Micro-Enterprise Development

The Yachana Foundation and the Yachana Technical High School are providing young people from four Amazon provinces with the skills to be entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities. We believe that involving the students in practical methods of managing micro-enterprises is one of the best ways to ensure the long term survival of the rainforest. The people will be less inclined to destroy their rainforest if they can earn a sufficient income for their families. The school is also working toward the goal of being largely self-sufficient through its own micro-enterprises. After only five years of operation, it is generating approximately 35% of its operating expenses through different micro-enterprises managed by the students.

One of those micro-enterprises is the assembly and sale of a very simple, low cost water filtration system that meets the needs of those living at the base of the economic pyramid. You can be a part of this project by helping to supply five of the water filters for one-room schools in the Amazon region. It only costs $250 to provide safe drinking water to around 30 children in one of these schools. Through a tax-deductible donation to Yachana Foundation USA, you can also help our students in the development of their own micro-enterprise.

Another example are small solar panels and rechargeable LED lamps that are an environmentally-friendly alternative to candles in communities without electricity.  Also available are rechargeable battery packs and adaptors that allow charging of cellular phones with solar energy.  Students from Yachana are able to create their own micro-enterprise selling the solar kits which at the same time helps to create self-sustainability for the Foundation.

The Yachana T1 computers used in the media center at Yachana Technical High School are being offered to both government agencies and other organizations searching for solutions to challenges in rural areas throughout Ecuador.  These small, efficient, solid state machines run on only 12 watts of electricity and come with a waterproof, rubberized keyboad perfect for harsh conditions in all four regions of the country.  Linux Ubuntu operating systems and open source software are installed on each computer. 

We are proud to be a part of a growing group of schools that share self-sufficiency objectives led by the UK organization Teach A Man To Fish. In December of 2009, Yachana hosted the annual conference at Yachana Lodge where more than 100 people representing 24 countries came to learn and share best practices related to the creation of programs and schools where "education pays for itself."