Community Food Forest to Empower Rural Women

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.