereña de una Quebrada o Río. Regresar para almorzar.
12:00 – 13:00
ALMUERZO (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
13:00 – 18:00
Sesión #C 7 – Biomonitoreo de Ríos y la Eco-agricultura (manejo paisaje desde la Finca). Objetivo #13: Convencerse del valor para el ambiente de una finca orgánica, y su impacto en los indicadores de biomonitoreo de una cuenca. Objetivo #14. Reconocer la importancia de la innovación y la investigación agrícola al estilo indígena en materia de injertación y otros. • Aprendizaje Práctico #6 E: Observación y análisis de peces y los aspectos físicos de las quebradas. Observaciones geomorfólogicas e indicadores históricos. (Bill y Maribel Mafla). • Caminar hasta la Finca de Longino Selles
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS) Finca Longino Selles 11
o Visita Finca #3 (Longino Selles, 2 horas): El experimentador indígena de la eco-agricultura, y el impacto positivo de estos sistemas de producción sobre los indicadores de calidad del agua de los ríos (Biomonitoreo). o Regresar a la Casa Mujeres al final de la tarde. 18:00 – 19:30
CENA (90 MINUTOS)
19:30 – 20:00
Plenaria #4: REFLEXION DEL DIA 4: Reforzar conocimientos del día y su relevancia. Introducción del Programa del Día Siguiente.
en Casa de las Mujeres
Bienvenida a Claire Rhodes de Ecoagriculture Partners.
Objetivo #15: Evaluar viabilidad de aplicación de métodos de biomonitoreo en comunidades locales. 20:00 – 20:30
Conversación guiada: nuestras quebradas?
¿Es posible que mi comunidad haga biomonitoreo en
20:30 – 21:30
Sesión #E 1 – Intercambio Cultural Participantes #1. • Intercambio Cultural #1: Valorar y respetar las diferencias y fortalecer los lazos de amistad entre grupos étnicos presentes.
NOTAS
12
Viernes 25 Abril. MODULO D: Yorkin / Turismo Rural Comunitario, Redes de Turismo y Desarrollo Comunal en Talamanca (DIA 5) Por más de 10 años, se ha dado c a p a c i t a c i ó n con el fin de que los pobladores de Talamanca tengan el conocimiento necesario para desarrollar iniciativas de ecoturismo comunitario, incluyendo capacitación en contabilidad, manejo de pequeños negocios, computación, ecología, biología, historia natural y manejo de turismo. En 1998, 17 organizaciones locales constituyeron la R e d T a l a m a n c a d e E c o t u r i s m o C o m u n i t a r i o , un esfuerzo de colaboración que facilita las relaciones entre organizaciones, compartiendo información, capacitación, planeamiento de actividades, producción de material promocional y participación conjunta en ferias ecoturísticas. Se ha enfatizado en el diseño y creación de productos comunales, y su integración en varios productos regionales, que han colocado a Talamanca como un destino eco-turístico importante. Se han producido una variedad de herramientas de mercadeo que buscan ubicar a Talamanca como un destino turístico diferente en el país. Como resultado, se han establecido 1 7 i n i c i a t i v a s d e e c o t u r i s m o c o m u n i t a r i o en Talamanca, que ya representan una fuente creciente de ingresos adicionales para los pobladores y sus organizaciones. Se cuenta con una red de albergues comunales (Finca Educativa, Wak Ka Konoke, El Yue, ASODECC, STIBRAWPA, y otros) que son manejados por las organizaciones comunales cuyos objetivos incluyen la conservación, desarrollo económico sostenible, y desarrollo comunitario. En el caso de los grupos indígenas, tienen como objetivo especial la protección de la cultura y las tradiciones, y están organizados en los últimos tres años como la Red Indígena de Etnoturismo. La iniciativa de ecoturismo de los Cabineros en Gandoca provee hospedaje y servicios a ecoturistas y voluntarios del Proyecto de Conservación de Tortugas Marinas. Esta iniciativa es manejada por un consorcio local que considera la conservación y el desarrollo comunitario como objetivos principales. La Asociación de Guías Naturalistas Autóctonos de Manzanillo es manejada por un comité ejecutivo de los guías, quienes luchan por proteger los ecosistemas marinos y terrestres los cuales proveen su sustento. Todos son ejemplos vivos de iniciativas comunitarias que han construido una respuesta local al interrogante … ¿Como podemos vivir mejor a la vez que cuidamos el ambiente para el disfrute de nuestros bisnietos?
6:30 – 7:30
DESAYUNO (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
7:30 – 9:30
Sesión #D 2 – Concepto Turismo Rural Comunitario (TRC): Agroturismo, papel de la mujer y su relación con el desarrollo comunal Objetivo #16: Conocer el concepto de Turismo Rural Comunitario como alternativa económica sostenible. Objetivo #17: actividades.
Conocer la evolución de la Iniciativa de TRC en Yorkín y sus
Objetivo #18: Identificar y valorar el papel de la mujer en el modelo de producción talamanqueño y el agro-ecoturismo. • Charla #8 (30 minutos): Generalidades y definición del Turismo Rural Comunitario. Principios de Mercadeo (las 4 Ps). Benson Venegas. • Visita a Finca #4 (Daisy, 1.5 horas): Recorrido Proyecto Stibrawpa: El etnoagroturismo indígena. Presentación del proyecto e infraestructura. o Dinámica Ejercicio #3: Sobre el uso del tiempo y el apoyo que recibe una mujer en un día típico de su vida cotidiana (parcela y etnoecoturismo). 13
9:30 – 10:00
REFRIGERIO (30 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
10:00 – 11:00
•
Visita Sitio de Ecoturismo #4 (Telesecundaria, 1 hora): Visitar la Telesecundaria (relación turismo y desarrollo comunal). Valorar el papel y liderazgo de Stibrawpa en el desarrollo de la comunidad con su proyecto ecoturístico. Bernarda Morales y Prisca Morales.
11:00 – 12:00
•
Charla #9 (Stibrawpa, 1 hora): Historia de Stibrawpa (retos y barreras de la iniciativa de Turismo Rural Comunitario): participación, alcances, desarrollo de capacidades, barreras críticas y posibilidades. Continuar interactuando durante la hora de almuerzo. Bernarda Morales y Prisca Morales.
12:00 – 13:00
ALMUERZO (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
13:00 – 15:00
Sesión #E 2 – Auto-Diagnóstico para la búsqueda de soluciones por parte de los participantes del intercambio. Objetivo #19 A: Tomar conciencia de su propio potencial de adaptación e innovación para responder a diferentes problemas. •
15:00 – 15:30
Dinámica-Ejercicio #4 (2 horas): Auto-diagnostico y análisis de campo de soluciones locales para responder a los problemas identificados durante el Diagrama de Cuencas. Permite a los participantes tomar conciencia de sus capacidades para encontrar soluciones locales. Benson Venegas.
REFRIGERIO (30 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres Sesión #D 3 – Estrategia de trabajo en redes de turismo rural comunitario (TRC) a nivel local y nacional (Red Talamanca de Ecoturismo Comunitario, Red Indígena de Etnoturismo y la Red Nacional ACTUAR). Objetivo #20: Conocer sobre el trabajo organizativo de redes de ecoturismo local. •
Charla #10 (Redes de TRC, 1 hora): Red de Turismo Cultural Indígena de Talamanca y la Red de Ecoturismo Comunitario de Talamanca. Bernarda Morales y Benson Venegas.
