As of May 28, 2012, CARE’s headquarters in Quito will be located at its new office, located at Calle El Nacional No. 39-139 y El Telegrafo, in the Batan Bajo neighborhood.

CARE Ecuador’s new telephone line will be (593-2) 2252308.

San Francisco La Rinconada, South of Otavalo

Rosa is a woman of 50, she is short, dark skinned and wears a blue headdress, an embroidered white blouse and a long blue dress, typical Otavalan clothing.  Rosa says that in the Community of San Francisco La Rinconada in Otavalo where she lives, there are 6 sectors, with a total of 180 heads of household and approximately 500 children, each household has an average of 7 people.  They have water, electricity, and sewage services in their community.  They are organized through councils, which are formed on a yearly basis by the community members themselves. These councils meet at least once a month, but on occasions it might be each week depending on the urgency of issues that need to be addressed.

Rosa tells us:  I am the second of 11 children and since I was 7 years old I helped my mother with her deliveries, for each one I was present.  When the midwife came to the house I would observe everything that she did with my mother.  In this way I learned, and during the deliveries I would give my mother teas and wrap her up warm so that she didn’t get cold and was able give birth quickly and without too much pain.  My mother gave birth on her knees and by the time that the midwife had arrived in time to cut the umbilical cord I had already helped the baby out.  As time went by I continued to assist with childbirths in the community, however when I reached 14 years old, I started to experience an unpleasant sensation seeing the blood and thus left that trade for 7 years.

CARE delivered an Ambulance to the San Luis Hospital in Otavalo, to reinforce the work being done by the hospital within the framework of the Intercultural Maternal Heath Care Model.  This vehicle has been a longstanding wish and request of the communities, who have difficulties in transporting pregnant women to the hospital on time for their deliveries.

Rosa Anrango, a local birth attendant, says:  “For years, we had maternal deaths because there was no appropriate transportation to get women out of their house in the event of an emergency; we had to wait for the police or fire department to help and we lost a lot of time, or in other cases the cars or pickups which were sent to help could not reach the communities. Now we are happy with the new ambulance provided by CARE, this gives us more security in what we do.  We organize ourselves well with the hospital, we call them and they send the ambulance immediately because it is a priority in the case of obstetric emergencies.”

Ceremony marking the delivery of the ambulance, with the participation of the community (left)

CARE Authorities and the San Luis Hospital of Otavalo sign the delivery/receipt certificate for the ambulance (right)

Sofia Sprechmann, Country Director, 21 March 2012

Government authorities, mayors, colleagues from civil society and international cooperation organizations, CARE team members, friends:

First of all, thank you for being present today to celebrate 50 years of CARE in Ecuador. A special thanks to those of you who came from other provinces to be with us on this day.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Minister for Social Development, for your words, which summarize many of the contributions CARE has made in the last 50 years. They motivate us to keep on working for inclusion and social justice.  I could add other facts about our work throughout these five decades, like supporting the legalization of 300,000 hectares of land for the conservation of ancestral lands of the Shuar nation, providing safe water services for more than one million people in rural areas, contributing to quality health care for 500,000 people, as well as the HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns which reached more than half of a million people.

The first agreement for CARE’s work in Ecuador was signed in 1962 under the government of Carlos Julio Arosemena.  This photo shows the signing of the agreement; we can see the then President of Ecuador, the director of CARE at that time, Anthony Nagy, and the Deputy Director, Raul Cadena.  Anthony and Raul honor us today with their presence; let me ask for a round of applause for them.

That Ecuador of 50 years ago was very different from the Ecuador of today: then, it is estimated that between 70 to 80 of every 100 people lived in poverty.  Today, according to the income method, one-third of the population is poor.  These figures show a significant progress but also that there is still much to be done, especially since two-thirds of indigenous people live in poverty.

CARE in Ecuador celebrated the 50^th anniversary of its presence in the country, in the company of its partners, strategic allies, current and former employees and friends.

Sofia Sprechman, the Director of CARE Ecuador until March 2012, recounted the history of CARE in the country, which began on January 25, 1962, with a Cooperation Agreement signed between the Government of Ecuador, during the Presidency of Dr. Carlos Julio Arosemena, and CARE, under the leadership of Mr. Anthony Brown.   The document was entered into the Official Registry No. 65 of that year.

The Vice Minister for the Coordination of Social Development, on behalf of Minister Doris Soliz, publicly congratulated and acknowledged CARE’s track record and contribution to Ecuador.

