We have built a community development model to strengthen the resilience and promote local development of the northern sierra in Puebla, Mxico, we are focused on bamboo production and industrialization because bamboo is a great ally in environment protection. We search to develop four bamboo transformation industries that will give decent and well-paid jobs to the locals, in a self-development logic, we empower men and women to use their resources in a sustainable way, educating the new generations in protection awareness and social and solidarity economy.

The model is carried in four different components, we have developed a school for capacity building, we empower men and women of the region to take initiative and create new opportunities for their families and the whole region, and to improve agricultural production and implement social enterprises, it is located in Jonotla, one of the communities where the model is been implemented. The second component is socialization, where we involve local schools in productive units to grow fruits and vegetables that will be eaten by students and also grow bamboo that will be commercialized in the region, this project teaches the best practices in local agricultural production, aiming the preservation of local seeds and promotes the implementation of the unit in the houses. The third component is forestal production, we have produced more than 100,000 bamboo plants each year in the last four years, carrying out a reforestation program with the federal government. The fourth is industry development to promote four bamboo transformation industries in the next four years, working with bamboo design, textile, construction, and paper.

As described, the first component focuses on education, capacity building and development of new skills, we have a school named TALTOKALIS (wich in Nahuatl, the indigenous local language means; we sow the earth with harmony) placed in the middle of the jungle, so that we can generate a new space that creates knowledge and respects the local diversity, taking what is in our culture to build a better version of the reality. Technology transfer can be seen from two optics, first, the one that happens in TALTOKALIS where trainers who are local experts, academics of national universities and field practitioners teach the students new skills to improve agriculture and to start social enterprises. And in the other hand this skills will be implemented in the management of the new industries developed in the region, industries that have a great component of technology transfer, for year bamboo has been growth in the region but there had not been developed technology to transform it and with this model the implementation of new technics, the use of new machines is accompanied by a strong commitment to the care of the environment.

This initiative is governed by the members of the communities together with the organization, La esperanza del maana is a non-governmental organization focused on development, we work to offer three diplomas in social entrepreneurship thanks to founders such as Grupo Excelencia and Fundacin ADO, and the graduates become leaders in their communities, with them we strengthen social dialogue and work with community assemblies and generate democratic decision making, respecting the tradition of the indigenous people we work with. For the school production units, we work with a commitee of parents and students that are trained by a local expert farmer to produce and to be sustainable and develop new skills for life. For content of the diplomas, we work with different prestigious universities in Puebla to generate the educational proposal and with the locals to teach situated and relevant knowledge.

La Esperanza del Maana, Grupo Excelencia, Ensea por Mxico, REEDUCA, Fundacin ADO