•
Hora de Esparcimiento #1 (1.5 hora): Demostración del arco y la flecha. Hacer chocolate artesanal. Hablar sobre la historia del chocolate, y la importancia de Talamanca-Bocas en el mercado global.
15:30 – 16:30
16:30 - 18:00
18:00 – 19:00
CENA (60 MINUTOS)
en Casa de las Mujeres
14
19:00 – 20:00
Plenaria #5: REFLEXION DEL DIA 5: Reforzar conocimientos del día y su relevancia. Introducción del Programa del Día Siguiente.
20:00 – 21:00
Sesión #E 3 – Intercambio Cultural Participantes #2. • Intercambio Cultural #2: Historias y leyendas bribris alrededor de la fogata (Miriam Morales).
NOTAS
15
Sábado 26 Abril. MODULO E: Desarrollo Integral Sostenible Comunitario (DISC): Sostenibilidad, liderazgo y la revitalización de la identidad cultural en el largo plazo. (DIA 6). 6:00 – 7:00
DESAYUNO (60 MINUTOS) en Casa de las Mujeres
7:00 – 7:30
Caminar hasta Embarcadero Embarcadero (15 minutos).
7:30 – 9:15
Viaje en BOTE a Bambú (75 minutos).
9:15 – 10:00
Transporte Transporte a Finca Educativa (30 minutos). Ubicar sitios de hospedaje.
10:00 - 10:15
REFRIGERIO
en Finca Educativa
10:15 – 12:15
Sesión #E 4 – La Iniciativa Talamanca y su proceso integrador del desarrollo comunal y la conservación de la biodiversidad. Objetivo #21: Conocer sobre la experiencia integradora de la Iniciativa de Talamanca: procesos regionales de conservación y desarrollo. •
Charla #11 (1 hora): Charla resumen integrador de la experiencia y conceptual de la Iniciativa Talamanca: Estrategias, logros, resultados, retos y procesos regionales de conservación (CBTC, PSA, otros). Benson Venegas.
Objetivo #22 A: Sensibilizar sobre la importancia del liderazgo en el desarrollo rural, como un proceso de construcción de capacidad organizativa. •
12:15 – 13:00
Charla #12 (1 hora): (Impulsando el Liderazgo local-Regional): Los papeles, la evolución y las relaciones con las comunidades de APPTA. Juanita Baltodano.
ALMUERZO (45 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa.
16
Sesión # B 5 – Sostenibilidad del sistema productivo: Sistema de Monitoreo participativo – Evaluación propia de la sostenibilidad de mi finca. Objetivo #23: Aplicar en forma práctica la guía de sostenibilidad de Finca como parte de una estrategia de certificación interna para los sellos orgánicos y comercio justo. 13:00 – 13:30
•
Charla #13 (30 Minutos): Charla sobre trazabilidad y el uso de la Guía de Sostenibilidad de Finca, aplicado por el mismo productor. Presentación de resultados de 4 años de APPTA. Walter Rodríguez.
13:30 - 17:00
•
Aprendizaje Práctico #8 – Visita Finca #5: Aplicación de la Guía de Sostenibilidad de Finca.
CENA (90 MINUTOS) – Finca Educativa. 20:00 – 21:00
Sesión # B 6 – Mercados Alternativos para los productores: Orgánico, Comercio Justo y Mercados Locales. • Charla #14: Estrategias de Mercadeo. Comercio Justo Orgánico. Infraestructura de procesamiento. Walter Rodríguez, APPTA.
19:00 – 20:00
Plenaria #6: REFLEXION DEL DIA 6: Reforzar conocimientos del día y su relevancia. Introducción del Día Siguiente.
NOTAS
17
Domingo 27 Abril. MODULO E: Desarrollo Integral Sostenible Comunitario (DISC): Sostenibilidad, liderazgo y la revitalización de la identidad cultural en el largo plazo. (DIA 7) 6:00 – 7:30
DESAYUNO (90 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa Caminar por la Finca Educativa. Sesión # E 5 A – Principios de liderazgo: El liderazgo colectivo orientado hacia el servicio de la comunidad con un impacto regional. Objetivo #22 B: rural.
7:30 – 8:30
• • •
Sensibilizar sobre la Importancia del liderazgo en el desarrollo
Charla #15 (20 minutos): Principios de Liderazgo. Benson Venegas. Dinámica-Ejercicio #5 (20 minutos): Escala de Valores Interculturales. Plenaria (20 minutos): Las cualidades del liderazgo.
Sesión # E 6 – La Personalidad, liderazgo y trabajo en equipos autodirigidos: Conocerse a si mismo para promover el cambio colectivo (liderazgo trasformacional). Objetivo #24: Aplicar herramienta para conocerse a si mismo, entender a los otros para comprender el cómo interactuar como equipo. Potenciar el liderazgo y trabajo en equipo. 8:30 – 9:00
Dinámica-Ejercicio del Caos #6: Mapa Conducta Observable: Cada participante hará una presentación sobre si mismo, siguiendo una guía. (Benson Venegas):
9:00 – 9:30
Charla #16 A: Bases Teóricas – Modelo DISC: El desarrollo de la personalidad para potenciar el cambio en el estilo de liderazgo y el trabajo en equipo. Uso de la Herramienta PERSOLOG. Benson Venegas. • Aprendizaje Práctico #9: Aplicación del cuestionario “Introducción al perfil de conducta DISC.” Cada participante creará su gráfico DISC con los resultados de su cuestionario. Hacer grupos de conducta dominante. • Plenaria: La conformación de equipos de líderes.
9:30 – 9:45
REFRIGERIO (15 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa
9:45 – 10:45
Dinámica-Ejercicio #7: Identificando la Conducta Dominante y Secundaria: Se inicia el trabajo en grupos comentando y discutiendo los resultandos y procediendo a realizar un análisis comparativo y de pertinencia de los resultados. o Charla #16 B: Las características de las dimensiones dominantes. Benson Venegas. o Plenaria: Se hará una plenaria de los cuatro grupos (resultados). 18
10:45 – 11:15
Charla #16 C: Dimensiones de las conductas que buscan el “éxito” comparadas con las conductas que buscan la “sobrevivencia”: Presentación de power point. Espacio para preguntas y respuestas. Benson Venegas.
11:15 – 11:45
Dinámica-Ejercicio #8: Reconocer los estilos de conducta (30 min): Reflexión grupal de las 4 dimensiones de conducta: Hacer lectura en los grupos DISC sobre la dimensión de conducta que les corresponde, y hacer una exposición de los resultados al plenario.
11:45 – 12:15
Dinámica-Ejercicio #9: Estrategia hacia la efectividad (30 min.): Cada mesa discutirá y elaborará un rotafolio sobre estrategias para mejorar la efectividad.
12:15 – 12:30
Plenaria Final: Retroalimentación. Hacer un rotafolio de evaluación utilizando una palabra o frase clave de cada participante. Hacer una síntesis de toda la sesión.
