Colombia

15.11.2024 | Torrential rains have plunged the Chocó region on Colombia’s Pacific coast into a major humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of families, including beneficiaries of SWISSAID projects, are severely affected.

Colombia has adopted its first national policy on agroecology. With this clear commitment to agroecology, Colombia is heralding a comprehensive transformation of its agricultural systems and paving the way for more sustainable agriculture. SWISSAID has accompanied and supported this process.

Climate change is having a major impact on the work of farmers in Colombia. Although agroecology is an effective solution to strengthen their resilience, it requires time and knowledge. A digital platform provides a remedy here: by sharing their experiences and advice, the farmers strengthen their agricultural skills. At the same time, the women learn to gain confidence in their central role within the communities.

As an expert in the fields of agroecology and gender equality, SWISSAID works in nine countries. On the ground and in close cooperation with local partners, we promote initiatives by people who are independently seeking a way out of poverty.

After the pandemic, girls and boys from the community of Sincé in northern Colombia had to go back to school – if only getting there wasn’t so difficult. This is exactly where this SWISSAID project comes in: Using new educational methods, the emotional and psychosocial well-being of the insecure young people is to be strengthened again. Awareness-raising measures are designed to prevent violent situations and creative learning methods help young people to rediscover the joy of learning.

Known as the lungs of our planet, forests are essential for biodiversity and the survival of all living beings, including humans. In Colombia, a project in the tropical region of Sucre aims to raise awareness among indigenous communities about their environment, in order to live in harmony with the forest and protect this vital space.

Farmers’ seeds represent much more than the promise of a harvest. They ensure food security for billions of people around the globe and embody the identity of various regions worldwide. Farm families are fighting to preserve this diversity, thereby ensuring the survival of future generations, just like Maricela Gironza, a farmer in Colombia.

The food report published by the Sufosec Alliance on the occasion of World Food Day on 16 October 2022 shows shocking results. It highlights the dramatic increase in hunger in the world with figures and testimonies from those affected in the South. But it also gives hope and shows a way out of the hunger crisis. For example, with agroecology.

The project launched by the Colombian alliance «Guardianas de los Páramos», of which SWISSAID is a member, aims to protect the ecosystems of six municipalities in the Boyacá region. The focus is on the rehabilitation of traditional agricultural varieties and techniques, the protection of biodiversity and the strengthening of the role of rural women. Fernando Chaves Valbuena, journalist for elcampesino.co, tells us about it through the women who carry this project.

16.08.21 | In Gámeza y Mongua, Boyacá, five peasant organizations have strengthened their knowledge of territorial development by appropriating the environment and working collectively to generate positive changes in their communities. Achieving the recovery of 18 types of ancestral seeds and the expansion of the vegetation cover of 160 water sources.

July 2020 | The Covid pandemic was a clear wake-up call: Only local agriculture can ensure healthy nutrition for the population. Farmer-owned seeds have a key role to play in this. SWISSAID organized a webinar on this topic in summer 2020 to enable an exchange and dissemination of knowledge between countries and experts.

Year after year, more and more local varieties of agricultural seeds are disappearing – including in Colombia. To reverse these losses, so-called seed guardians are working hard to produce high-quality seeds adapted to local conditions. They have developed a “participatory guarantee system” for this.

As a foundation for development cooperation, SWISSAID is also heavily affected by the corona virus. Faced with the crisis, each employee and each project had to reinvent themselves and often work in a hurry. On this page, you will find news from our partner countries for the months of March and April. –Translated with DeepL

Earlier generations of Colombia’s indigenous people made necklaces of vanilla to bring happiness and love. Today, not only traditions but also a wealth of knowledge about this valuable plant have been lost. Now the indigenous people on the Pacific coast are reviving their heritage – and hoping it will help them find a way out of poverty at last.

For the Embera people on the Colombian Pacific coast, the forest is both a place to live and a food security back-up. Deforestation has put the indigenous people in a precarious position. Now they are reforesting, switching to agroecology and looking for other ways to ensure their survival in the long term.