www.amazonpartnerships.org

Climate Change and Changing Development:Investing in the Amazon Partnerships Foundation Model

What Is Amazon Partnerships Foundation?

Amazon Partnerships Foundation is a U.S. 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization based in Napo Province in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where indigenous Kichwa people are struggling with climate change, environmental destruction, and the loss of their culture, which for centuries has valued equilibrium between human activity and conservation of the rainforest.

Kichwa people make up approximately 55% of the population of Napo Province, which lies on the western edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon and the eastern edge of the Andes and is part of the UNESCO Sumaco Biosphere Reserve. This incredibly diverse region contains more than 650 species of birds, 6,000 species of plants, and seven distinct eco-systems including tropical forest.

Unfortunately, deforestation in this region occurs at a rate of 56,000 square acres per year, and nearly 71%

of the population lives in poverty. River levels are dropping and rain patterns are changing. Nevertheless, many communities want to reverse this grim reality: they want to combat climate change, stop environmental degradation, and find ways to strike a balance between their need to sustain their families and the global need to protect the Amazon.

That is where our work comes in.

We empower Kichwa communities by providing small grants and project management training for conservation projects that they design and manage. With this type of support, communities take ownership of their ideas and results. They gain the skills and confidence to lead innovative and effective efforts in sustainable resource management, based on traditional values, that can serve as examples for others in the region and around the world.

What Is Our Approach?

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At the invitation of communities, who hear about us through word of mouth or local media, we begin with a presentation of our documentary Life and Breath , which chronicles Kichwa communities' concerns and solutions for addressing climate change as well as the basic science behind the issue. We use the documentary, filmed locally in Kichwa with Spanish and English subtitles, to catalyze a discussion among community members about the climate crisis and its underlying problem: how to protect natural resources and satisfy urgent human needs for economic opportunity, better health, and education.

In follow up workshops, we teach community members how to assess their assets, problems, and ideas, then design project proposals that reflect their priorities. For winning proposals, we provide up to $2,000 in financial support plus one year of intensive workshops in project implementation and evaluation. In the implementation and evaluation phase, we teach communities how to complete project plans, record and analyze data, and measure progress toward benchmarks they set, and their own results qualify them for follow-on funding.

What Have We Accomplished?

In just a little over a year, we've conducted more than 70 workshops in project planning and implementation for 11 communities. We have funded seven projects through which communities have installed a total of 88 rainwater catchment systems, built five composting toilets, planted 450 trees, and provided training in organic cacao production for 36 women and men--all projects that communities have initiated and executed themselves. More than 12,000 Ecuadorians have watched Life and Breath, either in their community or on local television broadcasts. Several hundred viewers in the U.S. have also seen and been moved by the documentary, which was selected for the Venice, California Green Screen Environmental Film Festival.

The community projects we've supported since our founding in 2009 have positively impacted approximately 1400 women, men, and children, and more than ever, people in rural communities as well as urban areas are expressing concern about climate change and other conservation issues.

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We've also built strong relationships with the German Development Corporation (a German government global development agency), the Ecuadorian environment ministry and provincial government, Universidad Andina (a leading Ecuadorian university on climate change issues), plus international institutions such as UC Berkeley and the Global Fund for Community Foundations. These partnerships enable us to expand our reach while maintaining our streamlined budget and direct relationships with communities.

Why Is What We Do Valuable?

We work in the Andes-Amazon corridor, which global environmental organizations recognize as a major conservation priority: high levels of biodiversity, relatively intact forests, and comparatively low human population density mean that conservation efforts in this region will likely have greater positive effect and greater return on investment. Moreover, we confront the urgent and seemingly intractable problems of climate change and rainforest conservation at one of the most inaccessible points of intervention: the community level.

We see high rates of success with our projects (on average 80% participation and follow-up) for two key reasons: one is the sense of ownership that our model instills from the beginning, and the other is our focus on equal partnerships. Many large-scale conservation initiatives often fail because they lack the critical piece of genuine community support, which comes only as a result of building community partnerships based on equality. Not only do we have the agility and local knowledge to form equal relationships with communities, we have the professional credibility and expertise to help connect communities and large institutions.

This combination of factors enables us to:

● Extend the work of large organizations that lack the experience, infrastructure, or relationships with communities to garner grassroots support for large-scale conservation/climate change initiatives, such as forest protection programs

● Do the labor-intensive, longer timeline work of building relationships and raising awareness at the grassroots while other organizations are implementing short-term projects that depend on community buy-in for sustainability

● Close the communication gap between communities and large organizations, helping both sides express their concerns, priorities, and perspectives to achieve common goals

● Empower citizens to participate in environmental policy-making so local governments can be held accountable and have the public support necessary to coordinate large conservation efforts

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What Do We Want to Do Next?

