Micro-loans to start and grow businesses in La Limonada, fighting poverty in this vulnerable area of Guatemala Contribution by Samuel Brizuela, director of The Community Empowerment International Fund (FAC) La Limonada used to be nothing more than a ravine running through Guatemala City, Guatemala. During a decade-long civil war which began in the 1950’s, many […]
On the North-East coast, a community of artisan fishermen have made inroads into community-based tourism At first sight, it looks like an isolated, humble village in North-eastern Brazil, like so many others. On the beach, one can see all the still, lined up jangadas (small sailing boats): they belong to the artisan fishermen who go […]
Solidarity based finance working for recovered enterprises and cooperatives. In 2002, Argentina was beset by a devastating economic crisis, the worst in its recent history. The peso-dollar parity was abandoned, the banking sector collapsed and the economy went into severe recession. In practically all the production sectors, enterprises -the majority of them factories- filed for […]
TUSOCO is the Solidarity and Community-based Tourism Network of Bolivia. In 2004 they started with eight entrepreneurships, today there are 26 all across the national territory. Most of them are leaded by farmers and indigenous communities which see solidarity tourism as a complementary source of income, and as a tool to safeguard their culture and traditions. Tourists […]
Fair trade and handicrafts, art and social transformation, culture and community-based tourism, childhood and environment. Realted links: http://www.estacion-a.org.py/ – Official website http://www.wfto-la.org/ – WFTO-LA (World Fair Trade Organisation –Latin America) A full article about this initiative is coming soon. Follow us on Facebook and or Twitter email in order to know when it happens.
In Salta, a vineyards region in northern Argentina, peasant communities decided to create a network to start offering home-stay based tourism, respectful of the local culture and ecosystems. The Rural Tourism Network of Salta centralised the commercialisation of the tourist services, guaranteeing a fair redistribution of the income and eliminating the sense of competition between the communities. Moreover, in a participative and inclusive […]
Due to its natural and cultural variety, Ecuador is one of the most visited countries in South America, a mass tourism that does not bring any benefit to the local communities. About 20 years ago, they began to talk about community-based tourism; in particular indigenous tourism, given the huge presence of indigenous peoples all across the country (14 nationalities and 25 […]
The Artisans’ Association Señor de Mayo has been working for more than 20 years, in a collective and self-managed way, with the artisans of El Alto, the biggest slum in La Paz. They export high quality products, which range from textiles made of alpaca to Andean musical instruments. They became one of the biggest and most successful enterprises in Bolivia, creating jobs in fair conditions […]
The Palmas Bank was founded in 1998 in the Conjunto Palmeiras (50.000 inhabitants), a Fortaleza slum, in the Brazilian nordeste. It is the combination of a complementary currency (today accepted by the 97% of shops and supermarkets in the Conjunto) and a social bank (whose activity is focussed on productive microcredit). They were the pioneers in the […]
The Community-based Tourism Network of Ceara brings together 11 coastal communities and two association in Fortaleza: Mulheres em Movimento and the Frei Humberto Centre for Training, Capacity Building and Research (of the Rural Workers Landless Movement). They consider tourism as a strategy to strengthen the communities’ resistance and organisation capacity, with the aim of reinforce their autonomy while […]
Coming soon… Related articles: The Working World, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Coming soon… Related articles: Prainha do Canto Verde, in the Brazilian nordeste.
Coming soon… Related articles: Prainha do Canto Verde, in the Brazilian nordeste