By Michael Gilmore | Project Leader
There are many different ways that we can measure the success of our stingless beekeeping project in Maijuna lands. More quantitative ways are to track the number of families involved, hives tended, and the amount of honey sold. Right now, there are 50 Maijuna families tending over 135 stingless beehives in our three partner communities. And, the Maijuna beekeepers have been harvesting and selling honey from their stingless beehives at a premium price to visitors of a nearby ecotourism lodge (see last month’s update). Given that no families were tending stingless bees in the Maijuna communities before the start of our project, these numbers highlight the incredible strides that we have made to date with this community-based project.
However, there are other more intangible ways to measure project success that we have come to appreciate more and more. For example, we just got back from one of the Maijuna communities that we more recently expanded our project into, and we observed beekeepers from different families working collaboratively and proactively together. Independent of our visits, they have been doing hive divisions and revisions together as well as milling wood and building bee boxes collectively. Working together, collaborating effectively, being proactive, and building a sense of community amongst the beekeepers involved – these are all things that we have been working hard to cultivate and develop through our work with the communities. They may be more intangible and harder to measure but they are equally as important in achieving project success.
The successes of this project, both tangible and intangible, would not have been possible without the generous donations of supporters like you. Your continued support will help us to build on our successes to date and will help us to continue to empower the Maijuna to achieve their vision for a more sustainable future. Thanks so much for your continued support – your generosity has helped to make this exciting project possible!
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