The newspaper was established through a participatory process of identifying and prioritising development needs that was begun by the parish priest of the sub-region and included community organisers from each of 7 parish seats. At the time, each parish seat had one telephone; thus 7 telephones served an area of 1,800 sq. km. and a population of about 13,000. The prioritising session recognised communication as the most important development need of the sub-region.

Periodico Intag began as a volunteer effort, receiving handwritten news articles from any member of the communities in rural Intag, and holding group editing sessions for the writers to develop their journalistic skills. After 9 years of publication (2000 - 2009), the staff now includes 4 paid employees and up to 40 volunteer writers, with between 20 and 30 local residents contributing articles, poems, and notes to an issue. Between 15 and 20 international volunteers from Italy, Japan, and Germany have been incorporated into the staff for periods of one month to one year. United States university study abroad students do short-term study projects with the newspaper and in the communities. Central University of Ecuador business administration students do 6-month internships helping the newspaper and community organisations develop budgets, business plans, legal non-governmental (NGO) status, fair-trade status, among other projects. The paper has expanded from a 12-page to 40-page publication and, through volunteer efforts, places its content of national and international interest on its website. With the introduction of computers, local residents learned layout and design software, as well as internet skills.

Media Development, Natural Resource Management, Education, Economic Development.

Intag is located in two of the planet's biodiversity hotspots (areas with high indices of biodiversity, and high numbers of endemic species, with an elevated need of protection), the Tropical Andes and the Chocó. Thus, among its watchdog functions, Perdioico Itag has reported on the history of community efforts for natural resource sustainability. This has been largely focused on two attempts by multinational corporations to establish mines in the region, despite reported community resistance and environmental impact studies which ruled out mining development. The newspaper archives were, as reported by the editor, used to establish a chronology of human rights violations by Ascendant Mining Company, as requested by Amnesty International.

Community organisations working toward sustainability use the newspaper as a tool for communication to encourage community participation. These organisations include: Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag - DECOIN, an environmental protection organisation working to protect remaining sections of Western slope Andean cloud forest - including environmental education in the schools and a youth-run eco-tourism reserve; Asociación Agroartesanal de Caficultores Río Intag - ACCRI (Rio Intag Coffee Growers Association), a shade-grown, fair trade coffee cooperative; Mujers del Medio Ambiente, a women's cooperative of sisal fibre products; the Women's Coordinating Committee, working as an umbrella organisation for 10 women's crafts cooperatives; Consorcio Toisan, an organisation promoting sustainable producats and eco-tourism in Intag; Corporación del Gran Valle, developers of a series of sustainable production cooperatives in the sub-tropical region, including production of liqueurs, a tilapia project, a loopha project, and local bean production, among others; and Hydro Intag, a project to develop micro-hydro power on 9 of the area rivers. The periodical works cooperatively with community radio station Radio Intag to disseminate the news. It has also established a telecentre to make satellite computer access available to the community.

Plans for the communications centre, called Casa Palabra y Pueblo, include a second broadcast centre for Radio Intag (as well as 5 sub-centres for broadcast in each parish seat and a mobile broadcast unit aiming to train young news and sports radio journalists); the newspaper offices; the telecentre; a coffee growers café; the local library; a centre of documentation to house all publications made about Intag, including documentaries, brochures, history documents, and the newspaper archives; a tourist information centre; and a "ludoteca", a centre for diagnosis of early childhood learning differences that will work with teachers and parents to address them.