12:30 – 13:30
ALMUERZO (60 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa Sesión # E 7 – Comunicación efectiva y Red de Conocimiento Social. Objetivo #25: Promover la comunicación efectiva y la red de conocimiento social.
13:30 – 14:00
•
Charla #17: Procesos Colaborativos de Múltiples Actores.
14:00 – 14:40
•
Dinámica-Ejercicio #10: Propiciando la comunicación efectiva. Benson Venegas. Formar tres equipos: los que hablan, los que escuchan y los observadores.
14:40 - 15:00 15:00 – 15:30
REFRIGERIO (20 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa •
Charla #18 (SCC Centroamérica: Presentación sobre la Red de Servicio del Conocimiento Comunal. Benson Venegas y Claire Rhodes.
Objetivo #19 B: Tomar conciencia de su propio potencial de adaptación e innovación para planificar el cambio deseado y los compromisos necesarios para llevarlo a cabo. 15:30 – 17:00
Plenaria #7: PLAN DE ACCION Y COMPROMISOS: En grupos de interés los participantes definirán un plan a seguir y sus compromisos para darle seguimiento al intercambio, adaptando y/o adoptando el conocimiento pertinente e interesante para ponerlo en práctica al regresar a su comunidad.
17:00 – 18:00
CIERRE #1: Evaluación final del intercambio (el logro de los objetivos de aprendizaje). Llenar el formulario de evaluación y retroalimentación al intercambio. 19
18:00 – 19:30
CENA (90 MINUTOS) en Finca Educativa
19:30 – 20:30
CIERRE #2: Futura relación con el grupo. Entrega de Certificados.
Conclusiones y recomendaciones.
NOTAS
20
Contributions to the Practice of Rural Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Conservation Sustainable Development Leadership
June 2008
Benson Venegas Robinson Executive Director, ANAI Apartado 170-2070 Sabanilla, Costa Rica 506 2224 3570 bensoncr@anaicr.org
Executive Summary The Talamanca Initiative (TI) is a dynamic example of integrating community-based sustainable development with biodiversity conservation. It has great promise as a model for working with families living in and around highly threatened National Parks and other protected areas, positively linking their livelihood activities with protection of the forests, fresh water and marine ecosystems whose health depends on a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the people who live there. This project proposes to build on the experiences and lessons learned from the TI to realize its full potential in Talamanca, support the implementation of similar sustainable development initiatives in other places, broadly share the Talamanca Initiative experiences with other practitioners, and contribute to the development of a model of community-based sustainable development in areas of high biological diversity. The proposed work has three components: Developing Talamanca as a Sustainable Development Learning Center for Grassroots Practitioners; Sustainable Livelihoods (Organic Agro-ecosystems, Community Ecotourism); and Biomonitoring, Watershed Management and Conservation. Introduction ANAI is a Costa Rican non-profit organization founded in 1983, committed to furthering local initiatives that simultaneously contribute to the quality of life of local people and to biodiversity conservation in high priority tropical areas. It is geographically grounded in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica. Greater Talamanca (shaded in green) is a vast region of mountains and coastline covering much of southern Costa Rica and northern Panama. Home to 4% of the world’s biodiversity, Central America’s largest remaining intact rain forest, and unique freshwater and coastal-marine ecosystems, this area has been recognized as one of the most biologically rich places on earth. At the same time, the people of Greater Talamanca are extremely poor, and the region faces the social, economic and environmental challenges common to previously isolated tropical areas that have become a magnet for immigrants and outside economic interests. The Costa Rican portion of Greater Talamanca where ANAI has centered its work is culturally, as well as biologically, diverse. It is home to over half of Costa Rica’s indigenous population, including peoples of the Bribri and Cabecar tribes, each with
their own language and customs. The Hispanic/mestizo population is unusually diverse as well, due to historic and continuing immigration from various parts of Central America. English-speaking blacks of West Indian origin live in the coastal communities. While its focus was originally very local, ANAI was challenged by the belief that if a grassroots process of sustainable development can be implemented in such a difficult, culturally and ecologically diverse environment, this will create opportunities to contribute to human well being and the conservation of tropical ecosystems in other regions of the world as well. With this as a long-term goal, ANAI founded its work in Talamanca on five core beliefs: 1. No inherent contradiction exists between economic development and environmental conservation. If communities and nations are to thrive, development and conservation must take place together. 2. The best stewards of the tropical lowlands are the local people who have dedicated their lives to these lands. 3. The natural forests, rivers, wetlands, reefs and other unique primary ecosystems are Talamanca’s most socio-economically valuable asset in the long term. 4. All natural tropical areas that are not actively protected and managed will be radically altered during our lifetime. We must work diligently to conserve their biodiversity and other natural resources for future generations. 5. A winning strategy to address these issues must successfully integrate environmental, social, cultural, economic and organizational needs, and build on the synergies among them.
The Talamanca Initiative (TI) is the name given to the regional process facilitated and led by ANAI, since 1979. Together with a diversity of community-based organizations, ANAI has put into practice innovative sustainable development strategies that have produced tangible environmental and socio-economic benefits for this region and its inhabitants. Working with its grassroots partners, many of which were created as an outgrowth of community work during the early years of this effort, ANAI has catalyzed and facilitated a process that has begun to diversify the economy of the region’s rural communities through environmentally friendly activities that include the production, processing and export of certified organic and Fair Trade products, locally owned ecotourism enterprises, reforestation with native species, community conservation and participatory management of conservation areas, carbon sequestration, and community-supported science and stewardship. The Talamanca Initiative has involved the collaboration and cooperation of grassroots community-based organizations, many small-scale producers, and the Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment. All share the common goal of improving people’s quality of life in Talamanca through the preservation and environmentally-ethical use of its outstanding biodiversity and unique ecosystems. An example is APPTA, the Talamanca Small Farmers Association. Begun during the early stages of the TI, APPTA has become one of the world’s largest organic farmers’ cooperatives, with more than 1,300 farmers, 40% of whom are women, including the president and two other members of the board of directors. All staff are local people, managing a grassroots organization that is now a leader in processing and marketing organic products, promoting ecological agriculture and biodiversity conservation, and empowering local people. Appendix 1 presents a summary of the achievements and experiences of the Talamanca Initiative. This work was honored in 2002 with the first Equator Initiative Award for ‘outstanding community efforts for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation in a World Heritage Site’, given at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Talamanca’s reality as a highly threatened World Heritage Site is mirrored in many places around the world, with similar threats and challenges.
