What began in 2019 with 47 members has grown to bring together 87 people from the Piapoco, Curripaco, Piaroa, Cubeo and Sikuani Indigenous peoples. The Coomatavén Cooperative was created as an initiative of REDD+ Matavén to strengthen the economic organization of the communities and provide tools that help turn the opportunities generated through conservation into greater well-being for families.
Since then, Coomatavén has become a platform for supporting productive initiatives, facilitating commercialization processes, and strengthening administrative and organizational capacities within the Resguardo Selva Matavén. Its organizational structure and management model have also been recognized during international evaluation processes of REDD+ Matavén for their contribution to community participation and governance.
From Local Production to New Forms of Exchange
Among the initiatives developed through Coomatavén are the community stores in Cumaral and Morichal and the collection center in Inírida. These spaces bring essential goods closer to the communities while also creating channels for products grown and transformed in the territory, such as mañoco and organic cacao, to reach new consumers.
Coomatavén also promotes exchange and barter practices that reconnect with traditional ways of sharing and allow products to circulate within the territory, strengthening local economies built by the communities themselves.
Behind these activities is also a process of learning and capacity building. Electronic invoicing, accounting, and the cooperative’s administrative procedures become tools for strengthening local capacities and advancing toward increasingly organized, transparent and autonomous management.
The purpose goes beyond selling products. These tools are designed to help communities generate new sources of income, strengthen their organization, and develop economic alternatives that are compatible with the protection of the Selva Matavén.
Women Strengthening the Community Economy
Indigenous women play an active role in Coomatavén and have taken on responsibilities in the management of community stores, product transformation, and other processes related to the cooperative’s operations.
Coomatavén also supports REDD+ Matavén’s Productive Projects, connecting participants and assisting with administrative, organizational and commercialization processes that help different initiatives grow and create opportunities for the communities.
In this way, the cooperative plays a role in connecting community organization, economic development and conservation. As an initiative of REDD+ Matavén, Coomatavén contributes to strengthening local capacities and sources of income, supporting the goal of improving community well-being while continuing to protect the Selva Matavén.