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 2024, on the northern border, work has continued to strengthen the structure and marketing strategy of the Kutakachi SAS Network, made up of 10 associative ventures from Cotacachi. Support was provided with 3 general workshops focused on strengthening the organizational capacities of the Kutakachi ventures and their empowerment towards the network, and 2 specific workshops to implement and strengthen capacities in the management of the PERSEO software in the AACRI organization. Support was also provided in the organization of 2 Kutakachi assemblies and an evaluation meeting with delegates from the different ventures, taking advantage of a visit from AECID delegates. Participation in local events to promote the different Kutakachi products has continued.
During 2024, there was also great support from volunteers from Mundukide, who for a month contributed with their knowledge in management and commercial planning. As measures to strengthen the competitive advantage of the products, during 2024 the facilitation of the application process of the IUCN global standard for Nature-Based Solutions was completed, analyzed and evaluated through established indicators as the activities currently carried out in ACUSMIT (in which the ventures are integrated), support the protection, management and restoration of natural or modified ecosystems. Likewise, we continued to contribute to the implementation of the Cantonal Gender Plan in coordination with the Cantonal Women's Committee of Cotacachi. In August 2024, the project with AECID ended, but new financing was obtained to continue and expand the scope of action in Cotacachi for 2025.
It should be noted that the situation that Ecuador has experienced during 2024, both with the economic crisis and with power cuts for several months and citizen insecurity, has reduced the capacity to access the market, both due to a reduction in the purchasing power of the population and difficulties in production, mainly of products linked to the cold chain.
In the Amazon, it has continued to be a complex year for Wiñak, due to changes in management and the complexity of the markets, mainly for guayusa and cocoa. During 2024, some visits were made and a new strategic planning process was started that was not completed.
"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
VXM de EITB visita el programa de Ecuador
6 March 2025
Hiruatx eta Mundukide, bailara bete elkartasun
19 January 2022
Data from 2024. 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.
