Category: Projects

Seed Network and Fairs

Seed Network and Fairs

Heñói was born in 2010 as a collective in defense of native and traditional seeds. Years before the NGO was created, the collective began developing training workshops and advocacy activities, and organizing regional and national seed fairs.

2017 Fair. With support of Greengrant Found.

2018 Fair. With support of Casa Gagga.

2019 Fairs. With support of Casa Gagga, in Encarnación, Caaguazu, and Asunción.

2020 Tour. With support of PPM. Formal creation of the Seed Network.

2021 Fairs. In Asuncion and Encarnación, with support of Green Livelyhood Alliance GLA2, and PPM.

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Strengthening communication and collaboration between seed producers in Paraguay

Strengthening communication and collaboration between seed producers in Paraguay

(Teamwork with NOAH – Friends of the Earth Denmark)

Support from: CISU – Civil Society in Development, Denmark.

Period: August 2021 – February 2023

Overall objective:

Protect indigenous genetic material and make it available to more small-scale food producers. The protection and promotion of indigenous seed production is a step towards achieving food sovereignty and climate justice for the rural population of Paraguay.

Specific objectives:

• Record the availability of native and traditional seeds in the hands of peasants and indigenous communities and facilitate better communication and exchange of information between seed producers.

• More peasant and indigenous seed producers are involved in the production and multiplication of native and traditional seeds.

• The seed network increases public awareness of the human rights violations associated with large-scale agricultural expansion, the importance of seed production and food sovereignty.

• The seed network creates a body of knowledge that documents human rights violations against indigenous and peasant communities and is monitoring the situation.

Seeds of emancipation

Seeds of emancipation

Project name: “Seeds of emancipation”

Support from: Casa Fund

Period: January to June 2022

Covered Territories: Tebicuarymi (Paraguarí) and Edelira (Itapúa)

General purpose

Women from Tebicuarymi and Edelira increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change and identify those responsible globally and locally.

Specific objectives

  1. The women’s groups of Tebicuarymí and Edelira have managed to strengthen their organization.
  2. The women’s groups of Tebicuarymí and Edelira improve their agroecological production practices.
  3. The women’s groups of Tebicuarymí and Edelira expand their knowledge and deepen the debate on issues related to gender, climate change and production models.

Knowledge is power, and in order to reduce the impacts of climate change it is necessary to know, share, and think collectively, as well as organization to be able to identify those who have a direct responsibility in the processes that aggravate these climatic effects, which today they are redoubling the negative impact on ecosystems in general and on crops in particular.

Evaluation of the social and environmental profitability of peasant farms, with emphasis on productive sustainability and natural resources management

Evaluation of the social and environmental profitability of peasant farms, with emphasis on productive sustainability and natural resources management

Support from: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Period: March – June 2021

General purpose:

Demonstrate with empirical data the advantages and economic, social, and environmental benefits of agroecological practices and the sustainable management of natural resources, to strengthen social awareness on these ways of production and life.

Specific objectives:

  1. Analyze and systematize field information from three farms with management
    agroecological, in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, with emphasis on the
    sustainability and sustainable management of natural resources.
  2. Improve the arguments in defense of agroecological practices and management
    sustainable use of natural resources, disseminated in printed and digital materials of
    easy access.
  3. Influence the debate on production models, both within the
    peasant and indigenous organizations as well as citizens in general.
Strengthening agroecological food production on small farms in the Central, Cordillera and Paraguarí departments

Strengthening agroecological food production on small farms in the Central, Cordillera and Paraguarí departments

Support from: Bread for the World Cooperation Agency (PPM).

Period: August 2020 – July 2023

Territories covered: Districts J. A. Saldivar, Itá, Itagua (Central), in Escobar (Paraguarí) and in territories that are part of the Network of Native and Creole Seeds

Overall objective:

• Small food producers are recognized as key actors of food sovereignty in Paraguay and have the support of different public actors (local and/or departmental and/or national) and social sectors for the improvement of food sovereignty and healthy food production.

Specific objectives:

• Small food producers have strengthened their agroecology practices and the production/reproduction of native and traditional seeds for use and exchange, as an expression of their territorial defense.

• Small food producers influence local politics for the sake of their rights and needs.

Strengthening Horticultural Production in the Central Department

Strengthening Horticultural Production in the Central Department

Support from: Bread for the World Cooperation Agency (PPM).

Period: May 2019 – July 2020

Overall objective:

• Horticultural producers from the Central Department linked to the National Peasant Federation have strengthened their organizational, production and marketing system, and promoted proposals before the municipal governments to improve the conditions of the sector, achieving visibility and citizen support.

Specific objectives:

• Organized horticultural producers from the districts of Itá, Itaugua and J.A. Saldívar from the Central department, have strengthened their organization, their production and marketing.

• Greater visibility, recognition and support have been achieved for the sector of small horticultural producers.

From resistance to solutions: defeating exclusion and strengthening social justice

From resistance to solutions: defeating exclusion and strengthening social justice

Support from: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Period: March – June 2020

Overall objective:

Articulate dialogues with social actors from the countryside and the city, around the production and life models in dispute, in order to strengthen sustainable alternatives.

Specific objectives:

  1. Promote analysis and articulated debates on the production models in dispute, with social organizations and institutions.
  2. Influencing public opinion through commercial and alternative media.
  3. Systematize in a document the debates and the conclusions that emerge from the exchange spaces.
Social and environmental profitability of a peasant community

Social and environmental profitability of a peasant community

Support from: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Overall objective:

Based on empirical information, offer social organizations ideas and arguments that demonstrate the advantages, potential and sustainability of peasant ways of life and production.

Specific objectives:

  1. Have field information on a peasant settlement, in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, which allows for a comprehensive evaluation of its social and environmental profitability.
  2. Compare the results of the peasant settlement with a large estate with a similar territorial dimension.
  3. Improve the arguments in defense of peasant agriculture, with dissemination materials in simple and attractive formats.
Comparative analysis of the social and environmental profitability of peasant farms and business farms

Comparative analysis of the social and environmental profitability of peasant farms and business farms

Support from: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Period: January – May 2018

Overall objective:

Offer social organizations ideas and arguments that demonstrate the advantages and sustainability of peasant ways of life and production.

Specific objectives:

  1. Have field information on soybean and peasant farms, in their economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions, which allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the social and environmental profitability of both forms of production.
  2. Improve the arguments in defense of small peasant agriculture, with dissemination materials in simple and attractive formats.