Donato Bayubay Bumacas, Philippines
Kalinga Mission for Indigenous People
“I am very service oriented and I vow to do community work all my life as I love working with people. I got involved in development programmes from my second year in high school”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “My dream is for the communities to have goals parallel to the Millennium development Goals (MDG’s). A sort of local version of the MDG’s if you like, and a target date of something realistic like 2050 to reach these goals by.”

Ana Luz Begochea
Honduras
Etnia Garifuna
“Me gusta organizer communidades para tener desarrollo sustenible.”

Hope for the Commons: “Una de mis esperanzas que oigo la voz de la mujer que es indigena al nivel munidal que tiene initiatives de valores culturales y ambientales.”

Roberto Borrero
Puerto Rico
United Confederation of Taino People
“I enjoy helping out where I can and being of service.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “that my community, the Taino people, indigenous people of the Caribbean, have more visibility. . . where these international forums, in particular, the indigenous community of Puerto Rico can be included as equal partners in the proceedings.”

Maria Cleofe P. Bernadino
The Philippines
Palawan NGO Network, Inc.
“I am a very passionate protector of the environment, as well as people’s rights.”

Hope for the Conference: “I would love to have the conference facilitate a more influential scheme for governments, like the Philippines, to look closely on how they use our natural resources vis a vis our human resources that we are trying to achieve.”

Sister Celeste
Mary Knoll Sisters, Guatemala
“What I am doing in grassroots is something that I had in my heart for many years. I did many things in my life before this, and these things all helped me to get into touch with the reality with how things really are.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I am glad that this conference is happening before the Civil Society hearings next week and that people are expressing their feelings. I hope that the speakers will be inspired and speak with their whole hearts, and that the leaders will really listen to grassroots issues.

Gladman Chibememe, Zimbabwe
Chibememe Earth Healing Association
“I really like talking to people, exchanging ideas and at times even debating ideas. I am also a big fan of music, especially gospel.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I’m looking at the dialogue space as a facilitation space for continuous and meaningful dialogue that will have real results and influence policies ranging from local, to regional and even global policies.”

Kasthuri Chandrasekar , India
Covenant Centre For Development
“ I had the choice to be at home and be a ‘family lady’, but instead I chose to be part of a women’s movement. I organize the group and we empower each other as a collective effort. That’s why I never feel as though I am alone.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: This meeting has brought together people of over 40 countries, each from diverse cultures, challenged by different issues that effect their livelihoods. It’s not easy. For me this has been an educating experience, knowing that we are all looking for opportunities to solve these problems.”

Jean J. Chu
USA
UNOPS/UNDP/ BDP/CDG
“I am a gypsy. . . nomadic.”

Hope for the Commons: “to get a better sense of what makes communities tick. How can we enhance and harness the dynamic co-active energy of communities?”

Marie Cirilo, USA
Clearfork (CCI)
“I grew up with four sisters. I spent eighteen years in a Convent with about one hundred sisters, and I now spent the last thirty-seven years with women in communities working to improve their communities. . . I just like being with women.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope to get a clearer vision of what the role of struggling communities in the first world can do to help communities to affect change within their countries and to be able to interface their strategies with communities in developing countries can do to affect the kind of changes we all want.”

Elena Cocón de Patal
Guatemala
Funcación Guatemala
“I am proud to be a rural indigenous woman.” “I have shattered barriers to women in the region of Chimaltenango by being the first indigenous women to work in the local government. Now there are other women working in local government.” “I have two sons, one daughter, and two grandchildren. I had my daughter, who is eleven years old, when I was 46 years old.”

Hope for the Commons: “I hope that this will give us more attention, especially for women. In order for women to improve our situation we must work together.”

Erick Cuellar Oliva
Guatemala
Asociacíon de Communidades Forestales de Petén (ACOFOP)
“El modelo de conservacíon de recursos naturales que nuestro proceso comunitario ha construido e cual además de permitir proteger la naturaleza y la diveridad. . . Ha generado mejores condiciones de vida para comunitarios.”

Hope for the Commons: “Mis esperanzas son lograr consenso entre de las diferentes grupos comunitarios que estan presentes sobre ha queremos plantear a los gobiernos del mundo para que nos apoyen. . . Deben pedirles a los gobiernos politicas claras pero tambíen politicas estables en cuanto las participacíon de la sociedad civil en los procesos de manejo de recursos naturales del mundo.”