The many years of experience in creating integrated approaches that successfully address these challenges provide special opportunities for learning and sharing at a regional and global level. Incipient efforts to share aspects of this work in the neighboring Bocas del Toro province in Panama exemplify these opportunities and the urgent need felt by many communities to strengthen and diversify their economically productive activities in an environmentally responsible manner. ANAI is a member of many national and international forums for conservation and sustainable development, including serving as a board member of the Equatorial Initiative and of Costa Rica’s pioneering GEF Small Grants Program. These are invaluable opportunities for working in partnership with many others from around the world to achieve our common goals. Rationale Addressing poverty reduction in conjunction with environmental conservation – the pursuit of sustainable development – is among the world’s greatest challenges. ANAI has the experience and the motivation to continue making extremely valuable contributions to this challenge. For the past 25 years, ANAI has been facilitating a grassroots process having this as its long term focus and inspiration. Our track record of unique accomplishment and cost effective work has been widely recognized (e.g. First Equator Initiative Award for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Whitley Award for People and Nature, donor evaluations). The Talamanca Initiative has been a very creative and innovative process, focused at all times on generating immediate tangible benefits, while at the same time contributing to long term objectives. The process has generated a wealth of experience in working with local communities to improve their livelihood and actively contribute to environmental conservation. ANAI and the Talamanca Initiative have a lot to offer. We have the potential to take advantage of our unique and valuable niche within the ecology of organizations, initiatives and programs contributing to community-based sustainable development and conservation in areas of great biological importance. Our experiences in Talamanca have great intrinsic value and have proven valuable for others. We have been able to share these experiences through different means (courses, visits, exchanges, conferences, etc), and we are committed to increasing our efforts that enable others to actually put sustainable development initiatives into practice. Many of the key elements for rural sustainable development have been developed and put into practice in Talamanca. It is an incomplete but very useful functioning experience. This creates a unique opportunity to contribute to the development of a model ready for broader application or adaptation within and beyond Talamanca. While the many constituent parts (e.g. the existence of local and regional organizations, marketing experience, basic crop processing infrastructure, farmers having experience with a diversity of new crops, some strong conservation programs, etc.) are not effectively integrated, there is a wealth of experience to inform as to what works and what does not, and what are the medium and long term results of different approaches and methodologies. The need now is to consolidate what has been advanced so far in Talamanca, build a process that integrates and practically applies the highest value and most cost effective elements, generate the experiences that can inform and guide the development of a more broadly
applicable model for implementing processes that integrally address poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation, and work with local inhabitants throughout Central and South America to put sustainable development into practice.
The proposed project General Objective. Contribute to putting into practice local processes of sustainable rural development and conservation in tropical areas with important biological diversity An evaluation of ANAI’s work in Talamanca by the Swedish International Development Authority said “ANAI has laid the social and economic foundations for a self-sustained and lasting development process at the local level.” This promise is only partially realized. No community in Talamanca has sufficiently implemented and integrated all the different elements of this foundation, and the regionallevel efforts need further growth. At the same time, there is an urgent need to scale up this process for the benefit of many more communities and regions. The central idea of this project is to strengthen and integrate key sustainable development and conservation practices in several major watersheds with the twin goals of significantly moving these and other regions in Latin America towards a self-sustained and lasting development and conservation process, and as the means to broadly share the experiences and lessons learned with many other grassroots practitioners. It is urgent to have a diversity of functioning living models of such a process, for its direct benefits to the region’s families and environment, to inform the development of methodologies for broader application, and to provide on-the-ground opportunities for others to learn how to put sustainable development into practice. Watersheds (all the land which drains into a given stream or river), especially in hilly or mountainous terrain, can be very useful units of consideration for coordinating multicommunity initiatives in sustainable development, with special opportunities for bringing together production and conservation in a practical manner that integrally addresses terrestrial, fresh water and marine challenges. Work will concentrate on multi-community watersheds that exemplify many of the challenges faced in the American tropics: poverty; multi-ethnic; conflictive; no or limited road access, electricity and other basic services; an official protected area covering part of the watershed, while the rest is considered part of the ‘buffer zone’ of the protected area; substantial recent population increase due to immigration; forests and other natural systems have been degraded from over-exploitation; increasing pressure to access the remaining forests and other natural resources; difficult access to markets; sustaining productivity on poor soils; weak local and regional organizations; and limited educational opportunities. Three specific objectives will be integrated to guide all aspects of the proposed work. Specific Objective 1. Strengthen and integrate productive and conservation practices in Talamanca, with a focus on farm families in one major watershed and their key organizations. The Talamanca Initiative is a dynamic, unfinished process. It is inherently valuable, is a living laboratory for continued learning, innovation and evaluation of successful practices, is a unique opportunity to develop a broadly applicable model, and is a unique setting for training and dissemination. The most important elements that need strengthening are the daily productive activities of each farm family, the processing and marketing activities of the farmers’ organic cooperative, APPTA, and local environmental monitoring and management initiatives. It is essential that the productive activities actively contribute to reaching the environmental, organizational and socio-cultural goals of the sustainable development process.
Specifically, project activities will strengthen the family farm economy through establishing a landscape of diversified organic tree-based agricultural systems, integrated with conservation oriented activities focused on creating positive linkages with biodiversity conservation, environmental health, drinking water and other ecosystem services through active participation in stream based biological monitoring. APPTA will be supported in developing its processing infrastructure and capabilities, strengthening the organic and Fair Trade certification practices and systems, developing new products and markets, identifying markets for crops that have the potential to be key elements of diverse agro-ecosystems, and strengthening business management. There will be a continual process of adapting already proven methodologies to be more effective, more easily learned and implemented, and more cost effective. Specific Objective 2 Generate on the ground, practical contributions toward grassroots-based sustainable development processes in 3 major watersheds outside of Talamanca. The project will establish a close relationship with at least three other important community initiatives from Latin America: one in Costa Rica, one in Panama, one elsewhere in Latin America. Through training courses, visits, exchanges and interns, and direct on-the-ground implementation, a relationship will be developed that leads to a practical adaptation of elements of the Talamanca Initiative process by other local communities and organizations. In addition to the tangible results from directly supporting and guiding communities in addressing urgent needs, threats and opportunities, these replication / adaptation experiences will inform the development of a methodology for supporting grassroots-based sustainable development processes internationally. Putting the approach into practice in other countries, cultures and settings will be invaluable in helping to understand the relative importance of different aspects of the initiative. The experiences and knowledge generated will contribute to ANAI’s and others’ efforts in developing ways to better promote community centered sustainable development in tropical countries. Specific Objective 3. Share the experiences of the Talamanca Initiative immediately, through practical training and exchange. The TI experiences have proven to be very useful for a diverse spectrum of sustainable development constituencies. A broader impact can be immediately realized by broadly sharing the experiences and lessons learned, by taking advantage of opportunities to support grassroots processes elsewhere, and by greatly expanding the use of the TI as a learning center for practitioners, decision makers and others. Similar to Objective 2, but not focused on a particular region or initiative and without the expectation of establishing a continuing working relationship, this will be accomplished through practical training programs, exchanges of key people with other regions, receiving interns to develop practical on-the-job experience, and participation in national and international meetings, forums and organizations.
With the proposed project, Strategic Objective 1 is necessary to realize the promise of the Talamanca Initiative, consolidate experiences to inform the development of a model, strengthen the creative and innovative process that has guided this effort, use it as a training ground for others to learn from, and guide the work of others in improving or creating their own functioning model.
