YERBA MATE - SOLIDARIDAD BRAZIL

Currently, the producing regions of yerba mate are being impacted by climate change, with records of productive losses of up to 30% of total production, impacting directly in the families income (no living income and debts), in subsequent crops due to the plant's damage and worst: Encourages the farmers to leave activity, that can result in more forest suppression opening spaces to new commodity areas. We intend to support smallholders in the organizational management of their business and in strengthening the resilience of their agroforestry systems through climate-smart and regenerative agriculture, mitigating the impact of climate change on rural farms and communities at the landscape scale, pushing up the decarbonization actions ahead. Ensuring to the smallholders (base of yerba mate suppliers) an economically viable activity within a business expectation, together with current and future generations. In addition to contributing to biodiversity restoration, and a more inclusive and low-carbon economy.

Sustain in an ecological, technical, and socio-economic way the base structure for maintaining the resilience of yerba mate production systems, in the face of climate change, and the pressure for conversion of native forest areas (cradle of native yerba mate, a product of non-timber forest origin, from Brazilian socio-biodiversity), in commodity production areas (soy conventional).

The Atlantic Forest is considered a hot spot, only 12% of its original coverage remains, it is the most biodiverse tropical forest on the planet at risk of disappearing. Historically, mate herb, because it generates value, sustains the standing forest, in a region where native forest fragments are resistant against the expansion of the current 50,000 hectares cultivated with conventional soy. 

At a time when discussing the planet's agroclimatic future is strategic. Outline impactful actions and work articulations with the public and private sectors to reverse the condition of degradation of the Atlantic Forest, promoting scalable ecosystem restoration (Decade of Restoration -UN) to value the forest and generate income for more than 4,000 families of farmers yerba mate producers in the region (The project desire starts with 300 smallholders), can significantly contribute to a better planet's climate and biodiversity agenda.

Develop structural actions to promote the technical and economic feasibility of agroforestry arrangements for native yerba mate into Atlantic Forest areas.

The proposal aims to develop a sectorial articulation with the local rural extension agency, unifying the work agendas, aiming to promote the facilitation of the process, the level of engagement, and the relationship of trust of the farmers, to also sustain the support of technical assistance given the challenge of territorial coverage.

The technical assistance is intended to assist farmers in the organizational management of the activity, and to support farmers in the development of climate smarts arrangements under regenerative and agroforestry bases.

To work in a scalable way will be used: Extension Solution App (Solidaridad Network), aiming to establish a dynamic database (dashboards updated in real-time), based on sustainability criteria (technical, income, and biodiversity), to measure the evolution of farmer's levels and performance over the years, guiding strategical interventions of greater or lesser intensity. Besides the uses of a carbon calculator customized to yerba mate, so that prepare a carbon inventory, demonstrating the impact of the yerba mate agroforestry fields for the stability of the climate of the planet, and biodiversity recovery.

Family farmers and traditional communities.

Currently, the public structure of rural extension is not able to consistently serve all farmers in the state, in heterogeneous, broad, and multi-commodity territorial environments. Neither do small farmers have the resources to hire private consultants to help them solve the issues, however, the rural extension teams have been looking for models and partnerships that expand and strengthen their impacts and presence in the territories. In this context, after having already carried out a Needs Assessment (2020/2021) in the region to understand the dynamics of the scenarios and the complexity of the sectorial challenges for maintaining an ecological agenda for the cultivation of yerba mate.

A strategy that we are anticipating for the composition of work articulations with rural extension: is the identification and training of young leaders (preferably women, seeking gender equality in influential and decision-making roles), acting as focal points, connecting rural extension with the rural community, also working with the concept of the trainer of trainers with local and community actors, strengthening a decentralized collective structure and local governance for a scalable value generation impact.

This implementation model, through the transfer of knowledge and technology, fosters an action of social empowerment and elevates the target audience to a prominent position, who are able to manage issues related to their own communities organizing thought collectives social structure, even when technical assistance miss.

