Marketing of non-timber products from the Northern dry woods: the sustainable link between production and conservation

The initiative aims to help stop hunger in the province of Santa Elena, through activities that promote food security, ecosystem conservation and the recovery of degraded areas.

An initiative of Prefectura de Santa Elena

Overview of the project

The initiative aims to help stop hunger in the province of Santa Elena, through activities that promote food security, ecosystem conservation and the recovery of degraded areas.

The Prefecture of Santa Elena and the Heifer Ecuador Foundation, since January 2015 have been working on the ‘North Dry Woods Project’, an alternative that seeks to increase family income by at least 10%, as well as the provision of food of 1,500 families settled in the dry forest of three different communities.

The objective of the initiative is to promote the production, processing and commercialization of bamboo cane and straw toquilla through the delivery of supplies, tools and equipment to dozens of Santa Elena families. It will jointly contribute to the generation of capacities for sustainable access to developed markets.

 

Objective

To contribute to consolidating the socio-economic system in the dry woods of Santa Elena.

Level of progress

implementation

Project timeline

2016

Quantitative results

In 3.5 years, 2150 beneficiaries from 13 organisations were assisted with an investment of $1 196 350 94.

Qualitative results

Beneficiaries have significantly improved their incomes, including selling organic products at local fairs. They have also significantly reduced pesticide use, decreasing the impact of those on family health and the environment.

Financing

About  1'200.00 USD was invested into the project by the Heifer Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Provincial Government of Santa Elena.

About the
organisation

Prefectura de Santa Elena

website
Bertha Carpio
Director, head of services
bcarpio@santaelena.gob.ec
+593 4 2940 904

Intermediate Government of Ecuador that seeks to promote the integral progress of our very young Province, through a model of participative management, with a view to making this a pole of development, for the benefit of our territories.

The Provincial Government of Santa Elena, constitutes a Decentralized Government that enjoys Political, Administrative and Financial Autonomy; it is governed by the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, inter-territorial equity, integration and citizen participation.

The powers and competencies of the Provincial Government are those established by the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and the Organic Law that regulates the Provincial Regime, as well as decrees, national regulations that regulate the powers and areas of operation of the Provincial Governments.

Find them on
A project
in collaboration
  • Fundación Heifer Ecuador

    Non-governmental organisation, association

    website
    Rosa Rodríguez
    rosarodriguez@heifer-ecuador.org
  • The Johanniter

    Non-governmental organisation, association

    website
    Kirsten Wesenberg