April - June 2024 Update
Thriving Futures.
Thriving Planet.
Thank you for checking out our second quarterly report of 2024. Inside you’ll find updates on what Thriving Futures look like in action. Thank you for your partnership as we support Indigenous and local communities to build healthy communities and landscapes by activating the power of legacy.
Our Model
Legado Is:
Legado is a women-led, global nonprofit that works alongside Indigenous and local communities in places important for biodiversity. We support communities to design and implement solutions of their choosing, benefiting people and landscapes alike — an outcome we call Thriving Futures.
Where We Work:
The Legado Approach
What We Do:
We Activate Legacy
We work alongside Indigenous and local communities to activate legacy. A legacy is a vision people set for themselves and their landscapes that builds on their communities’ already existing strengths.
How We Do It:
360° Community-Led Change
The Outcome:
Thriving Futures
A Thriving Future Timeline
3-6 Months
Stage 1:
Megantoni-Machiguenga, Peru
Nyekweri, Kenya
6-12 Months
Stage 2:
1-5 Years
Stage 3:
Mucunha, Mozambique
Nkishon Supat E Ngilai, Kenya
Our
Partnerships
Ngilai Community Conservancy
The Megantoni National Sanctuary, National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP)
The Machiguenga Communal Reserve, National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP)
ECA Maeni
Namuli Wiwanana
Northern Rangelands Trust
The Pangolin Project
The Spotlight
Community Health Training Bridges traditional medicine
Members of the Ngilai community come together to build a maternity shelter | Legado
Quarterly Updates
New partnership launches
in Kenya
This quarter, we officially launched our newest partnership with The Pangolin Project to support Indigenous stewardship of the larger Nyekweri ecosystem in Southwest Kenya. The Nyekweri ecosystem and the adjacent Maasai Mara Reserve area are a refuge for a range of wildlife that have been stewarded by the Maasai people and other Indigenous groups for centuries. Through this new partnership, Legado is supporting The Pangolin Project to use a Thriving Futures Model in partnership with Maasi landowners. Indigenous stewards will create a holistic Landscape Management Plan that preserves the biodiversity of the forest and rangelands and furthers their well-being. We look forward to sharing more updates soon!
Legacy Planning launches in Peru
This quarter, we successfully began the co-creation of the first Intercultural Community Legacy Plan (PLCI) in Saniriato. This is the inaugural community for the first cycle of the Thriving Future initiative in the Megantoni-Machiguenga landscape. This included obtaining free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from the community, which is a fundamental right we respect when working with Indigenous communities. For Legado, FPIC is a two-stage process—we meet with community leaders, then the community at large at a village to village level to build relationships and trust and begin our collaboration as equal partners in the work. After this consent gaining process, we hosted the first community-level workshops with local participants, where community members began articulating their legacies for themselves and their landscapes.
Group photo of participants celebrating at the end of the First Community Legacy Convening in Saniriato to co-create their Intercultural Communal Legacy Plan | Ruth Milagros Montesinos/SERNANP
Flor Angela Zuniga Tupe, FVMM Community Coordinator|Legado
“During my time working with the FVMM initiative I have been in my element. I am learning a lot from the entire team, especially growing in confidence and in overcoming challenges. All of this is helping me to grow as a person and feel more empowered to be able to achieve my goals and help my community in the future as a new community leader.”
Reactivating critical collaborative spaces in Peru
Throughout this quarter, the FVMM Initiative took an active role in activating local working groups that are responsible for recognizing and formalizing the creation, implementation, and integration of Community Life Plans as a priority in local and regional planning. By bringing together many local stakeholders, our team is helping ensure community Legacy Plans, which build on Peruvian Planes de Vida (Life Plans) by infusing them with a 360° Community-Led Change approach, become a vital part of broader planning processes. This will help ensure the community’s desire for itself becomes a driving force for growth in the region.
New livelihoods initiative launches in Mozambique
In June, Legado: Namuli helped launch a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) pilot project with the Mucunha and Murrabue communities. This action was based on a community priority to Create Stronger Livelihoods. This quarter, community members learned how to create, manage, and maintain savings groups, promote a culture of savings and financial self-sufficiency and adapt the structure of savings and credit groups to the real context of Namuli. Additionally, the community elected board members to manage the group. Over the next few months, these community leaders will begin implementing what they learned by launching groups in both Mucunha and Murrabue.
Arina Magrinca, from Murrabue, signs her name at a meeting to gather Free, Prior, and Informed Consent for a new Village Savings and Loan Association on Mount Namuli | Legado
Community Plans and Action Plans come together in Mozambique
Community members in Mucunha finalized Action Plans for each of their community priorities—this meant working together to finalize how they planned to implement their priorities, which collaborators and advisors are needed, and considering potential risks.
At the same time, the Community Legacy Plans for both Mucunha and Murrabue were translated from Portuguese into English. Parts of the plan will also be translated into Lomwe, the local language. Having the plans in both languages will make it easier to align resources and partnerships with community priorities
John Lenaiyara, Samburu East Sub-County Community Health Coordinator, facilitates a training session on maternal and newborn care | Legado
Five-day health training in Ngilai, Kenya
A recent five-day health training brought together 31 Community Health Promoters and 29 Traditional Birth Attendants to receive training on community maternal newborn care (See Spotlight above). Upon completion of the training, the Traditional Birth Attendants graduated to Skilled Birth Companions, equipped with basic safety medical kits and more strongly linked to Community Health Promoters. This training helped the community make progress on their journey towards achieving an improved maternal health by integrating modern medicine and traditional medicine in antenatal care, safe delivery and post-natal care.
“I have been receiving personal calls telling me it was the best training they’ve ever had! The traditional birth attendants and CHPs saw it as a way to work together, and it honors this culture to see both working together.”
Networking
Updates
In April, three Legado team members participated in the Skoll World Forum events in Oxford.
Founder and CEO Majka Burhardt participated in Bridgespan's “Powered Together: Field Building and Community-Driven Change" panel, where she shared Legado’s 360° Community-Led Change approach with changemakers from around the world.
Dr. Tita Alvira, our Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer, spoke on a panel sponsored by Busara called “Indigenous is innovative. The solutions to climate change that are right in front of us,” which spoke to the power of Indigenous-led pathways to climate justice.
On May 8th, dozens of Legado community members, including global team members, funders, donors, and friends, gathered virtually for our Spring Town Hall. It was an incredible opportunity to share how centering women is crucial for advancing community-led climate change solutions.
Email jennifer@legadoinitiative.org to be added to the invitation for our Fall Town Hall.
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Want to go deeper into Legado’s work? Know a funder or potential partner who might be interested? Feel free to contact Founder and CEO Majka Burhardt at 970-290-7822 or majka@legadoinitiative.org.