Support Meaningful Social Impact in Colombia

You are going to love the advances we have made this summer-- thank you for helping us make it this far.

We have a lot of news to share with you:

First, in La Comuna 8, Medellín, for the Project “Recuperando Vida”—in English “Recovering Life”, we made important headway with the private sector to establish links between Recyclers in Cerro de los Valores and the private sector, opening up arkets for them to sell the recyclable materials that they collect.

In the same region of Medellín, we set up 200 square meters of gardens in the School Vida para Todos (“life for all” in English) along with our project partners, Bancolombia and The Chef is Back. The students are now not only growing food for the community, but are also taking their natural sciences and chemistry classes in the garden. Time outside, working collaboratively and towards a common goal is known as what is called “ecotherapy”—the students have told is that it makes them more relaxed, they feel like they can solve problems better and work have more peaceful relationships with their fellow students and teachers.

Both of these projects are part of an integral approach to development in La Comuna 8 that we are promoting, alongside our new action-research program “Indicators for Peace”.

When we work with a community, our first question is “What is the change you want to see?” Then our second question is: “What do you want to measure?”

We have several different programs, from recycling to mangrove protection in Rincón del Mar. However, across the variety of programs, one of the most important changes that people wanted to measure where coexistence, peacebuilding and reconciliation on a local, even neighborhood level.

For this reason, we created the Indicators for Peace project, so that we can give the communities what they asked for—a way to measure, manage, and ensure that our projects promote coexistence through other benefits provided to the communities.

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In Rincón del Mar, we have decided to get our hands dirty with the trash problem. We have dusted off and are in the process of restructuring the business model of a small group of habitants in Rincón del Mar who have been collecting trash over the years. This process is critical to protecting the mangroves, as one of the biggest threats to the mangroves is trash being thrown in them.

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June through August, we have been in La Macarena, Meta; and Quibdó Chocó with our Strategic Ally, Fundación MIMA, working on waste management, recycling and community development projects. These projects will become a part of the E2E portfolio in 2018.

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We have also given three workshops for Project Design and Management since June in Medellín and Chocó, training commnity leaders how to design projects, solve problems and manage their impact. These workshops give social change leaders the tools they need to make a big difference. With these last 3 workshops, we have trained over 100 social change leaders in Colombia. 

We have one more workshop coming up in November, and two scheduled for 2018 already! we firmly believe that these workshops are critical to multiplying our impact and empowering commmunities. 

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We have also strengthened our relationship with First American Realty, one of our closest allies in Medellín. You can find out more about First American here.

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E2E is a lean, organized and hard-hitting non-profit looking to make real, long lasting impacts in Colombia. We recently just achieved our 501c3 status in the USA, which means that you can now donate directly to E2E and receive full tax benefits!

We operate by the support of people like you. That is why I am asking you to share this information, and if you are able- donate!

You can donate through GlobalGiving, or you can contact me directly through our website. 

Thanks again to all of our supporters and followers.

Teryn Wolfe

Executive Director

P.S. 

I apologize for the lack of photos and media-- I am literally, sitting on a wooden platform in a jungle right now, and don´t have enough service to upload photos! You can follow os on Facebook for more media. 

Thanks for understanding! 

Links:

• Write up in El Tiempo on the school gardens in Vida para Todos