"No Labra no Terra", strengthening the resilience to the impact of Covid-19 of community farmers in Guinea-Bissau
The "No labra no Terra" project aims to replicate and expand the experience of community training and production represented by the previous project Jardim das Mulheres: it is an intervention in the agro-zootechnical sector launched by COPE in the Bula/Cacheu area aimed at promoting a model of association-based agricultural development and women's empowerment.
Despite the containment measures adopted by the government against the spread of the Covid-19 virus during the year 2020, the pandemic shows no signs of abating. The implementation of tests is also limited due to the stigma associated with the disease and the economic impossibility for a family to cope with a possible quarantine. On the other hand, the measures adopted have had a disastrous impact on the already precarious socio-economic situation of the population and one of the most affected sectors is certainly agriculture. This situation aggravates the problem of food security for Guinean families, leaving almost all of the population without sources of income. Unfortunately, the scarcity of social protection schemes and the low availability of public finances prevent the government from creating a real support network for the affected population, among whom are mostly women and children. Guinea-Bissau ranks second in terms of levels of malnutrition in West Africa, with 26% of the population affected.
The COPE staff, present in the country for years, conducted a pre-feasibility study in the rural areas of the Bula district and in particular in four villages of the district - Augusto Hoffer, Cabinque, Higat, Pelundo - in order to identify the pockets of the population subject to food insecurity. The direct beneficiaries of the project were thus identified: 140 women from the aforementioned villages in the Bula district, and their families, for a total of 562 people.
The project, financed with the 8x1000 IRPEF 2020 funds, is supported by the Diocese of Bissau, and as regards the implementation of training activities, the local partners are Engim, an Italian NGO present in the Guinean territory for decades and the CIFAP professional center (with offices in Bissau and Bula) managed by the Congregation of the Giuseppini del Murialdo.
The project therefore aims to support small agricultural production businesses, through both the introduction of training courses aimed at increasing knowledge and skills in the agri-horticultural sector and the introduction of socio-family support strategies and innovative cultivation tools that enhance the production and processing of products. The beneficiary population will also be made aware of the importance of diversifying their diet and eating products from their own land, according to good community and domestic hygiene practices that prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Keywords of the intervention: Train, improve, increase and raise awareness!
This intervention is part of the broader program that COPE implements in this very poor West African country that aims to create and enhance female entrepreneurship in agriculture.
"Women's empowerment is a process in which women take control of their lives (...); it is the ability of women to organize themselves individually and collectively, in order to create better access to decision-making, information, knowledge, education, economic resources, opportunities”.
