About ANAI
While ANAI takes pride in being a “muddy boots” organization in intimate contact with the people and the land, we have no pretension of being a “grassroots” organization ourselves. Rather, we are an intermediary organization, seeking to nurture locally based transformational processes leading to self- sufficient local (“grassroots”) organizations focusing on the achievement of sustainability.
Over two decades ago, when ANAI became the first NGO to establish itself in Talamanca, local organizations were few and weak, and ANAI of necessity played a major role in the design and execution of projects. But from the beginning, we have nurtured the capacity for planning and decision making by local groups wherever we find it. In the case of our early successes, ANAI’s role is now largely one of responding to and facilitating local initiatives. If we continue to be successful, this will increasingly be the case in all of the communities served by ANAI.
The role of locally based Grassroots Support Organization (GSO) like ANAI is increasingly recognized as a necessary part of what may be called an “ecology of organizations”, including specialized technical aid groups, donors, lending institutions, advocacy and watchdog groups, government agencies and grassroots or “base” groups. GSOs operate under one institutional handicap in that they should normally forego opportunities to increase their own economic self-sufficiency when the activity in question can be successfully carried out by one of its constituent organizations. It is our policy that we should help communities develop the capacity to manage existing or potential lucrative activities, rather than seizing on them ourselves. We have also preferred to channel grant money to local organizations to do projects, rather than do it ourselves, in those cases where this has been feasible.
Examples of activities that we have helped local organizations learn to manage, instead of doing it ourselves include marketing of agricultural products, forest management and marketing of forest products, ecotourism, and running the regional training center. The result is stronger local organizations. They not only have a degree of economic self- sufficiency, but equally important, they are learning to carry out projects and run a business. They also have an increasing stake in the success of their sustainable development and conservation activities, making success more likely.
One of the indicators of success as an intermediary organization comes when the suggestions start to flow in both directions; when the unique capabilities of one’s organization begin to be seen as part of the local fabric, rather than as an “outside” resource which might be tapped, but which must be approached with caution.
At every stage it has been appropriate for us to ask ourselves what we should be doing for others and what we should be training our neighbors to do. Increasingly, though, local groups are taking the initiative to let us know what they think they can do, what they would like to learn to do, and where they need help.
