Empower Blog

CEN Beta Group Returns from the Eixo Forte

Nadia Raizer — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:29:00 +0000

“Travel” is a word where some people may conjure up images of pristine beaches and blue water. Although there are quite a few places like this on earth, not all of them can offer an authentic sense and feeling of belonging.

Recently, CEN has been assisting 16 communities near beautiful Brazil, but more specifically, along the convergence of the Amazon River and Tapajós River to carry out a community-based ecotourism initiative called The Eixo Forte/Juá Community-Based Tourism Project. The project incorporates CEN’s growing experience towards strengthening basic skills and mindsets with a multi-faceted approach to fostering community-based ecotourism. Overall, the target was made to improve community livelihoods without abandoning unique lifestyles and culture.

The process of cultivating a strong and sustainable tourism sector in the region requires building community leadership and institutions capable of developing and managing the implementation of a community-wide, agreed-upon plan. It will also require ensuring strong, equitable economic growth while maintaining the cultural and environmental strengths of the communities that make them an attractive tourist destination in the first place.

To achieve this vision, CEN has partnered with Eunice Sena and Paulo Melo, two seasoned development professionals that live in the area and together, have over 50 years of experience in community-based development, as well as experience working with community leaders and other organizations.

Between the dates of February 13-22, CEN’s first trip, “Unveiling the Amazon”, was organized. Participants visited the communities near the Juá Creek, Santarém, the Tapajós National Forest, and the beachside resort of Alter do Chão. The main idea of the trip was to give visitors a chance to venture into pristine, remote areas of the Amazon where the CEN program is based, in order to more directly support their efforts towards creating sustainable economic opportunities. The pace of life in these tiny communities was still much the way it was 100 years ago, defined by harmony with nature and their surroundings. This trip provided the opportunity for people to interact and share with residents and their families informally, while making a lasting contribution to their community by supporting their initiatives, as well as by mutually sharing perceptions, thoughts, and experiences.

Tourists stayed in thatched roof lodges and local families’ houses, canoed with local guides in the streams, hiked the rainforest, experienced folkloric culture, shared traditional meals with their hosts, and discussed the project trip expectations, as well as the community plans with the leaders of the communities. Chuck Hollenbeck, one of the trip participants, stated: “We stayed two nights in houses of individuals who lived in the communities and I think that would be very appropriate for someone else who wanted to visit and get a very personal experience.”

Living like a local sounds romantic—and it can be. Especially if you were to walk out of your bedroom and the first thing you would see is a monkey or an actual açai tree. The lower Amazon River Basic is unique also because of its flora and fauna. For this reason, this part of Brazil is an amazingly exotic tourist destination not only for foreigners, but also for southern Brazilians (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo). There is a growing trend among young Brazilians to travel within the country. Community ecotourism is adventurous, informative and at times shocking for residents of large cities. It also gives a perspective on rural life which may not always be a bucolic picture. There are no paved roads between remote communities and after heavy rains they become impassable. Also, there is no mobile coverage and internet is scarce. Ronald Harmon, another trip participant, stated: “One of the problems that we encountered is that it was sometimes difficult for [the community members] to communicate. [It was] too difficult, too time-consuming. If they had cell phones, they could communicate more easily. They don’t have cell phone coverage in most of the areas in the communities we looked at. You have to get almost to the city of Santarém to get coverage.” These communities must truly rely on their own resources in order to survive.

Lower Amazon River Basic rural communities have historically made their living by subsistence farming: growing and gathering traditional açai, manioc, tapping rubber latex from rubber trees, and fishing and raising livestock, like cows and chickens. However, with the growing development of soybean production taking over the rainforest, they also need to look for other means of survival and self-sustainability. One of the ways to become more self-sustainable is by initiating ecotourism industries which ideally will help raise funds to develop local infrastructure.

The first CEN tourists sensed how much of a “novelty” they were, most of the locals had never even met foreign visitors! The goal of the trip was not only to promote the region as a destination in its own right, but to promote the idea of ecotourism to locals as a method of viable self-sustainability. The difficulty here lies in changing the inherent farmer and gatherer mentality that has been their tradition for generations.

“[I was] pleasantly surprised at how sophisticated [the members of the community] were in terms of community and community organization.”

