September 2007

Ecology Awards Recognize

the Work of Women

Two projects run by women’s groups that were started with funding from the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) funding have won prestigious awards in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

In Honduras, a National Environment Award has been presented to an indigenous women’s group for their success in organizing and managing a waste collection service in the biodiversity-rich Greater Mosquitia Ecosystem. In Ecuador, a women’s group working to rescue endangered cereals, tubers, and forest plants has won the prestigious Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (SEED) Initiative Award.

Indigenous Women’s Group in Honduras

Supported by a SGP grant, the Honduras project allowed a group of more than 60 women from the Miskitas community—many of them widows or supporting husbands disabled from the local livelihood of lobster-diving—to purchase carts and cleaning equipment. As a result, more than 1,500 cubic meters of solid waste (67 percent of the yearly total) are no longer being dumped in this biologically diverse area of wetlands, lagoons, and mangroves.

The local municipality of Puerto Lempira is now supporting their work through charges for water and sewage. A new municipal ordinance will soon prohibit waste dumping in the lagoon or other nondesignated sites. The project has attracted new donors—Taiwanese support has bought a truck for waste collection, while Finland supports the services of a waste management technician through the United Nations Development Programme.

“Nobody believed in us because we are poorly educated indigenous women, without legal help or support,” said the project’s leader when receiving the National Environment Award from the President of Honduras. “Only the Small Grants Programme trusted us.” The prize will be used to buy additional solid waste handling equipment needed for the project.

Along with its ecological benefits, the project has provided a new source of income for women and has positively affected their lives through community activities, education on issues such as HIV/AIDS, prostitution, and drug abuse, and by promoting a positive image of women in Miskita society.

Women’s Groups in Ecuador

In Ecuador, a SGP grant helped support three groups of women who are working collectively to help rescue and expand cultivation of native cereals and tubers to improve local diets and provide income while using other forest plants to make sunblinds, fencing materials, and other goods. The work of one of these groups, from Lupaxi in northern Colta Canton, was chosen from around 250 worldwide entries for the 2007 SEED Award.

Driven by concerns over the loss of biodiversity and soil degradation, the women’s organization has introduced organic farming practices and undertaken reforestation activities. A savings system has been established to ensure the financial viability of the initiative. The project’s work has led to more than 27 native varieties of agricultural, forest, and medicinal plants being identified and recovered and the establishment of a communal propagation center for forest planting. The project has also helped create, develop, and give legal status to new women’s organizations, empower female leadership, and teach administrative and financial skills to build self-reliance.

The prize, which consists of equipment and technical support to the project, was presented at an international ceremony attended by the Ambassadors of Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, featuring food made by a chef who works with the women’s produce as part of a partnership between the project and a local university.