"Education for a Sustainable Future"
Monteverde Institute
Written by Elizabeth Speigle and Rachel Halder
The Monteverde Institute is a non-profit association, focused on education, research, and community development in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. They provide programs and resources for local and international scholars, students, and community members, which concentrate on environmental, social and cultural issues relevant to their community. Areas of focus include ecotourism, community health, land use, conservation biology, water, and Spanish language and culture.
The new director of the Monteverde Institute, Jannelle Wilkins, has been involved strongly with many women’s organizations, namely La Casa, a Hispanic women’s center in Colorado, and Mi Carrera, an education and job training program for adolescent girls.
Monteverde is located in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica, in the Tilarán mountain range. First settled in the 1930s, little successful development followed until the 1950s, when a group of Quakers from the United States moved to Monteverde to avoid the Korean War draft. The Quakers began dairy farming, which is now a major industry in the region. By the 1970s, the Monteverde region had developed several small businesses and schools, and by the 1990s, Monteverde had become an attractive site for eco-tourism.