Etta Pilot Projects
We welcome pilot projects in both the areas of Public Health and Environmental Sustainability. Indeed for all of us, and especially for the indigenous Bolivians we serve, these two priorities are vitally linked.
HIV Montero
The city of Montero is the capital of the Santistevan Region, with a population of over 135,000 people. It is the second city, after Santa Cruz, for incidences of HIV and STDs. This program of Etta Projects is led from our office in Montero. This project is education-based and targets high-risk populations – that is, people living with HIV, the LGBTQ community, sex workers, mothers who are HIV+, and high school students. We partner with both healthcare and education systems in the city of Montero to educate the population about the spread of HIV and STDs. As part of our full-circle approach, our medical doctor on staff gives training on best practices for those attending to patients living with HIV, as well as on how to identify STDs.
Healthy Lifestyles In Partnership With Schools
This new project was brought to life by the partnership between Etta Projects and Bridge of Life. It focuses on students who want to develop leadership skills starting in their own lives and community. Oftentimes, young adults in our peri-urban Montero region of operation are raised in families with unhealthy habits, especially regarding nutrition, and are at high risk for early development of chronic illnesses. The goal of this project is to give them the chance to build healthy lifestyles for themselves and their families. As a starting point, 40 active and committed high-school students are being trained in chronic disease prevention, nutrition, addiction prevention, and yoga, among other healthy lifestyle topics to foster positive habits.
Aquaponics for Food Security
Food Security is not a new topic, but it is one that has become more critical due to climate change. Excess rain leads to flooding which washes out crops and raises river level, thus isolating communities for longer periods of time. These problems increase the already existing problems of putting food on the table for women in rural Bolivia.
In 2022, in conjunction with Goettler Family Foundation, Transform International, and AquaHortis, Etta Projects implemented a pilot project to see if Aquaponics could be a possible solution. We built the greenhouse and have spent the last year growing vegetables and fish. The goal has been to put women at the center of food security by creating closed food systems with aquaponics, small-scale, high-yield gardening, and cooperative administrative management of these ventures. We are still in the process of accessing the viability of this specific program, but will continue to work with communities on food security solutions.
