Each group that CEN partners with comes at a different stage in their development. Though all are eager to continue pursuing their economic opportunities, they each have their own unique set of challenges. Currently, CEN is in the process of collaborating with Oficinas Caboclas, a woodworkers’ cooperative in the middle Amazon, to develop a project proposal and seek funding for the project.

Oficinas Caboclas, is a cooperative of artisans from 6 communities along the Tapajós River. For several years they have been handcrafting a variety of sustainably-harvested wood products, which include benches in the shape of forest animals, cutting boards and carved animal figures. Revenue from the sale of the products provides a sustainable livelihood for nearly 50 families.  However, their production has plateaued at a level where they still cannot support their marketing office and showroom in Santarém, and so they continue to limp along with limited sales and marketing support, and still depend largely upon their founders. Communication between the member groups, as well as members and the founders in Santarém, 6-12 hours away, is limited by the lack of telecommunication, electricity and extremely limited transportation links between the communities. This severely undermines the association’s efforts to build production and sales, and threatens the long term viability of the project.

This arrangement has also created a double leadership structure – the official leadership, made up of members in the communities, and a group of professionals in Santarém who originally helped form the organization.  This structure has prevented members from taking an active role in many strategic and decisions, and maintained their dependence on the original founders. In order to reach a sales and production level where they can support the Santarém office, , they must develop and implement a cohesive marketing strategy and more closely integrate the two leaderships,  while hiring additional staff to focus on sales.

CEN’s role in working with Oficinas Caboclas will focus on enabling organization members to solve many of their own problems. It is important that the artisans embrace a sense of ownership in Oficinas Caboclas. Likewise, it would be beneficial for both sides of leadership to be more involved in the general planning process, and continue to rely upon the founders, who are not from the communities and have many other projects to work on.

Our objectives in partnering with Oficinas Caboclas include:

Foster better communication between the groups and between leadership and office in Santarém;

Order of benches ready for shipment

• Create a solid foundation of basic skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking and personal management for the group’s leadership, local group coordinators and local group commercial agents;
• Develop marketing skills of each group’s commercial agent;
• Build a much stronger involvement in the management of the organization by members; and
• Develop and implement a marketing and sales strategy

The project is important to the members of the cooperative because it will:

• Build a strong foundation for sustainable growth, and making them less dependent upon the founders
• Increase incomes by producing and selling more product
• Provide basic infrastructure to improve communication and transportation between the communities in the region, and with the outside world. This will also benefit the entire communities and not just the members of the organization.

Keep checking back as CEN works with Oficinas Caboclas to meet the stated objectives. We look forward to sharing their stories as they work towards economic sustainability and self-reliance.