{"title": " Centro Estratégico de Desarrollo de la Península de Osa (CEDPO)", "website": "https://regenerativeearth.org/osa-peninsula-regenerative-economy-lab/", "bannerImg": "bafkreibrxgxpmwgnjr7kh7dx7pgsaqkx4ddwbfwcxfjuija3pmeqynaw3q", "createdAt": 1729718200467, "credentials": {}, "description": "ABOUT THE BIOREGION\n\nThe Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, containing 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and inspiring National Geographic magazine to call it “the most biologically intense place on Earth.” The peninsula features one of the longest remaining undeveloped primary rainforests and largest mangrove wetlands on the pacific coast in Central America. The Golfo Dulce Bay is one of four tropical fjords in the world and the calving grounds of both the southern hemisphere and northern pacific humpback whales. Within its rich rainforest and coastal zones, Costa Rican culture, indigenous populations, and archeological sites reside. \n\nHistorically, the Osa Peninsula has been one of the most remote and less traveled places of Costa Rica, which has protected its abundant wildlife and culture. This is changing. In the past five years there has been increased interest in the peninsula for mass development and tourism projects, which threatens the rich biodiversity and culture that sets it apart from other regions of Costa Rica.  Without proper institutional infrastructure and planning in place, these activities could lead to significant damage to the Osa's ecosystem and local culture. \n\nIn addition to this, 35% of the local population lives in severe poverty, which in turn threatens the terrestrial and marine ecosystems, as people resort to any possible means to make a living, often at the expense of the ecological wealth.  Without regenerative alternatives, people have turned to destructive practices such as deforestation, poaching, mining, unsustainable agriculture, prostitution, and other illegal activities, and often end up selling their land to developers, leaving irreversible effects on the ecosystem and communities.\n\nOver the past eight years, alongside this looming threat of unsustainable development, a powerful local movement to design a regenerative economy that protects and enhances the environment, creates health and wellbeing for communities and strengthens the cultural identity of the people has emerged in the Osa Peninsula. A major reflection of this was the collaborative creation and use of the “Regenerative Osa Systems Map”, led by a diverse group of local leaders and a US based NGO, Regenerative Earth, in 2015. Following this was the creation of the Strategic Development Center of the Osa Peninsula (CEDPO), a partnership between the Institute of Rural Development (INDER), The Osa Territory Council (CTDR), and Regenerative Earth.\n\nTHE BIOREGIONAL PROJECT HISTORY \n\nA major asset for the Osa Peninsula is that it has a government agency, INDER (Institute of Rural Development) whose sole purpose is to assist with regional development projects. However, the capital resources of INDER are not being fully utilized as many critical projects that address poverty, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods are deemed too high risk and lacking in the appropriate technical and social capacity to receive funding. This has rendered this valuable, accessible, local source of financing as underutilized. This is also the case with Costa Rican and International Foundations and investment groups who seek to fund regenerative projects in the Osa Peninsula. Without proper support to strengthen the existing technical and social capacity, regional leaders and their potential projects may not be able to generate the critical momentum and financial backing needed to succeed in this ambitious journey.\n\nIn addition to this, another major asset for the Osa Peninsula is the Osa Territorial Council, a council made up of 60% civic representation and 40% government representation with an elected representative from every community, indigenous territory, and local government agency within the Osa Territory. This governance body is responsible for creating the Osa Territorial Development Plan and selecting the projects that INDER funds. Many of these projects are the ones that INDER is not able to fund due to a lack of capacity. Through a cohesive governance body representing the diverse voices of the Osa Peninsula, the Osa Territorial Council carries the collective vision and action plan for the future of the Peninsula, providing national and international funders in the region a pathway to collaborate around a locally driven vision and plan. \n\nDue to the above mentioned INDER, in 2020, requested that the Regenerative Earth team co-design and implement a capacity strengthening program, the Strategic Development Center of the Osa Peninsula, to strengthen the governance body of the Osa Territorial Council, develop a systems-based criteria for project selection, and develop and de-risk projects to greatly increase the quantity and quality of projects INDER and other investors can fund, to promote sustainable livelihoods based on the protection of biodiversity and preservation of local culture for this globally-significant region. \n\nThe approach recognizes that for a project (business, non-profit, organization, strategic network, or coalition) to merit funding, the teams and organizations behind them must have the capacity to assemble effective, logical, and feasible plans, and to provide confidence to funders that they can execute these plans. In the Osa Peninsula the limiting factor for projects to access funding, and for investors to find fundable projects, is this capacity. CEDPO integrates these local capacity-strengthening needs with national and international financing requirements to catalyze and strengthen a regenerative economy that is locally driven for this remarkable region.\n\nIn the spring of 2022 the Osa Territorial Council (CTDR), Institute of Rural Development (INDER), and Regenerative Earth launched CEDPO with six main objectives: \n\n1. To strengthen the capacity of the Osa Territorial Council and its ability to be an effective governance body and voice for the people of the Osa Peninsula. \n\n2. Strengthen the capacities of locally-led projects, businesses, and alliances in the Osa Peninsula that are selected through a systems-based criteria and promote a thriving rainforest and marine ecosystem, culture, community, and regenerative economy.