| History of CEN |
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Between 2002 and June 2004, CEN founder and current Executive Director Robert Bortner managed the USAID-funded Rio Tapajós (Brazil) Telecenter Installation Project, which installed solar-powered community-operated telecenters in the communities of Suruacá and Maguary.1 These communities are located along opposite shores of the upper Tapajós River, approximately five hours by boat from Santarém. Maguary can also be reached by road during the dry months in 2-3 hours. Brazilian-based Projeto Saude e Alegria ("PSA"), which is very active in the region, was also a member of the project implementation team. For more information on this project, please see Final Report Tapajos Project (212KB PDF). Upon the completion of the contract in July 2004, Bob worked – as his time and resources permitted – with these two communities and with the community of Xixuau, located approximately 500 km north of Manaus along the Rio Jauaperi. As he mentored key activists in the communities on a variety of their initiatives, Bob became encouraged as he witnessed their significant progress in addressing community challenges and becoming less dependent on others. The methodologies which evolved drew heavily upon lessons learned from around the world, particularly in India and South Africa, where Bob has also worked. In November 2004 Bob incorporated CEN, which continued this work as the Amazon Pilot Project. While this work generated many promising developments, progress only trickled between occasional visits by Bob and several other volunteers; it became clear that we needed a sustained presence in the communities. Beginning in April 2008, we will begin the implementation of Creating a Culture of Learning and Empowerment in the Amazon (cCLEAR). Angela Viehmayer, Director at Brazilian NGO, Link Social and serving on the CEN board, will become the Field Manager for the project. Future Plans 1 Sandia National Labs was the contractor and Greenstar was the subcontractor for this project. Bob was contracted by Greenstar to be the Project Manager for the project. |