The Community of Comuna Cofán Dureno, located in the province Sucumbios, is situated on the Aguarico river in the Amazon rainforest. The community is part of the larger Cofán indigenous group which has small communities dotted around the former oil boom town of Lago Agrio, the province's capital city.

(For more information about the Cofan please visit www.cofan.org).

Totaling about 380 people, Comuna Cofán Dureno consists of eighty families who independently earn a living while supporting one another in their struggle for economic development. Most of the families rely solely on the sales of their artisan work in Lago Agrio. The families supplement the costs of their basic needs, not covered by craft sales, by utilizing the resources of the rainforest and agriculture. Both men and women participate in artisan production, men additionally hunt and fish. Women tend to the homes and children when they are not in the community's school.

Taught by one of the community's former leaders Eduardo Silvio Chapal, in both Spanish and their native language Ai' ngae, the children must leave the community after the ninth grade. They commute to a larger community across the river for high school. While part of the larger Cofán indigenous group Comuna Cofán Dureno is responsible for its own community development.

INTO's role

Although the Amazon rainforest is home to some of the most extensive natural resources on the planet, the community of Comuna Cofán Dureno lacks doors into prosperous markets. Sales made in Lago Agrio involve national middlemen who rob the artisans of any possible profits, forcing them to live on very small earnings.

Furthermore, the mere travel to Lago Agrio is a complicated trip that requires additional transportation costs to each artisan. The entire community relies on one motorized canoe to cross the river which encounters difficulties when the river reaches higher levels.

Together with the gas and maintenance costs for the canoe’s motor and the additional cost of the bus ticket into Lago Agrio the community members are left with very little money to supply their basic needs such as tin for their roofs, clothing, shoes, and books for their children.

With the profits made in the U.S., INTO will work with the community to develop plans for infrastructure development such as the building of a bridge and classroom improvements for the school.

The partnership will allow the community to become their own self developer through the sale of the individual families’ products.