The commitment is to strengthen rural communities, especially through the promotion of gender equality. A project launched in partnership between GEF, UNDP, and ISPN will invest R$16 million in areas of Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piauí, and Pernambuco.
Since 1994, ISPN has coordinated the Small Grants Programme (SGP) in Brazil, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Today, this program is part of the strategy for the Promotion of Productive Eco-social Landscapes (PPP-ECOS), which now has a new phase at ISPN for another five years of support for community organizations in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. The distinguishing feature of this phase is the focus on the involvement and empowerment of rural women.
“Gender is not just an addition, but a key component of the structural fabric of the project, on which the success of the projected goals depends,” comments Livia Carvalho Moura, technical advisor at ISPN who also follows the PPP-ECOS project in Brazil. The virtual seminar launching the project, held on Thursday the 7th, signaled that a new stage for supporting community projects in Brazil is beginning: more aware of the urgency of the gender debate, and even more connected with the wisdom that comes from traditional peoples and communities, especially from female voices.
Graciete Santos, coordinator of the Casa da Mulher do Nordeste (Northeast Women's House), highlighted that it is fundamental to understand the role of women in this process. She recalled the historical inequality between men and women in the country, and the crucial role that initiatives like PPP-ECOS play in contributing to changing this reality.
“The focus on gender will be fundamental to this new phase of the PPP-ECOS. We see every day the importance of women for conservation, for access to water. They are the ones who have to juggle household chores and fight for more autonomy. They are also the first to become aware of the importance of conservation. We need to think about women,” she warned.
Women's leadership as a strategy for sustainable development
It was with the Casa da Mulher do Nordeste (House of Women of the Northeast), in the Sertão do Pajeú region of Pernambuco, that PPP-ECOS was able to support one of the projects that exemplifies the power of women. Between 2017 and 2018, the organization developed a project reusing leftover water from dishwashing, bathing, and other domestic activities for agricultural use. The project ensured that 44 women had access to the technology and trained them to implement the system, maximizing the potential of this resource in the Caatinga region.
The reuse of greywater has increased irrigation in crops and ensured greater autonomy for women. Through the use of this resource, some have begun to produce and sell the surplus (learn more about this project). hereThis new phase of the PPP-ECOS affirms a commitment to further strengthen the focus on gender equality and women's empowerment, with goals that go hand in hand with sustainable development.
Virtual seminar opens new phase of the Program
Representatives from ISPN, UNDP, and the public sector, as well as partner civil society organizations, participated in the launch seminar. Carlos Arboleda, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, thanked ISPN for its partnership. “I can only express my gratitude for the work done over 27 years implementing small donations that have generated fundamental impacts on Brazil's socio-environmental agenda,” he stated.
At the event, Marcus Cesar Barreto, from the Secretariat of International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, emphasized the importance of community leadership in the development of projects and the relevance of democratizing access to resources. “We will continue to support actions that are designed from the bottom up, that come from the communities and are for the communities. Furthermore, our vision is that we need smaller, more efficient projects so that we can reach more communities,” he commented.
Isabel Figueiredo, coordinator of the Cerrado and Caatinga Program at ISPN, emphasized that throughout the PPP-ECOS project, the objective has been to strengthen local ways of life and demonstrate the importance and potential of these biomes in conjunction with the knowledge of traditional populations. "It's a set of actions combined with knowledge sharing that contributes to the conservation of biomes as often overlooked as the Cerrado and Caatinga."
She also highlights the unique aspect of the PPP-ECOS calls for proposals: “The way we nurture the relationship with the beneficiaries is very special in PPP-ECOS. The communities feel safe to act, test, make mistakes, and have technical support there. In this new phase, we believe that having a greater focus on women's empowerment speaks volumes about increasingly structural and equitable development,” Figueiredo concludes.
History
Between 2013 and 2018, the PPP-ECOS program benefited approximately 16 families in over 100 municipalities in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes through 104 projects. This effort also contributed to the sustainable management of approximately 950.000 hectares, 11 people participated in training programs, and the projects made around 20 contributions to improving public policies in the socio-environmental field. The new phase of PPP-ECOS emerges with the hope of bringing even more positive impacts to the realities of these Brazilian biomes. Learn more here Other results from the final phase of the PPP-ECOS/GEF project in Brazil.
About PPP-ECOS
The promotion of Productive Eco-social Landscapes (PPP-ECOS) is the main strategy adopted by ISPN in the pursuit of development with social equity and environmental balance. To enable this strategy, the Institute manages an independent Fund that raises and allocates resources to projects of community organizations working for environmental conservation through the sustainable use of natural resources, generating economic and social benefits. Today, the PPP-ECOS Fund's portfolio of funders includes... Global Environment Facility (GEF)The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Amazon Fund/BNDES, the Laudes Foundation, the European Union, and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).