2007

Economic and social development in rural communities, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian, in the province of Sucumbios (Ecuador)

The context

The province of Sucumbios, northeast of Ecuador and bordering with Colombia, is not only one of the poorest provinces of Ecuador, but also lives a situation of acute violence and is known as a land of great oil wealth. Its 130,000 inhabitants live mainly in rural areas and constitute a mestizo population, indigenous people of different Amazonian ethnic groups and an African American minority.

The project to evaluate

This Project constitutes a novelty as it is the first done by Agora Nord/Sud, entity that brings together various Catalan NGOs (Enginyeria sense Fronteres, Entrepobles, Medicus Mundi Catalunya, Setem, and Veterinaris sense Fronteres) and as a second level NGO enables to do projects in a holistic way. The successful experience of this project has impacted on new projects.

The project in Sucumbíos has been able to present a range of products that cover the different needs of the beneficiaries. On the one hand, it has been achieved the legalization of the territories of 4 indigenous Quechua nationality communities, which have legalized the farms of 86 peasant families. On the other hand, the integrated farm model and the introduction of new tools like the management plan has been implemented, the income of the peasants have increased by 30-40%, which has impacted on the improvement of the family power. Also  published
teaching materials in Siona, Secoya and Confan,  allowing  laying  the  foundations
of elementary education bilingual for indigenous populations. Local cases of credit unions which function as a simple management methodology and provide access to credit for those people who do not have guarantees but with that, they gain access to the banking system, at the same time that there has been progress in the empowerment of women in different aspects: the ownership of the land is shared by both spouses, and agricultural diversification enables them to assume some aspects of production and supports their ability to save.