Empowering Indigenous Achuar women in Safe Birthing and Community Health
This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Allez à Changeshop: Empowering Indigenous Achuar women in Safe Birthing and Community Health.
Since 2007, The Jungle Mamas Program has been working in solidarity with the indigenous Achuar women and men of the Ecuadorian Amazon in safe birthing and basic community health. Our team of dedicated midwives works to train birth attendants in prevention, treatment of birth emergencies and basic health issues, with an intercultural approach that also values local healing and birth traditions. In addition to post-partum hemorrhage, diarrhea from water contamination is one of the biggest threats to the health of Achuar women and children. We have been working with communities to reduce water and soil contamination through ecological dry toilets. Using the knowledge and practice necessary, Achuar women are able to provide their people with the most culturally adequate healthcare available.
A propos de vous
A propos de vous
Prénom
Robin
Nom
Fink
https://twitter.com/#!/finkra
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A propos de votre organisation
Nom
Fundación Pachamama
Site Web
Téléphone
005933332245
Adresse
Gonzalo Serrano #345 y 6 de diciembre
Pays
Ecuador, P
Pays dans lesquels ce projet crée un impact social
Ecuador, S
Votre organisation est-elle une
organisation à but non lucratif
Depuis combien de temps votre organisation opère-t-elle ?
Plus 5 années
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Innovation
Titre du formulaire de participation
Empowering Indigenous Achuar women in Safe Birthing and Community Health
Quels changements pensez-vous apporter ?
Since 2007, The Jungle Mamas Program has been working in solidarity with the indigenous Achuar women and men of the Ecuadorian Amazon in safe birthing and basic community health. Our team of dedicated midwives works to train birth attendants in prevention, treatment of birth emergencies and basic health issues, with an intercultural approach that also values local healing and birth traditions. In addition to post-partum hemorrhage, diarrhea from water contamination is one of the biggest threats to the health of Achuar women and children. We have been working with communities to reduce water and soil contamination through ecological dry toilets. Using the knowledge and practice necessary, Achuar women are able to provide their people with the most culturally adequate healthcare available.
Quelles sont les principales activités mises en place par le projet ?
Jungle Mamas’ primary activities are conducting Safe Birthing and Family Health workshops, using critical awareness and participatory learning methodologies, training individuals in planning, prevention, and treatment of birth emergencies. We have designed a curriculum that is culturally adequate that consists of an easily understandable picture-card teaching booklet especially designed for the native Achuar speaker. For individuals committed to improving the health of their communities, Jungle Mamas collaborates and facilitates the training of skilled birth attendants by providing in-depth apprenticeships outside of the community in a high-volume birth clinic. Skilled birth attendants are trained in the use and implementation of safe birth kits, which includes the necessary materials for attending a birth, including misoprostol, which can save the life of a mother during a post-partum hemorrhage. Having identified water and soil contamination as the two primary causes of illness and infant mortality, Jungle Mamas has been working with community leaders and the local Achuar women’s association to educate and build capacities in the importance sanitation and have worked towards improving the local water system. In an effort to reduce infant mortality caused by contamination and water-borne diseases, Jungle Mamas is also collaborating with three Achuar communities in the education and implementation of a pilot ecological urine-diverting dry toilet project.
En quoi votre initiative est-elle innovante ? Dans quelle mesure apporte-elle une contribution originale dans son domaine ?
The Jungle Mamas Program is the first of its kind to address the indigenous health in the South Central region of the Ecuadorian Amazon that uses the empowerment of women as the key solution to improving well-being of the Achuar people. By training indigenous Achuar women and men in safe birthing and basic health, Jungle Mamas is not only reducing maternal and infant mortality, but also providing communities with the tools they need to solve health issues from within their territory, thus reducing dependence upon hospitals that are poorly staffed, uneasily accessible, and culturally inadequate in practice. Jungle Mamas is an intercultural program in that it respects cultural birth traditions and health practices, while simultaneously providing useful information from other midwifery traditions and basic health approaches from the United States, Mexico, and Denmark. Our most recent Safe Birth and Family Health workshop in September was successfully facilitated by 3 Achuar women, trained as birth attendants in the native language of Achuar Chicham, which is opening up the doors to more workshops within the territory facilitated by empowered Achuar women. The Achuar name of the program, Ikiama Nukuri, or Women as Keepers of the Forest, emphasizes the invaluable role that women play in the protection and health of the Amazon Rainforest and the Achuar people. Jungle Mamas is the first program in the Ecuadorian Amazon that has recognized that the health of the planet and its rainforests is inextricably linked and dependent upon the women and men who live within it.
