This website is an effort to stimulate interest for international development education by actively following the progress of a local development project in Chimborazo, Ecuador. The increasing Global Village that we inhabit has made us aware of the many concerns and issues that are common to countries of the northern and southern hemispheres and as well to those that are unique to this area of the world. You are invited, either as a class or individually with some of your students, to use this website, as a means of establishing a relationship with the native Andean people, who live on the upper slopes of the world's highest volcano, Mt. Chimborazo.

As you explore the site you will discover relevant information about the project, its goal, various activities and the community people benefiting from it. The aim is to bring development education alive as you accompany a native organisation in its efforts to positively change its present neglected situation and to strengthen its capacity to lead and manage the community's development within a protected national park area. The value for educators and students of doing this can be expressed in different ways:

• First hand opportunity to see how Canada’s International Development Agency’s (CIDA) overseas development assistance is spent.
• First hand opportunity for student and teachers to see overseas development project implemented.
• To understand the problems of implementing an overseas development project and the creativity to overcome these.
• To understand the linkages between environment and development.
• To understand the complexity of development assistance and the politics & considerations behind decision-making.
• To be able to undertake selective student evaluations of components of the project (creative and deductive problem solving).
• To establish a dialogue with the development beneficiaries and with Puruhae children and youth from the native Andean community.
• To use the medium for understanding more about Ecuador and Latin America while linking this understanding to Canadian situations (e.g. Treatment of aboriginal peoples, how economies function, etc).

Our commitment to those teachers and students who participate in this development education work is to be actively updating the web site with information reflecting the project's progress as it is implemented. We will also be active in responding to messages received in the e-mail query box.

Tom Walsh, the project coordinator will be in Canada during the month of November, 2000 and invites schools interested in the development work of the Puruhae people to contact him to speak to their groups and students.

We are grateful to CIDA-ACDI for the financial support which makes this Website and development work possible.