Director’s Notes: Trust and its importance in community development projects
Trust is one of the most important pillars of any human relationship. All of us have people we trust and people we don’t. Trust is often built over time or after a series of interactions that prove to us that the other person genuinely has our best interest at heart. We naturally listen closer to what they tell us, are more likely to take their recommendations and more inclined to support their initiatives. Therefore, to be trusted is both a privilege and a responsibility.
During our first year at @EcoSwell we were travelling regularly to Lobitos, but still found it difficult to gain people’s trust. In all honesty, we had a hard time even having people remember who we were. Lobitos is a small fishing and surfing village in northern Perú, and the locals live day by day and are accustomed to seeing surfers come and go. To the community we were a group of surfers from Lima “wanting to help”, but that would return home. This made getting local support for any of our work extremely challenging.
It was at that moment that we realized that to gain their trust and support we needed to prove to the locals that we genuinely had their best interest at heart. To accomplish that we needed to have a positive impact in their lives, and to accomplish that we needed more time in Lobitos.
The answer became obvious to us: We had to move to Lobitos and fully commit to our purpose and mission. We called it “Full Bottom-Up Immersion”: the Directors and leaders of EcoSwell living permanently in Lobitos working from the bottom-up with the community to drive their development through a sustainable path. On June 28th, 2014, we packed up the car and made the move.
Today, over 4 years later, we look back at the decision we made that day and realize just how important it has been to our success. We went from being surfers from Lima to EcoSwell becoming an integral part of the Lobitos community, and since then our projects have flourished. Our interns are always greeted with a smile and the community involvement in our projects is fantastic. We have learned and proven that in order to gain a community’s trust, and as a result, make a tangible impact, you must earn it through hard work and dedication. This is a vital lesson in the international development and sustainability sector.
We thank everyone for the trust they place in us and our work and promise to always honour that trust with humility and honesty.
Andres Bustamante
Director of Marketing and International Relations
@EcoSwell is a for-impact, sustainable development organization based in Lobitos, Peru. Since 2014, we have been working everyday to help coastal communities thrive in unison with nature. All the revenue generated from our SteemIt posts go directly back into our projects. If you would like to learn more, please visit our Facebook, website, and follow us on SteemIt!