A quel étape votre projet en est-il ?
En place depuis plus de 5 ans
Comment décririez-vous la population auprès de laquelle vous travaillez ? Parlez-nous, par exemple, de la situation économique, des structures politiques, des normes et des valeurs, de l'évolution démographique, de l'histoire ou des précédentes expériences d'engagement communautaire.
There are approximately 6,500 Achuar people living in the Ecuadorian Amazon, whose ancestral lands spread across nearly 2 million acres of primary rainforest. Early in the 20th century, the Ecuadorian Government granted oil concessions in the rainforest, which also opened the door for other resource extractive activities. The Achuar territory had an advantage due to its proximity deep inside the jungle and lack of access via roads. Achuar leaders initiated a partnership creating The Pachamama Alliance and it's sister organization based in Ecuador, Fundación Pachamama. The Achuar people have a history of being warriors, meaning that contact with the western world did not officially take place until the 1960s upon arrival of Missionaries, who built airstrips within the territory, increasing the access from the outside. As there are currently no roads into the territory, the only way to access Achuar territory is via canoe or airplane.This means that access to cities and hospitals is significantly limited to the Achuar. In the past, the Achuar were nomads and moved around periodically within the territory. With the introduction of airstrips, people settled in communities and began heavily populating one area, thus putting pressure on the surrounding environment by contaminating water and soil resources. Traditionally, Achuar women gave birth by themselves in the forest without the assistance of a birth attendant or even their mothers. This change in community lifestyle has negatively impacted maternal, child, and overall community health of the Achuar people.
Racontez l'histoire du fondateur et ce qui l'a inspiré à démarrer ce projet
Jungle Mamas was established in 2007 and was recognized as an official program of Fundación Pachamama in 2008. The program started when Margaret Love, Jungle Mamas’ founder and director, traveled deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon to visit an Achuar community on a trip led by The Pachamama Alliance, Fundación Pachamama's sister organization. Once people in the community found out Margaret was a midwife, pregnant Achuar women throughout the community asked her to examine them and listen to their stories. Margaret realized she was being called to play a role in stopping all preventable maternal and infant deaths in the Achuar territory. After this first encounter, Margaret Love then met the current Jungle Mamas local coordinator, Narcisa Mashienta, an empowered and indigenous Shuar woman (the Shuar people are another indigenous group of the Amazon, sharing a history with the Achuar people) who had married into an Achuar family. Narcisa and Margaret shared the common dream of improving the health and well-being of the Achuar people by training people in safe birth and family health workshops. In 2009, Margaret met Robin Fink, who began working as the Ecuador-based Jungle Mamas program manager. It is the solidarity and vision shared by Margaret, Narcisa, and Robin that has enabled Jungle Mamas to slowly begin expanding its work within the Achuar territory.
Impact social
This Entry is about (Issues)
Décrivez les résultats positifs obtenus par votre projet ainsi que la façon dont ils sont mesurés.
As of January 2010, approximately 90% of all births in the 3 communities we are directly working in have been attended by skilled birth attendants. In September 2011, two Safe Birth and Family Health workshops were lead and facilitated by Achuar birth attendants, with the presence of one American midwife solely to provide feedback and teaching support. In the past, our workshops hosted an average of 15-20 participants, but since we have transferred the teaching to the Achuar themselves, the average number of participants has grown to 30, with people traveling from 11 communities within Achuar territory. We measure our success subjectively by the increasing willingness and interest of Achuar men and women to talk about and implement family planning methods (specifically the use of the Collar-Rhythm Method). There have been 0 maternal deaths relating to postpartum hemorrhage and 0 infant birth-related deaths, and people have been actively using the safe birth kits we pass out in our workshops, effectively preventing birth emergencies. We have successfully implemented 4 ecological urine-diverting dry toilets in two communities and all of the families are using them and understand their use and maintenance. By the end of 2011, we have planned 7 more toilets in the three communities as a pilot project. As a result of this initial stage, other families have shown interest and requested the construction of dry toilets in their homes, thus reducing water and soil contamination from human waste. We have conducted 2 water pheasibility studies in two communities, and together with male and female community representatives, have presented a proposal for fixing the existing water system with solar panels, and have received approval from the Municipal Government, which has agreed to fund and implement the project so far in one of the solicited communities.
Combien de personnes ont été touchées par votre projet ?
Entre 101 et 1 000
Combien de personnes pourraient être touchées par votre projet au cours des trois prochaines années ?