Strategic Objective 2 focuses on facilitating the creation of new on-the-ground initiatives elsewhere in Costa Rica and in other Latin American countries, that will be extremely valuable in their own right, and will also be intensive learning experiences that will inform the development of better, more cost effective, more quickly established models. Strategic Objective 3 will much more broadly share what has been and will be learned, by allowing others to experience it directly and by going to other places to inform the work of others. By sharing not only the specific ‘tools’ and practices being applied and the lessons learned, but even more importantly the creative, innovative process, we believe this work will help create the conditions for others to creatively address these urgent issues. These peer to peer exchanges will also contribute to the creation and strengthening of networks of communication and mutual support of a broad range of community-centered sustainable development initiatives. The interest generated by the results of the Talamanca Initiative has created the potential to establish a deepening web of relationships, nationally and internationally, most importantly with other grassroots initiatives. ANAI has a special opportunity to make unique contributions to the global challenge of improving people’s well being while conserving biodiversity of global importance. The proposed work will help make this a reality.
Brief project description Three thematic programs will work together as one to integrally and simultaneously address all three strategic objectives. Field work will initially focus on one major watershed in Talamanca that exemplifies the realities and challenges of Latin American regions with disadvantaged populations and important biological diversity. The project will focus on intensively addressing key elements that have been identified as the factors limiting the Talamanca Initiative from realizing its promise to be a sustainable rural development model. Special efforts will be made to develop appropriate methodologies that will allow this model to be implemented in other Latin American regions. The experiences and lessons learned will be shared with other Central American initiatives via an intern program, training courses, other exchanges and on the ground work with local communities and organizations. The 3 core programs are: 1. Sustainable Development Leadership Training 2. Sustainable Livelihoods 3. Biomonitoring, Watershed Management, and Conservation All aspects of the project will be developed together with local populations, their organizations, schools and other institutions, but without tying the project formally to any one organization in order to maximize participation in light of the reality that all organizations have their supporters and detractors, and many people tend to identify with some organizations to the active exclusion of others. While separate programs can be identified, and will serve for organizing certain aspects of the proposed work, everything will be closely integrated in practice, with all goals and objectives shared among all three programs. Intensifying the environmentally-friendly economically-productive activities of the region’s rural families is one of the key investments necessary for the Talamanca Initiative to fulfill its promise as a model of sustainable development.
Stream based biomonitoring informs, links and provides feedback on everything that happens in a watershed and in its downstream marine components with the health of those environments. It is a hands-on, user friendly way to develop people’s capacity to understand the relationship between their productive activities and their environment, and evaluate the consequences of past, present and future activities. It provides a practical, measurable link between conservation and development. Integrating improvement of people’s livelihood and their environmental health is essential for the development of a methodology for sustainable rural development.
Brief description of each program: 1. Sustainable Development Leadership Training The experiences, methodologies and lessons learned during the past 25 years of work can be invaluable for others interested in implementing community-based sustainable development and conservation initiatives. Albeit with limited resources, for many years we have managed an intern program and an ecovolunteer program, received grassroots groups from throughout Latin America and other tropical countries, received delegations from international organizations, carried out practical training courses, organized exchanges, and participated in national and international initiatives and forums, with very satisfactory, mutually beneficial results. The core idea of this component is to expand the breadth and scope of these activities to maximize the Talamanca Initiative’s capacity to help others implement sustainable development initiatives in other tropical regions. A decentralized human and physical infrastructure for ‘Talamanca as a Learning Center for Sustainable Development’ has already been established in many communities of the region. This established capability will provide the foundation for courses, workshops, and other types of exchanges. Themes include sustainable development processes; biological monitoring; sustainable agriculture; organic and fair trade production, certification and marketing; community-based ecotourism; community conservation; empowering women; strengthening grassroots organizations; creating and managing alliances; and fostering mutually beneficial relations between local development initiatives and Protected Areas for conservation. The project will receive a minimum of 24 interns per year for a period of 6 months each. The number of interns can grow as more funds become available. Each intern will focus on one of the following four components during the project’s first year: organic, tree-based agroecosystems; biological monitoring; grass roots organizational development; and processing and marketing non-traditional organic products. Themes for focus during subsequent years will be expanded working together with our grassroots partners. Interns will ideally be key people from grassroots initiatives in tropical countries who will be able to put their experience into practice upon completion of the internship. Young professionals and academics from other countries who combine leadership potential with a commitment to sustainable development and biodiversity conservation will also be considered as intern candidates. Together with the organizations being worked with on the ground, and workshop and short course participants, the interns will form the core of an ongoing mutual support network for community based sustainable development and conservation initiatives.
Two 5-day sustainable development workshops and two similarly focused 10-day courses will be annually offered to grassroots practitioners from tropical countries and to development and conservation professionals. At least once per year, key project members will carry out a formal exchange with a partner initiative from a different region to share experiences and focus on practical application of appropriate methodologies to strengthen their initiative. Also, Talamanca Initiative practitioners will participate in at least 10 international forums/events each year. Once a year, the project will sponsor a five-day seminar for development and conservation professionals, to help evaluate the project and the lessons learned and to inform our work toward best practices and sustainable development methodologies. The project will also develop close partnerships with other programs promoting similar goals. We are currently developing exchange programs with the International Sea Grant Program, Ecoagricultural Partners, the Central American Alternative Cooperation Network and the Little Tennessee Watershed Association in North Carolina and Georgia. The latter, while not tropical, is very attractive because of its pioneering experiences with community-based stream biomonitoring and the opportunities for mutually beneficial training.
2. Sustainable Livelihoods (Organic Agro-ecosystems, Community Ecotourism). The ANAI community nursery project of the 1980’s allowed farmers to establish diverse agroforestry systems based on fruit trees and cocoa as subsistence and commercial crops. The educational and organizational work that was an integral part of this project also led to the formation of a regional farmers’ coop (APPTA), as well as a number of community-level organizations that have not only coordinated activities with ecological agriculture, but have also spearheaded efforts to diversify their livelihood options, with notable success in starting up community ecotourism enterprises. Incredibly valuable work has been done over the intervening years by local organizations such as APPTA in training, organizational development, organic and fair trade certification, processing and marketing. In addition to essentially transforming traditional cocoa and small farm banana production by converting the whole process to organic, newly introduced crops planted initially in small numbers for food security use are beginning to become important commercial products. An example is arazá (Eugenia stipitata), which is beginning to be exported to Europe for an organic tropical energy drink. Through this process, Talamanca has become an important producer and exporter of organic products, as well as producing for home use and the local market. At the same time, the farmers and their organizations continue to confront immense challenges. From the point of view of the marketing cooperatives, one of the biggest constraints is the limited production of the many crops for which markets are being developed. From the point of view of conservation, the agro-ecosystems that can produce these crops are the most important hope for a harmonious production system that satisfies families’ economic needs while contributing to environmental health and biodiversity conservation. From the farmers’ point of view, new plantings of an integrated system producing more organic commercial and subsistence crops is a highly desirable alternative, but support is needed to help them establish these new systems. Project activities will include working closely with local farmer groups in each watershed to identify the most appropriate varieties of each crop, access these varieties, multiply them, and produce grafted plants for establishing the new, diversified plantations. Support will be provided to farmers to replace non-productive cocoa and other trees with grafted, high
producing local varieties. The project will work with farmers to provide necessary information, training and support. The project will also support business management, market development and post harvest processing efforts that will inform selection of crops for the new systems. Training, promotion, marketing and other support will also be provided for community ecotourism initiatives that provide complementary livelihood alternatives within each watershed.
