The organization they have built to do so employs traditional ideas and practices of social organization, but also makes use of contemporary technology like surveying and map-making to defend territorial rights, and radios and airplanes to link dispersed communities. With the help of nongovernmental and religious organizations, as well as the Peace Corps and international funders, the Shuar began surveying, mapping, and titling over 400 centros or communities. They have successfully established legal title to over 80 percent of their land. Begun by Salesian missionaries in an effort to incorporate Indians into the larger Ecuadorian society, bilingual radio has been transformed by the Shuar, who use it to revitalize their culture. Courses in language, mathematics, social studies, natural science, and health address Shuar and Achuar culture, their traditional governing structures, and the precarious rainforest environment and its management.
Programs also emphasize bilingualism.
Today the radio school directly serves some 200 remote forest communities, although the programs reach communities as far away as Peru. The wisdom that informs the federation's activities grows from local culture, the knowledge built over generations that supports and enriches human life in a particular place.