The CATIS will provide hands-on workshops
for indigenous people throughout Latin America as well
as students, organizations and individuals from Mexico,
the U.S. and abroad. ITyC, Birambye and ISF Mexico
have created this strategic alliance for the
construction of the CATIS as well as the development
of courses, a coalition of Partner Trainers and a
network of universities and satellite sites to further
promote CATIS programming, thereby extending its
regional impact.
In order to create a wider range of impact in more
communities, the CATIS will develop a
Partner Training Program to complement the introductory
and advanced courses. All
tuition will be recycled directly back into Institute
programming and graduates of the Partner Training
Program will have the opportunity to promote
CATIS-based projects in rural communities worldwide.
The alliance has
broken down its tuition-based courses and programs into
three levels of impact:
1.
Survey
Students. These introductory courses and workshops
are 2-4 days in length and geared towards individuals
who want to understand the basics of various sustainable
technologies.
2.
Professional Students. These advanced and more intensive
courses and workshops run 1-4 weeks in length and are
offered to contractors, builders, architects, engineers
and other professionals pursuing the use of more
sustainable technologies in their respective fields but
who are not, necessarily, promoting the social missions
of the CATIS.
3.
Partner
Trainers. This level includes, but is not limited
to, ISF Mexico and EWB USA students and faculty, NGO
staff, Peace Corps volunteers and members of host
communities throughout Latin America. Partner
Trainers receive extensive instruction in one, or
numerous, appropriate technologies and systems.
They work closely with CATIS staff, and
become experts in areas such as
compressed earth block construction, water resource
management, irrigation techniques, sustainable
agriculture, micro-financing and more. Upon
graduation, Partner Trainers will have the necessary
skills to promote the missions of CATIS
through project development and by training
members in host communities throughout the region in
appropriate technologies, thus creating economic
opportunity through the use of social and
environmentally healthy practices.
To achieve greater
regional impact, the CATIS will utilize ISF's Federation of
Independent Chapters to establish satellite sites
throughout Mexico and, eventually, greater Latin
America. These satellites, with guidance from the
CATIS, will provide their own trainings and
educational programs to host communities in their
respective regions. ISF Mexico has
identified the first 6 to 8 satellite university
chapters and has developed a two year plan to make them
operational as their own individual organizations.