“Now things are going to move forward. Women are uniting with willpower to fulfill their dreams. This is an opportunity for women to build ways to earn their own income. We want to see ASMAMJ grow, just as ASPROC grew”, commented Jucicleide Coelho Figueiredo, member of the Supervisory Board of the Association of Agroextractivist Women of the Middle Juruá – ASMAMJ.
In 2017, Sitawi started the Médio Juruá Territory Program (TMJ), an international cooperation that has funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and partnerships with the companies Coca-Cola Brasil and Natura.
With this support from USAID, the Program assumes close collaboration with the members of the Médio Juruá Territory Forum. This group includes corporations (Natura and Coca-Cola), NGOs and local companies (Association of Rural Producers of Carauari – ASPROC; Association of Agroextractive Residents of the Uacari Sustainable Development Reserve – AMARU; Association of Extractive Residents of the Community of São Raimundo – AMECSARA; Association of Agroextractive Women of the Médio Juruá – ASMAMJ; Sustainable Amazon Foundation – FAS; Mixed Cooperative for Sustainable Development of the Médio Juruá Reserve – CODAEMJ; Açaí Tupã, among others) and government agencies for environmental protection (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation – ICMBio and Department of Climate Change and Management of Conservation Units, State of Amazonas – DEMUC), in addition to Sitawi itself, which coordinates the project and acts as the Forum’s Executive Secretariat.
The objective of the program, which lasts for 3 years, is the conservation of biodiversity, implementing a Territorial Development Plan for the region, involving a broad base of stakeholders to expand the scale and impact of conservation and development initiatives in the dimensions social, environmental and economic.
Since its creation, the Program has been pioneering and participatory. The program's priorities and the region's needs were evidenced from the measurement of the Social Progress Index - Communities (IPS), applied in the region since 2015 from a joint initiative of Natura and Coca-Cola. The index is based on the methodology developed by American professor and economist Michael Porter and measures social progress without considering economic factors. The application in Carauari is unprecedented in the world as it uses primary data to assess socio-environmental development at the local level. With the diagnosis, prepared with technical support from Ipsos, companies, government agencies, NGOs and social movements were able to align investment efforts in the region.
Based on an analysis of the areas with the greatest gap between the Brazilian average and the local result, priorities were outlined in a series of participatory workshops that brought together the government, the private sector, civil society and representatives of riverside communities. Based on these local demands, Sitawi developed the technical and financial content, following a process of co-creation with all the stakeholders involved.
“The entire development of the project was based on the demands of the population. 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 Rob Packer, Territorial Programs Manager at Sitawi and coordinator of the initiative.
The investment of US$ 2.3 million from USAID – in addition to counterparts of the same amount – will be allocated to actions in education, sanitation, energy and information infrastructure, access to drinking water and studies on sustainable production chains in the region, such as açaí, andiroba and murumuru. Activities also include sustainable management of arapaima, conservation of turtles, support to consolidate a rural family home, environmental education, agroforestry systems and piloting waste management, energy and communication systems in the region.
To implement the Program, Sitawi has a team in Carauari that, together with the Rio de Janeiro office, is responsible for coordinating the project, coordinating activities and reports, evaluating results, and providing support to local organizations. The goal is to leave a legacy for the Médio Juruá that strengthens and empowers everyone who lives in or works 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 joint management of infrastructure, education, access to water and production chains in our partnership with USAID,” says Luiz André Soares, from Coca-Cola Brazil.
“Mid-Juruá is an important hub for socio-biodiversity, and Natura has been working in the region since 2000, supplying socio-biodiversity ingredients. We want to increasingly network more stakeholders, with each one – local leaders, civil society, companies – bringing their best to the collaboration and joint creation of sustainable business alternatives for the forest. The entry of Sitawi and USAID and the start of the Mid-Juruá Territory Program strengthen this process of collective empowerment,” says Luciana Villa Nova, from Natura.
“For us at USAID, it is a great pleasure and honor to collaborate with Sitawi, Coca-Cola, Natura, the Brazilian government, and local communities in the process of territorial development of the Médio Juruá. This partnership reinforces USAID’s environmental vision of building a better future for people and biodiversity, encompassing economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental protection. It also reinforces the commitment of the people of the United States and Brazil to the management of Protected Areas, conservation, and monitoring of Amazonian biodiversity,” said Anna Toness of USAID.
Learn more about Sitawi's Territorial Programs Coordination here.