3. Stream based Biomonitoring, Watershed Management and Conservation. Biological monitoring is the art of deciphering the environmental health and dynamic changes in a given environment, by analyzing changes in the kinds and numbers of its living species. While biomonitoring can theoretically be carried out based on any reasonably diverse group of organisms in any environment (for example, trees and shrubs in a forest), it has historically been most developed in the aquatic environment. This is partly because of growing human concern over water quality issues, but it also happens that streams and rivers are an ideal focal point for biomonitoring. Streams and the organisms in them reflect the total effect of natural conditions and human impacts throughout a watershed, and are also inextricably linked to the marine environment. All streams in their natural state function to a significant degree as natural corridors, connecting marine and coastal environments with the uplands. This function is particularly important in regions like the narrow Mesoamerican isthmus, characterized by great changes in altitude over relatively short distances (and where multiple threats to the disruption of these corridors currently exist.). Stream based biomonitoring is a very powerful, yet relatively easy to learn and apply methodology that reflects the environmental health of a watershed and its changes over time. Our experience over the past 20 years with a diversity of conservation, environmental education and awareness initiatives has led us to conclude that stream biomonitoring is both a most informative and empowering environmental education methodology and a powerful conservation tool. In addition to being a lot of fun, it empowers local people and communities to monitor and analyze their environment and relate both their own activities and external forces to changes in their environment. We believe that our biomonitoring work in Talamanca to date has laid the foundation for development of a model that can become a key technology toward a more participatory conservation process in Talamanca and elsewhere in the American tropics. The ANAI Biomonitoring Program has been active since 2000 in the “Greater Talamanca” region of Limon Province, Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro Province, Panama. During this time we have accumulated what is probably the most complete database of biological health information for any comparable sized watershed area in the tropical world. This has been accomplished as an integral part of ANAI’s program of facilitating sustainable development and natural resource conservation for and by rural communities. Training of local technicians and continual involvement of local community members and students are part and parcel of a methodology which, in addition to serving scientific and conservation ends, produces evergrowing capacity in the communities to monitor and manage their own resources and plan for their own future. While stream biomonitoring is a well-developed discipline in the temperate zones (for example, all 50 states of the US have biomonitoring programs) there is no comparable initiative anywhere else in the tropics. It is truly a pioneering effort, which has involved local participants since we first began to gather baseline data. The core biomonitoring program presently consists of four complementary components – sampling assemblages of fish, sampling benthic macroinvertebrates (visible, bottom dwelling invertebrates such as insects and shrimp), assessment of physical habitat, and community training and education. These are the cornerstones of a permanent biomonitoring program in
Talamanca. We envision that eventually truly developed communities will demand participatory programs to evaluate environmental health as surely as they demand public health services, schools or libraries. ANAI has pioneered the sampling of riverine fish assemblages with development and implementation of biotic indices appropriate to the lowland tropics as an indicator of ecosystem health, and with participation of citizen volunteers in each sampling effort. While the methodology developed to date has proven to be an extremely valuable tool, we urgently need to dedicate more time and resources to making it even more user friendly. The eventual desired condition is universal availability of tools that can be used by communities everywhere to monitor their own environment, with more sophisticated technical support available from in-country institutions when needed. Development of these linkages will be part of the project here proposed. Developing these low cost, more easily replicable methodologies will be done in the process of establishing conservation monitoring groups made up of the majority of families in each micro-watershed, the very local unit of focus for organizing this component. These groups will learn why to monitor, how to monitor, how to analyze the collected data and how to relate it to productive and other land and water use practices. Appropriate training material will be developed, both for use in the targeted Talamanca watershed and in watersheds beyond Talamanca. At all levels, but particularly in the schools, we will use the biomonitoring concept to foster a greater awareness of and appreciation for native biodiversity, so that an ever stronger conservation ethic becomes embedded in communities and cultures. The biomonitoring team will also take the lead in developing broader environmental education and awareness activities, with families, schools and community organizations. This will eventually lead to initiation of monitoring activities in terrestrial and marine environments, and with other groups of organisms.
Target beneficiaries Since its inception, ANAI has worked together with poor and marginalized communities and their own community-based organizations. Creating opportunities for women and young people to be fundamental participants and have real decision making power have been and will always be central aspects of our approach. The Talamanca Initiative has operated on the premise that local people will be empowered to protect their environment when they are undertaking activities that improve their social and economic well-being while actively contributing to sound long-term resource management. In addition, they must be well informed, organized to take action, and have a measure of control over access to their natural resource base. The on-the-ground work will focus geographically on watersheds within Talamanca, and will expand to cover other regions within Costa Rica, in Panama, and eventually other countries in Latin America. These watersheds in Costa Rica present a unique and challenging mix of human populations. They are the traditional home of the Bri Bri and Cabecar indigenous people; there are important long-standing settlements of campesinos; and over the past 30 years, significant portions of the watershed have been colonized by other indigenous groups and campesinos from outside of the region. The La Amistad International Peace Park extends into these watersheds from above, and they connect below with important coastal-marine protected and multiple use areas. All of the people within these watersheds, together with their regional and local organizations are target beneficiaries.
Through exchanges, formal and informal training activities, internships and direct work, people and organizations from Panamanian, Nicaraguan, Honduran and other Latin American communities in areas of high biodiversity importance will be active participants. The active involvement of women and young people will be given priority. To the extent that a model for implementing sustainable development initiatives is furthered by this project in the near-term, many other communities and initiatives could be beneficiaries. In a general sense, all who play key roles as the constituency for environment and development concerns, national and international NGOs and NGO networks, research and teaching institutions, donors, governments and multinational agencies, will be targeted to participate in the sharing of the experiences generated by this project.
Objectives 1. Sustainable Development Leadership Training 24 key people from other grassroots development initiatives (GDIs) will participate each year in a six month internship designed to develop their capabilities through practical on-the-job training in key aspects of rural sustainable development and conservation. 40 key people from GDIs will participate each year in a training program on rural sustainable development and environmental conservation and put their experience and lessons learned into practice upon returning to their homes. 12 key people from GDIs will participate each year in an international course in stream based biomonitoring for grassroots initiatives. 600+ eco-volunteers and 1,000+ visitors each year will learn of sustainable development and conservation best practices. A team from the Talamanca Initiative will share experiences each year via a formal exchange with one other GDI. Key members from the TI will participate each year in at least 10 national and international initiatives and forums. Participants will become an integral part of a mutual support network of community based sustainable development and conservation initiatives.
2. Sustainable Livelihoods Cost effective methodologies for establishing highly productive tree-based agro-ecosystems on family farms in high poverty rural areas will be developed. Farm level development and conservation practices in several major watersheds will be strengthened and integrated, with the productive activities actively contributing to the environmental, health, organizational and socio-cultural goals of the sustainable development process. 300 farm families in each of 4 major watersheds will establish at least 1 hectare each of diverse, high value, tree based agro-ecosystems, using certified organic practices.
The organic and Fair Trade certification initiatives, business management, post harvest and marketing capabilities of APPTA, COCABO and other farmer cooperatives will be strengthened. The crops grown in the agro-ecosystems and their value added finished products will be successfully marketed. Best practices and lessons learned will be put into practice by the grassroots ecotourism initiatives, who will improve their business management capacities, services, product development, client relations, security, promotion, marketing, and local guide training, and formalize their legal and operational status. The community ecotourism initiatives will integrate training in sustainable development as a key element in their activities for visitors. The national and regional networks that promote and support the community tourism initiatives will be strengthened.