Merlita De La Cruz , Philippines
Kalinga Mission for Children and Youth Development
“ I love meeting new people and like doing things in order. I’m also a nature lover.”

Hope for the Commons: In three days, I hope we can come up with something productive. Governments often ignore the grass roots communities and its high time we got the attention we deserve.”

Fatima Denton, The Gambia
UNEP RISOE
“In another life, I would have liked to be a singer. . . There is something that music does to your soul that is so uplifting. We would laugh at ourselves more.”

Hope for the Conference: “There are many conferences like this, but so few with community members. This is an opportunity to . . . recognize that we all may be different, but in the end we all want the same things: a quality of life for ourselves and a sense of wellbeing. We can’t work in a vacuum. It is important that our words do not fall on deaf ears. . . that they reach policy makers.”

Daouda Diouf
Senegal
Tiers Monde (ENDA)
“One of my qualities is that I am a hardworker. . . I believe that in community capacity as a central element for global change.”

Hope for the Conference: “I hope this conference raises real community voice to influence policies that reflects community’s needs and that will make a real difference in community life.”

Femie Duka, Philippines
DAMBA – Women and Governance
“I find working for a grassroots organization more fruitful than working for an NGO. I have three children.”

My hope for the Commons: “I hope our recommendations from the Community Commons dialogue will be integrated in the MDG’s and I hope to learn from the initiatives suggested by the other communities here too.”

Limota Gonso Gwa Hajiya
Nigeria
International Women’s Communication Center (IWCC)
“I am a very creative person full of ideologies towards development.”

Hope for the Commons: “sharing each others experience and learning about best practices. . . what we can learn and adapt to our countries.”

Hariramamurthi Govindswami, India
Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions
“ I enjoy my community work, I also enjoy visiting different places. I like traveling and I speak many languages. …Tamil, Telegu, Kanada, Malayalam, French and English.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “ My greatest hope is that we have the willpower and resilience to get our voices out there. We have the resources, but many of the members of our community do not have access to these resources. It’s a very funny thing…”

Sheila Grant
Jamaica
LIFE Local Initiative Facility for the Environment/UNDP
“I bring a kind of spirituality to development. . . The principle “to whom much is given, much is expected” is operating in the reverse, and we must change that.”

Hope for the Commons: “We have built a critical mass of experiences and the community has demonstrated that they have made the investment and have the will, knowledge, and experiences, but now they must be supported in order to be sustainable to see demonstrable results that really improve the quality of life of the poor.”

Carmen Griffiths
Jamaica
Construction Resource and Development Center
“I am the proudest grandmother on the face of the world. I have this four year old granddaughter that is precocious and beautiful. . . She runs my world.”

Hope for the Commons: “I am hoping that what comes out of this [conference] will benefit community groups. . . How can we exchange concrete practices that work, [thereby] creating synergy.”

Diocelinda Iza
Ecuador
Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres de Sectores Populares
“I like to work with women since I was 14 years old. I had problems in my house. My husband did not want me to work and I asked for a divorce. I told him “Go away!” And now I am working.”

“Me gusta hacer trabajo con mujeres desde 14 años de edad. Tuve problemas en mi casa. Mi marido no querría que trabaje y pedí un divorcio. Le dijé a mi marido “¡Vaya!” Y ahora estoy trabajando.”

Hope for the Conference: “I hope that we are able to make a network with women especially. We [as women] are more discriminated against because we are poor, indigenous, and women. I want to share our successes and problems, especially regarding the environment.”

“Ojala que podemos hacer una red con las mujeres especialmente. Vivimos más discriminadas por ser pobres, indígenas, y mujer. Y quiero compartir nuestros exitos y problemas, especialmente sobre el medio ambiente.”

Alice Kayongo
Uganda
Uganda Community Based Association for Child Welfare (UCOBAC)
“As a social worker, one of the things I really love is working within the rural communities. . . this is where the need is. I love working with children, especially vulnerable children because I myself have been a vulnerable child for half of my childhood.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “how we are planning to achieve the MDGs and adopting new ideas of how to deal with issues, such as mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on vulnerable groups.”

Penny Kerrigan
Canada
Aboriginal Mother Center
“I am very committed to aboriginal women and children’s rights around the word, but my heart is with aboriginal women and children in Canada.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “ensuring that the world hears about Canada’s human rights violations, and the human rights violations of all indigenous peoples of the world.”

