Community Development

One of the reasons the Yachana Foundation has been successful with its work in the Amazon is because of its strong community ties.  In the community of Mondaña, where Yachana’s operations are located, we built the elementary school and donated the land so community members could build houses closer to the school so their children would not have to travel for miles to get to classes.  The Foundation created the farmers organization made up of 24 communities called Amenicer Campesino.  This group helped build the Mondaña Medical Clinic in 1997 and was the key association of a successful and continuing program of agricultural technical assistance in the cultivation of organic cacao.  The Foundation also found the support so the community could build a church in the village.  The elementary school, run by the government, uses a "school canoe" everyday to bring 80 students from nearby communities to the elementary and middle school with fuel for the canoe provided by the Foundation since the government does not have the funds to cover this expense.

The Foundation is the largest employer in the region with many members of families working for the organization.  The tourism activities have a much broader affect by generating income for families who provide services to the lodge: demonstrations for our visitors in gold panning, use of their land to visit a special species of bird, providing the medicine man program and supplying vegetables and fruits for the school and lodge kitchens.  

Extending into other provinces, the Foundation created the farmers association Aroma Amazonica in Sucumbios, the province to the north.  Through this association, around 1,400 hectares (3,460 acres) of cacao trees were planted and nine agricultural collection centers were built giving the farmers a place to take their produce so that value can be added through the processes of fermentation and drying.  The association negotiates a fair trade price for the farmer’s cacao.  

The Foundation has built 21 schools throughout the Amazon.  It has provided agricultural and conservation training programs in dozens of communities and reforested hundreds of hectares in the region.  Through its conservation program, 1,800 hectares (4,450 acres) of rainforest are protected and used for community education and development of tourism activities.  The organization has also started 16 micro-credit programs in different villages. These plus many other initiatives throughout the Amazon have established the Yachana Foundation as a well respected organization working in education, health, agriculture, income generation and conservation.  Through the Foundation’s efforts in education, the students in the program become the multipliers for the work of the Foundation.