The YACHANA FOUNDATION and the Yachana Technical High School are providing young people from four Amazon provinces with the skills to be entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities. We believe that involving the students in practical methods of managing micro-enterprises is one of the best ways to ensure the long term survival of the rainforest. If people can earn an income sufficient to provide for their families, they will be less inclined to destroy the rainforest. The School is also working toward the goal of being largely self-sufficient through its own micto-entrprises. After only two years of operation, the School is generating 16% of its operating expenses through different micro-enterprises managed by the students.
One of those micro-enterprises is the assembly and sale of a very simple, low cost water filter that meets the needs of those living at the Base of the Economic Pyramid. You can be a part of this project by helping to support five of the water filters for one-room schools in the Amazon region. It only costs $250 to provide around 30 children in one of these schools safe drinking water. Through a donation to Friends of YACHANA, you can also be helping our students in the development of their own micro-enterprise.
We are proud to be a part of a growing group of schools with the objective of being self-sufficient through the UK organization Teach A Man To Fish. Douglas McMeekin will be giving a presentation at their international meeting in Asuncion, Paraguay in December 2007.
