Building Bridges: My Experience Supporting the Jucumari Programme in Bolivia
BY FRAN CROWTHER
26 NOVEMBER 2024
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
This article was produced as part of the Global Diversity Foundation’s Darwin Initiative-funded project “Mentoring GEN Fellows to incubate Global South biodiversity-livelihoods initiatives”. Through the project, we coordinate a programme to support grassroots conservation organisations in the Global South in welcoming and overseeing Masters’ students from UK research institutions as organisational interns. This offers the organisation support through the production of relevant research and communications outputs and supports the Master’s students by offering them the opportunity to discover grassroots conservation realities in the Global South and conduct research for their MSc theses.
The following article is by Fran Crowther, an MSc Biodiversity student at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. She interned at Programa Jucumari in Bolivia. The Programa Jucumari Coordinator Andrea Fuentes is a member of the Global Environments Network who participated in our Conservation & Communities Fellowship in 2024.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the voice and opinions of the author and does not represent the Global Diversity Foundation. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author mentioned and should be interpreted as such.
Before I went to Bolivia to work with the Jucumari Programme, I was incredibly nervous. I had never been to South America, hadn’t done a long haul flight in a very long time, work was busy due to a project finishing, and on top of all that, I wasn’t sure what I was producing for my masters’ and wanted it to be useful to the community and NGO I was creating it for.
I had met with Andrea, the lead of the Jucumari Programme, online and instantly decided I wanted to work with her – she was clearly so passionate about what she was doing, and working with local people to reduce human-wildlife conflict had always been something I was interested in. Helping a project that was looking to combat this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.
Andrea told me about Kanti Andino, a textile business she had started with the local community to build relationships with them and then tackle the issue of conflict with the Andean bear. She said the business needed some structure, a business plan. I googled the rough structure of a business plan and felt this was something I could help with.
However, I was nervous. I had no previous experience in business, and the trickier element was that it wasn’t as simple as the textile business being just an alternative form of income—it was a relationship-building exercise, a business that allowed the Jucumari Programme to build positive relationships with the community, so they could then implement methods to reduce conflict with bears.
I wanted this piece of work to be useful to the Jucumari Programme and the community, but I was struggling to see how I could—being in the unknown, not knowing how the community worked or how the business was operating, it was difficult to plan.
As soon as I arrived in Cochabamba, I already felt less nervous. Andrea was lovely and the flight was fine. I had a few days to settle in and meet the other master’s student interning with me, and then we were off to the communities. The fieldwork element itself was hard but also fun. I enjoyed meeting the people who lived in the area; the majority of them were very welcoming, and I enjoyed talking with them about their textiles. One lady in particular got very excited and showed us everything she had been making: ponchos, hats and belts.
However, the mountain can be tough – we were 4,000 meters above sea level, and I got a bad reaction to the UV (it felt like severe hay fever, and I could barely open my eyes). Getting to the communities involved a 3-hour drive on a dirt track (I was relieved I wasn’t driving). It was cold, it got dark early, and it was intense at times, sharing a bed with 3 others who were also doing fieldwork. The sun was also incredibly strong, which I quickly learnt from after the first trip to the communities, when I came back incredibly sunburnt despite wearing suncream the whole time – I swiftly changed to factor 50 +.
That being said, the views were amazing – it was so quiet and clear, and it felt quite relaxing at times. I was also interested to hear the textile communities’ ideas on how the business could be improved, and many of them had great suggestions. The main issue seemed to be jealousy, which appeared to be quite a big thing in the communities – if someone was seen making and selling too many textiles, there would be frostiness from the other women in the community. I found this interesting – it felt quite different from my culture. Eating was also a big part of community life. It’s a way of sharing and encourages conversation.
My time in Bolivia was short, I spent 4 weeks there, and we went up and down the mountain about 4 times to visit the communities. When I first came back to the UK, I told people I didn’t think fieldwork was for me. However, reflecting back and spending a longer time up in the mountains, I think I would have got into a routine. I feel I have learnt how different some cultures are and their varying opinions on conservation and the bears. I would argue we do not have human-wildlife conflict to the same extent in the UK, so learning how much it can impact a community’s livelihood was eye-opening and has given me a different perspective.
I want to thank the Global Diversity Foundation for this opportunity and the Jucumari Programme (Andrea and Sara) for being so welcoming. They do an incredible amount of work for the conservation of Andean bears and there are only two of them! Their passion has inspired me, and I hope to go back and visit one day!
