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Story from 2016
Story from 2018
Map: Sitios históricos del Reparto Camilo Cienfuegos, mpio. Habana del Este
Green Map Network Cuba
The Green Map (GM) in Cuba is organized through a National Network made up of groups structured into so-called territorial nodes that work in a planned manner consistent with the Network's strategy of protection and transformation. Its areas of action are communities, institutions, and educational centers. It currently has 20 active territorial nodes in 12 provinces across the country. The largest number of groups are in student centers, promoted and led by teaching staff. A predominance of females among the promoters is noted.
Main Results:
Education
- Capacity building for research, understanding, and problem-solving among various stakeholders, institutions, and projects.
- Increased awareness of residents' environmental conditions and their conditions, as well as awareness and preservation of local history and traditions.
- Development of values such as solidarity, empathy, a sense of belonging, empowerment of the learner, collaborative work, and dialogue within groups.
- Incorporation of GM teaching into primary and secondary school curricula, as well as in elective courses and bachelor's and master's theses at universities.
- Work in schools has gone beyond the school environment and is recognized among grassroots groups as the most important community reference centers for environmental work, primarily in rural areas.
- Recognition (endorsement) by the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education for the implementation of the GM methodology in schools.
- Incorporation into the methodology of "other knowledge and skills" necessary for empowering individuals as agents of change and strengthening transformations. Environmental Management
- The GM methodology is used as a diagnostic and management tool in national and international territorial projects.
- Self-managed projects in territorial nodes allow for streamlining the network's work in the territories and carrying out environmental transformations.
- Use of the methodology for climate and disaster risk management.
- Implementation of environmental transformations such as the renovation of educational centers and sports areas, the creation of gardens, the improvement of common areas in the community such as roads, gardens, the aesthetics and uniformity of kiosks for local businesses, the transformation of landfills into gardens or recreational areas, the elimination of sewage leaks, coastal sanitation, the maintenance of historical sites and monuments, reforestation in degraded areas, and the creation of community nurseries.
Citizen Participation
- Influencing local environmental policies.
- Participation of mappers in development strategies at the municipal level.
- Mediation mechanism for the coordination of local issues.
- GM groups, through persuasion and pressure on decision-making authorities, manage to influence decision-making to resolve specific problems.
- Their work is legitimized by local governments, with some members participating in Community Work Commissions in the municipal government, and others are permanent guests at People's Council meetings.
- Emergence and strengthening of leadership.
Coordination with key stakeholders:
- Widespread acceptance and appropriation by individuals, groups, and institutions. Governing bodies and/or entities linked to the environment in Cuba, such as the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment, the Provincial Center for Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, the Institute of Ecology and Systematics, and universities, among others, apply the methodology as a tool in their institutional work.
Communication:
- Development of communication products: 8 books, 18 newsletters, 4 documentaries, 1 television spot.
- Dissemination of the work of the mapping groups in mass media on national, municipal, and provincial radio and television stations, as well as at exhibition fairs and national and international events.
