Rebuild Life in Flooded South Brasil

With resources raised from this project and other donations Casa Fund supported 69 local and traditional communities in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) in their socio-environmental and economic recovery, after the severe flooding of May 2024. The Call is present in 29 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul. The largest concentration is in the capital and metropolitan region.

This call, in particular, inaugurates the Casa Fund's Extreme Climate Events Program , created to address the specificities of support channeled for impacts caused by climate change in Brazil.

Besides the financial support, grantees participated in three Capacity Strengthening and Good Practices Workshops, which are offered in all calls for proposals from Casa Fund. These workshops are designed with the most relevant topics and approaches for good administrative, accounting, financial, institutional and programmatic management of local and traditional organizations, in addition to touching on aspects of Communication and Networking. The workshops are recorded and accessible to the groups even after the projects are completed.

To strengthen networking, we organized a Map “Laços da Chamada Reconstruir RS”, where we identified each of the groups, listing their activities and offering another tool to encourage mutual support. This tool is interactive, and each grantee has the possibility to edit their data, as they wish. This initiative was celebrated by the groups, who reported that it was an important tool for carrying out the project activities, as it encourages connections that benefit those involved in this solidarity network.

The diversity of themes and actions presented by the projects supported by the Reconstruir RS Call includes everything from reconstruction/renovation of the organizations’ physical spaces, restoration of riparian forests and recovery of springs, planting and nurseries of native plants from the state’s biomes, among many others. There is collaboration between civil society organizations and schools, universities and other foundations. We also noticed, especially during the follow-up conversations, that several groups are having success and receiving compensation of different natures, to enhance the objectives of the projects. Our perception indicates that the support from this Call is being extremely relevant for the organizations to resume their activities after the flood.

Our Communications team organized a special report , published one year after the peak of the waters (in Portuguese).

The unprecedented floods that hit the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024 affected 98% of the state’s cities and towns. The ‘Rebuilding Life in Flooded Southern Brazil’ project is part of an ongoing campaign by the Fundo Casa Socioambiental to raise and donate funds directly to traditional communities affected by the flooding.

Our fundraising efforts secured financial and institutional support from GlobalGiving and other donors for the Rebuilding Life in Flooded Southern Brazil Project and Call for Projects. At the time of this report, 69 local and traditional communities have received direct donations and are working to restore their sources of income, dignity, food security, water systems and reforestation.

In addition to the three main thematic areas of action and this support, a cross-cutting opportunity to include psychological and emotional health activities in the proposal was offered and greatly appreciated by the communities. The three thematic areas of action are: Line 1 – Community Initiatives: flexible support for community-based socio-environmental initiatives for economic recovery and livelihoods proposed by local groups affected by the floods. Solutions built on local and ancestral knowledge and/or incorporating appropriate new and innovative methods and technologies, which centralize leadership, sustainability and climate resilience for the benefit of communities disproportionately affected by the effects of the floods. Line 2 – Family farming and agroecology: specific investments to accelerate the restoration of healthy food production systems, land use, respecting the most sustainable and resilient agri-food models, agroecology, food security, analogous forestry, agroforestry systems (SAFs), projects for the production of phytotherapeutic preparations, among others. Line 3 – Forest Restoration – forest recovery, recovery of riparian forests, protection and recovery of springs and restoration of watersheds, recovery of areas affected by floods, respecting native species of the Pampa and Atlantic Forest biomes. Projects focusing on this axis are welcome, especially those that use techniques from traditional populations and agroforestry systems.

Links:

• A Year of Progress and Achievements at the Casa Fund