Los Derechos and La Pachamama were some of the songs sung and played by 28 children of the Andean Children’s Band of Cayambe, participants in one of CARE’s education projects.

Present at this milestone event were the first Director of CARE Ecuador, Mr. Anthony Brown, and the First National Deputy Director, Dr. Raul Cadena, along with Mr. Peter Buijs, Regional Director of CARE for Latin America and the Caribbean and Mr. Patrick Solomon, Human Resources Director of CARE USA.

From April 23 to 25, 2012, the “Gender, Forests and SES REDD+ Standards” workshop will be held in Quito.  This workshop is led by the Ministry of the Environment with support from the Alliance for Climate, Community and Biodiversity, CARE International and Conservation International.

The objective of this technical workshop is to evaluate the current context of differentiated gender relations with the forest and the main inequalities, risks and opportunities for women in REDD+.

Ecuador is in the process of national preparation of the implementation of the REDD+ (Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Coca Cola bestowed the distinction of “SUPER HERO” to CARE ECUADOR for the work that it is doing to foster the well-being of our country. The recognition was awarded in a public event in the city of Quito, on Thursday, April 19 of this year, in the Theatrum Restaurant of the Sucre Theater.

This honor is motivated by the 50 years of CARE’s work in Ecuador.

The Vice President of the Republic, Lenin Moreno, received the distinction for his work with the Manuela Espejo Foundation, in the company of managers from Coca Cola.

Beginning on April 1, 2012, Fernando Unda will be serving as the acting Representative for CARE in Ecuador, replacing Sofia Sprechmann, who is taking on a new post as the Director of Programs for CARE International.

Fernando has worked with CARE in Ecuador for 10 years, and has served in a number of capacities from Project Coordinator to Program Manager.  He is a psychologist, with masters degrees in Gender, Equity and Sustainable Development, and Intelligence Development and Education. He is also a PhD candidate at the Universidad Argentina de Palermo.  Fernando is intimately familiar with the reality of Ecuador.  His contributions have been valuable in realizing the vision of human development which CARE employs in its work, as well as in reflecting on the challenges and roles that organizations like CARE should perform in middle-income countries like Ecuador.  We wish Fernando much success in his new position.

We also congratulate Sofia Sprechmann for her new appointment as Director of Programs for CARE International. We honor her 19-year history with CARE.  Beginning in Cambodia, she then supported CARE’s Political Advocacy Unit, and for the past 8 years has been serving at the Latin American and Caribbean level as the Deputy Director of Programs for the region. In the last year, she also served as the Director of CARE Ecuador.  Now, in the midst of the organization’s challenge to be a strategic ally and preferred partner in the struggle against poverty, Sofia will join the global CARE organization, responsible for guaranteeing the programmatic quality of our interventions within the framework of respect for human rights, and in contexts which required integrating and highly strategic approaches.  Sofia’s technical capacity, her strategic outlook, and above all, her human qualities ensure that her performance of the tasks charged to her will contribute efficiently to the realization of the vision and mission of CARE worldwide.  We wish Sofia much success in this key role, which she will fulfill from the middle of the world, based in Quito.

In this context, we reiterate CARE’s commitment to contribute to the implementation of Ecuador’s National Good Living Plan and to keep working in coordination, respect and trust with the people and organizations we partner with.

CARE Ecuador, during this quarter, has been holding regular workshops with volunteers from the communities of the Cumanda canton, members of the EOCs and first responders (Police, Armed Forces, Red Cross and Risk Management) in the area, on Rescue and Evacuation at the community level, and basic vertical rescue. All of these efforts have strengthened the preparedness and response capacities in the area in the face of the risks associated with the heavy rainfall besieging the canton.

As a result of the strong rains during this month, the Municipality of Cumanda, with the active participation of Volunteer Brigade members from the municipality and response institutions, proceeded to evacuate various families from the Naranjapata community located in the southwestern part of the canton, with the support of technical staff from the FOCAPRIN and FOCAPRE projects being executed by CARE Ecuador.

Due to the overflow of streams and the runoff of a large quantity of rocks, the water system and a section of the rail line were destroyed; also, a fuel storage tank crashed into a house, which was completely destroyed.

Disaster response equipment, provided by the FOCAPRIN and FOCAPRE projects, were necessary to provide immediate and effective assistance to the affected families, in coordination with municipal authorities.