Historically, this region integrates yerba-mate production amidst the native forest. In recent decades the commodities advance has compressed the yerba mate areas to pulverized forest remnants, which are still preserved due to the economic relationship with the Mate. Many farmers over decades have converted their yerba mate forest into agricultural commodities fields, seeking technical support (input resellers), technological packages (inputs, improved seeds), and simplified handle. Directing the yerba mate fields to a subculture condition, even in an abundant and prosperous native area. Currently, the Mate has marginal zoning, fields with little or non-investment, extractive-based handle, and absence of activity management. Reducing the productivity and income, driving the youth even further away, and consequently increasing pressure of conversion over the forest. However, this region is an area (already mapped) with a high priority for the State to promote forest restoration. In this context, supporting the yerba mate farmers through a regional articulation with the rural extension, spread through local offices guided by Solidaridad Brazil, promotes the best handle practices and activity management to recover the productivity and income in harmony with the biodiversity restoration and ecosystem services on a landscape level, involving 300 families in more than 3,000 hectares of territory.

Solidaridad is an international network organization, working in over 40 countries on five continents. We work throughout the whole supply chain to make sustainability the norm and enable farmers and workers to earn a decent income, produce in balance with nature, and shape their own future.

In the Brazilian Amazon, Solidaridad Brazil currently leading a project to implement (as many initiatives before - All around the country) agroforestry systems in 1.500 small farms that integrate livestock, regenerative agriculture (cocoa), and native forestry over 75.000 hectares of territory. 

The purpose is to act in the two of most biodiverse tropical forest in the world, to create a deep and positive impact to help to preserve and restore this both biome aiming to achieve the urgent climate, biodiversity and natural resources conservation and restorations goals, besides providing the value generation for social development of rural smallholders, their families, and communities.

The proposal becomes innovative from its foundation in promoting alliances between public-private structures, to design the basic conditions that ensure robust infrastructure to promote the necessary technical assistance scale, organized under the axis of decentralized (community farmers groups),  participative and local governance system.

All concepts analysis, criteria, and farmers performance, when interconnecting with Solidaridad's digital tools, compose a dashboard that makes it possible to monitor the entire history of the activity's evolution, providing information in the condition of knowledge so that technical assistance, actors and community leaders can direct their efforts by acting with greater impact and dynamic within the territory.

With the carbon calculator that integrates a customized economic feasibility analysis for the three main yerba mate production systems, we can delineate maximum performance arrangements and guide small farmers on a safe, responsible and prosperous route for their income generation, where the families can thrive in harmony with native forest restoration.

Misinformation is what impoverishes farmers and aggravates environmental/climate problems. Generating information through disruptive and innovative arrangements is the role of Solidaridad Brasil to support the sustainable development of the territories.

Currently, the Extension Solution digital tool serves around 800 farmers in Brazil (90% smallholders), in one year more, we'll reach out to approximately 1,200 farmers in our database, and at the end of 5 years, more than 2,000 farmers will be managed under the platform in different Brazilian biomes.

For the project in question, from a business model perspective adhering to the financial support structure, for a first-year, we can allocate and impact directly on 80 farmers (families) and scale this number easily to 300 families at the end of the work cycle in about 3,000 hectares of territory.

We will measure the project impacts and do all the management of the process through the carbon calculator integrated with the analysis of economics feasibility indicators with this database we'll organize in an integrated a dynamic structure organized throughout the data collection carried out periodically by the Solidaridad technical staffs and local actors using the App Extension Solution, which gives us a business intelligence skills by the updated dashboard in real-time, where we can monitor and manage the evolution of the base indicators and farmers/farms performance throughout the project's development.

• 1 Country Director
• 2 Program Managers (Rural Extension and Environment Managers)
• 1 Project Coordinator
• 1 PMEL Coordinator
• 1 SIG Coordinator
• 1 SDU Coordinator (Unit of Digital Solution)
• 1 SDU Analyst (Unit of Digital Solution)
• 1 Field Technician (full time)
• 2 Field Technicians (temporary)

Directly involved: 11 people

More our back-office team (administrative, communication, human resource, etc.)

We have a plural team, with experts allocated strategically in different positions, who through these 11 people mentioned represent more than 80 years of professional experience working in value chains (wild crop, forestry, and agriculture) throughout Brazil

Our team is encouraged to work throughout the identification of values, carefully preserved by the global team, so that there is cause and purpose sensitivity and engagement, in addition to a commitment to results. This modeling is circular and horizontal, making the learning process and development flow constant and decentralized, but within a governance structure and job description internalized at the institutional chart level.

The operating models always seek to bring legitimacy, our entire technical and field team is specialized in the topics that we address in our project and programs, and they also are local people or people directly involved in the sector, promoting a strategic influence to explore the best articulations in a healthy, friendly and positive environment, indeed, for to be welcome and to perform well the initiatives in the areas where we operate leaving our legacy.

