Small is Beautiful: transformational community development though our Women’s Reforestation Initiative

This past week, funding brought in by the efforts of our Summer Fellows was used to work with families to improve their fuel use habits, as well as to raise awareness on sustainable practices and solutions.

As pictured above, the women’s circles of Chamac and Tejutla were able to receive training on optimizing fuel use for cooking and improve the overall efficiency of their stoves. Members also discussed sustainable firewood production and how to harvest wood without felling trees. This is especially important as it allows the trees to remain as a part of the environment and provide needed ecosystem services, as well as maintains the relationship between the trees and the rest of the ecosystem on a metaphysical level. Additionally, AMA’s community facilitators held a workshop to discuss the importance of reforestation in preventing damage from mudslides, and brainstormed with the women’s circles of ways to mitigate the risks of climate change in their community. Ultimately, the goal of these efforts is for AMA to support the success of the Women’s Reforestation Initiative by working with families to improve their fuel use habits as well as raise awareness on sustainable practices.

This example from our reforestation efforts not only points to the great progress the project is making, but highlights the benefits of our small scale model. For instance, the goal of our small team of fellows is to provide networking services and develop support for local, Indigenous-led projects. This summer, our team focused on raising funds for the women of Las Campanas Nursery to increase their tree production and for AMA to complement reforestation efforts with sustainability initiatives. This small scale ultimately allows for the local women to have the most leadership in their community efforts, and for our organization to function as a resource of support. 

While some larger, industrially modeled organizations may be able to provide a higher number of physical trees, our priority has always been, and will continue to be, increasing agency and empowerment in our partner communities. Yes, some organizations can have quite impressive statistics on their annual trees planted, but in doing so, they ultimately prioritize the sheer number of trees over the active involvement of the community. Furthermore, having this industrial approach to environmental projects compromises its long term sustainability as a key factor of a project’s longevity is its relationship with the local community.

Ultimately, at HSP our primary objective is to support the behavioral health of the Indigenous communities that have been historically disempowered by societal structures of oppression, and because of this, we will always ensure that our projects meet the material as well as spiritual needs of the communities. Our highest priority will always be to provide transformational opportunities for empowerment and agency for our partners -- a standard that is hard at work in our Women’s Reforestation Initiative.