1,001-10,000
Les projets gagnants possèdent un programme solide indiquant leurs prévisions de croissance. Identifiez l’objectif à atteindre au bout de six mois pour accroître vos résultats.
In six months, we hope to be conducting workshops that could impact a population of up to 2,000 people within the territory (~4 workshops). At least one community (40) equipped with dry toilets.
Tâche 1
Effectively coordinate with Association leaders to achieve permission from Achuar Federation (NAE) to conduct Safe Birth workshops in at least 3 other associations
Tâche 2
Train 6 more people as Skilled Birth Attendants by receiving more in-depth outside training in a high-volume birth clinic
Tâche 3
Create a participatory work plan with community members and begin implementing strategy and construction of ecological dry composting toilets
Identifiez l’objectif à atteindre au bout de 12 mois.
At least two communities will have fully-equipped birth houses where women from surrounding communities and territories will arrive to give birth and receive education about family planning.
Tâche 1
Establish a participatory workplan and list of responsibilities for construction of the birth houses among the communities and Jungle Mamas
Tâche 2
Establish participatory management system of the birth house and its materials, including a plan for follow-up and evaluation after 6 months.
Tâche 3
Implement construction of the two birth houses.
Quelle va être l'évolution de votre projet lors des trois prochaines années ?
In the next three years, we hope to be working with the entire Achuar population of Ecuador, including people living in the provinces of Morona-Santiago and Pastaza. We hope that with workshops lead by Achuar birth attendants and health workers themselves, a greater difference will be made in effectively reducing water-borne illnesses in babies and children, so that there is a significant reduction in maternal and infant mortality and overall increase in quality of life. Our goal is to have formed a partnership with the Ministry of Public Health's Provincial branches and other institutions to have ecological urine-diverting dry toilets available for every family in Achuar territory, assuring that there is no more water contamination due to leakage of human waste in potable water sources.
Viabilité
Quels sont les obstacles qui pourraient entraver la réussite de votre projet et comment comptez-vous les surmonter ?
As our project is currently divided into to aspects: fundraising from the United States and work carried out on the ground in Ecuador, there are a lot of language and cultural barriers that need to be crossed effectively in order for our work to be successful. While we have been working well with these communication lines, we hope to eliminate these barriers by transferring all of our operations (fundraising) to the Fundación Pachamama office in Ecuador by the end of 2012. On another cultural level, the empowerment of women can only be achieved by working in solidarity with and empowering the Achuar men. As it is only a recent development that Achuar men are recognizing the importance of the role women play in the health of their communities and families, we have to be attuned and prepared for potential conflicts with male leadership along the way. Our current strategy to prevent and eliminate this obstacle is by increasing our partnership and alliance with the NAE leadership (see description below), which not only empowers the NAE leadership to complete its objectives of protecting the territory and its people, but will also garner legitimacy among the male Achuar population in communities that are significantly more prejudiced against female participation and leadership.
Quels sont vos différents partenariats ?
Jungle Mamas, a program of Fundación Pachamama, has a principal partnership with the Achuar Federation, known as NAE (Achuar Nationalities of Ecuador). NAE is the overarching governing body of the Achuar of Ecuador that coordinates with the communities throughout the territory in Ecuador. Without the support and commitment of the NAE leadership, Jungle Mamas would not be able to operate within the Achuar territory. Fundación Pachamama has a sister organization, The Pachamama Alliance, which has served as a primary source for contacts with other organizations for the Jungle Mamas program. Jungle Mamas also partners with the organization, EcoSan, based in Ecuador, which provides technical assistance with the education and implementation of urine diverting ecological dry toilets. Jungle Mamas has also collaborated with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health and Intercultural Health in order to increase access and representation in the Achuar territory. Due to the limited budget of the Ministry of Public Health, access to healthcare to the Achuar is also limited. However, because of Jungle Mamas' focus in Achuar territory, we have collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health to make sure that they are indeed reaching the Achuar population. Jungle Mamas also partners with Aerotsentsak, the only entirely Achuar-owned aviation company based in the town of Shell, Pastaza.
Actuellement, quel est votre budget annuel (USD) ?
$10 001‐50 000
Expliquez vos choix.
The Jungle Mamas program within Fundación Pachamama has received funding from private donors who are members of the Pachamama Alliance. We have also received funding from the Good Works Foundation, and have held fundraising events. The fundraising element is largely conducted by Margaret Love in the United States with the Pachamama Alliance, while the work is being implemented on the ground in Ecuador by Fundación Pachamama.