3. Biomonitoring, Watershed Management, and Conservation Practical, easy to learn and use methodologies for rural communities to carry out biological monitoring of their environment will be developed. Families and children from the micro-watersheds that conform each major watershed will regularly monitor their environment, relate the results to their land and stream management activities and practices, and use this as a key input to collective planning and decision making. Talamanca will become a center for developing and disseminating the use of stream based biomonitoring as an easy to learn and use, practical tool for grassroots groups to monitor their environment, and relate environmental changes to land and stream use practices.
Activities Work will expand from a focus on the Talamanca region during the first 2 years, to two more major watersheds during year 3 (in CR and Panama), and a 4th region in Latin America during year 4. All work will be carried out with the intimate involvement of local farm families and organizations.
1. Sustainable Development Learning Center for Grassroots Practitioners 6 month internships for 24 (Yr 1 & 2) and 36 (Yr 3+) key people from grassroots sustainable development and conservation initiatives (GDI) and the professional community Two 5-day and two 10-day courses/yr on implementation of sustainable development for GDI One 5-day course/yr on stream based biomonitoring for GDI One exchange/yr with other GDI Participation of 200+ eco-volunteers and 1000+ visitors/yr
Incorporate learning about sustainable development and conservation into the community ecotourism experiences Attend to visitors, delegations and requests for information Leadership participation in at least 5 national and international forums and organizations Establish a close working relationship with at least 3 GI. Contribute toward a deepening web of relationships and partnerships, nationally and internationally, most importantly with other grassroots initiatives. Train local promoters and technicians One 5-day annual reflection with local, national and international participants for evaluation, lessons learned and methodology development and improvement
2. Sustainable Livelihoods Identify the best crops for sustainable agro-ecosystems in each watershed Identify, access, and multiply the best varieties of each crop Establish diversified agro-ecosystems on more than 1,200 small farms Provide information, training and support to farmers. APPTA, COCABO and other farmers’ groups will be supported to improve post harvest infrastructure and capabilities, strengthen organic and Fair Trade certification practices, develop new value added products and markets, and improve business management practices. Community ecotourism initiatives will draw from best practices and lessons learned to improve product development, service development, client relations, security, promotion, marketing, management, and local guides training Provide guidance and support to regional and national community ecotourism networks
3. Biomonitoring, Watershed Management and Conservation Develop and refine easy to use biological and habitat monitoring and evaluation methods for Mesoamerica Organize biomonitoring teams in micro-watersheds of each major watershed, that will learn why and how to monitor, analyze the collected data and relate it to productive and other land use practices Collect baseline data and perform initial evaluations for each watershed Establish a technical support base, available in situations beyond the capabilities of local teams. For each watershed develop a regular monitoring regime with calculation of appropriate indices, and conduct an annual review of environmental health in relation to land
management activities. Apply this information in developing best management practices and promoting conservation of biodiversity. Use the biomonitoring program as an educational tool to develop appreciation of native biodiversity and expand awareness of the relationship of environmental health to land management practices Develop educational materials aimed at institutionalizing the biomonitoring program while promoting its expansion to other watersheds. Individuals trained initially will assist in disseminating biomonitoring practices in other watersheds
Outcomes Agricultural production and productivity, farm family income, economic stability and the long term prospects for biodiversity conservation and sound resource management will increase dramatically in four major Latin American watersheds. A minimum of two farmers’ cooperatives, APPTA (Asociación de Pequeùos Productores de Talamanca) and COCABO, will be greatly strengthened, with improved processing infrastructure and capabilities, organic and Fair Trade certification practices and systems, new products and markets, business management and active membership participation. Consolidated community-based ecotourism initiatives in at least 4 watersheds will be pillars of their local economy, providing employment and practical support for conservation and sustainable development. There will be stronger regional and national networks supporting community tourism initiatives. The communities from 4 major watersheds in Latin America will be annually monitoring their environment, relating the results to land management activities and practices, and integrating this into their decision making. Both at the grassroots level and at the professional level, several hundred people will have new knowledge and experiences, enriching their future efforts as practitioners, decision makers and promoters of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Several international partnerships for sustainable development training and implementation will be developed. More effective networks of communication and mutual support will be functioning among community centered sustainable development initiatives. The development and conservation communities will have better tools and models for a) integrating development and conservation practices and b) promoting and supporting community based sustainable development in areas of high biological diversity. There will be several watershed level experiences that will be living laboratories for continued learning, innovation, evaluation of successful practices, and development of better models, approaches and methodologies, thus creating even greater opportunities for the future. The Talamanca Initiative in particular will have a much greater capacity to help others implement sustainable development initiatives.
Sustainability The most important sustainability consideration for this project focuses on the productive, economic, social, cultural, and organizational sustainability of the farms, families, community-based businesses, organizations and other community-based processes this project will be supporting. This, rather than the sustainability of the project itself, is what is truly important. Local grassroots sustainability is the heart of this project and is central to what ANAI works for. Our track record over the past 25 years - the kind, number, breadth and strength of the initiatives, organizations and processes we have promoted and/or in which we have played key leadership roles - is the most relevant indicator of what types of sustainable results should be expected from this project. Examples include a national wildlife refuge that is being uniquely co-managed by local communities, NGOs and government agencies; a sea turtle conservation initiative along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Costa Rica developed within ANAI and now a strong independent organization; a regional conservation alliance of grassroots groups working to consolidate and protect a unique forested corridor from the continental divide to the sea; Central America’s only permanent raptor migration monitoring program: one of only three places in the world where more than 1 million raptors have been counted in a single season, now sustainably managed by the Indigenous Association Wak Ka Koneke; a regional farmers’ coop serving over fifteen hundred organic farmers; 10 locally owned ecotourism ventures that are a growing source of income for the region’s people; youth and adult leadership programs that have been transformed into an independent leadership training organization; a locally run regional training center that serves over 2,000 people per year (Finca Educativa); the Costa Rican Sea Turtle Conservation Network; the Central American Sea Turtle Conservation Network; the GEF – Small Grants Program for Costa Rica; ACTUAR (the National Association of Community Ecotourism Initiatives), and the Central American Network for Alternative Development. The sustainability considerations for the project activities themselves are quite complex as there are multiple components with a diversity of elements. The sustainable development training components have great potential to become economically viable. Although the target beneficiaries (poor, rural villagers from remote areas) will never have the funds to finance their own participation, these training services will also be of interest to governments, international development and conservation agencies and others interested in seeing their beneficiaries receive this kind of training. There will also be opportunities to provide services at a profit to tourists, students from richer countries, and aid agency staff as a means of subsidizing activities that will require continuing support. Ongoing partnerships with universities, research institutions and government agencies represent another element of sustainability for these project activities.
