Community Food Forest to Empower Rural Women

On Friday April 22nd, several members of our team (including our four young volunteers) traveled 18 kilometers north-east Bogota, to La Calera village (an area well-known for its rich water resources that supply the capital), to deliver a workshop organized together with the Town Hall of La Calera.

Around us, we can see a beautiful mountainous landscape surrounding the Chingaza National Nature Park. Here, the women of our 'Sembrando Confianza Mujeres' project are working the land and empowering themselves by establishing an edible forest.

The aim of the workshop? To teach them how to create their own organic fertilizer. The first part of the day was theoretical: two professionals explained the differences between fertilizers, how to use them and how to use them to enrich the soil while respecting it. We then went to Natalia's farm to put into practice what we had learnt, always surrounded by the women from our network of producers (now gathered in an association called ASOMCA). What an enriching day! 

A big thank you to all the producers for their warm welcome and to the employees of the Town Hall for their pedagogy!

Once again, we want to thank our GlobalGiving Community and all of our donors for their support and help.

Stay tuned for our next reports and actions on the field!

Proyectar Sin Fronteras Team 

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

The last few years Proyectar Sin Fronteras has worked with rural women to strengthen their capacities on sustainable farming practices with the purpose of empowering them towards creating more resilient, conscious and equitable communities through agroecology in the villages of Choachí and La Calera near Bogotá.

Thanks to the strengthening of relationships with local partners and the active participation of the 42 women, the project has progressed very well, and we are happy to share the main results with you.

After taking part in the training cycle on socio-organizational aspects, 12 women decided to create their own association named “Women for the care of the earth and health”. They have been working on an action plan to consolidate a production and marketing network of toxic-free products that not only contributes to the environment but also to their economic emancipation.

At the end of 2021, we built a community greenhouse for plant germination and growth in the municipality of Choachí. After the installation, some nonconformities with the irrigation system and the growing beds were identified; therefore, a new work plan with the contractor was created and the issues were corrected. At this time, the greenhouse is properly installed.

The association of women managed to produce 150 pounds of peas, free of any pesticide, and to sell their production in short circuits which is very encouraging for the next steps of the project. At the end of February, PSF set up a first reforestation campaign on a 100 m2 plot, thanks to a collaborative work and the donation of trees from local partners, the community together with PSF staff and volunteers.

You can discover the project through a small video available here. Do not hesitate to check our Instagram!

For the coming weeks, our action will focus on:

1. Carry out a second training cycle on strengthening social-business capacities to sell their products though fair trade.
2. Community work sessions will be destined to bring soil and fertilizer to the growing beds and sessions to define roles for operating and maintaining the greenhouse will take place.
3. Designing the visual identity for the products and services provided by the association.

We thank you warmly for your support.