Fundapaz

New Projects

DOEN

In the context of the "Generación de empleo y producción sustentable del bosque chaqueño argentino (Job growth and sustainable development of the Argentina's Chaco forest)" project, six agreements have already been signed with producers that employ around 60 farm workers that carry out sustainable cultivation of the forests. The initiative covers around 3,600 hectares in the provinces of Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, and Salta.

Through this project, not only will an important area of forest be allowed to regenerate, but production activities based in sustainable development will be promoted to medium-to-large-scale producers, ensuring that nature will not be irrevocably changed. At the same time, the field workers in this project can obtain honest work and receive training and technical aptitude.

The fields in question will serve as demonstrations so that other regional landowners learn and use similar methods. A more long-term goal is that this experience has an impact on provincial government so that they begin to give support to sustainable growth programs.

We hope that, within a few years, the land under this initiative will reach 10,000 hectares.

Territorial growth of indigenous communities

The proposal "Gestión territorial por las comunidades indígenas del Noreste de Salta (Territorial growth of indigenous communities in the northeast of Salta)" seeks to strengthen the Council of Wichí Organizations to facilitate the recognition of their lands in the Chacho region of the province of Salta.

The project aims to take advantage of current technology and knowledge to delineate and demonstrate the reach of Wichí communities and thus assist their demands to have their land claims recognized. The leaders of the organization will gather a field team to carry out a definitive plan of action at the beginning of the project, monitoring the territorial advances at a fair medium and making a final evaluation. We will work together to design a work plan for each community, with the goal that they will complete the project within a year. We hope to then replicate the knowledge and experience we gained and apply it to neighboring indigenous organizations.

The COW is an organization of indigenous communities located in the Northeast of Salta province. It brings together 16 communities (1,400 families) and maintains links with various aboriginal networks in the country.

Some of the previous activities in the project are:

• Creation of maps of territories occupied by member communities to give to the government, showing the communal territories being used in a traditional manner and creating plans for the sustainable use of natural resources in them.

• Equipping and training groups so that they may create community maps to help further territorial growth (obtaining property titles and planning the use of resources)

• Training men and women of the communities in the use of mapping technology.

Other initiatives: Goat milking project in Santiago del Estero

FUNDAPAZ works with farming families with few resources in a poverty stricken area of the province of Santiago del Estero in a program of the development of goat milking.

This program seeks to take advantage of a common resource, goats, to improve production and generate sources of work that helps diversify production systems, increasing family income and better the quality of life of the involved families.

This has helped create the only Argentine dairy factory using goat products and has created 70 new jobs, including families that bring their products to a cheese factory owned by FUNDAPAZ.