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Sociobiodiversity value chains program seeks local labor to collect socioeconomic data within Resex Verde Para Semper.
To build a sustainable value chain, it is essential to identify which productive activities have the greatest potential for development in a given territory. In this process, it is important to consider factors such as the market, logistics, regional expertise and the capabilities and potential of local actors, with a view to optimizing resources, labor and investments.
In partnership with the Sustainable Development Committee (CDS), the Interelos Institute is developing a program to encourage sustainable economic activities in Forever Green Extractive Reserve, no stop. Since it was created in 1994, the CDS has contributed to the preservation of the forest and the integrity of the territory, working to promote a dignified life and sustainable development in Porto de Moz and the region. Currently organized in a confederation format, the CDS is made up of more than thirty organizations among community associations, unions and cooperatives. Its main role has been to guide and encourage these organizations, in addition to meeting diverse social demands and establishing partnerships with universities and national and international NGOs.
Due to its history and representativeness, the CDS is a strategic actor and has the potential to act as a development agency, capable of medium and long-term planning and structuring interventions in the territory. The realization of this potential, however, requires its own technical team and strengthened management. To meet this challenge, the Interelos Institute, in partnership with the CDS and support from the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO), will train and train four young people from the community who will conduct the mapping and collection of socioeconomic data with producers involved in sustainable economic activities. The collected information will be used to create a social, economic and environmental database that will help to assess the potentialities and bottlenecks to guarantee the viability of production and distribution of sustainable products. At the same time, its regular updating will allow monitoring and evaluation of advances and obstacles for socio-biodiversity value chains to become really attractive in the promotion of dignified life and sustainable development.
Mayte Rizek, a consultant at the Interelos Institute and responsible for coordinating the activities of young people, highlights the importance of this phase of the program: “the objective of this project is to assess, based on the progress of the data collected, whether the production chains are, in fact, improving people's lives. of people." According to her, the contracted community members will participate in the planning of activities and conduct interviews with local producers, in addition to providing feedback on the results.
“This is an important step towards creating the conditions for the autonomy of these communities, in addition to contributing to the training of these young people who live in a context of limited opportunities for income generation and technical knowledge, without them having to leave their communities. .”Mayte Rizek
According to Rosalina Magalhães, from the CDS team, this type of hiring is essential so that the knowledge generated is internalized in the CDS and also to form new leaders who can carry out its activities in the future. As for Emanoel Ferreira Magalhães, one of the young people hired, the expectation in relation to this work is to be able to add improvements in relation to the quality of life of families and riverside communities.
Therefore, to strengthen the productive chains in the Resex Verde para Sempre it is essential to guarantee the sustainable management of natural resources, the access of the traditional population to public policies and the strengthening of the communities that live in the reserve. For this, it is crucial to make room for listening to the residents' demands and create solutions together with local producers in order to guarantee that the initiatives implemented in the region can, in fact, improve people's lives.
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