What am I doing?

Some of my fair readers and random blog stalkers may be asking… so what exactly are you doing down there? What is your objective? Well, I’ve asked myself that more times than I would like to admit. There are definitely days when I don’t have a clue. But then there are days that things become more clear and I feel like maybe, just maybe, I am making a small difference. My Peace Corps bosses seem to think I´m doing something right because they profiled my project in their report to Washington. So…here is the summary (infused with some creative writing ) that I submitted for their report:

The Waorani are one of the most endangered indigenous nations in the Amazon River Basin. Fewer than 2,000 Waorani live among 34 small, scattered communities located between the Napo and Curaray Rivers, one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet. Powerful oil companies, loggers and other extractive industries have placed increasing pressure on the Waorani to access and exploit their traditional hunting grounds. The Waorani continue to resist these efforts and sought assistance from Peace Corps to enhance alternative income generation activities that respect their culturally rich heritage and protect the biologically rich rainforest ecosystems in their territory.

Habitat Conservation Volunteer Susan S. King is working side by side with the Waorani Women’s Association (Association de Mujeres Waorani de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, AMWAE) to help build internal organizational capacity and to improve handicraft production and commercialization. The Waorani Womens’ Association was established with support from USAID's CAIMAN project and now manages one of the only artesania (handicraft) and ethnic art stores owned and operated by indigenous women in Ecuador. Susan brings over nine years experience in the environmental nonprofit field as well as a background in jewelry design to her assignment.

In addition to participating in artesania workshops and assisting with an asset-based cultural and natural resource inventory of a remote Waorani village as part of an ecotourism feasibility study, Susan’s work in her first five months has focused primarily on improving the sales and marketing potential of the artesania store. One of the first tasks she completed was authoring a SWOT Analysis which identified the store’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Susan worked with the women to implement many of the recommendations including in the report, including moving store locations, creation of a new pricing structure, construction of new customer-friendly displays in the store, and initiation of some small-scale promotion activities. These changes have led to dramatic sales increases. As of this writing, artesania sales were more than double the previous month’s sales.