On Thursday, 20 May 2010, TIDE staff Elmar Requena (Terrestrial Biologist) and Ruth McLean Dawson (Development Director) visited San Pedro Columbia to provide training for the members of an emerging Community Based Organization – Xucaneb. Over twenty members of the community joined Elmar and Ruth, with volunteers Marc Revel and Jerry Dawson to talk about the role and responsibility of a Board of Directors. The meeting was led by Hildeberto Cal and opened with a prayer and an overview of the purpose of the meeting. The secretary provided the minutes from the last meeting and the treasurer provided a financial report. Ruth provided a brief presentation highlighting the key roles of a board, members of the board, committees, membership and fundraising. For many participants the information was a review but the first time they had a chance to consider and discuss the topics as a group. The discussion that followed was open and lively and it is clear that this is a CBO that has very committed members eager to contribute to the community. The group decided to conduct more outreach to the entire community to help others understand the mission and goals of Xucaneb and to join in the work.  Xucaneb will also conduct committee work to determine next steps and how TIDE might be involved.

TIDE is currently engaged in preparing for and conducting organizational capacity building for fisher folk cooperatives through a grant from the MAR Fund. TIDE is eager to work with communities committed to conservation in southern Belize and is limited only by time and funding to work with our stakeholders and partners.

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