\n\n3. Connect projects with a broad network of universities, government Institutions, market channels, investors, and experts relevant to project needs. \n\n4. Bridge gaps between projects seeking funds and funds seeking projects\n\n5. Design a financially-sustainable, self-sufficient and regenerative funding model for the projects and program.\n\n6. Monitor, evaluate, and learn from the program's effectiveness to inform future iterations in the Osa and in other locations globally.\n\nTHE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT CENTER OF THE OSA PENINSULA- El Centro Estratégico de Desarrollo de la Península de Osa (CEDPO)\n\nCEDPO is currently a partnership agreement between INDER, The Osa Territorial Council, and Regenerative Earth (a US based 501c3) with the vision to establish in the near future a Costa Rican Foundation for CEDPO. The CEDPO board of directors voting members consists of the President of the Osa Territorial Council, the Executive Director of Regenerative Earth, and the Regional Director of INDER. CEDPO has a full time paid program coordinator who is from the region, manages the program on the ground, and reports to the CEDPO board. The board of directors must have consensus in any decisions or actions taken. This allows the whole of the Osa Territorial Council and its diverse set of local and indigenous voices to be an active participant in CEDPO and to approve any actions that CEDPO takes. \n\nOver the past three years CEDPO has strengthened the capacity of over two dozen projects that were selected by local leaders with a systems criteria and supported the Osa Territorial Council in creating its new six year territorial development plan in a way that incorporated the local citizens’ vision and needs. CEDPO also connected regional and national institutions, universities, NGOs, and resources to its selected projects and initiatives and through Regenerative Earth directly granted over $169,000 to these projects.\n\nTHE PROJECTS CEDPO HAS FUNDED \n\nBelow is a list of the projects CEDPO has funded through regrants. CEDPO also works with many other projects through capacity strengthening and connecting resources to those projects. \n\nStrengthening Cultural Systems, with families from the Ngäbe Community, from the Alto Laguna territory - Total Grant Awarded: $9,000 in 2023 and $90,000 2025 - The Ngöbe tribe lives in a territory at the heart of the Osa Peninsula and they struggle to maintain their cultural heritage. The Ngöbe’s vision is to become food sovereign, to generate revenue through agricultural production with native seeds, develop eco and cultural tourism within their territory, strengthen an indigenous woman’s artisanal cooperative, and create a school to pass on the ancestral wisdom from the elders to the youth. \n\nRaising Coral - Total Grant awarded: $16,000 - Raising Coral is a local organization that is researching and restoring the native coral reefs in the Golfo Dulce Bay. We supported their coral gardener training for local youth to be certified divers and to grow the coral in the Bay. \n\nPueblos Unidos Turismo Arqueológico - Total Grant Awarded: $15,330 - Revaluing the intangible cultural, environmental and archaeological heritage of El Progreso, Drake Bay and providing alternatives for local livelihoods to enhance the quality of life for the people and environment in the area.\n\nAromas De Osa - Grant awarded: $15,000 - Aromas de Osa LLC is a venture that aims to promote the cultivation and distribution of natural vanilla. They are training farmers in the Osa Peninsula to grow and cultivate high quality natural vanilla in agroforestry systems and have secured an MOU with a company based in the Netherlands to market the vanilla produced and invest in a vanilla production facility in the Osa Peninsula. \n\nAssociation of Artisans Collectors and Recyclers of the Osa Peninsula (ASAOSA) - Total Grants Awarded: $23,000 - Serving as the only recycling program in the Osa Peninsula. It is locally led, women driven, and incredibly under-resourced. CEDPO is supporting ASAOSA in complying with health and safety regulations, improving infrastructure and processing efficiency, educational outreach to the community, and strengthening business and financial planning.\n\nFUTURE VISION\n\nThe CEDPO partners believe in the opportunity for the Osa Peninsula to be a model for the planet demonstrating world class conservation alongside sustainable livelihoods where humans and nature synergistically thrive together. With the increasing threat of climate change, these exemplar regions are needed now more than ever to inspire a new economy and way of living on the Earth. \n\nOver the next three years CEDPO hopes to achieve six main objectives: \n\n1. Establish a Costa Rican foundation for CEDPO run by the preexisting board of directors with potential new directors onboarded. We hope to have at least two full time employees - one social capacity strengthener and one technical capacity strengthener. We also hope that this can become a community led financing facility that generates permanent financing for capacity strengthening and project investments in the Osa Peninsula.\n\n2. Continued updating of the Regenerative Osa Systems Map to serve as a guide for project selection and territorial planning. \n\n3. Strengthened governance body of the Osa Territorial Council to be able to effectively incorporate the diversity of citizen voices in the Osa Peninsula. \n\n4. Strengthened capacity of projects selected through a systems criteria by the Osa Territorial Council \n\n5. Continued grant making and investing in priority projects \n\n6. Strengthened networks between projects and preexisting funders and capacity strengthening organizations. \n\nWe’d like to use the Gitcoin funds to support the operational capacity of CEDPO and to pay for attorney fees for the creation of a Costa Rican CEDPO Foundation, so that all of our funds are being managed locally and transparently. We think this will greatly increase CEDPO’s capacity to receive funding from a broader set of donors, to hire employees, and to develop a locally led organization. We also are being challenged by our current donors to match their funds for 2025, so we would apply the Gitcoin funds to these matching funds. \n", "bannerImgData": {}}