December 14, 2016

Celebrating Growing Incomes

2016 Highlights

The bulk of Cool Earth’s investments in communities goes towards building sustainable incomes. In the last year alone, income from cacao has doubled in Pajonal, helping the village become a self-determining, thriving rainforest community.

“Through this project the standard of my family has improved. We now earn almost 70 Kina per day”

Sharon Dauge,
Gadaisu, Papua New Guinea

Delivery of cacao and coffee beans

We received a very special delivery in the spring – the first international shipment of cacao and coffee from the Asháninka partnership. The cacao is being made into bars by Chocolarder, one of the best small bean-to-bar producers in the country. Mike Longman, the owner, says it’s the best chocolate he’s ever tasted.

Jeto

Eight Asháninka women have formed a new craft group this year. They’re making a range of products including bags, cushmas, necklaces and baskets. The group is called ‘Jeto’, the Asháninka word for spider, because like them spiders are good weavers. They’ll sell products to river traders to increase their income.

Inga

How do you increase crop yields without clearing forest? Using a miracle tree called Inga. As a bonus, it provides fuel wood and is climate resilient. No wonder our Awajún and Asháninka partners invested in learning how to use this native tree this year.

Laptop training

The Awajún AMARNO artisans group are now one of the Amazon’s flagship indigenous artisan groups. But these women want to make sure they can achieve the same goals as any successful business. Cool Earth helped to provide accountancy training this year, and thanks to Rosa Paucai, some will be trained to use laptops to boost their marketing skills. Strengthening the livelihoods which depend on the forest is the best way of keeping it safe long-term.

Bakery

With a microcredit loan from Cool Earth, our partners built a bakery in Gadaisu village. They sell the produce in Gadaisu market and make 60 – 70 Kina a day ($20), much more than the average wage for that area. And the coconut scones are worth the trip to Papua New Guinea to taste.

Sewing machines

This year our partners in Orangerie Bay started a sewing group that will teach skills and provide incomes for women. Sewing and making clothes and textiles is a skill many women in Cool Earth’s partner villages already have. With investments in business training and savings groups, we can turn their smart ideas into income generating micro businesses.