Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Dear donors,

I hope you are doing well, and we want to send you all a big thank you for your support of our EcoLeaders, and take you backstage to show you a little of the nuts and bolts of the program – our planning in uncertain times, and how we put your donations to work.

Let's start with planning. Like most people everywhere we´ve had to adapt our programs. As you will have seen, the covid situation in Brazil has been very challenging, and here in the rainforest, schools have been closed for over a year. It is unclear when they will reopen – but our latest projection (and fervent hope) is September.

As you may remember from previous reports, we did make gallant attempts to support the local school system, supplying printed science lessons to be sent with other school materials to the children. But few of them were able to handle these lessons without supervision from their parents – many of whom themselves have little formal education. Online courses were impractical for the same reasons, as well as the lack of internet access or any equipment beyond a phone in their homes.

So we switched to online courses, focusing not only on environmental education but also on environmental leadership. We had originally thought of working with the age group 16-29, but when we heard from people of all ages and all part of the country, all determined to become environmental leaders, we adapted our age requirement! 

And the results were extraordinary. We discovered a wealth of interest, ingenuity and commitment and a real hunger for connection with likeminded potential leaders. “I want to be an environmental leader, we heard again and again, “And how do I set about it?”  

All we had to do was provide some tools and tips, and they were off and running - organizing their communities and tackling some of the environmental challenges that had been bothering them for years. And there´s no stopping them now.

In response to demand, we´ll be holding online courses in June, July and August, and in September we plan to work with two of the local schools – online with the support of their teachers if we have to, in person if possible. 

And, in the meantime, we thought you’d like how we are using your donations.

Thanks to all our donors,(and one substantial gift from an anonymous donor,) our GlobalGiving receipts for the first quarter total R$89,107 or US$16,833.

Our first quarter expenses amounted to R$13,234 or US$2,497, leaving us a balance of R$75,873, or US$14,333 which will fund our next three online courses and leave us in good shape to host the schoolkids later in the year. We´re also exploring the possibility of hosting a group of students from the northeast of Brazil for an internship in ecosystem restoration, provisionally in January 2022. And we´ll keep offering online courses  and expanding our network of environmental leaders. 

So, dear donors, thank you for coming backstage with us, and thank you even more for your generous support. We`re on a long term commitment together, working with young environmentalists of all ages and fostering the forest champions of tomorrow (and today!) 

Be safe, friends, and we´ll talk again soon

with love from Yasmin and the Iracambi team 

Links:

• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tbIthvadddLku-F6s0dLj3n4