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From conducting development work from the Caribbean basin of Panama to Haiti I have noticed a very real rift between donors, relief and community development organizations, and on the ground operators. Kalu Yala holds the potential to re-define the paradigm around the deployment of capital for development activates. By no means is this meant to be an all-encompassing statement but the cognitive disconnect associated with so many projects between backers, implementers and affected indigenous populations is astounding. Weather it be relief work with earthquake victims or rural community development projects there is a chink in the communications system that always leaves one party or another disenfranchised and alienated.

Maybe a private backer looking to execute a small sustainable development for profit fails to gather substantial cultural intelligence and implements a project that truly impugns the integrity of an area. Perhaps an NGO wants to carry out a population decentralization project to better the lives of the indigenous population suffering from over crowding but negates to fully inform donors of the challenges causing financial-backer withdrawal mid-project.  What the team at Kalu Yala is doing differently is taking the time to establish a two-way communications platform that allows for complete transparency and involvement by every affected stakeholder. They are making a concerted effort to air the fact that the community they are looking to undertake is an experiment and that in order to carry it out in the most successful manner possible they are availing anyone and everyone to every step of the project.

What is different about the Naked Development process? Full discloser, constant inquiry and dialogue between everyone from the local farmer to the financial backer, and the ability to constantly adapt and morph the driving principals throughout the build process which will result in Kalu Yala being a true product of the end user, and all those who will be touched by the community. While seemingly simple in principal never before have I come across a group that has worked so hard to gather impute from so many, so frequently. This is a living breathing project that grows as dictated by its environment, unlike so many others that have rigid plans that are dictated and unyielding.

The emotional reward as well as financial for participants in this process should be outstanding.