Sunrise+ was the continuation of a first project activated in Ecuador between 2017 and 2018. With this intervention, the aim was to strengthen entrepreneurial activities in some communities in the province of Esmeraldas, a difficult territory on the border with Colombia : a strategic place for trade but also for illegal trafficking, with drugs at the forefront. 
It was above all women , who until that moment had never undertaken a job, who questioned themselves and accepted the challenge, as Lia, who coordinates AMU projects in Latin America, points out: “They made a huge effort to acquire new knowledge to fulfill themselves”. After the women, the project involved young people, encouraged by their own mothers who wanted to offer their children previously unknown job opportunities , so as to remove them from drug use and the path of drug dealing. And with the young people, the issue of environmental protection came into play, perceived as crucial by the new generations. The communities of the province of Esmeraldas, accompanied by AMU and the local partner Opera di Maria , began to believe in their own potential to be able to focus on new development. But there was also something else, which arrived – unexpectedly – with the pandemic due to Covid in 2020. “The emergency – Lia recalls – made us discover the value of reciprocity: those who could help those who needed it. During the health emergency, women who had benefited from AMU’s support to start their small businesses shared their goods with those who needed it most . The greatest emotion was discovering that they could give something: they would never have imagined it, coming from a condition of economic vulnerability themselves”.
After these experiences of sharing, the women of the province of Esmeraldas never stopped. It is as if they said “we can do more”. They faced local institutions with a new awareness of their value and their rights , including that of expressing themselves and proposing their ideas. If there is a legacy that the Sunrise project has left in Ecuador, it is precisely this: it has generated the desire and courage to undertake new paths, perhaps small actions, to improve the life of the community . And the protagonists of this adventure have chosen for themselves a name that describes well what they are and what they want to be: women entrepreneurs of the future.
