Fundació CODESPA Catalunya, established in 2000, acts as the Catalan delegation of the CODESPA Foundation, a Spanish NGO founded in 1985 and dedicated to alleviating poverty in Latin America, Africa and Asia through sustainable socio-economic solutions. CODESPA is active in twelve countries to promote social and economic development, taking into account the principles of environmental sustainability, the resilience of strategic ecosystems and the relationship between humanity and the natural world.

The CODESPA Foundation has been present in Ecuador since 2001, and in the Amazon since 2005, with a program for vocational training and small businesses for indigenous peoples. For two years, the intervention has promoted the improvement of the production and productivity conditions of three value chains: cocoa, crafts and community tourism, as a tangible mechanism for the economic integration of indigenous Amazonian women.

In 2025, the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation – Delegació a Catalunya (NaEPF) partnered with the CODESPA Foundation supporting its project to promote environmental conservation while creating alternative income opportunities for seven Waorani communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Using a holistic approach, the project aims to achieve long-term sustainability through capacity building, environmental commitments and responsible resource management, in line with NaEPF’s strategic focus on empowering indigenous communities and protecting Amazonian ecosystems.

The Waorani are an indigenous group from the Ecuadorian Amazon, comprising approximately 3,000 people across 50 remote communities in the provinces of Pastaza, Napo and Orellana. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they experienced rapid sedentarisation and westernisation following the expansion of the oil industry in the mid-20th century. This shift has led to significant economic and social inequality, with high levels of poverty and child malnutrition. It is vital to create sustainable bio-enterprise alternatives that generate income without damaging the environment, helping Waorani families to meet their basic needs while protecting Amazonian biodiversity. In this context, the NaEPF-funded project supports the Association of Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon (AMWAE), a grassroots organisation of more than 600 Waorani women, in its efforts to improve the living conditions of Waorani women, both in terms of access to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, and in seeking alternatives for sustainable economic development that conserves Amazonian biodiversity.

The main objectives of the project are:

1. Improve the quality of life and ecosystem conservation in the 7 Waorani communities of Toñampare, Kenaweno, Teweno, Daipare, Sapino, Shellpare (Pastaza) and Miwaguno (Orellana), benefiting approximately 450 indigenous people.
2. Increase food security and well-being, in order to reduce activities such as poaching for food, fur and feathers as a source of monetary exchange for food
3. Strengthen bio-enterprises of crafts and cosmetic creams as an environmentally sustainable alternative to generate income of 90 Waorani women.

One of the main local development and income-generation strategies for women promoted by AMWAE together with CODESPA, is the development of bio-enterprises: a community initiative that sustainably uses wild and agrobiodiversity, cares for its ecosystem and strengthens associativity. To promote bio-enterprise, activity planning is combined with appropriate methodologies to achieve local and global environmental benefits by providing economic incentives for producers to adopt sustainable production practices/systems, thereby achieving resilience in the identified landscapes. Bio-enterprises are not only a source of income, but they are also designed to conserve the environment and protect the very fragile Amazonian ecosystem in which the Waorani communities live, making this a double investment in both economic resilience and biodiversity conservation.