Ron Harmon,
trip participant

Harmon added, “[I was] pleasantly surprised at how sophisticated [the members of the community] were in terms of community and community organization.” Recently, as a result of CEN work in this region, the 16 communities started to communicate with each other on a regular basis. They’ve created inter-community commissions that advise on everyday matters such as economic development, safety and security, and an overall well-being. As it often happens, older members of the community worry about preservation while the younger members tend to look for better opportunities outside of the communities. “The older members of the community were very well-informed, very thoughtful, [and] very articulate. They are thinking about how to preserve their communities and develop resources to do that” mentioned Hollenbeck in his interview about the trip.

This presents a unique situation where two views of the future can meet in the rainforest and help solve the economic challenge of self-sustainability. By enticing the younger generation with the prospect of opportunity within the community, there can be a harmonious balance between established tradition and future socio-economic growth. The development of community eco-tourism can help accomplish this.

This development of ecotourism will aid in the funding and maintaining of local infrastructure and communications, which in turn will further encourage communities to retain their identities in order to share their local culture with future tourists.

Helping Seeds to Blossom

Carly Schmidt — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:52:00 +0000

A few years ago, the lives of Margarete, Luciene, and Maria Eugete were notably different. Like many other people in communities in the Brazilian Amazon, these three women faced significant obstacles that prevented them from building sustainable livelihoods. Magarete had the potential to become a successful baker, but her family literally kept eating her profits. Luciene was a skilled tailor, but she needed to find new customers and buy a new sewing machine in order to expand her business. Maria Eugete had plenty of resources, but needed to develop key business skills and discipline in order to more effectively use those resources to get her clothing production project rolling. Plus, the women lacked faith in their ability to really better their lives. All of these obstacles and more prevented these women from building the successful, sustainable livelihoods they needed to improve their own well-being, provide for their families, and contribute to their community’s overall process of development.

It is because of the situations of people such as Magarete, Luciene, and Maria Eugete that CEN ran its cCLEAR Pilot Project in Suruacá from May 2008 to October 2009. This project created a culture of learning via CEN’s provision of information and resources, which were necessary to helping individuals, such as these women, become truly empowered with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes they need to be successful in their endeavors. Indeed, these three women as well as 13 other program participants in Suruacá, Maguary and Jamaraquá developed stronger critical thinking and problem-solving habits, empowerment through an understanding of both their situation and their capability of success, numerous important business skills, and more as a result of CEN’s project. Their participation in the program not only helped increase their profits, better provide for their families, but also provided them with the strong foundation they needed to become more self-reliant, break the cycle of poverty, and foster long-term, sustainable development.

However, the true test of success for CEN’s work would not come for some time. This is because it was necessary to see if the knowledge, skills, and attitudes developed by the participants would persist throughout the years, thus proving CEN’s work to have a long-lasting effect on the lives of people in Suruacá. Such empowerment of people in a sustainable manner is paramount to helping communities in the Brazilian Amazon become self-reliant enough to break their cycle of poverty.

Thus, CEN is very proud to announce that its project has indeed stood the test of time! During the organization’s most recent trip to Suruacá in February, CEN was pleased to discover that many of the program participants, including Magarete, Luciene, and Maria Eugete, had all made considerable progress in their business endeavors as a result of CEN’s work.

"A key difference between cCLEAR and other programs I’ve participated in the past is that CEN didn’t give me the answers to my problems but made me discover them myself. This way I learned better ways to solve problems for myself."

Luciene Souza dos Santos,
Participant in cCLEAR Pilot Project

Magarete now has great business management skills that allow her to increase her sales. She keeps careful records of her expenses, production, and profit, which allows her to realize that she must respond to higher wheat costs by slightly decreasing the size of her rolls to continue to be profitable. She also applied to a bank loan to produce a greater variety of bread and other products, and thus further expand her business.
Luciene and Maria Eugete has a partnership that allows them to pool resources, utilize each other’s strengths, and provide each other with the support they both need to be successful in producing and selling women’s lingerie. Maria Eugete contributed a new sewing machine that Luciene, as the more skilled tailor, uses to produce a lot of the clothing. Luciene describes Maria Eugete as being “gifted with the mouth”, and thus she makes an excellent saleswoman. Together, they produced and sold 100 articles of clothing in just two months earlier this year, demonstrating the importance of CEN’s work in getting entrepreneurs to collaborate. The two women are looking into creating labels and tags to sell their clothing in larger surrounding cities, thus further expanding their business as well.

It is uplifting to see the tangible effects of CEN’s work in the significant accomplishments of these women, as well as others. The communities are continuing to make solid steps forward on their paths of self-empowerment, self-reliance, and long-term, sustainable development. CEN greatly looks forward to seeing what is next for these and other communities throughout the Brazilian Amazon.

