TAKING GREENWOOD TO SCALE

In March 2008 GreenWood completed the official hand-off of its Honduras program to its local nonprofit counterpart, Fundación MaderaVerde, which is entirely "owned and operated" by a local board and staff. (The installation of the new board is shown at right.) As the parent organization of this new sustainable nonprofit enterprise, GreenWood remains connected to the Honduras program it founded and is deeply committed to its ongoing success. But one of the core strategic objectives of this transition is to enable GreenWood to expand the benefits of its unique development approach to other countries in Central and South America, where similar conditions prevail. GreenWood has received recent requests for technical assistance and training from representatives of NGOs, development organizations and sustainable forestry projects from Mexico and Guatemala to Panama, Peru and Bolivia.

The first such expansion was launched in 2007, as GreenWood began applying the lessons learned in Honduras to indigenous Yanesha communities in the Palcazu Valley of the Southern Andean region of tropical Peru. GreenWood’s Peru enterprise lays the groundwork for a collaborative venture, in partnership with local Yanesha artisans and two respected Peruvian NGOs, PaTS and ProNaturaleza.

A successful GreenWood workshop conducted in Oxapampa, Peru, in February 2008 points to a fruitful collaboration with Yanesha artisans through our experimentation with a variety of lesser-known species and residual wood products harvested from well-managed forests. Following a careful analysis of their structural and aesthetic properties, as well as their environmental status and management requirements, GreenWood has identified several promising species. We are developing new product designs and significant modifications to existing products, which should result in greater efficiency and quality of production and improved market access. Throughout the training process, GreenWood’s expert mentors focus on the “hand-off,” equipping local artisans to function successfully and independently in the marketplace.