Community Initiatives Program

Strengthens community initiatives of indigenous peoples, traditional communities, family farmers and peri-urban communities.

Farmers benefiting from Mato Grosso. Photo: Neto Borges/ISPN Archive

Farmer from Sertão do Pajeú (PE). Photo: Camila Araujo/ISPN Collection

Photo: Thomas Bauer/ISPN Collection

The Community Initiatives Program seeks to strengthen community organizations and solutions, valuing local protagonism and capacity to decide and lead their own actions, through financing of socio-environmental projects through the Ecos Fund. In addition to access to financial resources, the program promotes initiatives focused on training, knowledge exchange, knowledge management, communication, territorial coordination, and political advocacy.

The Program works to improve production, management, and territorial protection practices; to promote cultural expressions and increase the visibility of these initiatives. Consolidating the Ecos Fund and enhancing support for community initiatives aims to ensure that investments reach territories on a scale and in a manner appropriate to local realities.

Who supports us

BNDES – Socio-Environmental Fund

Amazon Fund

Global Environment Facility (GEF)/Small Grants Program (SGP)

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Suzano SA

European Union

External Joints

Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur

Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)

National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS)

Cerrado Network

Comuá Network

SGP Global Network

Articulation of the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region (ASA)

Various Social Movements

Support for community initiatives

The Ecos Fund is an independent fund that raises funds from various sources and supports community projects involving indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers.

Projects

Project status

Sustainable Cotton

closed

Supports the development of the sustainable cotton chain integrated with the agrobiodiversity of sustainable production systems in the Cerrado region of northwestern Minas Gerais, through support for community projects. The projects received support from the Ecos Fund, with funding from the Laudes Foundation.

Validity Period: 2019 to 2022

Support for Ecosocial Projects in the Cerrado and Caatinga

In progress

Financier(s): Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Support for community projects in the Cerrado and Caatinga regions that promote ecosystem conservation in dialogue with the strengthening of community organizations and their initiatives. The projects receive support through the Fund for the Promotion of Ecosocial Productive Landscapes (PPP-ECOS), with funding from the GEF – Small Grants Programme.

Validity Period: 2021-2026

Women and Youth in the Construction of Good Living

In progress

Financier(s): BNDES, Suzano

Support for projects led by women and youth in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. The initiative promotes the sustainable use of biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem functions, and improving family lives, and is expected to reach up to 48 community initiatives. It also promotes training, communication, and the systematization of learning.

Validity Period: 31/12/2026

Ecosocial Projects in the Legal Amazon – Phase II

closed

Financier(s): BNDES, Amazon Fund

The Project “Small Ecosocial Projects in the Amazon – Phase II” seeks to expand support for civil society and community-based organizations in the Legal Amazon (MT, TO and MA), by reinforcing strategies and methodologies implemented and tested in the 1st Phase of the PPP-ECOS/Amazon Fund, with the objective of developing actions that generate positive environmental impacts and reduce deforestation, combined with the sustainable use of biodiversity and the maintenance of ecosystem functions.

Validity Period: 2019 to 2023

Territories Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Traditional and Local Communities (TICCAs – Phase 1)

closed

Financier(s): German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Global Environment Facility (GEF), International Climate Initiative - IKI

Support for projects by community associations and cooperatives that focus on strengthening the governance of their territories through the Fund for the Promotion of Ecosocial Productive Landscapes, with financing from German cooperation (BMU) made possible through the GEF – Small Grants Programme and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Training expands marketing strategies for socio-biodiversity products.

Leaders from the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes report on the impacts of training focused on community communication and political advocacy, marketing, and youth mobilization.

15 May 2026

News

Traditional community in the Cerrado region launches educational material about territorial knowledge.

"Territory that Teaches: Knowledge of the Cerrado in School" brings the stories and knowledge of traditional Cerrado communities into the classroom.

5 May 2026

News