cCLEAR Program Overview

Creating a Culture of Learning and Empowerment in the Amazon Region (cCLEAR)

The Community Empowerment Network’s cCLEAR Program is comprehensive, integrated program aimed at sustainably transforming the economic opportunities of communities within the Middle Amazon Region - and become the model for adaptation and replication for the many other regions of the world which experience similar problems.

cCLEAR aims to transform an “I can’t” mentality to “I can”.  The program will help participants develop their knowledge, skills, confidence and social capital they need to drive their own development objectives. It will also generate meaningful and sustainable livelihoods by empowering participants with the skills, confidence, and means they need to become more self-sufficient, as well as access to capital and markets for products they produce. 

The program has 3 phases:

Phase 1
We will initially work with 30 thought and action leaders (including health care workers, teachers, youth, entrepreneurs, and women’s groups) in Suruacá and Maguary, two Amazon communities that already have ICT access and where CEN already has a great deal of experience.

Phase 1 focuses on developing “soft” skills including leadership, critical thinking, management, problem solving and evaluation as well as building confidence. To do this we will develop a toolkit that will include a set of activities and tools, such as traditional and computer based training, workshops, and regular interaction between communities using electronic tools and personal exchanges and project-based learning (PBL).  More about our Methodology.

During this phase most projects will be small in scope with the goal of developing participants’ confidence, as well as to internalize and apply what they learn. 

CEN is partnering with Link Social, a Brazilian-registered non-profit based in Rio de Janeiro, to implement the cCLEAR pilot project. Link Social's mission is to transform the economies and culture of rural communities. Angela Viemayer, Link Social's Program Director, will move to the region in late April and serve as the project's Field Manager. 

Please see our project proposal for more details on the first phase of the cCLEAR program.

Phase 2
While the skills achieved during Phase 1 can be applied to a wide range of community and individual initiatives, including health care, governance, building livelihoods and more, due to limited resources we have chosen to initially hone in on two of these during Phase 2: Building Entrepreneurship (“IEDP”) and Improving Education (“CTM”)

Both IEDP and CTM build on the skills from Phase 1, but provide more specific and tangible skills to entrepreneurs and teachers. The IEDP will develop skills such as production, design, running a business, management, as well as facilitate the overcoming of market weaknesses by improving access to markets and capital, and building product value chains.  CTM will work with local teachers to apply and deepen their teaching skills. This will serve to improve the quality of local education, as well as help institutionalize cCLEAR within the community. Both IEDP and CTM will rely extensively upon individualized mentorship and the projects participants pursue will be more complex than in phase 1.

Phase 3
Phase 3 focuses on building the long term sustainability of the program in preparation of CEN’s disengagement from the individual communities. Sustainability will be ensured by building the capacity of local partners to advise and support community initiatives (but NOT do it for them). Physical and social infrastructure, such as the Amazon Network, a network of communities in the region, which we have started, will also serve to ensure the sustainability of the results of the cCLEAR program. 

 

cCLEAR Project Proposal (147K)

Future Plans

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