Beekeeping with Indigenous People in the Amazon

For years, our veteran beekeeping promoters have taught families in their communities how to care for native stingless bees. This quarter, they reached a new milestone training new promoters, passing on not just how to keep bees, but how to teach others to do it.

In July and August, Maijuna promoters gathered in the communities of Nueva Vida and Sucusari for hands-on workshops of the Native Bee School's promoter training program. In Nueva Vida, three veteran promoters with several years of training worked alongside six new promoters; in Sucusari, five more new promoters began their training with two veteran mentors.

With coaching from our team, the veteran promoters took on the role of trainers, mentoring the new promoters and showing them how to lead a workshop themselves. The training combined theory and practice. On the technical side, participants practiced honey harvesting, dividing colonies, tending hives, and transferring wild nests into rational hive boxes. Alongside the bee work, they practiced the skills a promoter needs: leading group activities, communicating clearly, working as a team, and organizing the logistics of a workshop. Each day ended with time to reflect on what they had learned and on what it takes to be a good promoter.

Why this matters. Our goal has always been for communities to carry this knowledge forward themselves. Now that veteran promoters are training new ones, the Native Bee School can grow through the Maijuna's own leadership, not just through our team. These workshops are also part of our agreement with the Uare Yojuna Association, which is working toward greater autonomy.

It matters for the forest too. Native stingless bees pollinate many of the plants that keep the Amazon healthy. Caring for them responsibly helps protect pollinator populations and the ecosystems that depend on them.

What's next. This is a strong start, but becoming a promoter takes time. The eleven new promoters have committed to putting what they learned into practice in their own communities before the next workshop, with ongoing support from the veteran promoters. They'll need consistent, hands-on training before they're ready to teach in other communities. The next workshop will focus on building their ability to lead and teach.

Why we need more promoters. Interest in native beekeeping is growing faster than our current promoters can reach. Every new promoter we train means more families caring for bees, earning income from honey, and protecting the pollinators.

Coming up on GivingTuesday. This year, a change in an expected funding source left a gap in our plans to help these eleven new promoters complete their training. On December 1, we'll launch a special campaign to close it, and every gift will go further thanks to a generous supporter. Watch your inbox in late November for the details.

Thank you for making this possible. When you support the project, you're helping the Maijuna become teachers, trainers and guardians of the forest's native bees.