5) Description of initiative: Our initiative searches to consolidate and promote a network that has generated in the Commune of Chiguayante on the topic of Protection of the Nonguen State. To expand the spreading and awareness of the population to stop micro trafficking and the indiscriminate tree felling in the native forest. Through communicational campaigns we engage the community to protect this future National Reserve. Our Organization searches to establish alliances and networks to spread the importance of protecting this valuable natural heritage. Our network requires constant dialog and communication with other organizations, which many times it is difficult because the perspectives and methodologies are different and an agreement is not reached, however the citizens have achieved in this case to organize themselves and achieve concrete results such as the signing of agreement protocol so that the authorities promise to start the legal process of declaring the Nonguén Estate a National Reserve. Our main beneficiaries are children and youth of the commune. With the Childhood and youth network of Chiguayante and the Cultural and Communication Centre Mapu Ocho we organize diverse activities in which we participate spreading the protection of the Nonguén Estate. Music concerts, recreational activities for children, audiovisual exhibitions, conferences, meetings, diverse cultural activities.

6) Description of innovation: The Nonguén Estate is a life reserve of more than 3,000 hectares and covers three communes (Concepción, Chiguayante, and Hulaqui). In Chiguayante our organization is the first to work towards the protection of the Nonguén Estate. Through a long process of dialog with other organizations, the public sector and private companies we have strengthen a network in favor of protecting the Nonguén Estate. We have achieved to make the population aware of the situation with more than 2,000 posters and 2,500 diptychs, brochures and itinerancy so that they consume wood that would not impact the environment. We are a group of youth that had nothing and that with a lot of perseverance have achieved important financing from the public sector (Municipality of Conama). We have achieved to work with a private company that currently finances part of our documentary “Let us live Nonguén”. We have generated local networks, at the community, national and international level. During the Development Fair of the South Cone in Buenos Aires, Argentina, our experience turned out to be one of the 200 winners among more than 1,800. We have created a strategic alliance with the Cultural and Communications Centre Mapu Ocho that provides us a colorful repaired and equipped bus, which we use as itinerant communicational support. With the bus we traveled around the commune and spread the protection of the Nonguén Estate. In 2006 our initiative received the “Innovation and Citizenship” award granted by the program Citizenship and Local Management, Basically, we differentiate ourselves in that we are the only organization that is active even when we lack financing. Moreover, we are a group of youth with different occupations that from nothing we have achieved to generate an impact in the community that has exceeded our own expectations. Generally civil society organizations are not so perfectionist or professional in its work, we have elaborated a communicational campaign of excellent level.

7) Delivery model: We searched to generate social networks in the commune and inter-commune to which the Nonguén Estate also belongs. Basically, our work axis is the Communicational Campaign which we delivered in an itinerant and direct manner, we related ourselves directly with the Community through different activities, meetings, lectures for children, music concerts for youth, audiovisual exhibitions, among others, we generated dialog spaces to raise awareness in the community to protect the native forest. We have trained ourselves in different areas to achieve learning that would allow us reach a greater number of people.

8) Key operational partnerships: The municipality of Chiguayante has financed part of our Communicational Campaign in the Madre Paulina School. We carried out in 2003 the project “Let us Recover the Nonguén Estate for eco-tourism and Citizenship participation” financed by Conama (National Commission of the Environment). From this project emerged an ecology group that still exists and currently the school always provides us its premises to carry out activities. The childhood and youth network of Chiguayante is an institutional network that aims to work towards children and youth rights. The Cultural and Communications Centre Mapu Ocho is the only functional organization that belongs to this network and has become our interlocutor in he topic of the Nonguén Estate. The Childhood and Youth network is key in our work since they are very interested in our initiative and always invite us to participate in their activities and we incorporate the spreading of the State in its activities. The Museum of Natural History of Concepción, Codeff, the Ecology Cadets of Hualqui, the Nonguén Network of Concepción together with the Youth Group Millantu are the main actors of the civil society in the protection of the Nonguén Estate , this network has participated in the different processes that the protection of the Nonguén Estate has had. Together we wrote the agreement protocol in which the authorities promise to start the legal process of declaring the Nonguén Estate a National Reserve.

9) Financial model: Our initiative is based on the constant search for financing, we do not have an established financial outline, but we always manage to find resources in order to continue working. Currently Essbio finances part of our documentary “Let us live Nonguén”.

          • Costs as percentage of income: 80

          • Financing: Our experience is financed though contest projects and in spite of the fact that we depend on the approval of these which implicates a financial instability to cover costs of the experience, we have never been without participating in the process to protect the Nonguén Estate, we have always generated resources to keep working, which in short means that it does support itself. The initiative does not generate profit, our organization in non-for-profit. The other sources are private companies, Essbio and Evita Fashions. Our plan to continue functioning is to keep looking for financing through contest funds, expanding networks and forming strategic alliances to expand our field of action. The beneficiaries do not contribute financially.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: The result is the strengthening of the citizenship through dialog. Chiguayante is a commune of 90,000 inhabitants and many of them did not know that behind the hill with which they have lived all their lives is the Nonguén Estate, they have learnt to value and be informed that there is found the last remaining of the native forest of the region and that many species in danger of extinction live there. We have created networks at the local, national and international level. Approximately 8,000 people have benefited.

          • Number of clients in past year: Our itinerant communicational campaign “Let us Protect our Next National Reserve” has traveled almost across the entire commune. The bus is a unique experience for the inhabitants of the commune, it is painted in colors and it achieves to impact the community. We have transformed the bus in an itinerant information centre. In the last year, approximately 4,000 people have benefited.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: After a long road of citizen dialog and long working days to write the agreement protocol with the public sector, in November 2005 we signed the agreement protocol in which the authorities promise to declare the Nonguén Estate a National Reserve. Currently this has not been specified and the Nonguén Estate still does not have legal protection so our plan is to continue spreading awareness and working to prevent the indiscriminate felling of native trees Once the Nonguén Estate becomes a National Reserve the protocol leaves open the possibility so that the citizens continue working in a working commission with the aim that the community be represented. Our idea is that it is important that the civil society participates in these processes.

12) Origin of the initiative: In 2003 we formed ourselves as eco-volunteers for the protection of the Nonguén Estate. In March 2003, we established lines of work in areas of spreading, training, P.R., lobby, research and financing. Later we achieved the financing of the Citizen Minga with which we called youth with thematic music concerts under the motto “Save the Nonguén Estate”. We collected signatures, after came the financing of the Environmental Protection Fund “Let us Recover the Nonguén Estate for eco-tourism and citizen participation”. In the Beginning our communicational support was very precarious, after came the financing of the World Bank and we elaborated materials with professionals, in September 2006 we received the award Innovation and Citizenship 2006 granted by the Program of Citizenship and Public Management where we participated in the meeting “Innovation Paths and Citizenship”.

Contact Information:
Patricia  Aguillón
presidenta
Grupo MIllantu
(Funcional)
O higgins 1359-A Chiguayante, vII región
Chile
Tel: 56-041-2978432
Email: tkmillantu@gmail.com
Website: www.millantu.tk