VRI/ACD/UF Legal Reform Education Project

Village Rights International Partners with University of Florida and Alianza Para la Conservacion y el Desarrollo in Legal Reform Education Program in Panama

Village Rights International (VRI) is excited to be partnering with The University of Florida's Center for Latin American Studies (UF) and with the Panamanian nonprofit Alianza Para la Conservacion y el Desarrollo (ACD) on a legal reform education program funded and overseen by the U.S. Embassy in Panama.  VRI Executive Director Ben Goodman will be working with ACD to initiate this program from December 7th through the 18th. Ben Goodman and VRI board member Joseph Goodman are piggy backing on the front end of the Embassy project, from November 30^th through December 6^th, in order to accomplish some other important work for VRI.  Please support VRI by helping with the expenses for this trip. See the end of this document for a breakdown of expenses.

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November 30th - December 6th, 2015

Ben and Joe are traveling to Panama City, Panama on Monday, Nov. 30th. Joe will be returning on December 6th, but Ben will be staying in Panama until December 18th to get the Embassy program off the ground. 

During Joe's time in Panama, VRI will be hosting a two day conference in the frontier town of Meteti, Darien Province for community leaders from the village of Morti, Comarca de Wargandi, Darien. As a missionary, Joe dedicated over 20 years to learning the Kuna language and culture and building relationships with the Kuna people of the village of Morti. He is fluent in the Kuna language and helped the community of Morti establish their first territorial boundary line the early 80's.  He has not lived in Panama since 2003, but he is eager to reconnect with the community and his friends on this trip. He is a big support and asset to VRI.

The two-day conference will be an opportunity for VRI to build upon and strengthen the relationships between the Goodman's and the Kuna of Wargandi that go back to 1980.  We look forward to the participation of a multi-generational cross-section of the leadership from the village of Morti, a key village within the Comarca (indigenous territory) of Wargandi in the Darien Province.  In addition to strengthening the ever-so-important personal relationships upon which VRI’s work is built, we will be planning strategy with the community leaders on important issues facing the Wargandi communities, such as ongoing illegal and unsustainable harvesting of tropical hardwood, territorial incursions, land grabbing, and negotiations between the community and the government of Panama.

After the conference, we will be heading to the community of Arimae where we will meet with a representative from the sustainable timber company Planting Empowerment, founded by former Panama Peace Corpes volunteers.  We have been in dialogue with them for the last couple of years regarding the good work they are doing to promote sustainably growth and harvesting of timber with indigenous communities. We look forward to seeing their plantations in Arimae and to continue to discuss ways in which we might support each other's work.  We both want to see indigenous communities be able to support themselves financially through sustainable timber harvest.

On our way back to Panama City, we will be stopping by the jungle house of missionary Alan Foster and his family who are doing great work with providing clean water and sanitation solutions and education to indigenous people in the Bayano and Darien regions, including with the Kuna of Morti. VRI was privileged to introduce Alan and Solea Water to the Kuna communities of Wargandi back in April of this year. Since then, the Fosters and Solea have been collaborating to bring clean water to the communities of Wala and Morti, among others in the Darien.

During the last couple of days of Joe’s time in Panama, he and Ben will be meeting with a variety of key stakeholders and partners in the VRI work, including timber operators, donors, and legal advisors, among others.

December 7th - December 18th, 2015

In September, the VRI/UF/ACD partnership received final notification that it's proposal had been approved for funding! We are now in the early stages of implementing that proposal. The program is a legal reform education program that assists rural indigenous communities in Panama with the transition from the old inquisitorial justice system to a new accusatorial justice system.  Our program is part of a broader legal reform initiative taking place throughout Latin America.  These programs seek to address inequalities in access to justice as well as backlogs in the criminal law system that lead to a variety of human rights abuses, such as indefinite pretrial detention.

The VRI/UF/ACD program is working with six rural communities in two separate regions of Panama. Our program has the following three goals: 

1. To  assess the level of current awareness of rights and responsibilities under the Panamanian  judicial system.

2. To train and educate local students and officials through workshops and educational materials.

3. To develop social media and radio communications platforms for use in education, training and access to the new legal system. 

This program will be implemented directly in Panama by ACD with the support of VRI and UF.  VRI founder and executive director Benjamin Goodman will be providing monitoring, reporting, and logistical support from Miami, as well as logistical support during quarterly trips to Panama.  VRI brings expertise on the topic of indigenous legal systems as well as regional expertise in the Pinogana District of the Darien Province, one of the two districts targeted by the program. The other district is the district of Santa Fe in the Province of Veraguas.

VRI's partnership with ACD and UF in a program that is overseen by the U.S. Embassy in Panama and which involves various ministries of the Government of Panama is a big support and encouragement to VRI as it continues to do legal education and advocacy work with rural indigenous communities in Panama and beyond.

VRI Expenses for November 30th through December 6th

Joe Goodman travel from Orlando to Panama City to Orlando: $500
In country transportation for Ben and Joe: $400
Food and lodging for Ben and Joe for one week: $1260
Transportation, food, and lodging for community members involved in Meteti Conference: $700
Communications materials for volunteer VRI Team: $800
Miscellaneous Costs: $300

Total Estimated Costs: $3960

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