Sabita Koirala
Nepal
The Institute of Cultural Affairs
“I like to exchange ideas with others and explore their potential. If there is a dispute, I like to make a consensus.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “For countries that are trying to achieve the MDGs, that their voices and real issues of the marginalized and disadvantaged groups that their issues are incorporated. At the point that the goals are implemented, these groups must be apart of the planning.”

Joyce Kores
Kenya
GROOTS KENYA
“I see most of the times I don’t do my work. I do other peoples work. At the end of the day I try to analyze what I did for the day and I get “nil.” It is funny, but I like doing other people’s work.”

Hope for the Conference: “I want to go home [to Kenya] and as I know that I will need donors, How is [foreign aid] really going to work towards the needs of the common women on the grassroots level? How can I get an answer?”

Pamela Kraft, USA
Tribal Link Foundation
“I am passionate about my work with indigenous peoples because in times of preservation and humanity they really have the knowledge to help all of us survive. Once a Maasai sat at my kitchen table and told me ‘You gather people together and the rest just happens,’ so I am committed to gathering people together.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I think that I would like to see that participants of this conference be seen on a much more equal playing field with the government. . . where they are leaders and followers. All these people play lip service. They need to truly realize that this is where the answers are.

Julieta Langa
Mozambique
National Media Council
“I realized that in my country women are not apart of the network. We are somewhat isolated. The first time I went to a meeting in Dakar, I women African women committed to development. Now, anytime I have the opportunity to participate I try.”

Hope for the Conference: “Our discussions and recommendations will impact the recommendations during the MDG+5 meeting. We will partner with the government and donors. If this is so, I am very optimistic towards the achievements of 2015. I expect to have inputs to share with the villages and governments and my dissemination campaign.

Kembatti Mentti Gezzimina-Tope
Kembatti Women’s Self-help Center
“My passion is changing the status of women in the world.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope this group present [at this conference] are true representatives of their communities and this conference will not be like every other conference where we talk a lot and do nothing. I hope next year when we come back we will have something to report of the things that we will do [in our communities].”

Patrick Muraguri, Kenya
Africa 21st Century Development Organization
“I like people, I like fun and I like hands-on work. I really enjoy talking to old people … I like listening to their stories and I love seeing that sense of satisfaction when they tell them. There’s just something about that!

”My Hope for the Community Commons: “One of these days we will have a commons session of our own. Something with our own goals for the community which government organizations and the UN are welcome to contribute to, but not dominate.”

Esther Mwaura-Muira, Kenya
Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS) Kenya
“I am very proud to be an African and have that sense of belonging to a wonderful country”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope that through the community commons we can locate our own initiatives, and that we are able make informed decisions and even critisms if need be. It is very important that we are able to articulate and voice our issues with total confidence”

Kesinyinye Nambaso
Kenya
Nadumu Ntomonok
“I am outside of my country to seek assistance for women.”

Hope for the Conference: “I expect to gain knowledge for what I can transfer to other women in my village and where I can be of assistance to address the problems in my village.”

Susana Naserian
Kenya
Simba Maasai Outreach Organization (SIMOO)
“In our community we have a lot of troubles because we don’t have water. Most work is done by women: building houses, fetching water, cooking, and handicrafts.”

Hope for the Conference: “I need the help from here.”

Annette Natukunda Mukiga, Rwanda
Rwandan Women’s Network
“Although, I grew up in a refugee situation for half of my life in Uganda, sometimes I feel lost where I live and lost where I grew up. My parents died due to HIV/AIDS, and I was left to take care of my seven brothers and six sisters.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I would like to see the recommendations that we come up with be apart of the Millennium Review Summit meeting and the civil society meeting to have an impact on what we are doing in the grassroots.”

Zelda Nhlabatsi
Swaziland
Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level
“I am welcoming. . . People like to tell me about their personal issues.”

Hope for the Conference: “I would like us to come up with a recommendation, especially for donors in supporting community driven projects and [for the donor community] to relax the strict requirements from communities, especially regarding HIV/AIDS.”

Lea Nicholas-McKenzie, Canada
Assembly of First Nations
“A few years ago, I took a break and went to cooking school and became a chef.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “We’ve been very frustrated in the past with these so called consultations, the most recent being the World Bank Indigenous Peoples Polity. Indigenous peoples from around the world participated and almost spoke with one voice on a number of issues; however, the World Bank recently adopted the policy without any changes. . . yet we come back to these things. I think the real value of these events is that we are able to make personal connections with other indigenous peoples.

