Ecuador
We promote, together with local entities, sustainable socio-economic development and the association of rural organizations on the northern border and in the Amazon.
Mundukide cooperates on the northern border with the Corporation Toisan with the objective of strengthening the commercialization capacity of rural women associated with Cotacachi (Ibarra) with a focus on network, innovation, competitiveness and rights*. The Toisan Corporation groups enterprises that seek in their corporate and associative development a socio-economic alternative to the pressure of mining activity that exists in the area.
Mundukide's cooperation in the Amazon is centered on supporting the management and strategic planning of the Producers Association Kichwas Wiñak located in Archidona (Napo). Wiñak, toast your partners and small producers in the region training, technical assistance, commercial assistance and Productive Micro-Credit.
Wiñak sells guayusa, plantains and cacao, and at its beginnings
(2002-2006) was supported by Mundukide.
PROGRESS
During 2023, on the northern border, work has been done, together with volunteers from Mundukide, to strengthen the structure and marketing strategy of the Kutakachi SAS Network, with great efforts in the promotion and positioning of products in the local market and national, through the development of physical and audiovisual materials and participation in different local and national events (the achievement of 2 awards in the 5th edition of the Sacha awards stands out). Likewise, in the 10 ventures that make up the Network, their productive, organizational and business capacities have been strengthened through training, support with equipment and facilities to improve the products offered. (The organization with the ISTEPS of the continuing training course “SOLIDARIES BY NATURE: YOUNG PEOPLE LEADING THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY” focused on young entrepreneurs in the Intag Valley is highlighted). As measures to strengthen the competitive advantage of products, the process of applying the IUCN global standard for Nature-Based Solutions has been facilitated, and we have contributed to the implementation of the Cantonal Gender Plan in coordination with the Cantonal Women's Committee of Cotacachi. .
In the Amazon, despite having been a complex year for Wiñak due to the instability of the markets, mainly in the guayusa, it was possible to maintain the support and advice requested by the organization, related to commercial agreements and contracts with purchasing companies. During this year, the review process for the renewal of statutes and internal regulations was completed.
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"Mundukide’s presence will allow us to strengthen and empower small social enterprises, mostly driven by organised groups of women from the Intag area and the Cotacachi canton, who seek, in their socio-economic sustainability, an alternative way of life and resistance against the mega-mining that has been threatening our valley since the 1990s."
Luis Robalino , (President of Corporación Toisán):
"First, alongside the Toisán Corporation, to strengthen the process of 10 social enterprises in Cotacachi towards a joint commercialisation model. Also, to accompany and follow up on the Wiñak association’s 2022 action plan. To continue with the identification of representative actors to work with. Apart of that, to execute a new exchange trip with Laboral Kutxa, so that young Basques can learn about the Andean-Amazonian contrast in the defence of life and territory."
Yon Arruti Chasco, Cooperative in Ecuador
Hiruatx eta Mundukide, bailara bete elkartasun
19 January 2022
Offer your LK points for Mundukide
17 May 2021
Data from 2022. If you need more information, you can access reports and publications
Why we're here?
2.Training people
We train people so they can change their world. Therefore, training is the cornerstone of Mundukide’s projects. People learn at school, but they also learn at work, in the family and from the community.
4.Technical assistance
There is no better experience than shared experience. Our role is to develop a management model that can simplify and improve the operations of associations and cooperatives across all areas, from production to marketing.
8.Environmental sustainability
Our commitment to the environment is a cross-cutting theme in all areas of our work.
CONTEXT OF THE COOPERATION PROGRAM
In 2019 Mundukide resumed its presence in Ecuador, through the identification of transformation processes and local entities leading these processes. This process culminated in the identification of the two lines of action previously described.
The identification process was carried out in 2019 by the Mundukide-Laboral Kutxa Solidarity Trip, with the collaboration of the local organization “Fundación Alejandro Labaka”, through which 11 young Basque people and 3 Ecuadorian indigenous people experienced the experiences of the villages for 3 weeks kichwa and waorani from the province of Orellana.
This solidarity trip allowed young people to learn about an Amazonian context where they live, confronted with unmatched natural-cultural wealth, the “green gold”, with the contamination caused by oil exploitation, the “black gold”. The experience of the Wiñak indigenous association was also known.
Ecuador
- Capital: Quito
- Language: Spanish
- Area: 256.370 km²
- Population: 17.475.570 hab.