Conclusion While the elements of this document are separated into components, it is very important to stress that there will be one team carrying out an entirely integrated set of activities, all of which will be contributing to the same goals and objectives. The work herein proposed is not viewed by ANAI as a normal ‘project’. Rather, it will be the central focus of ANAI’s work for the next decade. Over the past year, we have streamlined and refocused ANAI, preparing the organization, staff and its grassroots partners to dedicate our efforts to this work. We fully understand that this is an ambitious proposal, and that reaching our objectives will be extremely challenging. We also understand that the proposed work is not THE answer to Mesoamerica’s conservation and sustainable development needs, as no one initiative could ever be so. We do believe that it will be an extremely important and unique contribution in areas and in ways that are not being adequately addressed, effectively complementing the work of many others. ANAI is committed to the region, its people and its future. We have a proven track record of success in guiding grassroots processes toward sustainability. We eagerly look forward to this challenge.
EVALUACION CURSO BINACIONAL Provincia Bocas del Toro, Panamá y Región de Talamanca, Costa Rica (21-28 AbrilL, 2008)
1) ¿Cuál fue el aspecto más importante que aprendió durante este Intercambio? LUIS: El aspecto organizacional de tema productivo agroecológico-turismo. El tema educativo hacia las comunidades. El logro de integrar la extensión de docencia Universitaria a distancia, como modelo de Proyecto Productivo. ERNESTO: Compartimos la experiencia que el turismo, no solo el que tiene mucho dinero puede realizar. Nosotros tenemos todos los recursos, materiales. Solo necesitamos crear una organización o grupos para iniciar la operación. Una finca sostenible que cuente con toda la diversidad de cultivos, cacao, frutales, maderables, plantas medicinales. Conocimiento y experiencia como hacer un SVAP, evaluar habitat de peces y invertebrados.
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NARCISO: Los tres aspectos son los siguientes: el turismo, biomonitoreo y el no legible. ZACARIAS: Aprendí la importancia de las diferentes especies en los diferentes ríos. Conocer las variedades de árboles que están en las montañas. Grupos de diferente etnia y las comunidades que las rodean. CIRILO: El injerto, monitoreo, experiencia de los compañeros. ELVIRA: Identificación de los animales invertebrados y sus funciones de cada una. El cuidado que se da a la tortuga marina. El sistema como se han manejado las mujeres de Gandoca y también en la Casa de las Mujeres. También el uso de materiales reciclado y sus usos.
MARIBEL: Todo el aspecto estaba más importante para mí, porque aprendimos a monitorear, ver las tortugas, los peces y también aprendí a inspeccionar cacao. CRESENCIO: El comportamiento de los microorganismos vivos y la relación biológica que existe en la naturaleza para un servicio equilibrado en el sistema de su habitat. Los beneficios que aporta un área sana sin contaminación ambiental en la vida de cada ser vivo. RUBEN: Varias Cosas. SIN NOMBRE: La importancia de conservar y proteger a las tortugas y el monitoreo de los peces.
2) ¿Cuál fue la sesión, sección o tema del Intercambio que su persona encontró más interesante e importante, para ayudar a mejorar la realidad de su comunidad? LUIS: Tema de producción: agroecológica, turismo, protección de tortugas marinas, manejo de cacao, injerto, diagnóstico de los ríos. ERNESTO: Explotación de turismo rural. Tener una finca agroecológica o diversificada. NARCISO: La capacitación del injerto de cacao en Finca Lomas por la cual puedo ejercer mi finca ZACARIAS: Biomonitoreo. CIRILO: Liderazgo, conocer cómo mejorar nuestra comunidad.
ELVIRA: La charla sobre el mapa de su comunidad y sus alrededores. También los cuidados de las cuencas y el manejo de micro cuencas. El sistema como se ha manejado la evaluación sobre el manejo del cacao. MARIBEL: La forestación. CRESENCIO: El establecimiento de un área con árboles frutales en asocio con especies tipo comercial o agroindustrial. El establecimiento de parcelas en sistemas agro ecológico con miras a emprender actividades turísticas. El rescate y la práctica culturales de cada área o grupo étnico en el planeta tierra. Convertir como fuente de ingreso económico para su comunidad. RUBEN: La experiencia de monitoreo en ríos. Intercambio de su cultura de producto orgánico, injerto. La importancia de la biodiversidad y la alimentación. SIN NOMBRE: Monitoreo de peces. Tema del Liderazgo. El mapeo de los problemas de la comunidad.
3) ¿Cuál fue la sesión, sección o tema que encontró menos interesante o importante? LUIS: El proceso del chocolate. ERNESTO: Tipo de poda que se aplica. Sistema de secado de cacao que se utiliza en la planta.
NARCISO: Monitoreo en la noche en la playa. ZACARIAS: La Finca de Samuel (ya existe en mi comunidad). CIRILO: Algunos comentarios de Stibrawpa. ELVIRA: La poda de cacao en el sistema donde lo dejan sin hoja. MARIBEL: La chocolatera. CRESENCIO: El tema de medicina tradicional, porque no existe información científica sobre la misma, que sea confiable. RUBEN: La poda y la ausencia de los pobladores. SIN NOMBRE: Los injertos y la poda del cacao.
4) Cite tres sugerencias para mejorar este tipo de intercambios de experiencias. LUIS: Para la próxima capacitación traer mapa original de Panamá y Costa Rica, para conocer sus afluencias hidrográficas. ¿Qué posibilidades tienen los panameños de participar en los cursos artesanales con concha de coco o huesos? La exposición o participación debe ser muy no legible y central en el tema. No debemos cambiar al caribeño Benson en la organización.
ERNESTO: Debe darse seguimiento a este Intercambio en el tema de Biomonitoreo y finca diversificada, para así medir el esfuerzo que ha realizado la organización, como lo que han asimilado los participantes. NARCISO: Capacitar a los promotores en cuento a ecoturismo, para mejorar su nivel de ingresos. Mantener en comunicación a la organización en conjunto para no legible de accesibilidad. Capacitar a los promotores en idioma de los diferentes turistas. ZACARIAS: Que para la próxima capacitación en la estadía de Stibrawpa tenga lo necesario para los visitantes (toalla, jabón). Que se avise a las organizaciones la salida exacta desde su país. CIRILO: Buscar una persona o asociación responsable para comunicarle a los invitados o interesados. Que en vez de uno por comunidad que sean dos personas. Que sea de más días para aprender mejor. ELVIRA: Que se de seguimiento a la capacitación para seguir fortaleciendo con respecto a qué hacer dentro del ambiente. Buscar fondos para sostener a cada organización y olvidando a los peueños. Mantener la coordinación. MARIBEL: A la comunidad de Shiroles que cuide el río, no echar más basura a la quebrada, porque eso contamina los peces y al ser humano. Capacitar a la comunidad de Shiroles. CRESENCIO: Disponer documentación sobre el sistema Organización no legible. Que la práctica cultural sea más auténtica del área. Resaltar más producto autóctono de los aborígenes.
RUBEN: Tener más contacto con los Nogbe. Tener dos capacitaciones más sobre el plan de protección. Presencia de actos religiosos. Más práctica en el campo y talleres de discusión. Monitoreo en el área de la reserva no legible. Visitar también en nuestro lugar, conocer el sitio de parque como guía para mí. SIN NOMBRE: Más participantes de los productores de Talamanca en los talleres y no solo dos.