Comment pensez-vous pouvoir consolider votre projet au cours des trois prochaines années ?
Due to its position within both the Pachamama Alliance and in Fundación Pachamama, Jungle Mamas is looking to transfer the fundraising component to Fundación Pachamama, so that the program is completely managed and directed out of Ecuador, thus eliminating the need for English - Spanish - Achuar translation. All Safe Birth and Family Health workshops will be conducted in Achuar by Achuar trained birth attendants, reducing the need for translations and increasing the overall sustainability and cultural adequacy of the program.
Enjeux
Quels problèmes liés à la santé et au bien-être votre projet tente-t-il de résoudre ?
Veuillez sélectionner trois réponses par ordre d'importance (notées de 1 à 3 par ordre de pertinence).
PRIMAIRE
Manque d'accès physique aux soins / manque d'infrastructures
SECONDAIRE
Ressouces humaines limitées (médecins ou infirmiers qualifiés, etc.)
TERTIAIRE
Normes culturelles limitatives
Veuillez décrire la façon dont votre projet s'attaque spécifiquement aux problèmes cités ci-dessus.
Because of a lack of roads in and out of the territory and access to hospitals, Jungle Mamas' focus on safe birthing and family health workshops places the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary to address these issues directly into the hands of the people themselves. Instead of having to pay a large amount of money for a flight, or waiting for rainy weather to clear up before they can evacuate (and in some cases, there is no way to evacuate due to weather), the skilled Achuar birth attendants and community health workers are able to save the lives of mothers and babies from within their own communities using their own language and ability to provide culturally competent care.
De quelle façon faites-vous croître l'impact de votre organisation ou de votre projet ?
Veuillez sélectionner trois moyens potentiels par ordre d'importance (notés de 1 à 3 par ordre de pertinence).
PRIMAIRE
Croissance géographique: au sein du pays d'origine
SECONDAIRE
Renforcement de l'impact existant grâce à la mise en place de services complémentaires
TERTIAIRE
Influence sur d'autres organisations et institutions grâce à la diffusion de meilleures pratiques
Veuillez indiquer les activités actuellement en place ou devant être mises en place dans un futur proche pour stimuler votre croissance.
Jungle Mamas is in the process of expanding its reach and impact from one association, consisting of 7 communities, to two associations, creating a total of 15 possible communities impacted for 2012. We are actively working with the Achuar Federation (NAE) and hope to reach all 34 of the Achuar communities (approximately 50% of the Ecuadorian Achuar population) within the province of Morona-Santiago in the next three years. Our involvement with NAE and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Intercultural Health has already catalyzed other health initiatives within the Achuar territory, including HIV/AIDS awareness education.
Êtes-vous en collaboration avec : (plusieurs réponses possibles)
Organisme gouvernemental , une ONG/organisation à but non lucratif.
Si oui, dans quelle mesure ces partenariats ont-ils contribué à la réussite de votre projet ?
Through our collaboration with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health (MSP), Jungle Mamas was able to provide 5 Achuar participants (4 women, 1 man) in training of the trainer workshops that will provide HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and treatment education within the Achuar population living in the province of Morona-Santiago. The MSP has recently detected cases of HIV in the neighboring Shuar population, which presents a risk to the Achuar. The discussion of HIV/AIDS has enabled Jungle Mamas to talk about the use of the condom as a means of STD prevention and family planning, a subject that was previously forbidden to talk about due to cultural taboos. Our collaboration with Ecosan has also enabled us to succesfully implement ecological dry toilets, thus improving overall health.
| Fichier attaché | Taille |
|---|---|
| Achuar Workshop Participants demonstrate how to care for the mother with respect and love during birth | 40.69 Ko |
 | il y a 87 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 87 semaines Robin Fink said: Jacqueline, Thank you so much for your feedback! I actually just got back from two Safe Birth and Family Health workshops in two ... about this Competition Entry. - lire plus > |
| il y a 87 semaines Robin Fink said: Jacqueline, Thank you so much for your feedback! I actually just got back from two Safe Birth and Family Health workshops in two ... about this Competition Entry. - lire plus > |
| il y a 87 semaines Jacqueline Cutts said: Dear Robin, Bravo! I really like the intercultural approach that you take in your work. Based on a similar approach that we take in ... about this Competition Entry. - lire plus > |
| il y a 89 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 91 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 91 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 91 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 92 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |
| il y a 92 semaines Robin Fink updated this Competition Entry. |