By Cooperacion Comunitaria A. C. | Responsible of communication
With the arrival of the new coronavirus, we are faced with a profound moment of reflection on a global scale, not only with regard to our relationship with others and with nature, but above all with regard to the future we are heading for. What the earthquakes meant and what we are experiencing now with the pandemic because of COVID–19 make us think about the future and the way we want to build it.
Within the emergencies, the «Comprehensive and Social Reconstruction of Habitat Project in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca» that we propose is part of an approach in which we seek to leave behind the isolated disciplines and see it from an integral and complex vision. For this reason our approaches take into account the socio-cultural, territorial, environmental and productive aspects.
Actions within the health emergency by COVID–19
With the spread of the virus at different speeds in the various regions of Mexico, we are working for the safety and health of both the population with whom we work closely and the administrative and field staff during this situation.
One of the first actions we took was to suspend travel from CDMX to the communities to prevent transmission. We also carried out prevention actions at the construction sites that decided to continue by assembly agreements and established safety protocols such as constant hand washing, use of bandanas and safe distance between collaborators among others.
Eventually, with the spread of the contagion, the construction works, tequios (collective unpaid work that every neighbor of a town owes to his community. It is an indigenous use and custom that continues to take root in various areas of Mexico with various nuances and strength) and training processes were suspended, however, we continue to this day to generate prevention and information materials for rural areas that we make available to the public for free download.
Rural communities were already facing a great vulnerability, for this reason, from the beginning of this crisis we saw the need to know in detail the possible consequences in order to establish prevention actions, both in health and in the socio-economic aspect.
In cooperation with the communities, we established diagnoses of the needs and difficulties they are going through, based on the comprehensive model we work with, which covers all aspects: socio-cultural, environmental-territorial, construction and productive-economic. Although we are beginning to see immediate economic effects, there will be effects that will last over time because of the global economic instability that arises from this health crisis.
Today more than ever we are aware of the importance of food sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Those who feed Mexico are the small and medium scale producers, as well as, the original communities with their millenary agricultural culture. As guardians of biodiversity –the lands they inhabit hold 85% of the world's biodiverse territories– they are indispensable for sustaining life and hence the importance of the activities they carry out in the territories they inhabit.
Producing locally is fundamental to generating a strategy for food sovereignty. Adding to the inertia of some communities with which we work that already exercise their food sovereignty, we made a solidarity call to the communities where we work to resume cultivation as a way of ensuring sustenance in emergency situations or for any adverse event, whether sanitary or an environmental phenomenon, such as hurricanes or earthquakes.
Producing food locally may allow them to have some of the basic commodities that contribute to their livelihoods insured even if they have no money.
Construction of kitchens in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca
We finished 13 traditional kitchens out of a total of 22. Also, reinforcements were implemented in their bases to resist future earthquakes. On the other hand, a series of workshops were held on risk prevention and techniques for kitchen maintenance.
Feedback processes
Two and a half years after having started the project of «Comprehensive and Social Reconstruction of Habitat Project in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca» we made the presentation of the results on Thursday, June 4th by web conference.
Through a reflection table integrated by participants of the project, representatives of the organizations Levantemos México-Ambulante, Global Living, HIC-AL, and members of Cooperación Comunitaria, we shared the qualitative and quantitative results as well as, our experience of accompaniment in the emergency by the earthquakes and the current challenges in the pandemic by COVID–19.
Next steps: kitchens and orchard for self-consumption
However, with the advent of the health emergency we are beginning to see immediate economic effects. Several international agencies agree that the health crisis could worsen with a food crisis and the loss of livelihoods for rural communities unless we act now.
For this reason, we believe it is important to work hand in hand with the communities in building their food sovereignty through the implementation of self-consumption orchards.
In the collective work with people and with full respect for nature is the seed to build a world that allows our survival.
We thank you for your solidarity with the communities of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Thank you very much!
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