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Central and South America and the Caribbean

Learning Tour groups have visited the Ecuadorian Amazon since 2005. We have purchased threatened parcels of land adjacent to the Cuyanbeno Ecological Preserve, and we support and collaborate with native groups in their efforts to preserve their culture and protect the forest. We have a long-time relationship with Delio, shaman of the Siona people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, who guides our Learning Tour groups, and knew well Aurelio, lead shaman of the Cofan people. He recently passed away, and now we collaborate with his grandson Franklin, including supporting him during his shamanic training and in going to school to become a teacher for his community's small school. We are currently in a relationship with Waita Lodge, a new endeavor deep in the Cuyanbeno Ecological Reserve with a focus on empowering local Kichwa people as forest protectors. (photos from 2019 visit) Our contact person and representative in the Amazon is Diego Prado.

  NCP's Tom Benevento is also consulting with groups in Mexico, Guatemala and with government officials in Jamaica related to climate-resilient food production and eco-friendly coffee farming.

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Africa

In South Sudan, the South Sudan Council of Churches and the Girlchild Education and Development Association are key program partners in Narus and Nimule, respectively, coordinating our grants for girls' education and women's development, and hosting our Learning Tours. GEDA has also hosted Solidarity Workers in Nimule. NCP has responded to the need for skills training, microloans and farming supplies for women, and scholarships, hygienic items and additional dormitories for girls. Paskwale Ben and another nearby site receive support from our If a Tree Falls... program for reforestation efforts in Nimule and surrounding areas. NCP is the leading reforestation agent in this part of South Sudan (Photos and stories from 2019 East Africa Learning Tour)

   In Rwanda and the DR Congo, NCP works through local partners to support girls' education, tailoring and microloan programs for women, and reforestation. We have also funded an initiative to train women to build wood-conserving cook stoves, both for their own use and to sell for income (photos here). In both countries, we have been supportive of Batwas (pygmy) communities that have been displaced from their forest homes. Efforts include tailoring workshops, chicken projects, and land purchases. We have alo raised funds for  midwife trainings in Congo. We visit all these communities on Learning Tours.

   NCP has been involved with the nonprofit Creative Solutions for the Environment in Malawi since 2019. We work with them to address climate impacts on agriculture, do reforestation, and empowering women and helping young women attend secondary school. We have also secured funding for CSE to launch a carbon farm initiative. One key program is our A Girl and A Bike campaign, providing bicycles and scholarships for high school girls 7-14 miles from school. We also raised funds in 2020 to build and furnish (beds, toilets, kitchens) two hostels for high school girls attending schools 30 and 50 miles from home.

 

Asia

In Myanmar (Burma), NCP works through the Myanmar Baptist Convention to carry out women's development projects, reforestation and girls' education in the southwest delta. In the Palaung hill tribe area near Kalaw, we work with Saw Jimmy Zan, our trekking guide and collaborator, to support girls' education, women's development and reforestation. See stories and photos from our 2019 Learning Tour here. (This was our most recent trip, as there has been conflict there since the military coup in February 2022. NCP has sent aid to displaced people, grants for women's programs and for reforestation over these intervening years.)

   In Nepal, our partner is Shakti Samuha, a group founded by trafficking survivors that works to prevent trafficking and helps young women trying to recuperate from their time in this destructive industry. Shakti receives NCP grants for women and girls, as well as funds for survivors to plant trees in their communities, and hosts NCP Learning Tours. We also have a separate initiative called Beyond Fifth Grade to support girls from the Chepang ethnic group, for whom school had been over after fifth grade. 

   We have begun a partnership in Borneo with the forestry department to assist in planting mangroves and restoring forests for orangutan habitat. 

 

United States

The Gwich'in people of Arctic Village, Alaska have hosted NCP Learning Tours since 2003. Participants learn about Gwich'in culture and current lifestyle, and about their reliance on the Porcupine Caribou Herd as spiritual companions as well as for food. The Gwich'in are the primary advocates for preventing oil drilling along the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as this is the birthing grounds for the caribou. Key contacts are Sarah James and Charlie and Marion Swaney. (photo album from 2024 Learning Tour)

   Since 2016, NCP has been in relationship with the Dine' (Navajo) of New Mexico through our partner, Lybrook Community Ministries. Marlene Thomas and Erik Dennison are the leaders there. Our Learning Tours visit each summer, we join with the Dine' in advocacy campaigns (especially related to the extractive industries), and offer occasional support related to needs of the community (photo album a recent Learning Tour).

   NCP also collaborates with co-conspirators in and around our Sustainable Living Center in Harrisonburg, VA. These include James Madison University, Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University, as well as offering gardening and composting workshops for local elementary schools. We also support Give Solar, which is putting solar panels on all Habitat for Humanity builds in the area. Up at our site in Starksboro, VT, we collaborate with municipal governments, 350.org, nearby colleges and local congregations to foster food and energy security and to educate and activate about climate change.     

   

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