Substance over Statistics

Matt Rosier — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:58:00 +0000

"Statistics never prove anything."--E.F. Schumacher

I haven’t been to Brazil. I haven’t flown over the endless, green quilt of rain forest or ferried to the remote river outposts along the Amazon. I haven’t cheered for kids in a pickup soccer match, watched women weave bags, or purchased handmade goods from roadside markets. I haven’t stood heartbroken along dirt roads, hungry children, or in between crumbling favelas. I haven’t been inundated by the sights, sounds, and smells. But I have heard the stories and I have seen the photos. While I may not grasp the poverty of rural Brazil like those who have seen it firsthand, I’m aware of it in a way that makes it impossible to quietly slip from my consciousness.

At this point, it’s hard to resist injecting something concrete, like a terse fact, startling statistic or swath of economic indicators. Something that quantifies and amplifies the struggle of daily life for the millions living in poverty in Brazil. I could try the Gross National Product, the distribution of wealth, or the rate of deforestation. Maybe that would make it easier to corral the population and confidently characterize an entire demographic. I could go further and cherry-pick the statistics that invoke the greatest sympathy and smother all the particulars underneath a blanket of numbers.

But it’s hard to empathize with a number. I’m not suggesting that numbers don’t matter. I’m saying that they’re only one measure of well-being. An economic indicator is like your pulse: it tells doctors how fast your heart is beating, but it tells them nothing about your state of mind. Even that analogy, however, has its limits since a pulse is an individual measurement, not a collective one. Economic indicators say something about how effective the hospital is in treating its entire patient population, but nothing of the specific illnesses of the patients—nothing about a person with a name.

Since I’ve started working with CEN, I’ve realized that there are overwhelming social and psychological aspects of poverty that defy measurement. How do you measure marginalization and the disintegration of identity? How do you measure powerlessness and insecurity? It doesn’t seem like I could even begin to understand these fundamental facets of impoverishment without getting closer to people and their communities, without seeking to understand their perspectives and hear their stories.

This is what’s missing from the economic data: personal stories. It’s the stories that illuminate the full scope of poverty. It’s the stories that move me. Of course, when you hide behind data, it’s easier to dismiss stories as anecdotal and to measure progress only by trends in a couple of indicators. This way of thinking goes hand-in-hand with the conventional analysis of combatting poverty, the type practiced by many government agencies, NGOs and large non-profits. Traditional forms of aid, like trade liberalization policies and infrastructure improvements may nudge the economic indicators in the “right” direction but they barely remedy the social and mental sides of poverty and they make no effort to listen to what the poor themselves think should be done.

Throwing money and material resources at poverty may make a bureaucrat feel good, but it doesn’t cut it for me. I’m drawn to the CEN approach, which is one of engagement with people and communities. It’s an approach that listens rather than tells and assists rather than directs. It doesn’t ignore the economic side of poverty, but starts addressing it by beginning with individuals, like Ronilson, who started his own barber shop in the small town of Suruacá. It’s seeing his customer base grow month after month and watching him learn how to run a business that will last. It’s all of the intangibles that come with success, like the feeling of self-worth that comes from realizing you have something valuable to offer. It’s that smile that starts as a grin and doesn’t stop growing. It’s everything that cannot be summarized by a couple of numbers in a chart.

It’s the stories.

Living in a Fishbowl among Tourists

Matt Rosier — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:00:00 +0000

The residents of Caboclo riverside communities of Maguary, Jamaraquá and even the Eixo Forte, where tourism is just starting, are accustomed to tourism. Although the residents of those areas have had few personal interactions with visitors, they are already familiar with long gazes from unfamiliar eyes, glossy surfaces of cameras, and cell phones pointed in their direction. They watched as groups of travelers marched across cherished soil, fumbling with fold-out maps and searching for the essence of an exotic land.

For the children of these towns, like João, the attention carries a whiff of excitement as tourists stop to watch a pick-up soccer game, perhaps even cheering and chanting like ardent fans at a World Cup match. Although these temporary fans may be warmed by the smiles beaming from the faces of João and his friends, they’re likely to miss the skeptical glances from João’s parents. Like many long-term residents, they grow weary of being treated as exhibits on a trail of “off-the-beaten-track” destinations lauded by ecotourism companies interested in nothing more than parading a crew of passive spectators through the remote “wilds” of a rare and pristine place.

For locals, the feeling of being fish in a fishbowl contributes to existing sense of isolation and alienation. Though they warmly accommodate visitors and welcome engagements, locals are rarely spoken to while tourists shuffle past, checking off boxes on their week’s itinerary, and thinking of nothing more than the next shapeless event.