At its core, our model is based on transforming the power dynamic between communities and the development institutions that work with them. We believe that for any changes to take root, the desire and commitment must come from the communities--they must be the drivers and the owners of development projects, which should reflect their vision for protecting natural resources. Our job is to provide them with the tools to articulate and realize their vision and to connect them with key stakeholders, empowering communities to create a groundswell of change from the bottom up.

Communities and institutional partners are recognizing that our model is something truly innovative, something that may genuinely transform the way development is "done" in the region. Our work is also drawing attention from international organizations looking for more effective ways to involve communities in conservation efforts.

Now is the time not only to catalyze the full potential of our model in the Amazonian region where we work, but to lay the foundation so that it can be replicated and scaled up in other areas of Ecuador and beyond.

Our three-year plan to achieve these goals includes the following activities:

1. Collaborate with communities on up to 15 projects annually, which can range from rainwater catchment systems and composting toilets to organic cacao production, greenhouse construction, marketing of traditional handicrafts, and reforestation. Other projects will undoubtedly emerge: our dynamic, relationship-based process stimulates communities' creativity so that they will propose projects that we cannot now imagine.

2. Implement a systematic yet flexible monitoring and evaluation plan that will provide meaningful data and analysis on our results and processes. With this information, we will create a comprehensive guide for implementing our model and customizing it for other regions.

3. Build a team of local professionals who know the communities, speak the local language, reflect the traditional conservation values of Kichwa culture, can serve as role models, and can eventually lead Amazon Partnerships Foundation over the long-term.

4. Nurture our strong relationship with local institutions to help promote conservation and sustainable development initiatives. We are developing a formal agreement with the provincial government and the German Development Corporation to integrate our model with their regional resource management plan.

5. Promote environmental education and leadership across a wide range of sectors through presentations of our documentary, development of environmental curriculum, event coordination, technical support, etc.

6. Share our model with national and international organizations to stimulate further debate and reflection on the power relationship between donors and/or development organizations and the grassroots.

How Can You Help?

Make a tax-deductible investment in Amazon Partnerships Foundation. We are looking for committed investors who want to confront the climate crisis and related environmental problems by changing the paradigm of development.

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To realize this vision, our Ecuadorian-U.S. board invites you to support the following campaigns:

Goal 1: Current Year Campaign$30,000 for 2011 program and operating expenses--received by June 1, 2011Progress to Date: 27% of goal

Goal 2: Multi-Year Support Campaign$150,000 over three-years (2011-2014) to support full implementation of our model and analysis of results--$50,000 received by August 1, 2011Progress to Date: 0% of goal

Goal 3: Reserve Funds Campaign$30,000 reserve to provide long-term stability and emergency funds, pledged by December 1, 2011Progress to Date: 0% of goal

Not only are we implementing one of Latin America's most successful community development models, but we're doing it on a streamlined budget: all local staff work directly with communities, we manage all of our fundraising and outreach internally or through volunteers, and we leverage our partnerships to make every dollar count.

For more information or to discuss other ways you can support this important work, contact one of our board members:

Susan King: studer.king@yahoo.comStella Klemperer: stella.klemperer@gmail.comMary Fifield: mary@amazonpartnerships.org

www.amazonpartnerships.org

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What Communities Say

"We didn't have any sanitation, so we had a meeting with all of the community members to plan a (composting toilet project), which has been very useful. Unlike other institutions, Amazon Partnerships Foundation has a process for follow up . . . to help people take care of the environment, value the environment. . . . That's why this project is so important."--Nelly Tanguila, community of Palma Amazonica

"It's noticeable how people are learning to conserve water since we implemented the rainwater catchment project. . . and now they realize that we need to plant trees to have more rainfall. As vice-president of the parish government, I want to involve more Kichwa communities in the cause to protect our environment and revive our culture."--Angel Aguinda, community of Campana Cocha

What Our Partners Say

"Life and Breath is truly an inspiring video. We have used it for viewings with Kichwa communities in other areas of the Amazon and even in the Andean highlands, and there has always been lively discussion and interest because it is in Kichwa and it has high production value. The Amazon Partnerships Foundation approach is one that any person who has worked in development will recognize as the only viable model for achieving real change. It is time for donors to recognize and support this. – Claire Nicklin, Conservación y Desarrollo

"We recognize the importance of Amazon Partnerships Foundation's model to increase communities' capacity. We believe their vision and community relationships are a key factor for success among stakeholders working on sustainable development."--Rusbel Chapalbay, German Development Corporation

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