Tecliare Ntomb , Camroon
Common Initiative Group for Women Farmers
“I have a very large family , six children and twelve grandchildren. I am a rural woman in my country and I love that”

Hope for the Commons: “I would like to see the commons working towards food security. My hope is that we can come up with an universal code for food security.”

Joyce Odari
Kenya
Mama Watoto Women’s Group
“I personally am a farmer. I own my farm. I practice agroforestry, that advocates for women not to destroy our environment. On my farm the bees collect pollen from the flowers and we harvest the honey to generate income, we use the leaves for feeding the animals that have a higher yielding milk, we plant soya to feed HIV/AIDS patients, and we plant medicinal trees on the border of the only remaining forest in Kenya.”

Lambert Okrah, Belgium
Institute of Cultural Affairs
“My passion is to improve the status of the underprivileged.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “is to serve as a means of change of the dynamics of development of involving the underprivileged in their own development process, rather than [the underprivileged] being merely the recipient of the development process.”

Dr. Ben Okumu, Kenya
Millennium Villages Project/Columbia University
“I have a passion for helping those in need. I think it is a very noble thing to step out of yourself and do something to help other people, especially the rural poor. I am committed to making sure that we find a solution to world poverty and hunger.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope that all those attending will leave the conference with better ideas on how to mobilize communities to eradicate poverty in a sustainable manner because the key to success is to have a simple solution that can easily be adapted by a majority of the rural poor.”

Roberto Pedraza
Mexico
Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda
“I play the violin.”

Hope for the Conference: “No matter whether personal or organizational agenda, we need to make a common front regarding global warming.”

Kala Peiris, Sri Lanka
Siyath – “Your own collective hands”
“My passion to be with people. . . to feel the environment, the warmth, the sorrows, the tears, and the laughter of other people. The most important thing is to be with people and share with them.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I think that . . . communities really do contribute a lot [to development] only they never realize it. My objective is to bridge the gap and for communities to feel ownership, and receive recognition which would help them to achieve the goals if they know they are a part of the macrosystem. This recognition would motivate them to do more to work to achieve these goals.”

Naniki Reyes Ocasio
Puerto Rico
Consejo General de Tainos Boricanas
“I love my people. . . I love doing what I do. I love being of service.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “We need to work on shifting the body politic from a paternalistic one to a politic that revolves around self-determined initiated projects for development. . . The MDG, or any governmental initiative, must go hand in hand with the community initiatives. They must be projects that do not create dependency, but rather strengthen and develop self-sufficiency and self-determination.”

Boudjéma Radjaa, Algeria
La Salle Pédagogique des Eônes Arioles de B_ní-Abbés
“I love people.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “We are expecting many positive things. If all the statements we mentioned can be implemented, we can be optimistic even if some questions remain concerning donors. The thing that is very exciting is this connection with the global community. We have the feeling that we are a unique family. We have the same problems. We are somehow afraid of those problems. My wish is to everyone is that we have to keep pushing.”

Haydée Rodriguez
Nicaragua
La Union de Cooperativas de las Bromas
“I am a happy woman. . . I am a person that likes to share with other women. I like to ask questions. . . to learn things. I like to work in the fields and ride horses.”

Hope for the Commons: “I want to see all women together with one voice and that all of the voiceless and discriminated poor will have a voice that will be heard by those with power.”

Nicole Roschelle Hewitt, USA/Jamaica
Equator Initiative
“Although I am quite shy, I love being around people, talking with them, sharing with them. I guess that is why I am so optimistic about the transformative power of community-driven development.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I read once an indigenous woman participating in the women’s conference in Beijing said, ‘If you came to help me, you can go home now. But if you see my struggle as apart of your own survival, then perhaps we can work together.’ I think that quote perfectly illustrates the power of this conference. . . creating a space for those committed to grassroots development to come together, recognize our commonalities, and in an united voice demand change.”

Zaida Salas Franco
Colombia
LIFE Local Initiative Facility for the Environment/UNDP
“Llega 28 años hacienda trabajo comunitario en barrios en la zona urbano y rural y que siempre me da cuenta que en tantos años que trabaja todavia hay mucho trabajo para hacer y estos espacios fortalecen porque no esta solo hay mucha gente que está hacienda este trabajo.”