This is a tragic side of ecotourism. Prevalent throughout the Amazon, ecotourism has become the tourism industry’s fastest growing sub sector. Like many hip trends, its benevolent claims are often exaggerated by the crafty marketing of tourism operators concerned foremost with profit. Trips and projects are repeatedly carried out without local consent and support, threatening native cultures, habitats, and economies. In developing countries more specifically, crucial concerns are often side-stepped as the pleasures and leisure of tourists are elevated over the realities of maldistribution of resources; inequalities in representation and power; and unsustainable consumption patterns. Furthermore, contrary to claims, locals do not always benefit from ecotourism. They are rarely given reliable employment or a stake in the benefits that ecotourism operators extract from exploited communities.

"We want to remain engaged with the local residents after our departure, as we work to help them harness and create opportunities that enhance their lives and protect their chosen way of life."

Through our work with partners in the rural communities of the Brazilian Amazon, we’ve heard first-hand the concerns of residents who are exposed to harmful ecotourism practices and have worked with them to develop plans that not only protect their culture and habitat, but that give them the tools, knowledge, and support to take control and direct a majority of the benefits of ecotourism back into their communities.

In our last newsletter, we highlighted the next phase of our ecotourism project in the Eixo Forte (Juá) region. This February, we’re getting off to an exciting start by guiding a small group of 6-10 people to the Amazon for a week of immersion in the rural communities where we work. Our approach runs counter to the typical ecotourism trip. We want to give participants a chance to actively engage with the residents that we’ll be working with in our future initiatives, while also visiting the communities that have benefitted from past CEN projects. We’ll have an opportunity to directly support efforts to create sustainable economic activities as residents pursue paths toward self-reliance.

While we’ll have ample opportunity to cheer for João on the soccer field and partake in local festivities, we want to get to know the people in all of their environments. We want to learn about their fears and desires and to become better informed about the things which matter to them. We want to remain engaged with the local residents after our departure, as we work to help them harness and create opportunities that enhance their lives and protect their chosen way of life.p>

Harvesting Opportunities: Why Our Help with Community-based Tourism is Needed in the Eixo Forte ...

Matt Rosier — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:00:00 +0000

A shirtless boy perches on the edge of a red wheelbarrow, scraping the brown skin off manioc tubers using a worn knife. Manioc is a crop which provides one of the primary sources of income for the small, rural communities within the Juá Creek watershed. João has learned from his father how to grow, harvest and prepare this starchy root vegetable, grown on his family’s modest patch of land. Like his father, this is what he will be doing for the rest of his life, having no other alternatives. Over the years, João’s hands will wear in the familiar pattern of his father’s as years of toil erode muscle, leaving behind grooves in his face and vacant channels in his neck.

João’s family’s house is typical in the region, a set of weathered wooden walls topped with a palm-thatched roof, erected a few meters from a rutted dirt road. Lacking electricity and indoor plumbing, the house is no larger than a suburban American kitchen. It’s home to João’s parents and two of his siblings, who sleep beside each other on hammocks strung from the wall. They have food and shelter, but not much beyond that. Many residents throughout the Juá live on less than $2 a day.

Formal education for the children of the Juá ends around the seventh or eighth grade. If his parents are able to raise enough money on their meager income, João may be sent to a larger town like Santarém for continuing studies. While still a means to escape rural adversity, going away to school does not resemble the American education experience. João will have to live with siblings or other relatives, often on the periphery of the city, disenfranchised in an unfamiliar place. If he finishes school, he’s unlikely to return home to his father’s tiny manioc farm, choosing instead the challenges of claustrophobic city life, impoverished and isolated.

On the surface, João could easily pass as a typical American kid, but ask him what he wants to do when he grows up and he’ll shrug. Where an American boy might have aspirations to a career in medicine, law or business, João has little idea of the world of possibilities within and beyond his community. He does not have lofty dreams of distant expeditions and space travel, nor does he see himself driving a taxi or opening a restaurant. Much like inner city youth in the United States, the children of the Juá struggle with low self-esteem. While João may possess a rich imagination, he has trouble dreaming of a future different from what he’s been surrounded by his entire life.

João’s family and others like them are firmly ensnared in a culture of poverty that extends beyond material conditions and into the psychological and social fabric of the community. The tentacles of poverty are not always visible to an outsider, but they are all-encompassing, manifesting themselves in many ways: as a lack of representation, waning confidence, sparse education and a mindset of learned helplessness.

