While sharing resources, skills and knowledge seems to make perfect sense in western societies, Natalie Ortiz realized the opposite when she returned to her home in central America. Here is her story about building a trade school for women in Costa Rica. After two years in France and a lot of time, effort, and passion researching, discussing, and defining the collaborative economy with the Parisian community of ‘OuiSharers’, I came back to my home country of Costa Rica. While living in Paris I would always try to talk to people in Costa Rica about how important sharing is. But after returning home the idea somehow did not make as much sense as it did then. Why not? Trust and safety issues are surely one direct answer to why most sharing services that are thriving in Europe seem unreal and meaningless in a country like Costa Rica. I used to always think that successful services should be able to scale and flourish in any type of environment. Now, I have realized that it makes little sense to replicate business models in an industrial like fashion - they need to be adapted to the individual circumstances. This process can be tricky and complex, but also enriching. When I came back home I started working with the non-profit Abriendo Mentes in a rural beach community called Potrero. As their women’s empowerment coordinator, I felt the urge to re-design the program, which had the aim to create a micro-enterprise and an educational workshop scheme. This seemed like a great opportunity to make use of some ‘collaborative ideas’.
Knowledge Exchange for women in the Community
“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” ~Diane Mariechild
A group of women in the community was interested in learning. When I asked them what they would like to learn, they said “whatever, we just want to learn and have fun while doing it, since we want to enjoy the few hours a day we get off from our hard work and children at home." I am a great admirer of these women and the many practical skills and knowledge they already have.That's why I thought that trade school principles that are based on mutual respect, hands on knowledge and the social nature of exchange would be a perfect addition to the program. [caption id="attachment_4671" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Photo credit: Natalie Ortiz[/caption]
What did we do?
Well, basically we created our own trade school, even though we do not engage in tangible bartering, since there is a lack of resources in the community. But valuable knowledge exchange still takes place indeed! This is how our model works: We have one to two educational workshops a week, which are taught by different women in the group. Every woman is encouraged to teach at least once and propose her own ‘special talent’ that she would like to share with local friends and on teach topics we think would be useful for the women like nutrition, healthcare, yoga, and women’s self-defense.
What we have learned?
So far we have learned many different things, like how to make a traditional Guanacaste dish called arroz de maiz (corn rice), a very elaborate dish that requires the grinding of corn, preparing a chicken (from the patio), and cooking everything up in a small fire that we made together. Other classes have included Latin dance, Peyote bracelet stiching, yoga, learning healthy eating habits, zumba, and tie dye.
Many benefits for women
[caption id="attachment_4673" align="alignright" width="402"]
Yogo classes at a Costa Rica trade school. Photo credit: Natalie Ortiz[/caption] This model of knowledge sharing has had a variety of benefits for the women and their community. Apart from being able to learn from local friends and gain multicultural knowledge from the volunteers collaborating in the program, our trade school has strengthened the bonds between the women in the community by providing them with time to chat, laugh, share, and relate to each other. It gives them the opportunity to be a teacher and a leader in a formal setting; it builds confidence and self esteem. Allowing them to teach helps them realize that they have something useful and great to share with others. With our help and support, most of the women who were very shy at the beginning have been able to overcome their fears in a wonderful way and believe in themselves a little bit more. The women have given us very positive feedback on our ‘trade school’ model. The attendance has increased, and we (Abriendo Mentes and I) are enjoying learning from the amazing knowledge and life experience of these women. These small steps of empowerment are important steps towards big change. To get there, collaboration is necessary, possible, and even natural. It is very important to keep in mind that the context and the people living in a given region matter. This is why services or ideas always need to be adapted to the local population’s needs. A human centred approach as well as empathy, time, tests and lots of conversations are necessary to build open, trusting relationships that allow learning and growth. Only then will the the social nature of exchange benefit us all, while reinforcing community ties and mutual respect.
“If you have come to help me because you feel called to help me, please go away… But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, please stay and let’s work together” ~ Lila Watson, aboriginal activist
Would you like to support our project? Then please contribute to the crowdfunding campaign we have launched on crowdrise. Guest post written by Natalie Ortiz.
I’m a designer that works with people, communities, and organisations in a collaborative manner. My focus is to use design as a tool to unlock innovation and help solve pressing social problems. Header Image taken by Natalie Ortiz