A few weeks ago, we introduced you to a very special opportunity.

Women leaders from Peru’s Zaña Valley had been invited to travel to Ecuador to participate in Tejiendo Saberes (Weaving Knowledge) ; a binational gathering of women leaders from Peru and Ecuador.

They had the invitation. They had the experience and knowledge to share. They were ready to go. They just needed a little help getting there.

So we asked our Heart-Links community to help.

And you did.

From July 24–26, the delegation travelled to Ecuador, where women from across different communities and areas of work came together to exchange experiences, learn from one another and strengthen their leadership.

Now they’re home, and Latidos has shared their report and photos with us.

We couldn’t wait to share a little of what happened with all of you.

So, what happened in Ecuador?

One of the things that struck us most while reading the report was just how much knowledge travelled to Ecuador with these women. This wasn’t a group going somewhere simply to receive training. They had plenty to teach, too.

Among the delegation were women working in community education and the defence of children’s rights; a community health promoter from Culpón; women representing sustainable agriculture and women’s contributions to local economic development; a representative from the Rural Libraries movement; women from Latidos; and a young environmental leader working to protect ecosystems and preserve ancestral knowledge.

Imagine all of that experience in one room and then add the experiences of the women they met in Ecuador. Ultimately, this is what this encuentro was all about. Women sharing what they know with each other. Women learning from one another. Women building relationships across borders and seeing themselve in one another, sharing solutions and information to care for their communities.

The gathering created space to strengthen women’s participation in social, productive and community life, promote equality of opportunity, exchange successful experiences and build new networks of collaboration.

According to Latidos, those three days resulted in more than an exchange between Peru and Ecuador. The women began building a network committed to sharing methodologies, strengthening their skills, creating alliances and working toward real change in their communities.

The really exciting part comes next

The value of this experience doesn’t end with the women who travelled.

They returned home with new knowledge, technical tools, participatory methodologies and new relationships and, importantly, a commitment to share them.

Latidos tells us that the women want to bring what they learned back into their communities and organizations, strengthen networks of cooperation, help form new women leaders and create more opportunities for women to participate and lead.

One sentence from their report captures this beautifully:

“Cada mujer que fortalece su liderazgo abre el camino para muchas más.”

Every woman who strengthens her leadership opens the way for many more.

That’s exactly the kind of ripple effect we hoped this project could create.

We did it and now we’re SO close to doubling the impact

When we first launched this campaign, we had one immediate goal: help make this opportunity possible for these women.

Together, we accomplished that.

The women went to Ecuador. They participated. They learned, shared and built new relationships. And now they’ve returned home ready to carry that experience into their communities.

But when the response to this campaign began growing, we introduced a $3,000 stretch goal with a really simple idea behind it: let’s double the impact.

Approximately half of what we raise supports this special women’s leadership initiative with Asociación Latidos.

The other half allows us to extend that generosity even further and create a second impact through Heart-Links’ work.

And our community has brought us incredibly close.

We’ve raised $2,779.30 of our $3,000 stretch goal.

So at this point, we aren’t asking you to help us send these women to Ecuador.

You already did that. ❤️

We’re asking our community to help us finish what we started and reach the second half of this goal — the part that allows this campaign to have twice the impact.

A thank-you that belongs to all of you

In the report we received after the gathering, Socorro Granda Santa María shared a beautiful reflection thanking Heart-Links – Lazos de Corazón Canada for helping cover the delegation’s expenses and supporting continued opportunities for women to develop the technical and methodological tools they can take back into their communities.

Heart-Links may be the name written in the report, but that thank-you belongs to all of you.

Every donation, every share, every person who told someone else about this campaign helped make this possible.

And we’re going to keep the campaign open until the end of August to see if, together, we can close that final $220.70.

If you’ve been meaning to contribute, now is a wonderful time. And if you’ve already given, sharing this update is another way to help us get there.

We started by asking our community to help a group of women get to Ecuador.

You did.

Now, let’s see if we can take that generosity just a little further.

$220.70 to go. Let’s double the impact. ❤️

Sigamos tejiendo saberes, construyendo oportunidades y multiplicando esperanza.

Let’s keep weaving knowledge, building opportunities and multiplying hope.