The solution to this problem is empowerment: residents of the Juá must be equipped to deal with economic opportunities that come their way - opportunities that, taken advantage of by outsiders, would quickly become threats to their way of life. Though they are fully capable of living off the land and providing for basic needs, the families of the Eixo Forte (Juá) must navigate the uncertainty of a fluctuating income based on one or two sources. Like his parents, João lacks the skills to take advantage of potential opportunities, like capitalizing on growing local tourism in the region. Meanwhile, in the nearby resort town of Alter de Chão, residents seize opportunities provided by an expanding tourism industry. Without the entrepreneurial initiative or business skills needed to harness opportunities, residents of the Juá are at risk of being marginalized as tourism passes through their communities, threatening their vibrant culture and native environment.

CEN started working in the Eixo Forte (Juá) region in 2011 to help residents cultivate tourism opportunities and reduce their dependence on scarce and uncertain streams of income. In Phase I of the Eixo Forte / Juá Community-based Ecotourism Project, CEN built upon the cooperative and self-reliant spirit of the Eixo Forte’s residents to mobilize 16 communities, helping them define their vision for tourism and development in the region. Rather than let the industry overtake their region without their input, CEN has helped these communities develop plans of their own.

In Phase II of the project, which starts in December, CEN will help the communities implement their chosen tourism projects by providing them with vocational and entrepreneurial skills training, mentoring and support. Working with experienced partners living in the region, each community within the Eixo Forte will select two to three leaders to participate in CEN’s immersive PRATICAR training sessions. CEN partners will coach these 25-30 community members as they learn how to coordinate resources, construct budgets, obtain permits, secure access to government assistance programs, market their projects and manage their profits. Through this process, CEN strives to prepare communities to successfully govern their initiatives after its part in the project has ended.

As a result, instead of a whole day spent wrestling manioc roots from the ground, João might help his parents build a roadside food cart or gather natural materials to weave into handmade rugs. He might help paint signs or teach visitors about local trees. He will share in the deep sense of accomplishment that comes with hard-earned success. Along with his parents, he will learn skills and habits that can be applied to future projects. He might even have a few ideas of his own, borne out of the confidence that comes from a history of positive experiences. Standing behind João will be the encouraging and supportive community of family, friends and neighbors, equipped to overcome problems and determine their own future. Together they will move forward, empowered.

Other Resources

What is Community-based tourism?
Community-Based Tourism Program
CEN's Eixo Forte / Juá Community Tourism Project

Driving Their Own Fate

Aileen Andres — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:00:00 +0000

In 2010, Brazil was the third most popular tourist destination in Latin America, bringing in 5.1 million visitors. This number is expected to skyrocket in upcoming years as Brazil hosts the World Cup in 2014 and the summer Olympics in 2016. As in any country with this number of visitors, the tourism industry is bound to be extremely lucrative. But lucrative for whom? Ideally, an increase in tourists would benefit the whole of the country. However, this is rarely the case.

I recently spent six months living and attending university in Nairobi, Kenya. Like any tourist spending time in East Africa, I wanted to see the big five animals (lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, and rhinos), and booked a safari for myself and three of my friends. The most popular place for a safari in Kenya is in the southwest region of the country, an area called Maasai Mara. It’s named after its indigenous inhabitants, the Maasai – an ethnic group that’s likely to come to mind when you think of Kenya. They are a tall, lean people who are known for their warriors as well as the colorful beads that they use to create necklaces, beads, earrings, and other ornamentation for their bodies.

On any given weekend in Nairobi, Maasai markets pop up around nearly every corner. Their crafts are prized by expats and visitors alike, and their dancing is an attraction to many a tourist in hotels, resorts, and cultural-performance centers. This is why I was surprised at how little a presence the Maasai had in the game park. While some of the guides were of Maasai descent, they dressed in the Western idea of how a safari guide should be dressed – khakis and wide-brimmed hats (I expect this is to make the tourists feel less ridiculous in their own khaki outfits, mosquito-net covered hats, and hiking boots – keep in mind that guides and tourists alike spend 80% of the day sitting in a jeep and poking their head out of the windows, an activity that doesn't really require heavy-duty ankle support). I spoke to one of the uniformed Maasai guides from a different tour group, and he told me that he only dresses like that for work. On a normal day, he prefers his traditional robes.