Hope for the Commons: “Una red permanente de comunicarse y trabajar para hacer estrategias en para que vea.”

Daniel Salau
Kenya
Simba Maasai Outreach Organization (SIMOO)
“I have the desire to go back to my community and try to work with them.”

Hope for the Conference: “The possibility of bridging the gap between recommendations and implementation. They mean very different things. We must find out why the recommendations are not trickling down. . . [if so] we can address the MDGs by 2015.”

Luz Maria Sanchez
Perú
Estrategía
“I am an architect, and in my line of work it is very difficult to find an architect that works with the poor. From this point of view, I don’t view my profession from a professional perspective, but rather from a personal perspective.”

Hope for the Commons: “that Peruvian women can exchange ideas with other women around the world.”

Arno Sckeyde
Germany
GTZ
“I am also very interested in development work. I try to make the link from the work in the grassroots to the politics, especially the MDGs.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope that these links between the political declaration and the practical work can be established and this meeting is an important milestone to the Millennium Review Summit in September.”

Lester Seri, Papua New Guinea
Conservation Melanesia
“ I love beer. I also really love sports, especially rugby and soccer.”

My Hope For the Community Commons: “ It has taken a very long time for the UN to address issues related to communities and their problems. For me , this community commons ‘movement’ is a very positive sign and hopefully this will elevate the profile of communities.”

Suzanne Shende, Honduras
Comite de Emergencia Garifuna de Honduras
“As communities, we are trying to lay down the ground work against poverty and trying to send out a message that will be listened to, and make a real impact.”

Mary Simat, Kenya
Maasai Women for Education and Economic Development
“I want to run for Parliament, and I will be for the first Maasai woman to do that.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “the conference has been very good. All of those that attended are rally at the same level. They really gave a chance to talk about our own issues. It wasn’t difficult to speak . . The question is 'where do we go from here?’ We engaged with the partners, but different partners are very difficult people. This makes the process long.”

Amon Sithole, South Africa
Wildlands Conservation Trust
“I am a passionate human being. . . I like what I am doing.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “My real hope is that when I’m old, I will sit back and look at how countries have worked together for poverty alleviation and to best ensure that all people in the years to come can live better lives. . . I can sit and watch and be proud that I was apart of it.”

Tatwa Timsina
Nepal
The Institute of Cultural Affairs
“Although I come from a science background, I work more with the social issues of the community.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I am happy that UNDP is taking the initiative for grassroots development. I hope that in the future we can share the initiatives that we are doing in other parts of the world and together we can achieve the MDGs.

Metua Vaiimene, The Cook Islands
The Pacific Youth Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
“My passion is youth and getting young people involved at all levels: civil society, non-governmental organizations, politics, and government. Its all about young people being apart of the solution, and I wish the world would stop looking at numbers and start realizing that these numbers are actual people.”

My Hope for the Community Commons: “I hope to be able to show to this conference the action plans [in particular] what we are doing in our part of the world to achieve the MDGs ”

Muthu Velayuthan, India
Covenant Centre For Development
“I’m a professionally trained social worker and have had a varied experience working with runaway kids, migrant families and ethnic communities.”

My Hope for the Commons: “ I would like for us to mutually share and learn from the practice and experience , especially in issues specific to my country.”

Dora Alicia Villaquirán U.
Colombia
Asociacíon de Cabildos Indigenas del Norte del Cauca (ACIN)
“It is only through the mothers where we will be able to change cultures from the inside.”

“Depende de otras mamas que las culturas cambian desde interior de las culturas.”

Hope for the Commons: “share experiences of my project and culture, acquire knowledge of other experiences, and put in accord an agenda for sustainable development, especially regarding gender.

Ezequiel Vitonas
Colombia
Proyecto NASA
“Me gusta trabajar por un economia solidaria donde. . . en esa forma fortaliza la comunidad y resolver el problema de pobreza porque los gobiernos no resuelvo la problema de pobreza.”

Hope for the Commons: “Me gustaria que logramos la construccíon de una agenda para los pueblos. . . para poner una propuesta para el MDG. Si no, tenemos que acceptar el propuesta del gobierno.”

Marie Webster
Tennessee, USA
Clearfork Community Institute
“I am not a big talker, but I listen a lot. . . I help people figure out what is going on.”

Hope for the Commons: “to share our successes and failures. . . to help where I can and take back anything that can help my community.”