Monteverde Institute

Overview

Project Partner: Monteverde Institute

Monteverde Institute (MVI) is a non-profit that is dedicated to adapting sustainable habits throughout it community in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Together we created Spanish workshops focused on digital tech tools.

To learn more, please visit Monteverde Institute's Story Map here

Project Description

Tech Tools Used: Canva, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Audition, and ArcGIS

Monteverde is a small town of a little over 4,000 people in Costa Rica, even with its small size it is one of the leading cities in ecotourism across the country. One of the main contributors is MVI, which was founded in 1986 to create sustainable tourism habits since then it has partnered with several local grassroots organizations to implement community-engaged programs. Everett teamed up with MVI to help highlight these organizations' work through interviews that will be translated and added to the preexisting story map created by the MVI cohort of 2022. These interviews included the values, committees, and current projects led by MVI and the partner organizations led by our project members.

Project Deliverables

After many changes to the project proposal, the team settled on enhancing the story map and leading Spanish workshops. Irene G. Chen, the Communications director reached out to the partner organizations to survey what their needs were, and they all answered that they would like to learn how to use Instagram, TikTok, Canva, and their camera app on their individual phones. Since these were among the most used social media in the country, the months leading up to our arrival we spent learning and creating content on these platforms.

Project Outcomes

We updated the preexisting story map with the eleven videos we edited, and we interviewed the subcommittee members from ADI San Luis which included: the president, cementerio, puesto de salud, and centro comunitario. These interviews asked the committees about their history, their importance, and how it started. We also interviewed the program leads from MVI such as Programa de Salud, Program de Reforestacion, and Program de MoSi. In both instances, our project guide and team members were given tours of the location and educational hikes.

Project Milestones

The workshops were crafted by our team and translated into Spanish. The first one was taught on our individual laptops and the member who was not actively teaching was assisting the attendees with any questions. We administered a survey to participants that was split into two parts before and after the workshop to assess if people were familiar with the tech tools and if they felt confident using them after the workshop. Our milestone was being able to finish the project itself with the changes that were happening on a daily basis!

Lessons Learned

Heads

The project taught me that everyone wants to learn more about technology but do not know where to start. Creating a workshop based on the needs of the people helped encourage the attendees to participate in an activity they have an interest in. One of the significant issues was that a lot of the community consists of older people who are less likely to engage in technology. That is why we checked in several times with Irene to make sure our curriculum was easy to understand for people with little to no experience using technology.

Some of the injustices I noticed in the town are the prioritization of tourists over locals. The town advertises their amusement spots more than its non-profit work that benefits the town. I lack an understanding of the social justice system in Costa Rica because it is not my home country nor am I familiar with its customs. But I do know ecotourism is a huge priority and the reason it has become a bigger part of the country is through the smaller community efforts that pushed for conservation and reforestation.

Hands

Focusing on tech needs was essential in this project, it allowed an outlet for expression and learning. Technology is a vital part of our lives today and MVI and Everett felt it was necessary to share these tech tools with upcoming movement organizations and businesses.

Becoming a space for creative and smart marketing was one of the main issues the tech workshops would change positively. It would reach larger and further audiences and bring attention to greater issues too. Yet because of the several software and rapid changes in tech, it might make it more difficult for people to adapt to these tools if they have not had prior experience. That is why I hope in the future the project will do a series of different workshops. I feel confident about learning technology because I use it daily for my personal life and in a scholarly context. My biggest challenge was teaching the technology in Spanish because specific terms did not have a direct translation, I felt confident in my Spanish because I am fluent. But conversational and academic languages are different.

Hearts

I believe one of the lasting impacts will be encouraging tech use in the community. It can be a huge barrier in participating in the online world, but because we guided people through the first steps I am sure the participants and the people who read our online PDF of the workshops will express the value of using them.

I was content with our work, however during the changes in our project I felt that I did not have a support system in place. During most of my time in Monteverde, I felt alone because I was overwhelmed with the project and did not have a sense of community to help support me. I practiced self-care through mindfulness activities such as taking a hike, getting a dessert, and taking a moment to breathe. My homestay family recommended adventure spots to get a taste of Costa Rica and my homestay brother Luan spent most days at home with me watching movies and local Football games on television.

UCSC Team

Tammy Caselin Avila (she/her)

Sociology and LALS | 2024

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