Unlike the other safari companies, the tour we took was partnered with some of the local Maasai people. This meant that while our main guard was from the Kenya coast, we rode with a young Maasai man, traditional robes and all. He was excellent at spotting animals hidden by the terrain, and he knew the park like it was his own backyard, which technically it was. I was really happy with the way that my safari company drew on the expertise of the local community. While other companies had inserted themselves into the region and assimilated the locals into their Western vision, my company was closely partnered with the Maasai, who were able to directly profit from their traditional culture and skills (as well as give a better tour).

Unfortunately, tourism companies like this one are few and far between. In most cases, tourism will naturally make its way into certain regions based on their proximity to larger cities and natural attractions. When this happens, large tourism companies dominate the market, leaving local communities to watch as bystanders while outsiders reap all the benefits of their home. This also puts the locals in danger of losing the culture that is uniquely theirs as a result of following the rules and regulations that the outside companies enforce.

CEN is working to counter this phenomenon. We realize that local residents should be reaping economic gain from an increase in tourism. The indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon should be seeing an improvement in their lives and well-being as they see more foreigners coming through. CEN realizes that in order for this to happen, the local communities need to be prepared before they see this influx. This means that the infrastructure and social institutions needed to support tourism have to be solidly put in place before they can host visitors.

Through CENs eco-tourism program in the Eixo Forte (Juá) community, CEN focuses on building the community to become self-sustaining and successful on its own, encouraging locals to create ideas of ways to improve the area in which they live. Visitors to the Eixo Forte Region can then be invited into these communities to learn about and experience their unique culture in its organic state. This creates a sustainable source of income and enterprise in the region; it is a type of tourism directly benefits locals.

Had there been a presence such as CEN in the Maasai region years prior to the increase of westerners going on safari, I expect that the local Maasai people would have a much firmer hold on activities in the national park in their backyard. Had they been able to build themselves up initially and capitalize on the increasing foreign interest, their lives as a whole might be drastically different today. Rather than taking a backseat to what happens in the Mara, they would have been the drivers. And who better to drive that industry than those who have spent their whole lives in the region? Local communities should be able to take control of their own land and economic growth, and CEN strives to make this possible.

Other Resources

What is Community-based tourism?
Community-Based Tourism Program
CEN's Eixo Forte / Juá Community Tourism Project

Looking Past the Surface - Why Soft Skills Matter

Kelley James — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:47:00 +0000

Numerous studies have shown that kids from low-income families who attend quality preschool programs are much more likely to succeed, both academically and later in life. One study in particular tracked two low-income groups with similar IQ levels - one that attended a preschool program and another that did not - over the course of forty years. It concluded that students who have these early learning experiences are more likely to progress further in school and earn more money over their lifetime, and are also less likely to be incarcerated. The reasons behind this are simple: early structured learning serves as a time to develop soft skills that will aid students in further lifelong learning. Learning to share, listen to directions, and interact with their peers allows children to begin forming communication, social and critical thinking skills which can all fit under the umbrella of soft skills.

Soft skills are critically important when considering international development issues. Skills such as critical thinking and problem solving are vital to the success of any livelihood. In the U.S., despite the demand for technological abilities and educational credentials, the top skills employers still seem to desire are soft skills such as critical thinking and teamwork. Obviously, the U.S. job market is very different from how livelihoods are developed in poverty-stricken areas. However, it seems only logical that these soft skills would be just as important in developing nations. Looking at the well-crafted Couro Ecológico purses, it’s easy to see that these Brazilian communities are not lacking in hard skills. What seems to make these hard skills really effective is an underlying foundation of soft skills, which enable continued growth and and the ability to weather obstacles.

With this in mind, it seems that many non-profit organizations focus a great deal on addressing immediate material needs and development of hard skills, such as supplying mosquito nets or offering basic vocational training. While there are tangible benefits from these needs being addressed, often they only help with surface level problems and therefore do little to create sustainable changes in poverty. Unlike hard skills, soft skills cannot be taught in a singular lesson. These skills are acquired through time and hands-on learning. Through CEN’s mentorship program, people are given the opportunity to be in power over their decisions and learn to use these soft skills, fostering a mindset of self-reliance. While it may be easier to see the effects of basic skills and tangible goods being provided by some non-profit groups, the development of soft skills through CEN takes a more long-term aim at changing the mindsets, opportunities and future success of those in poverty.

Sources

Webley, K. (2011). The preschool wars. Time Magazine, 178 (14).

