Costa Rica’s Los Higuerones coop is a perfect example of what a CAN looks like - combining economy, relationship and conviviality
Members of Los Higuerones
In our promotion and development of CANs (community agency/citizens action networks), we are often asked for great examples of the phenomenon. We’re delighted to present to you the Los Higuerones Coop in Costa Rica as a perfect exemplar.
As they describe themselves:
Los Higuerones is a cooperative center and community hub located on the Osa Peninsula.
At Los Higuerones we strive to reactivate our local connections in a way that promotes and celebrates equity, biodiversity, and culture in the Osa Peninsula.
We are a place and a people that initiates, facilitates, and connects the diversity of communities that make up the Osa.
Through stimulating connection between and among people we believe that a thriving local community and economy that celebrates and honors the abundance of the Osa peninsula is not only possible, but is already in motion.
Note that their emphasis is on connections between diverse communities, and that as a means to a “thriving local economy”. So for example, their Projects page (screen grab below, find from menu at top) sports a range of localised economic initiative, mostly around food supply chains and delivery offers (and an Airbnb guide!)
But it’s followed by an Activities page (screen grab below, find from menu at top) which set up a number of relationship-orientated situations - a social farmers market, convivial events, classes (include Yoga and Ballet), and a “Conversation Cafe… based in an ethic of curiosity, mutual respect and a desire to connection”.
Again, very consistent with our CANs thinking, Los Higueros is also establishing a set of physical Spaces (screen grab below, find from menu at top), from assembly space to co-working space, and even a “transformational kitchen” - helping local farmers do their own food processing and “elevation” of their cuisines.
It’s exciting for us to see the pattern-matching, fractal nature of these kinds of initiatives - familiar enabling conditions for communities to establish their own voice and agency.