Of all the areas of social and economic development in which CEN could invest its energy, why focus on entrepreneurship? The basic skills and mindsets CEN helps develop are a critical foundation for overcoming a wide variety of the challenges we see in developing regions like the Amazon, including increasing access to health care, increasing incomes, preserving the environment, and improving education.

CEN's Creating a Culture of Learning and Empowerment in the Amazon Region (cCLEAR) program focuses on enabling residents of rural communities to increase incomes in a sustainable manner, through entrepreneurship. When asked directly to identify the biggest obstacles they faced, residents of the Amazonian communities where CEN is engaged expressed concerns over the lack of stable and consistent means of generating income. Nurturing and encouraging new, grassroots business development ideas creates new jobs and revenue opportunities, rather than relying upon the existing sources, which are limited.

Why focus on entrepreneurship, rather than finding jobs in existing businesses?

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In order to build sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families, residents of rural communities in developing countries need to become entrepreneurs.

The major problem in these communities is not just the lack of business skills; it is also the lack of opportunities. There are few jobs available, which leaves people to either continue with traditional occupations, which are often financially inadequate, or become an entrepreneur and start new a new business for themselves.

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While in Suruacá in July I met with most of the cCLEAR participants. This is the first time I’ve been back here since launching cCLEAR two years ago. I noticed a lot of changes.
About 10 new families have moved here, bringing the total to about 115. To move to the community, either the husband or wife must have family here. Because Suruacá has more infrastructure and opportunities than most communities, many newly married families have selected to move here. As opportunities in Suruacá improve, a few families have even moved back from the cities of Santarem or Manaus – reverse migration from what’s happening in much of the region.

Another change I noticed was how many more people had cellphones and TVs, especially considering there isn’t regular electricity in the community. A few years ago, only a few people had phones, now many of the youth, in particular, carry them around and use them mostly as a personal music player. Plus, they double as a flashlight in the dark. One of the cellphone carriers, Vivo, is even considering building a cell tower in the community, which will also serve passing boats.

Speaking of boats, the community is now served by three boats, compared to just two on my last visit. Two of the boats are considerably bigger. Two are community owned and one is private. One of the community boats is used primarily as a backup and to travel to other communities. The two larger boats primarily travel twice a week between Suruacá and the City of Santarem, about 6 hours away. They are the only means of transportation in and out of the community.

We were treated last weekend to a big soccer invitational, with many teams from the region, followed by a huge party. Four bands came in from Santarem to play and music raged on until dawn. The cost of putting this on must have been staggering for such a poor community. But they manage to hold a soccer invitational a couple of times a year, as well as several other large festivals. They are financed in large part by patronization from companies, government agencies and politicians in the region. Sometimes it’s a little hard for us from the US to understand how much the culture of doing “favors” is still really active in the region. This culture reinforces the cycle of dependency, which is very hard to break.

There’s no question there’s been a lot of progress in the communities over the last couple of years. In my next blog, I’ll tell more about how the participants in our program have fared since the pilot ended.

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While in Suruacá in July I met with most of the cCLEAR participants. This is the first time I’ve been back here since launching cCLEAR two years ago. I noticed a lot of changes.
About 10 new families have moved here, bringing the total to about 115. To move to the community, either the husband or wife must have family here. Because Suruacá has more infrastructure and opportunities than most communities, many newly married families have selected to move here. As opportunities in Suruacá improve, a few families have even moved back from the cities of Santarem or Manaus – reverse migration from what’s happening in much of the region.

Another change I noticed was how many more people had cellphones and TVs, especially considering there isn’t regular electricity in the community. A few years ago, only a few people had phones, now many of the youth, in particular, carry them around and use them mostly as a personal music player. Plus, they double as a flashlight in the dark. One of the cellphone carriers, Vivo, is even considering building a cell tower in the community, which will also serve passing boats.

Speaking of boats, the community is now served by three boats, compared to just two on my last visit. Two of the boats are considerably bigger. Two are community owned and one is private. One of the community boats is used primarily as a backup and to travel to other communities. The two larger boats primarily travel twice a week between Suruacá and the City of Santarem, about 6 hours away. They are the only means of transportation in and out of the community.

We were treated last weekend to a big soccer invitational, with many teams from the region, followed by a huge party. Four bands came in from Santarem to play and music raged on until dawn. The cost of putting this on must have been staggering for such a poor community. But they manage to hold a soccer invitational a couple of times a year, as well as several other large festivals. They are financed in large part by patronization from companies, government agencies and politicians in the region. Sometimes it’s a little hard for us from the US to understand how much the culture of doing “favors” is still really active in the region. This culture reinforces the cycle of dependency, which is very hard to break.

There’s no question there’s been a lot of progress in the communities over the last couple of years. In my next blog, I’ll tell more about how the participants in our program have fared since the pilot ended.

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Even though there are Muiraquitãs (muy-rah-kee-ton) made out of a variety of different materials and in different shapes, they are typically small charms, carved in green stone (jade), usually in the shape of a frog and rarely larger than four inches. Known in Europe since colonial times, Muiraquitãs became a hot and avidly sought after commodity between the 17th and 19th centuries, for they were believed to be a powerful amulet with therapeutic qualities.

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