SMA PROGRAMS: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
Indigenous Promoter Training

Indigenous promoters have been the backbone of SMA-sponsored work in the Sierra since 1993. From 1993–1997, a small group of promoters were trained in biodynamic agriculture, bilingual/ intercultural communication skills, environmental and indigenous policy, and conservation.

SMA and its partners had tremendous success with a modular conservation training program for four indigenous promoters in 2001, which resulted in the current draft of the Pino Gordo Protected Area Management Plan and an indigenous-collected database and maps of traditional knowledge of wildlife and landscape management. Two Tarahumara and one mestizo have been trained as biological assistants, specializing in avian studies.

Currently, SMA supports nine indigenous promoters working on agrarian and conservation issues and agriculture, and is training fourteen new promoters in watershed restoration techniques.