Harnessing Synergies for Sustainability

Who we are?

We are an holistic network of Individuals, Non-for-Profit organisations, and collectives established in Canada, Mexico, and Colombia concerned about social equity, environmental crisis and cultural heritage loss.

Daltekian A.C.

Ehecatl A.C.

Seedling for Change in Society and Environment

Graphic Arts Workshop “Las Mercedes”

 

Our History

Since 2010, Daltekian A.C. was incorporated as a Non-For–Profit Organization in Mexico, created to prevent and relieve poverty, act as an environmental steward, and to advance and advocate for the implementation of environmental friendly technologies. We have been involved leading, coordinating and implementing projects regarding from rural electrification, sanitation of ravines and advancing environmental awareness, among others. In order to strengthen our projects and incorporate new models of participation, we requested the collaboration as consultants of Professor Suescun Pozas, and Andrea Wullner that included visits to communities and project advising.  In 2015,  we were invited to participate as members of Seedling for Change in Society and Environment in Canada. This collective works as an initiative to bring researchers, practitioners, and the community at large together to work in a multi-disciplinary environment under the motto “Making Connections, to Create Value”. In the past year, we started our collaboration with the Mexican NGO Ehecatl Environmental Society in order to advance Social Business models, in terms of Prof. M. Yunus,  in the communities where we work. Today, we have decided to integrate as a coalition, working together beyond our countries, supporting initiatives as far as Puga Valley in India, promoting the idea that the commons are open for all people to share.

 

Our Mission

Drive a culture of innovation and entrepreneurial solutions for social and environmental challenges.

 

Our vision

A world where degradation is reverted through Social Business ecosystems.

 

We aim to  

  • Fight poverty by creating employment opportunities and generating wealth.
  • Anchor sustainability principles and innovation techniques into our daily lives.
  • Foster awareness for natural life conservation and protection.

 

Our work is

  • Focused at the local level working in neighborhoods and communities.
  • People centered, offering opportunities to individual and community engagement.
  • Focused on creating new and more sustainable social enterprise business models.

 

Our Outreach

 

César Rafael Maldonado – Civil Engineer

Coalition Coordinator

Email: daltekian@gmail.com

 

 

  • Mexico  (Mexico City, State of Morelos, State of Mexico)

 

NGO: Daltekian A.C. Alternative Community Development

Project: Passive water treatment systems and wetland restoration

Project: Rural electrification (Schools and communities)

Contact: Cesar Octavio Maldonado  PhD in Physics

Website: http://daltekian.avoosto.com

Email: cesar.maldonado.mercado@gmail.com

 

  • Mexico  (State of Morelos)

 

NGO: Ehecatl Environmental Society

Project: Compost Social Business

Project: Organic Certification Social Business

Contact: Joan Burckle

Email: joansibila@hotmail.com

 

  • Canada  (Niagara Region – Montreal)

 

NGO: Seedling for Change in Society and Environment

Project: Share Peace, Discover Niagara River

Project: Dawson College Sustainability Assessment

Contact: Maria del Carmen Suescun Pozas PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of History Brock University

email:msuescunpozas@brocku.ca

Website: http://www.seedlingforchange.org

 

  • Colombia (Bogota, Cundinamarca)

 

Project: Las Mercedes Printing Workshop, Zipacon

Contact: Andrea  Wullner MBA, MS Economics

Email: awullner@gmail.com

 

Why Yunus?

Although we had successfully implemented ecotechnologies, restored habitats, and developed renewable energy systems, we had not been able to reduce the levels of inequality in the communities where we have worked. We find a great inspiration in Social Business in terms of Professor Muhammad Yunus and his methodology in order to address this important issue.

 

Our coalition was represented at the HEC Montreal Social Business Forum in May 2017 through the visit of our coordinator Ing. César Rafael Maldonado. After this event, we envision our organizations implementing “The seven principles of Social Business” and collaborating with the Yunus Centers in our countries.

 

Our needs

We would like to ask for your kind support in the following matters:

  • Contact with Yunus organizations in Colombia and Mexico.
  • Methodological guidelines for Social Business  entrepreneurship courses.
  • Mentorship for specific Social Business projects.
  • Advice on raising funds.

 

Proposed  collaboration

Through our initiatives, we would like to collaborate with you in future endeavours, fostering opportunities to create value in self-sustaining solutions. To start with this, we would love  to present our project in Huitzilac, Mexico:  Organic farming and Certification (Please see the project summary below).  We would be pleased to answer your questions concerning our coalition and its projects.

 

Project Summary

 

Organization: Ehécatl Environmental Society     

Year founded: 2013     

Country: México

Website: http://daltekian.avoosto.com/social-business/

Background

Motivated by the ongoing social and environmental degradation in the Mexican countryside and the lack of organization and strategic innovation to address solutions, the Morelos-based group of peasant majority, Ehécatl Environmental Society, has been formed. According to its bylaws,  the society aims to boost the development of Social Businesses, as this is understood in terms of Prof. M. Yunus. In this way, they seek to bring to the rural communities the necessary methodologies of production, service and commerce, among others, that will allow fair and sustainable development. During the last year, the groups Ehécatl and Daltekian decided to join forces.

The social enterprise.

In response to the problems of waste mismanagement and pollution by agrochemicals in agricultural production within the municipality of Huitzilac, Morelos, the group is starting a Social Business of compost that processes organic waste and promotes organic agriculture with its products. For this, the group has a management team of local women, technical advisers in the field and an ideal property in lease. Applications for  economic support have been submitted, results are expected soon. The estimated cost to launch the project is 15,000 USD and the approximate number of beneficiaries in the first 6 months is 330 people.

Ongoing activities.

In the municipality of Huitzilac there are more than 200 acres of high quality farming land with excellent water resources that remain uncultivated due to lack of commercial strategy. Motivated by this and the need to gain support and approval from the community towards the Compost project, the group has begun to offer entrepreneurship courses openly to interested adult residents through the local authority of Commons Management. The venue is right in the central building of this authority. For this, a team of volunteer mentors is willing to share the methodology explained in the books of Prof. M. Yunus.  Its goal is to create a local group that envisions an ecosystem of Social Business to boost organic agricultural production and consumption in the region, and enables to meet the demand of the growing organic market in Mexico City, which is only 50 km to the north.  Ecotourism is also considered, since Huitzilac is at the heart of a National Park and has legal frameworks to promote sustainable development.

Future work

One of the biggest obstacles to organic trade is the high cost of certification. In view of this and the potential market we have mentioned, other members of this group plan a second company that addresses this structural problem, perhaps more challenging and therefore demanding greater persistence and creativity: a Social  Business of Organic Certification  that provides this service at the lowest possible cost, dignifying and promoting the work of current and potential producers of scarce resources. Part of the base team of this project, includes active producers of traditional organic agriculture in southern region of Morelos.