Peru’s Amazon is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth and home to rich traditions of medicinal plant knowledge that have supported community wellbeing for generations. Indigenous women, especially girls and young women, are the primary knowledge holders of plant-based remedies used for everyday health, emotional balance, and preventive care. Yet this wisdom is rarely valued within formal education systems and is increasingly at risk of being lost due to environmental degradation, cultural marginalization, and the absence of ethical documentation.
We created this innovation to honor and protect Indigenous women’s medicinal plant knowledge by transforming it into a culturally grounded wellbeing education program. Rather than allowing this wisdom to disappear or be extracted, the innovation recognizes Indigenous women as educators and stewards of living knowledge. By focusing specifically on medicinal plants and wellbeing, the program responds to urgent needs for accessible, preventive, and nature-based health education rooted in local culture.
This innovation exists to ensure that ancestral plant wisdom continues to be practiced, taught, and respected—supporting community health, strengthening cultural identity, and fostering a deeper relationship between people and the natural world.
In practice, the innovation brings together Indigenous elders, women, and youth through community-based learning sessions focused on medicinal plants and wellbeing. Young participants learn directly from elders by walking in the forest, identifying medicinal plants, and understanding their traditional uses, preparation methods, and cultural significance. Knowledge is shared through oral traditions, storytelling, and hands-on practice, ensuring learning remains experiential and culturally rooted.
These learning processes are then translated into a practical wellbeing guidebook co-created with the community. The guidebook documents medicinal plants, ethical harvesting practices, preparation techniques such as teas and infusions, and guidance on their role in supporting everyday wellbeing. Reflection activities and discussion circles support intergenerational exchange and reinforce respect for both human and more-than-human life.
The guidebook is used in schools, community workshops, and local health education initiatives, enabling trained facilitators to lead wellbeing sessions and share knowledge safely and responsibly.
The innovation began as a pilot in Amazonian communities, where the guidebook framework and learning sessions were tested and refined with Indigenous women and youth using a replicable train-the-trainer approach. Building on this experience, the program is designed to spread by enabling local facilitators to adapt the guidebook to their ecosystems, languages, and cultural practices.
As the program grows, communities share experiences and learning methodologies, creating a network of Indigenous-led wellbeing education initiatives. The long-term vision is to expand this model across Amazonian regions and beyond, supporting other Indigenous communities to document and teach their own medicinal plant knowledge through the same ethical and participatory framework.
The innovation has evolved from a broader ecological and cultural focus to a more defined emphasis on medicinal plants and wellbeing education. This refinement clarified the purpose of the program and strengthened its scalability through the development of a structured guidebook and facilitator model. The shift ensures deeper impact by concentrating on health, preventive care, and education while maintaining cultural integrity.
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