Molotsky, I. (1999, June 9). Study shows importance of preschool and child-care quality in education. New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com

Disempowerment is at the core of poverty

Robert Bortner — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Poverty is more than merely an absence of material conditions, such as money, water, food, education, and housing. The unspoken assumption is that when the missing conditions are provided, the poor will no longer be poor[1]. However, despite spending billions of dollars in development assistance, progress in raising living standards around the world remains very slow. Over 2.5 billion people in the world, or nearly half of the world’s population, still live below the internationally defined poverty line of less than $2 per day[2].

Poverty is complicated, and includes social and psychological dimensions as well as material ones. According to the World Bank, poverty is about not having a job, fearing the future, and living one day at a time. It is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.[3] It is a lack of access to services, exposure to unsafe environments, being a victim of social discrimination and exclusion. Poverty occurs in all countries and economic conditions: mass poverty in many developing countries and pockets of poverty amid wealth in developed countries. Economic recession, disaster and conflict result in losses of livelihood. Destitution and lack of economic future await low-wage workers and people who fall outside support systems and social safety nets.

John Friedmann, widely regarded as among the most authoritative living planning writers on sustainable international development, argues that poverty should be seen not merely in material terms, but as social, political and psychological powerlessness. He presents the case for an alternative development strategy committed to empowering the poor in their own communities, and to mobilizing them for political and economic participation on a wider scale. In contrast to centralized development policies devised and implemented at the national and international level, alternative development restores the initiative to those in need, on the grounds that unless people have an active role in directing their own destinies long-term progress will not be achieved.[4] “The poor must take part in meeting their own needs. To do so, they must acquire the means to do this”[5].

Poverty has social, psychological, as well as economic dimensions

The poor are wrapped in a series of restrictions and limitations in three areas:

Economic Dimensions

The economic dimension of poverty is well understood. Tangible assets such as capital, material, food, energy, roads and other infrastructure, and the skills to utilize them, are needed to solve many problems. For example, it would be difficult to educate children without teachers, books, a school building, and electricity, as well as financial resources to pay the teachers and maintain the building.

Social Dimensions

Social dimensions of poverty are more ambiguous than material dimensions. The unequal social status of the poor inevitably results in unequal access to power, equity and resources. Dominant groups wishing to maintain their privilege subordinate (both intentionally and unintentionally) those who have no power. The community, whose purpose is to maintain the status quo, acts as an organ which processes and reinforces this unequal social structure. It creates processes, systems, and structures that perpetuate the system of inequality.

Social aspects of poverty also include lack of political representation and environmental inequality – for instance, allowing those with power to have a meaningful say in government, or powerful companies wreaking environmental havoc on the local environment without being fined or forced to remediate their damage.

Psychological/Mental Dimensions

Psychological aspects are often underappreciated because they are less tangible than financial or social inequality. But without the proper mindset, it is impossible for impoverished individuals to take control over their lives.

The poor often believe that they are destined to live out the rest of their lives in the same pattern. Because they live hand-to-mouth, they learn behaviors that are not conducive to creating a better life – for instance, they cannot plan for the future with resources they don't have, so they don't know how to set goals and create plans to reach them. They have a poor self-image, believing themselves incapable of breaking out of poverty.

In short, they are victims of learned helplessness and fatalistic attitudes. The impoverished must learn the mental skills, behaviors, and mindset with which they can break out of poverty. They must learn how to identify their own strengths and capitalize on them. Otherwise, they will accept financial and social aid when it is offered but do not believe themselves capable of perpetuating any positive change. They will be stuck in a cycle of poverty, dependent on aid and unable to gain control over their own lives.

The problem of sustainability

Several years ago, a highly respected community organizer in the Amazon region where we work confided to our Director, Bob Bortner, that, in the over 25 years she had worked with the communities in the Amazon, she could only think of a few individuals who embraced acceptance that they didn’t to rely upon others to solve the challenges they faced in leading productive lives and realizing their goals.

This is representative of a widespread failure of development. Unfortunately, much of the aid given to those stuck in the cycle of poverty doesn’t meet all three prerequisites of empowerment, and often further perpetuates the dependence of the intended beneficiaries. Many projects attempt to address economic dimensions of poverty - by providing needed infrastructure, such as building wells, or providing energy and telecommunications, or teaching residents new livelihoods. Others focus on the social dimensions by redistributing land, improving governance and building leadership institutions.

Few also address embedded psycho-social dimensions of poverty by helping the residents develop the mindsets, critical thinking, and problem solving skills they need to overcome inevitable obstacles they will face – and to realize they are able to overcome the obstacles. As result, after the project is over and they are left on their own, many of these projects cannot be sustained and they fail.

