New Life: A Source of Work, Income and Respect for Women

Posted: 17 January 2006

by Elisa Maturana

A way to earn money also creates new village leaders, and builds respect for women in their families and communities.

Eight women laugh and tell stories while they pull weeds at the Mushuk Kawsay Women’s Association nursery, which lies at the end of a back road near Lake Imbakucha. They tend neat, green rows of vegetables, medicinal herbs, and saplings. Others peel pumpkin seeds, and prepare them to be dried and sold. They care for the plants and seedlings until they are ready to be transplanted to fields or family garden plots. The association sells the plants to small-scale farmers in neighboring communities. They use the profits to pay the members who tend the nursery; whatever is left over is divided among about 20 associates.

The members are free to take home plants that they use in their own garden plots, and many of them use the earnings from the association to invest in other activities. Flora Cabascán and María Méndez used their money to buy chickens and calves, which they fattened and sold for a profit, while María Rebeca Cuascota invests in her small dry goods shop.

Building a New Life

Mushuk Kawsay means “New Life” in the local Kichwa language. The Association is a bright spot in the community of Mariscal Sucre, one of the seven communities in the Gonzáles Suárez parish. It is home to about 500 residents, many of whom are indigenous people. Half of the homes do not have running water or indoor plumbing. Only two out of every 10 have electricity, and access to health and education is precarious. An estimated six out of every 10 children suffer from chronic malnutrition and more than one-third of the women are illiterate. Of the women who can read and write, the average level of schooling is only three years.

The women have a reason to smile, despite these harsh conditions. Their lives are getting better thanks to New Life. “We had nothing. And now we have our garden plots. Each member takes home plants and we no longer have to spend money buying food at the market. We are happy. We have work, food and earn some money for our homes,” said 50-year-old Cuascota. The women did not earn any money before starting the association and had to depend on the income their husbands earned on their farms or as temporary laborers.

The money earned by Cuascota and her partners in the New Life nursery is only part of the progress they are making. Many of the other benefits cannot be measured in monetary terms. “What we contribute to the household has earned us more respect at home, from our husbands, and the community,” she added.

With the support of Oxfam America, CEPCU, an organization of indigenous people, has organized 10 women’s organizations in other communities in the Lake Imbakucha basin. Around 300 women are currently involved in the farming and arts and crafts associations in 37 communities across five parishes.

Always Training

Training is a key element to the success of CEPCU’s projects. “We are always training to improve the nursery. We have learned how to raise and care for animals, and we receive even more money when we sell them. Now, we are capable of doing things on our own,” said Méndez.

CEPCU supports community organizations in the lake basin to encourage high-impact policies that benefit more people over longer periods of time. The organization is fostering long-term changes by strengthening community organizations and training members.

Rosita Burga, in the neighboring community of Eugenio Espejo, has been able to get an education thanks to the extra money her mother has earned from a family garden plot supported by the CEPCU and Oxfam project. At age 23, she is about to start university – the first in her family to go to college and among only a handful of women from the community, where only two or three out of every 100 women receive higher education. Apart from her studies, Burga was elected president of the Union of Indigenous Communities (Unión de Comunidades Indígenas) in her area, which has the highest indigenous population in the lake region.

“It is worth highlighting that women, who have made greater strides than men, have achieved important results. They did not have any leadership roles before,” said Roberto Cornejo, CEPCU president.

Technical training for women, increasing knowledge of their rights and their participation in social and community organizations, in addition to their productive associations, are the foundation of CEPCU’s work. “Training strengthens personal talents and increases the self-esteem of women, while participation in community organization allows them to influence decisions that affect them, including ethnic and gender discrimination,” said Germania Frias, a member of the CEPCU team.

“The promotion of human talent that encourages the development of men and women leaders, who can hold position in the Parish Councils and second-tier organizations (local government structures in Ecuador) is the result of the training,” said Cornejo.

“The visible impact, after five years of work, is the recognition that the community government has achieved. It was weak and now it includes men and women with decision-making capacities and is benefiting the community,” he added.