Sustainable María Elena (MES) began its first steering project in the Pampa

The groundbreaking for Shadegivers for Triángulo Maule, the first Sustainable María Elena (MES for the Spanish acronym) project, attracted great participation from the local community. The MES program aims to convert ideas from the community into concrete actions that improve the quality of life for residents. Steering projects are initiatives that, given their essence, require greater participation and articulation with different players (the municipality, local and regional institutions, social organizations, neighbors, etc.) Given their complexity, they also involve in-depth planning and more robust fundraising, as they aim to meet overarching community needs and interests.
This type of project lends increased visibility to the importance of the collaborative strategies made possible through the MES program.

This milestone paves the way for a definitive solution to one of the issues most raised by the Maria Elena community: protecting transit in this area, given the high temperatures and addressing the sun exposure that residents live with daily.

MES Executive Director Ernesto Espinoza commented, “This is a very important milestone in terms of the work we have been doing with the community, neighbors, social organizations, companies, entrepreneurs and the municipality in María Elena for more than a year. We have been providing support in different areas and realized we needed to promote projects with a broader scope that address part of what the community of María Elena needed.”

SQM Head of Pampa Community Affairs Leonor González also attended the event, commenting, “We are very pleased to create safer spaces for the children of María Elena. We are proud that this has attracted high participation from the territory’s neighbors, organizations, institutions and companies. We believe that partnerships are the key to these projects, which positively impact the community, where the people lead these changes. It is all part of SQM’s Shared Social Value.”

The event culminated with the laying of the foundation stone, signaling the beginning of this long-awaited project.

María Elena Sostenible (MES) works collaboratively with the community, companies operating in the area, social organizations and local and national authorities to make María Elena the First Sustainable Community in Chile.

Sustainable Maria Elena Projects

Currently, participatory commissions that include the community are working on projects in different areas, including Culture, Children and Youth, Sustainable Roads, and Tourism and Gastronomy.

The participatory commissions are working on initiatives including The Educational Heritage Route, which aims to showcase the historical heritage of the municipality of María Elena and the Antofagasta region. Specifically, it trains and supports a group of students from the Heritage Academy at the D-133 school in María Elena. In sports, tournaments provide instances for athletic competition for the children and young people of María Elena.

Similarly, the From the Pampa to the World project focuses on small local businesses that take sustainable approaches to their production processes. They were surveyed to create short videos that showcase their actions and expand their reach.

In Tourism and Gastronomy, the Team Building Business Route project creates an option for work teams operating in the area to participate in tourism experience at emblematic places in María Elena. The Recetario Vivo, a living cookbook, gathers recipes from the pampa and stories that tell the dishes’ history.