Location: Cochabamba, Bolivia Setting: Peri-Urban Established: 2006 Staff: 14
Mission and Objectives:
The Gaia Pacha Foundation seeks to create and implement scientific proposals to increase environmental awareness and change people’s attitudes and behavior towards the environment. The Foundation’s overall goal is to tackle problems where human actions alter ecosystem balances by developing real alternatives using local and scientific knowledge and thus, satisfy the needs of both humans and their environment.
Tiraque – Cochabamba, Bolivia
Introduction:
The Tata Esteban Center is an NGO founded 1993 by Padre Esteban Avelli in Tiraque, a rural community about 2 hours from Cochabamba. The organization is an alternative education center that offers young people in the community the opportunity to finish and obtain a high school diploma, as well as gaining technical skills and training. The Center works with youth and Quechua peasants between the ages of 15 and 30 years old who have been marginalized from the state educational system and were unable to complete primary school. Tata Esteban was originally conceived with the objective of promoting the role of young Quechua females (SIPASKUNA) in the community through professional development and alternative education, and in 2000 the program expanded to include young Quechua males (WAYNAKUNA). The Center currently works with approximately 450 youth providing technical training in a range of fields while placing emphasis on the value of local norms and customs.


