General

This project supports the first implementation year of MESOLIDER, a leadership school for indigenous leaders, developed by organizations of the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Activities include capacity-building programs, workshops, regional exchanges in Central America, a systematization of lessons learned and outreach/community activities at local, national, regional and international level.

General

In the South Caribbean Coastal Autonomous Region of Nicaragua, we have convened 49 producers, private companies, civil society organisations, and government agencies in the Paisajes Sostenibles (PaSos) platform to work towards sustainable landscape management, so as to enhance the fragile RACCS ecosystem. The palm oil companies that participated in the PaSos platform jointly identified High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) and developed action plans to protect these HCVAs in a cost effective manner. Incentives were developed to support the process towards jurisdictional RSPO certification. By the end of 2020, as a result of the RSPO National Interpretation process, the regional government, as well as the companies involved have shown interest in certifying the entire RACCS under the jurisdictional certification scheme of RSPO. In addition, the national government has shown interest in reviewing and adjusting the Nicaraguan Compulsory Technical Standard of Sustainable Palm Oil (NTON). We also worked with two companies to develop and implement a smallholder-inclusive business model. This model offers a mechanism through which smallholders receive a better price, while it reduces the chances of potential land conflicts between smallholders and companies, and supports smallholders’ livelihood diversification. In addition, we co-initiated the “Livestock Zero Deforestation” platform through which, together with private sector actors and CSOs, we aim to work towards a “deforestation-free label” for dairy and beef, and promote the diversification of livestock farms with cocoa and agroforestry.

General

In the Irala Fernandez District, in the dry Chaco region of Paraguay, we have been working together with the municipality, the Ministry of Agriculture, a national research institute, the three major dairy cooperatives, and three indigenous communities to improve production of food crops, enhance land management through silvopastoral grazing schemes, and increase the communities’ climate resilience. The latter is important to deal with prolonged periods of droughts as well as severe flooding, increasingly common in this region. The establishment of a MSP was key to this end, in order to bring actors together, define priorities and identify corresponding action plans. Through the MSP we engaged vulnerable groups, which had the opportunity to make their needs heard and we supported them to prioritize actionable plans. Through this process we have learned that building trust takes a long time and stakeholders need to be involved in every step of the way, from the planning to the execution of the solution, because this gives them a sense of belonging and creates an environment of shared development. At the start of the programme the Mennonite cooperatives and the Paraguayan cooperatives were not on speaking terms, and also the leadership of indigenous communities were reluctant to join the MSP. By investing in a preparatory stage of bilateral meetings with stakeholders, Solidaridad could understand their respective challenges and gain credibility as a trusted partner. In addition, to overcome the hesitation of stakeholders at the start, continuous efforts were made to ensure all actors remained on board. For the indigenous communities, this platform offered the opportunity to co-design and implement solutions to address their main needs, opened a communication channel with the local authorities and successfully engaged with local business. As a result of the joint work, sesame production was introduced as a viable option for income generation in these communities. School orchards were introduced to tackle food insecurity, and water reservoirs were built to collect rain water and facilitate the access during drought periods. The dairy production system in the region was also transformed by the introduction of Climate Smart Practices linked to a Technical Assistance Scheme, reaching 430 producers in 12,900 hectares. Productivity levels increased, the quality of milk improved and dairy producers have become more resilient to the extreme weather events, typical of this region. A major result of the project was that producers have gained better access to credit from the Crédito Agrícola de Habilitación CAH (agricultural finance provider), because we supported CAH to close the information gap and helped them to introduce improved (business) data management systems that is used to de-risk loans. The CAH disbursed around €200,000 in soft loans, thanks to which producers were able to buy new livestock, hay, and invest in silage, water reservoirs, and resizing of paddocks. The work with the CAH triggered the interest of other financial institutions that were initially reluctant to invest in small producers because they were perceived to be of high risk. Solidaridad helped to close the information gap, effectively connecting producers with finance. We see clear signals of scaling up after the project's end: the State government is assisting other dairy producers and indigenous communities. 377 dairy producers in the region have started to replicate the better dairy production practices via their cooperatives, inspired by the positive outcomes from the pilot farms.