CEN's Creating a Culture of Learning and Empowerment in the Amazon Region (cCLEAR) program focuses on enabling residents of rural communities to increase incomes in a sustainable manner, through entrepreneurship. When asked directly to identify the biggest obstacles they faced, residents of the Amazonian communities where CEN is engaged expressed concerns over the lack of stable and consistent means of generating income. Nurturing and encouraging new, grassroots business development ideas creates new jobs and revenue opportunities, rather than relying upon the existing sources, which are limited.

Why focus on entrepreneurship, rather than finding jobs in existing businesses?

cCLEAR participant Rennerclay with his woodworking project

We work in small, rural communities, in a region where agriculture is the primary livelihood. This is largely limited to manioc, latex-harvesting and fishing. There are very few businesses in these communities; often the only job opportunities are in cities. Even there, the supply of workers typically exceeds the demand. Moving there often tears families apart, breaking down traditional cultures and contributing to the overcrowding of the cities. While income opportunities are greater in urban areas, so are the costs of living. As result, many of those coming from rural areas end up in poor, overcrowded slums, with high crime rates and poor living conditions. Migration to the cities hollows the communities of tremendous talent and youth, which accelerates the decline of these small, but vital, villages and towns.

In order to allow people to stay in their communities and survive, cCLEAR helps individuals start their own business to generate income and sustain local livelihoods. Many of the participants take advantage of the bounty of natural resources around them, such as wood, the forest and wildlife, in a sustainable manner, avoiding the exploitative practices that have robbed many unique areas in the Amazon of their natural assets.

In this way, CEN is responding to the needs that are specific to these Amazon communities, as well as helping instill a sense of self-reliance that will empower them to find local solutions to the problems in their communities. By working with CEN to strengthen basic skills, expand mindsets, and develop entrepreneurial and technical skills, the cCLEAR participants in turn are able to develop businesses that in time will provide sustainable incomes. In doing so, CEN empowers the residents themselves to address many of the structural weaknesses they face, such as limited access to markets and capital, and poor transportation services.

CEN inspires in our program participants the understanding that they can effect change on their own; that they have the power to change their circumstances and do not need to rely on aid from other countries. Rather than continuing to promote the sense of powerlessness and dependence that comes from simply giving people the solutions to their perceived problems, we help them achieve their own solutions.

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