Above all, our entire team has sectoral neutrality and impartiality, that is, we do not attract eyes and judgments for political positions, ethical issues, and personal responsibility. When we are in the field, the commitment is to what we do best, change lives, that is the change that matters.

Our approach is to promote legitimacy and generation of shared values in the value chains in which we operate. We strive to meet global agendas, but we know that we act in local contexts, and it is in these scenarios where we perform our actions, in this way and motivational sense, we seek to be part of the local, we mimic ourselves in them, and we look to train people, train leaders, support enabling policies, also hiring local professionals to compose the technical teams seeking inclusiveness for a positive transformation combined with the human and the territory development.

Our leadership building process needs to be inclusive, as we know that projects are over, but the legacy must continue, we understand our role in empowering people in communities so that they can follow on their own, we bring this sense of justice, giving to local the right of development, in many cases to those who are currently marginalized, vulnerable and no future.

Internally, Solidaridad is a plural institution and encourages diversity since the high positions and treats all its employees in an equal, respectful, fair, and inclusive manner, following its social protocol in the work environment.

We apply for Solve as an opportunity to raise funds that can be directed to transform lives and communities, to support the development of inclusive, responsible, and low-carbon value chains. We know that we are not alone and we seek partnerships that we identify with, to increase our performance and impact, where more need us.

Interest:

• Receive access to funding in grants and investments, including through prizes and Solve Innovation Future.
• Join a class of impressive peers that act as a trusted support group, offering inspiration and guidance
• Join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors, with dedicated spaces to meet year-round and during Solve’s flagship events such as Solve at MIT.  
• Access mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from experts, as well as the Solve and MIT networks. 
• Receive monitoring and evaluation support to build an impact measurement practice. 
• Gain exposure in the media and at conferences.
• Access relevant in-kind resources such as software licenses and legal services from Solve Member and partner organizations. 

As project coordinator, I understand that the bottlenecks we currently have are in fundraising strategies (governments and private funds) and expansion of the investor base through private sector partnerships.

Our performance and capacity as a multidisciplinary work team attend to all the technical items mentioned within an internal proposal for professional development. However, capturing and working relationships for financial resources is what keeps health the organization, so that everything else runs smoothly, and this the focal point where we recognize our need to do better.

• CIF
• IDB
• gef
• GIZ
• SIDA
• PNUMA
• World Bank
• Bloomberg Philanthropies
• The Rockfeller Foundation

These institutions support and foster the socioeconomic development of vulnerable (rural) communities, with a sensitivity and careful look to the future of the planet, we understand that we can work on the same agendas, considering common impacts as expected results. It's a joining of forces.

GM Prizes in the mentioned scope: Resilient Ecosystems Challenges

Currently, the main brazilian producing regions of yerba mate are being impacted by climate change, with records of productive losses of up to 30% of total production, impacting directly in the families income (no living income and debts), in subsequent crops due to the plant's damage and worst: Encourages the farmers to leave activity, that can result in more forest suppression opening spaces to new commodity areas. We intend to support smallholders in the organizational management of their business and in strengthening the resilience of their agroforestry systems through climate-smart and regenerative agriculture, mitigating the impact of climate change on rural farms and communities at the landscape scale, pushing up the decarbonization actions ahead. Ensuring to the smallholders (base of yerba mate suppliers) an economically viable activity within a business expectation, together with current and future generations. In addition to contributing to biodiversity restoration, and a more inclusive and low-carbon economy.

Currently, the main brazilian producing regions of yerba mate are being impacted by climate change, with records of productive losses of up to 30% of total production, impacting directly in the families income (no living income and debts), in subsequent crops due to the plant's damage and worst: Encourages the farmers to leave activity, that can result in more forest suppression opening spaces to new commodity areas. We intend to support smallholders in the organizational management of their business and in strengthening the resilience of their agroforestry systems through climate-smart and regenerative agriculture, mitigating the impact of climate change on rural farms and communities at the landscape scale, pushing up the decarbonization actions ahead. Ensuring to the smallholders (base of yerba mate suppliers) an economically viable activity within a business expectation, together with current and future generations. In addition to contributing to biodiversity restoration, and a more inclusive and low-carbon economy.