Evaluation Project Wouter Kakebeeke
Dutch student of International Business 
Voluntario Holandés que desarrolla del periódico pedagógico Mirada.
1.1 Ecotrackers
Ecotrackers is a non profit organization that works directly with students and volunteers from all over the world, to develop intelligent tourism to preserve the biodiversity and cultural diversity of Ecuador, working to improve the adverse conditions that afflict many communities throughout the country. Intelligent tourism is defined by the foundation as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Ecotrackers works primarily with Indigenous, Mestizo and African-Latino communities situated close to national parks and other publicly protected areas since August 2000. We work alongside other organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, with similar goals to assist people of any gender or age who face the destruction of nature, the extinction of cultures and the many other problems that confront many Ecuadorian communities.
1.2 Mission of the foundation
In order to achieve our objectives and philosophy, Ecotrackers sends volunteers to communities situated in places where the most important work exists, as well as where both the safety and usefulness of the students or volunteers can be ensured.
They believe that one of the best methods to achieve our goals is the promotion of community-based ecotourism or intelligent tourism. This goes beyond simply bringing tourists to a community. It includes economic and socio-cultural development work, meaning promoting sustainable use of resources, the development of sustainable agriculture systems, and providing needed infrastructure, not only for tourism but to improve the local quality of life as well.
These activities must be done with respect for the existing culture of the communities. They believe people have a basic right to choose how they wish to live, meaning that any projects they are involved in must have the support of the community and should be instigated by the community. The function of Ecotrackers is to help provide human resources to the communities, and to work with them in setting their own long term goals and devising a plan to achieve them.
1.3 Vision of the foundation
Globalization and the materialism that often comes with it are affecting small, remote communities all over the world, drawing indigenous communities into an economic system for which they are frequently ill-prepared. Globalization introduces a new set of values; urban-based and western, most often leading indigenous peoples to devalue their own culture and encouraging a view of the environment as a resource to be exploited. Indigenous communities are under intense pressure from petroleum and mining companies, speculators, illegal loggers, colonists, an alien education system, and other outsiders with a very different values system. Frequently, these outside interests destroy the natural environment in which these communities live, or the communities themselves begin to exploit their environment in order to earn cash to be part of the new economy.
Yet alternatives exist, and it is Ecotrackers’ mission to promote different options to ensure a secure long-term future for our communities. Their experience, along with a growing body of literature, has indicated that for any community development program to be successful, it must be undertaken with community support and in a sustainable manner. Sustainability further requires attention to not only environmental protection, but social and cultural impacts and economic needs as well.
With this webpage we want to publish the latest news about the nature and environment of Ecuador. The actions of the government, companies and individuals are posted here to show the world a process that shows progress, nevertheless we still haven’t achieved all our goals. Furthermore, we publish news about international environmental actions, part of interesting books and much more.
2.2 Main vision of the website
The most important is creating a public conscience about the big problems in the world. In the future, the problems won’t be: Which country’s economy is growing the fastest? Who has the highest percentage? No, the problems will be: How are we going to solve the problems about our environment? How can we guarantee fresh drinking water for our children? These are the fundamental questions, and normally in a democracy, a government acts the way their people wants them to act. So, if the people want to make change about our environment, a government will have his duties to perform.
2.3 Journal “Mirada”
Our stories and experiences are posted on this webpage or on our webblogs. May be the most interesting on this webpage is our journal “Mirada”. The journal is written in Spanish and English, with topics about experiences of prior volunteers and environmental issues. The journal can be used for improving one’s Spanish or English while getting to know more about specialized environmental topics. This way the webpage Ecotrackers.net serves as a specialized portal within the extension of the vision of Ecotrackers Foundation. On this webpage and with our journal we want to promote the use of different languages by using non-professional journalist – our volunteers.
This way we can use our vast information present at the foundation, and besides that generate some financial resource by selling copies of the journal and perhaps income from the webpage itself in the future.
3.1 My personal contribution
My study and personal interest involve international business, and everything related. The main goals of my study is to understand and to be able to perform business related actions abroad. Nowadays, every big enterprise has a certain level of interaction with foreign markets. My interest in particular lies within finding new business or market segment in the future. The phenomenon called globalization in general causes changes in the way of doing business now and in the future. My main job is to understand and adjust myself in new markets and cultures different then my own.
3.2 My contribution to Ecotrackers Foundation
My contribution to the foundation in general implies my knowledge that I obtained from my studies and prior traveling experiences. I use my knowledge in trying to find ways of getting financial income for the foundation. We are trying to sell the journal ´Mirada´. The income is low, but in the future we’ll try to reach all the students close to the Ecotrackers office (around 100.000 students). I also developed the website Ecotrackers.net to give the foundation a larger base and publication area on the internet. My knowledge about website was not so substantial but I learned in small parts to control Mambo, the main program in controlling both the websites, Ecotrackers.net and Ecotrackers.com.
Furthermore, I translated their web page Ecotrackers.com into Spanish, and fixed the other languages on this webpage to work again. I also translated some of their documents in English, like the main questionnaire they hand out to volunteers to found out their preferences.
3.3 The contribution of Ecotrackers Foundation to me
Ecotrackers provided me with a computer and other physical assets. Furthermore I learned a lot from their prior experience and their vision of the new businesses in the 21st century. Finally, I had full access to their database with information and photos from the volunteers that have been working with Ecotrackers in order to create Ecotrackers.net and the journal “Mirada”.
4.1 The future prospect
Our first step towards the future will be developing more editions of the journal “Mirada”. The second step is the expansion of Ecotrackers.net, in order to obtain more interesting content and thus more visitors. Thirdly, we have to improve the position of both the website and the journal in the market, which contains reaching more students to read our journal. The fourth step is to arrange a way of financing the printing costs for the journal. This might be possible from resources directly from the webpage, or selling advertisement space in the journal itself. The fifth step is to stabilize the market positions and great a small but stable growth. Finally, we have to evaluate the whole project and provide useful feedback to improve any of these prior steps if necessary.
4.2 Future volunteers
4.2.1 Community projects
Future volunteers can help my project by going to communities and come back with stories and myths about that community. We can publish these stories on Ecotrackers.net and in the journal “Mirada”. This way we keep the legends of the communities alive as well as their language.
4.2.2 Projects of Ecotrackers
We can publish stories about progression within the training centres of Ecotrackers in the Pacific coast, the islands of Galapagos, the mountains of the Andes and the Amazon rainforest.
4.2.3 Projects from volunteers
Since Mirada is a journal of languages, culture y environmental topics, future volunteers and students, particularly journalism students, can write and publish related articles. If interested, they can try to learn a native language and publish their articles in that languages as well as English and Spanish.
