From Cupcakes to Clean Air Workshops: How Pacha Ayllu is Building a Healthier Future for Families in Ecuador

Families of Nature - that’s the meaning behind one of our close community partner organisations. Pacha Ayllu is a family-led grassroots organisation in Ecuador, fighting for cleaner air for their children. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Ana Badillo, co-founder of Pacha Ayllu and mother herself. It was inspiring to hear about Ana’s variety of passions - ranging from helping children with disabilities to protecting nature.

“After Sophie’s birth, my ecological concern was no longer just about my work. It was about my child.”

Ana Badillo

Co-founder of Pacha Ayllu

This powerful statement echoes the values of Pacha Ayllu - a dedicated group of concerned parents and families determined to improve air quality not just for themselves, but for their children and entire community.

With support from the Our Kids’ Climate Fellowship, Ana became the co-founder of Pacha Ayllu. Their group’s powerful family focus represents one of Ecuador’s core values; seeing the family as a respected institution which is believed to look after their communities and country. One of Pacha Ayllu’s principal areas of work is clean air advocacy, which aligns with AirGradient’s mission. Quito’s air quality is somewhat poor, with pollution being 3x higher than the WHO recommended levels for air pollution (5 µg/m3). This highlights the ever-present need for clean air advocacy, especially in areas like Quito where the air quality could be improved.

Before I dive into Pacha Ayllu’s and AirGradient’s upcoming project, I’m going to detail their first project together, which established the crucial community outreach partnership AirGradient is known for. So, AirGradient partnered with Pacha Ayllu to launch a Family-Led Clean Air Observatory (more details about that to come later!), aimed at empowering families with real-time, accessible air quality data. With 15 air monitors donated by AirGradient, devices were placed in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca, focusing on schools and children-populated areas. The initiative sought to raise awareness, drive policy change, and protect children from harmful air pollution. Pacha Ayllu, driven by personal concern for children’s health, received training to lead the project. Through education, advocacy, and community action, the group strives for a healthier future for all Ecuadorians.

Community-driven action is one of the tenets of Pacha Ayllu. This tenet combined with air pollution campaigning strengthens their collective work towards cleaner, safer air levels for their community. For instance, they’ve partnered with other organisations to run Clean Air Workshops; they’ve run activities like interactive dice games that roleplay air pollution scenarios with small daily actions serving as solutions.

These workshops serve as a powerful reminder of how taking an inter-generational approach to air quality education engages the broadest demographic of people to galvanise them. Furthermore, during my meeting with Ana, I asked if she would consider taking her group’s campaigning to the next level and target policy reform. She told me that she would love to influence policy but first the community needs to understand the data, then once they have a good understanding and a story to tell, then they will try and target policymakers. This is an honourable approach that highlights the strategic nature of Pacha Ayllu. On the topic of being strategic, Ana shared an interesting phrase in our meeting which exemplifies the ample reach of her organisation’s work: ‘strategic arms’. These ‘arms’ symbolise the connections Pacha Ayllu has with the wider community.

For example, a hotel owner in Quito is planning to submit a proposal to the municipality to improve air quality downtown, empowered by a better understanding of air pollution and its local impact. This is something she was able to gain through recent air quality monitoring and awareness efforts. These ‘strategic arms’ serve as branches of Pacha Ayllu that have been inspired by the grassroots organisation’s work and decided to take air pollution matters into their own hands. AirGradient’s international community (its own ‘strategic arms’ if you will) serve as the strongest emphasis of our brand, with groups like Pacha Ayllu being strong advocates of our work and vice versa.

“Because the present and future of our sons and daughters is built today.”

Street Action

This is a quote from the Street Action that occurred prior to the 2nd WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Colombia, which Pacha Ayllu attended - along with other organisations like Our Kids Climate. Our Kids Climate’s #OurKidsAir campaign picketed across 20 towns and cities throughout 13 countries, spanning 6 continents. Their delegation of determined mothers shed an illuminating light on children’s lived experiences and stories at the WHO conference. AirGradient shares this international influence and this demonstrates how air pollution isn’t a distant crisis - it affects everyone, hence why the work of organisations like Pacha Ayllu is so critical.

Alongside educating their community on the effects of air pollution, the group has participated in campaigns like these, not just for themselves, but for their children. And quotes like the one above envisage a future of clean air for all, especially for the families of Ecuador. This is the kind of selfless act that AirGradient will always support. Another activity Pacha Ayllu collaborated on was the creation of pollution cupcakes. One of the mothers within Pacha Ayllu baked the cupcakes but the pollution characters i.e. the ‘monsters’ came from an air pollution booklet written by Sarath Guttikunda; the other collaborator on this project. In fact, his children were the ones who drew the ‘monsters’, emphasising the power of multi-generational air pollution mitigation efforts.

Pacha Ayllu distributed these cupcakes at their Clean Air Workshop last November. I admire this post as it exemplifies the creativity of children, even in the face of an air pollution crisis. Activities like these point out how environmental crises don’t always have to be scary; creative minds will always find a way to shift your perspective.

So, what is the Clean Air Observatory project Pacha Ayllu is launching? During my interview with Ana, I learned a lot about this upcoming project. She explained how this is an air quality monitoring project aimed at helping the community understand their air quality data and thus, demand subsequent policy changes. The plan is to launch the Family-led Clean Air Observatory on Sunday, 7th September 2025, given that this day marks International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. At present, a few community members are creating a video for Quito citizens, which will be shared across a couple of social media channels. They had a meeting a few weeks ago with said people to explain their proposal for the Clean Air Observatory, the aim of which is to use simple language as the target audience is the Quito community.

At this time, they’re working through the video creation process - writing a script, consulting with families etc. The video will be recorded in Spanish, given that just 4% of the Ecuadorian population speaks English. Furthermore, they want to create digestible social media posts to educate others on the consequences of air pollution. The videos will serve as promotional materials for the Observatory, along with the AirGradient map, as the video will spur parents and families in Quito to look at the map and compare their air quality data across neighbourhoods in Quito and other cities in Ecuador. The Observatory will be the first of its kind in Ecuador and hopefully serve as a beacon of learning for those interested in air quality monitoring.

The AirGradient x Pacha Ayllu partnership is exemplary of the community outreach work AirGradient is recognised for. Ana’s commitment to air quality monitoring along with the rest of the Pacha Ayllu family is a shining example of what happens when community empowerment meets real-time, transparent, air quality monitoring data.