The solution to poverty: empowerment

The empowerment of individuals and their communities is key to sustainably overcoming poverty and addressing economic development. The term empowerment has become a buzzword that means many different things to different people. For many, an empowered individual is one who simply has the opportunities to accomplish goals.

However, all three aspects of poverty must be addressed before the impoverished have control over their lives. No amount of resources alone will sustain positive change until individuals and their communities are empowered to identify their own strengths, assets, skills and attributes that can then be channeled into activities that result in a self-sustaining livelihood. Even before being able to take advantage of material opportunities, you must:

Realize that you can better your life through your own problem solving skills
Have the skills, resources and opportunities to accomplish your goals, and
Have freedom from obstacles, which would prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Examples of obstacles include war, epidemics, adequate transportation, access to energy, limited access to capital, and many others.

Thus, the problem of disempowerment is a complex one with few easy answers. CEN's work is only one piece of the solution, but it is a crucial one. By empowering communities, we can help ensure that positive change will be self-sustaining.

[1] Messiah College, 2007. Web. 8 Mar 2012. <http://www.thecollaboratoryonline.org/wiki/Chapter_One-_Charting_the_Course>.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Poverty. N.p., 2011. Web. 8 Mar 2012. <http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/ >.

[4] Friedman, John. Empowerment: The Politics of Alternative Development. Wiley-Blackwell, 1992. 102. Print.

[5] Ibid.

Create local incentives to reduce illegal logging

Robert Bortner — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:46:00 +0000

Tropical deforestation accounts for almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Because of its substantial deforestation, Indonesia is thought to be the world's third-largest producer of greenhouse gases, after the United States and China.

The Amazon rainforest has been described as the "lungs of our planet" because it provides the global environment with the essential service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. More than 20 percent of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon rainforest. In 2001, the Amazon covered approximately 5.4 million square kilometers, which is only 87 percent of its original size.^[1^] Rainforests have decreased in size primarily due to deforestation. Despite reductions in the rate of deforestation in the last 10 years, the Amazon rainforest will diminish by 40 percent by 2030 at the current rate.^[²^] According to WWF Brazil, deforestation and forest fires are responsible for 75 percent of Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions.

In The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (NBER Working Paper No. 17417), co-authors Robin Burgess, Matthew Hansen, Benjamin Olken, Peter Potapov, and Stefanie Sieber find that Indonesia's decentralized and relatively weak governmental controls over forest resources in the post-Suharto era have contributed to illegal logging and widespread deforestation.

This is similar to the situation in the Brazilian Amazon. The far northern state of Roraima is very dependent upon timber sales and cattle production, and politicians are extremely beholden to these special interests. A few years ago, a group of state police set fire to a large part of Xixuaú, one of the communities where CEN has worked. The police also attempted to arrest the head of a local NGO, Associação Amazônia, on trumped charges in order to block the NGO's efforts to include the Reserva Xixuaú-Xiparinã in a new federal reserve, which would prevent forest extraction and cattle farming on the land. Ultimately, the police effort failed, but this demonstrates how far local and state officials will go to support the efforts of logging interests and cattle ranchers.

Recently, there have been increasing calls for part of the state of Pará, where CEN is working, to split to become a new state. This new state of Tapajós, of which Santarém would be the new capital, would be heavily reliant upon soy and timber revenues. Local and state politicians would be increasingly susceptible to influence by these interests, in the same way as they are in Roraima. The communities where we are working would be increasingly threatened by illegal logging, cattle ranching and soy farming, and deforestation rates in the region would undoubtedly increase.

The results of the Burgess et al. study suggest that, in their efforts to encourage conservation in forest-rich countries like Indonesia, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, policymakers should consider the incentives of the local officials and politicians who may be profiting from the exploitation of these resources. The authors conclude that standard economic theories combined with innovative means of monitoring illegal extraction can offer powerful insights into what drives shortsighted and destructive resource management.

When a Quick Fix Gets the Deep Six

Administrator — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:42:00 +0000

CEN was featured in an article by Michael J. Carter which appeared in IPS (Inter Press Service) on December 27th about figuring out how to change the world for the better.

According to a 2009 study at Stanford University, a new non-profit organisation is registered every 10 to 15 minutes in the United States alone. As a result there are as many varieties of aid projects as colours in the rainbow.

How hard can it be? Find a problem and solve it.

Problem: Women in Afghanistan are oppressed.

Solution: Help empower them by creating a women-only shopping mall, thereby helping them earn income and gain business experience. Read the full story.