"Start a pilot in one community that will transform villages categorized as extreme poverty into villages that have a fascinating way of life:  valueing their roots, recovering ecosystems, generating prosperity by transforming plants in their ecosystems and linking to value chains, and generating a platform where people from other parts could come and learn, and also share their knowledge.  It will be a village where ecology, economics and linking to the world will happen."

NAME OF PROJECT: 
WAKAMI´S gate

What will it do?
The project will  be a tool to BRING THE BEST OUT OF PEOPLE, in two different ways: 

1. REACHING PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD:
   Writing a book, WAKAMI´S GATE:  this book is about discovering that WE ALL HAVE AN AMAZING GIFT,  some people have already found it, others are looking for it, others do not imagine it being there.  This book is the story of how I found my gift . . . and realized it exists for everybody!!!! And how here lies, the opportunity to TRANSFORM OUR WORLD, or cross a gate to a DIFFERENT ONE . . . one we only thought existed in our dreams!!!
2. REACHING WOMEN IN OUR CENTRAL AMEERICAN REGION:  me and many other women and some men, especially CALI fellows, are launching a VITAL VOICES GUATEMALAN CHAPTER AND CENTRAL AMERICAN NETWORK, a space created to identify, train and empower emerging women leaders in the region.  Our slogan says it all:  INVESTING IN WOMEN WHO ARE TRANSFORMING THE REGION.   We will be bringing Vital Voices Global Network to the region, to link with other amazing women in the world, learning from them, but also projecting our central American voices to them!!!  It is a space that empowers women through trainings, builds their credibility by showing their work at different levels and links them to different networks that can enhance their work!!  The program will start with mentorships, but also with exchanges at different levels, being the first ones with the Organization for American States and Georgetown University.  The strategy for this space is to identify the different types of challenges that our region has, and identify the women leaders working in these different spaces, and then investing in them, so they can have a bigger impact in their work, reaching many more people and being amazing agents of change in OUR REGION!!!

Who/what will it benefit and how?

• The people reading the book, can start thinking that it is possible a different way of living, based on a different way of thinking about the world and about themselves, all told in a very simple way.
• Emerging women leaders in the region:  by identifying them, and investing in them, they will become aware of the amazing potential they have, and be able to develop their work at a totally new amazing level!!
• Women in the Central American region:  we will feel there is a space where we can TRANSFORM OUR REGION, by connecting to other women wanting to be part of this, and realizing our roles are part of something bigger, OUR REGION!!
• People of Central America: seeing before their eyes, how we are MOVING FORWARD, and realizing women are playing an important role!!  To improve the region for everyone!!!

How will it be implemented?

1. Writing a book:  it will be written and then, one important aspect will be finding a publisher.  Once the book is written, I will start looking at the different possibilities.  People in the Aspen network can  give me some leads.
2. Vital Voices Guatemala Chapter and Central American Network:  we will be lauching the initiative on June 23, 2008.  We have done some fundraising, mainly with USAID, Embassy of the US and private sector, that will allow to do the launching, start the mentorship and hire an executive director, who can continue the programs, but also continue the fundraising, so essential for a program like this one.  Setting up a BOARD OF DIRECTORS, will be another important step. 

What is my role?
To write and get the book published, and to start the Vital Voices Guatemalan Chapter and Central American Network, together with other women.  Helping set up the structure (board of directors, staff, programs, alliances) and then being there as part of the board .    Also my role will be looking at opportunities that rise in the US (where I live now) and connecting them to the region.

How will it be measured?
1. Book:
a. Number of books sold
b. comments from people
c. new spaces generating from the book.
2.  Vital Voices: 
a. number of emerging women leaders we work with.
b. Change in the impact of these leaders after they participate in the program, especially new people they can reach with their programs.
c. Number of organizations that become part of this initiative.

Does it meet the criteria for projects laid out in the project descriptor?
Yes, especially with respect to my personal passion, which is to live in a world where there is HARMONY BETWEEN PEOPLE AND WITH THE EARTH!!  The book will give me a tool to share with the World the kind of world I imagine inside, and how our WORLD WILL BE TRANSFORMED if we all follow our passion . . .

Aspen really made me think about HOW WE CAN BECOME A GREAT COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE LIVING AMONG COMMUNITIES OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS!!!  I feel the key to this is not telling people what to do;  I feel the key to it is inside each one of us . . . when we follow our heart and our passion . . . this world will emerge . . . we just need to remember WHO WE REALLY ARE AND WHAT WE REALLY CAME TO THIS WORLD FOR!!!   I hope the book can help with this.

But the, the Vital Voices Initiative, is a concrete space.  Women in our region are amazing, but  this is not reflected . . . economically, socially, politically . . . I believe women add a different dimension to spaces, to things, to programs . . . but before we can do it fully, we need to value ourselves and value other women.  By creating a space especially for women, we can do this . . . and once we value who we are and other women, we are ready to give the WORLD WHAT WE HAVE INSIDE . . . and become key in TRANSFORMING OUR REGION!!!!  The starting point is our reality, but the vision becomes a common place where we want to move . . .

Why is the project worthy of CALI?
It is worthy of CALI and ASPEN.  ASPEN tries to figure out ways for the perfect society.  In Central America, some of the challenges are poverty, destruction of ecosystems, education and inclusive businesses.  This project, will in one, way, share a way in which we can transform realities (the book), but will also empower women already working on some of the solutions . . . being able to feel like there will be a TIPPING POINT FOR OUR REGION . . .