Work areas

South America has a great variety of biomes, from the world’s largest forest, the Amazon forest, to the freezing fields of Patagonia. However, all these biomes have something in common: they are all under constant threat by the global extractivist industry. Mining, oil drilling, agribusiness, deforestation, areas flooded to build hydroelectric power plants, and irregular projects implemented without any planning threaten biodiversity and those who have lived for centuries in harmony with their traditional territories. The Casa Fund supports initiatives by local organizations monitoring those ongoing projects to ensure that the rights of traditional populations are respected.

According to ILO Convention 169, signed by Brazil and other South American countries, all Indigenous and traditional peoples are entitled to be consulted and grant or refuse their free, prior and informed consent before any decision that might affect their territorial rights and ways of life is made. However, this has not been the case with large infrastructure and energy projects throughout South America, especially large hydroelectric power plants, ports, roads, gas pipelines, and so on. The Casa Fund supports alliances and forums defending the rights of communities at risk and whose fundamental rights are being violated.

Family farming and agroecology are sustainable solutions that ensure production of healthy food and address social, political, cultural, energetic, environmental and ethical issues. Both in rural areas and in large metropolitan regions, the Casa Fund supports initiatives of communities that chose to produce real food with an ecological perspective.

Traditional Indigenous populations (the most ancestral ones), as well as Quilombolas, riverside dwellers, artisanal fisherfolk, and many others who have learned and adapted to the life in the forest during their history are characterized as populations who have lived for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, in harmonious communion with the environment around them. These communities possess enormous wisdom and priceless cultural values – all of them under permanent threat. Through a large Network of Partners, the Casa Fund is able to support projects of different traditional populations in South America to protect their rights in the face of those threats and strengthen the economic and cultural autonomy of their communities.

Cities are complex territories in which problems such as social inequality and exclusion, pollution of many different origins, mobility, and climate change are quite evident, directly impacting the lives of millions of people. The Casa Fund has a specific program to support urban initiatives – Casa Cities. This program has the objective of stimulating actions by local groups, the work through networks, and the sharing of good initiatives, thus contributing to the autonomy of grassroots groups and the development of more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable cities.

The Casa Fund has created an alliance with all women’s funds in South America to support women who defend the environment. We invest in women who struggle to defend their rights and the rights of their communities, protect their territories, maintain their culture, and improve their living conditions in a healthy environment in forests, rural areas or cities. Women rank high among the public benefited by Casa-supported projects; they represent 68% of this public.

In times of climate change, it is a fundamental mission to care for the sources of freshwater. The lack of freshwater is not a prediction for the future, it is a present reality, and deforestation is directly linked to this problem. The Casa Fund supports projects to protect headwaters, rivers, and forests.

To encourage community development is a way to stimulate the financial and environmental sustainability of traditional communities. Community tourism is a good example of how a community can share with the rest of the world their culture and way of life, thus generating income in a sustainable fashion and reaffirming their sense of pride and belonging. But we have many other examples: community flour mills that eliminate middlemen, cooperatives of women bakers and confectioners, community savings banks, community currencies, and many more.

The Casa Fund works to strengthen the democratic fabric of our society, expanding the voices and the networking capacities of community groups and associations, working not only with mechanisms of political participation, but also with strategies enabling a critical influence, calling into question and monitoring public policies. We support entities proposing and demonstrating the feasibility of alternative approaches to existing social and environmental policies.

The Casa Fund supports projects that stimulate the popularization of technologies and equipment so more people have access to clean and renewable energy sources. In addition to the support to organizations participating in the debate on current public policies for renewable energy, the Casa Fund also helps in the implementation of small photovoltaic energy systems in the Amazon, in the Northeastern semi-arid region, or even in large cities preripheries. These projects are meant to popularize and demystify this technology, in addition to providing training to community members so they can maintain the equipment. The construction of biodigesters is also supported by the Casa Fund in its programs as a renewable energy solution.

The best way to fight against climate change is to protect standing forests. To this extent, it is necessary to ensure that traditional populations can face all challenges around them. These populations are the true gatekeepers of the forests and in consequence they are responsible for the planetary climate. The Casa Fund also supports projects that directly deal with the impacts of climate change in situations of adaptation, regeneration and/or resilience.