At present, in French stores, you can support the Tchendukua association through “Arrondi en caisse”

The Maisons du Monde Foundation’s mission is to support associations that contribute to the safeguarding of forests and biodiversity, for and through local populations.

Each year, after a meeting of the Foundation’s selection committee, the company’s staff choose their “favourite” projects, which will be financed by the Foundation and supported by customers through the “ARRONDI en caisse” scheme.

Every time customers go through the check-out, the store teams suggest rounding up the amount of their purchase to support an environmental cause: the preservation of forests in southern countries, or the recycling of wood-based products.

In December, Tchendukua is the association benefiting from micro-donations made by Maisons du Monde customers (Tchendukua means “where thought converges”). This association works in Colombia in Sierra Nevada, a region with rich biodiversity but where only 17% of the original forests are still intact. This region is inhabited by four peoples, including the Kogis and the Wiwas, who have lost a large part of their territories. The association’s plan is to help the Indians legally recover their ancestral lands, and thus safeguard their cultures and special relationship with their environment.  

The project supported by the Maisons du Monde foundation is aiming to finance the purchase of at least 170 hectares in the River Mendihuaca valley. The goal is to return their land to the Kogi and Wiwa Indians, who can then take care of it, plant new trees and pass on their ancestral know-how to younger generations. Nearly 2,000 Indians are concerned by this project: one that is focused on respect for their specific cultural features.