TWP and the Ford Foundation, Towards Sustainable Economies in Latin America
We are excited to announce a new collaboration, supported by the Ford Foundation, to research alternative economic models in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean.
Our long-term partnerships in Central America have led us to countless models that generate value locally while retaining communal, land-based values. These models, with the right support, could be a foundation for inclusive economic stability as the region faces high levels of inequality, shifts in migration, and climate change.
Over the next two years, we will identify economic “alternatives” – broadly, enterprises that benefit local economies, environments, and people – and analyze the conditions in which they thrive. Our findings will be used by the Ford Foundation to channel funding and shift policy towards locally-led, ecologically-sustainable economies in the region.
Our earliest survey responses from community organizations in the region are telling of the need to reimagine economies. Describing the impacts of dominant economic models, respondents highlighted damage to the environment, inequality, market imbalances, exclusion, and violation of rights, above all. Identifying characteristics of the alternative models they’d like to support, respondents prioritized sustainability, inclusion, justice, communality, community leadership, and local value.
This type of research is new for us, and it’s not. The scale is bigger, and the focus broader. But we’ve always based our work on listening well, supporting locally-led models, and countering challenges with grounded examples of good.
Now we have one of the largest private foundations in the world by our side, ready to apply our recommendations towards the life-centric economies we know are possible.
