Sitawi will manage a territorial development project in the Médio Juruá region, in Amazonas. The project is supported by USAID and is carried out in partnership with Natura and Coca-Cola Brazil.
The Médio Juruá (AM) Territorial Development Forum has just received a contribution of US$2.3 million from USAID, US government agency for international development. The investment will be allocated to education, sanitation, infrastructure, access to drinking water and studies on the region's production chains, such as açaí, andiroba and murumuru.
The region's development plan presented to USAID was coordinated by Sitawi Finanças do Bem, which will be the project executor and responsible for managing activities in partnership with organizations in the territory.
Rob Packer, Sitawi’s Social Finance Manager, praises the cooperation and listening of the more than 5 organizations involved in the process. “The entire development of the project was based on the demands of the populations. The project has the potential to be transformative in the region, empowering communities and serving as an example of how sustainable value chains can conserve biodiversity and drive social development in the region. This should be a milestone for other regions of the Amazon,” says Packer.
Luiz André Soares, Sustainability Manager at Coca-Cola Brazil, emphasizes the collective nature of the project’s design in the region. “The territorial development process of the Médio Juruá River has been a path rich in collective work, but above all in learning for the various institutions committed to the social impact of riverside communities. The arrival of Sitawi has allowed us to take a more careful look at the materiality matrix of the territory, facilitating the collective management of infrastructure, education, access to water and production chains in our partnership with USAID,” he says.
The Médio Juruá region (AM) will receive the Água+ Acesso program from Coca-Cola Brasil, which aims to provide innovative solutions for access to and treatment of water for consumption, a priority for the region.Access to water is a major challenge in Brazil today, and investing in this access generates enormous social and economic benefits. It is our role to promote the search for solutions to the country's major social and environmental challenges. By investing, supporting and integrating key players, partners, co-investors and water access organizations into a sustainable development plan, counting on the excellent coordination and mobilization work implemented by ASPROC, we will arrive at sustainable solutions,” says Luiz André Soares, Sustainability Manager at Coca-Cola Brazil.
In the case of Natura, investments should focus on conducting local studies, investing in funds, strengthening technical education and making human resources available for project development. Luciana Villa Nova, Natura’s Sustainability Manager, comments that, in order to improve the quality of life in the region, the partnership needs to go beyond measurement. “The cooperative of extractive farmers of Médio Juruá has been our partner for 17 years. We contribute to the generation of income for around 400 families in the area, working in partnerships that aim at territorial development, thus strengthening local agents with new tools that guide solid policies and investments aimed at improving the quality of life of the Amazonian populations. That is why the announced investments are so important.”
participatory project
In addition to the participation of companies, the Forum also has local agents and aims to iintegrate organizations and institutions that operate in the Médio Juruá region to promote the socioeconomic development of riverside communities.
According to Anna Toness, Director of USAID’s Biodiversity Conservation Program, the partnership with Coca-Cola, Natura and Sitawi is an example of the collaborative work that exists between private companies, the public sector and non-governmental organizations in favor of the sustainable socioeconomic development of communities in the Amazon. “In this important partnership, together with local communities, we share our experiences, best practices and resources to achieve impactful results that would not have been possible to achieve alone,” said Anna.
The resources will be applied in five priority areas according to a participatory prioritization process. These are: biodiversity conservation and sustainable value chains, education, energy, information and communication, and strengthening the role of the Médio Juruá Territory Forum.
The actions include the sustainable management of pirarucu, the conservation of turtles, support for consolidating a rural family home in the RDS, environmental education, agroforestry systems and the piloting of waste management, energy and communication systems in the region.
Measuring results and the Social Progress Index (SPI)
The needs were highlighted by measuring the Social Progress Index – Communities (IPS), used as a diagnostic and socio-environmental assessment instrument in the region since 2015.
The index is based on a methodology developed by American economist and professor Michael Porter and measures the social progress of countries without considering economic factors. The survey is a world first in using primary data to assess socio-environmental development at a local level, based on a joint initiative by Natura and Coca-Cola. With the diagnosis – prepared with technical support from Ipsos – companies, government agencies, NGOs and social movements can align investment efforts in the region.
In the second IPS measurement, the progress achieved between 2015 and 2017 in relation to access to water and basic sanitation stands out, which advanced nine percentage points among the urban population and 21 percentage points among riverside dwellers, as a result of the work and social mobilization of the organizations of the Médio Juruá Forum.
Income generation for extractive families also increased during the period, with growth of 9% among the urban population and 5% among riverside communities. Another aspect that showed positive progress was access to basic knowledge, which increased by six percentage points in both cases. Given the more challenging socioeconomic context in Brazil over the last two years, the IPS recorded a small drop of two percentage points among riverside communities and four points among the urban population.
Middle Juruá Development Plan
The Médio Juruá region, in the state of Amazonas, covers a preserved area of around 250 thousand hectares and an extremely rich sociobiodiversity.
The Médio Juruá Territorial Development Plan, developed throughout 2014, is an agenda of integrated commitments by various local stakeholders, including public authorities, grassroots organizations, civil society and the private sector, in pursuit of common results. The Plan includes joint action to create and implement synergistic programs as a condition for scaling the impact of development initiatives in the social, environmental and economic dimensions. The plan is based on local vocations, resources and potential, with the aim of building an integrative identity, creating competitive advantages and ensuring sustainability over time.
The process began with the strengthening of institutions and spaces for democratic participation and the engagement of multiple stakeholders, including companies, civil society organizations and public authorities. A participatory diagnosis was constructed and priority themes for the development of the region were defined. Based on the diagnosis, participants were able to rethink their actions in the territory, map synergies and structure projects and programs that address the issues identified as critical. The result of this shared agenda is the Development Plan.Territorial Involvement of the Middle Juruá, which has its own management council and bimonthly meetings for governance of projects, commitments, goals and indicators built collectively
