When we think about the viability of sustainable businesses we tend to consider two important aspects, financial profitability and environmental impact, but they are not the only ones. There is a social approach that is often blurred in projects, and this may be the key to transcend towards an economy that takes into account the environment and social inclusion. 

Currently, we can still see practices that accentuate inequalities between different population groups: Amazonian peoples are mostly exposed to discrimination; illiteracy affects 8.1% of Peruvian women aged 15 years and older, generating gaps that limit their autonomy and well-being; a rate of femicides that increases annually, recording 132 cases in 2021. These vulnerable groups are also the most affected by the impacts of the climate crisis, such as poverty, displacement or famine, making them a key element in building the path towards true sustainability.

For this reason, the Amazon Business Alliance developed the workshop “Intercultural Dialogue with a Gender Approach”. This first meeting was held in association with the Regional Government of San Martin, where different directorates and executing units reflected on the importance of applying gender and intercultural approaches to improve the capacity for dialogue, respect and effectiveness in their work.

The Amazon Business Alliance will continue to promote these meetings in the different Amazon regions together with public and private institutions with the objective of guaranteeing the closing of gaps and facilitating access to different services with a gender and cultural approach. 

The Amazon Business Alliance is a platform promoted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Canada and Conservation International to promote and facilitate sustainable investments in the Peruvian Amazon. This platform seeks to join the efforts of the public and private sectors to develop business models that are committed to biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation, generating benefits for Amazonian communities that conserve standing forests.

Gender approach: A tool for analysis that makes it possible to identify the roles and tasks performed by men and women in a society, as well as the asymmetries, power relations and inequalities that occur between them. By critically observing the relations of power and subordination that cultures and societies construct between men and women and explaining the causes that produce asymmetries and inequalities, the gender perspective provides central elements for the formulation of measures (policies, mechanisms, affirmative actions, norms, etc.) that contribute to overcoming inequalities and inequalities between men and women. ) that contribute to overcome gender inequality, modify asymmetrical relations between women and men, eradicate all forms of gender violence, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, among other factors, ensuring access of women and men to public resources and services and strengthening their political and citizen participation in conditions of equality (D.S. N° 008 -2019-MIMP). 

Intercultural approach: Based on the recognition of cultural differences as one of the pillars for the construction of a democratic society, based on the establishment of relations of equity and equality of opportunities and rights. It implies that the State values and incorporates the different cultural visions and conceptions of well-being and development of the various ethno-cultural groups for the generation of culturally relevant services, the promotion of intercultural citizenship based on dialogue and differentiated attention to indigenous peoples. This approach does not admit accepting practices that tolerate violence or hinder the enjoyment of equal rights between people of different genders (Supreme Decree No. 009-2019-MC).