The workshop for developing the association’s mission and vision, reviewing the bylaws, and constructing the strategic planning were part of the agenda for the first board meeting of the association.
By Camila Figueiredo
Between Abril 5th and April 7th, 2023, Instituto Juruá’s team supported the First Board Meeting of AAEPPRI (Environmental Association of Extractive Fishermen, and Rural Producers of Itamarati) in the municipality of Itamarati.
During a trip to Itamarati to advance the stages of a fishing agreement homologation in the region, members of Instituto Juruá met with representatives of AAEPPRI to create strategies to strengthen the association at this opportune moment to introduce the fishing agreement and management of arapaima in the region. Lectures, integration meetings, workshops for the development of the “River of Time”, the association’s mission and vision, the bylaw revision, and construction of the strategic planning were part of the agenda.
For the members of Instituto Juruá, this unprecedented meeting was seen with great enthusiasm. The projects promoting associativism in the region are rare, and accessibility between communities in Itamarati is difficult, resulting in a low interactivity among board members.
One of the goals of Instituto Juruá was to assist AAEPPRI in social organization and access to resources and public policies. The agenda was developed in collaboration with the association, incorporating activities such as roundtables discussions, workshops, revision of the social bylaws, the construction of the “River of Time” (AAEPPRI’s timeline), analysis of the SWOT matrix (methodology for evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and the development of the strategic planning.
Instituto Juruá has been contributing to the strengthening of AAEPRI in Itamarati, enabling the municipality to potentialize the context of local associativism and cooperativism, promoting improvements in every area of sustainability, and providing a possibility for social organization of riverside communities, biodiversity control, increased fish stocks, income generation, food sovereignty, among other equally important matters.
Nathália Messina, socio-environmental analyst at Instituto Juruá, is pleased with the results from this first meeting: “the AAEPPRI emerges stronger, having the possibilities to envisioning the successful outcome in the next term of office and better chances of the Itamarati municipality homologating the fishing agreement and arapaima management”.
Messina emphasizes that “the meeting provided a valuable learning at an opportune moment for the social axis of Instituto Juruá, through the Communitarian Strengthen Program, which supports communitarians organizations, relationship strengthening, capacity development, institutional build up, in short, the power of transformation and overcoming reality”.
AAEPPRI board members and the fiscal council that attended the meeting and participated in the actions to strengthen the association. In the central photo, the president, the vice-president, and the first alternate of the fiscal council. These two last were not present at the meeting, but they had an update later for alignment with everything that was done. Photos: Nathalia Messina.
After the strengthening actions, with the origination of a team of young volunteers from Itamarati and the integration with other members of AAEPPRI, Instituto Juruá’s team is optimistic about the activities that can be better performed, with greater effectiveness and decentralization of tasks.
Welcome meeting to the volunteer team formed through the partnership of Instituto Juruá with AAEPPRI. Photos: Edimar Costa.
For the next steps, Instituto Juruá aims to support the implementation of tasks programmed in the strategic planning, especially those that dialogue with the focus areas of the institute, promoting greater integration with the riverside communities, and further strengthening relationships among board members, councils, AAEPPRI members, and other contributors.
