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Prout Research Institute of Venezuela
The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela in Caracas is an independent non-profit foundation founded by Dada Maheshvarananda and José Albarrán in 2007. Its mission is “to empower all people to improve their quality of life and live in a more just society by fostering the development of worker cooperatives, self-reliant communities, environmental protection, universal ethics and spiritual values.”

The institute researches and teaches the dynamic principles of the Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout), a post-capitalist model that empowers people and communities to create a better world. All of its published resources are available free of charge on its web page. The institute accepts international visitors and volunteers at the “Quinta Prout,” which is a large house used by the institute as its headquarters in El Marques, Caracas.

In 2007, the institute produced a documentary, Another Life is Possible: Cooperatives in Barlovento, Venezuela. In 2010, the institute organized a public conference titled “Building a Solidarity Economy based on Ethics and Ecology.”

The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela supports Centro Madre, a sister project in San José de Barlovento, a community located two hours east of Caracas. This project was founded in 2000 by Didi Ananda Sadhana in order to foster self-sufficiency through education, sustainable agriculture, holistic development and ethical leadership. Centro Madre sits on 3.5 hectares (8.6 acres) of land. They have received an evaluation of “Excellence” three times from the CIARA Institute (a Venezuelan government agency that promotes participatory democracy in rural development), as a national model of small-scale, self-sufficient agriculture. Centro Madre’s reading program lends books every week to families in the community so that they can read together. It also creates programs in the schools.

The First Prout Global Conference in Venezuela, “Building an Economy Based on Ethics and Ecology,” took place from June 7-9 of 2011. It was held in the Centro Simón Bolívar of Parque Central, Caracas. Over 300 people attended the event, with 29 presenters representing 14 progressive non-governmental organizations, one state bank and two large cooperatives, and four university professors. Venezuelan National Television, TELESUR, four radio stations and ten newspapers covered the event.