09.08.2022
Casa Socio-Environmental Fund donates more than US$3 million in 2021
Report brings dynamic and illustrated data on the 461 projects supported by the Casa Fund in 2021
The year 2021 was very remarkable from a global context. Unfortunately, the pandemic drastically worsened the social inequality that had already been latent in our country since 2018, when Brazil appeared as the 8th country with the greatest social inequality in the world. In 2021, we registered a record 14.4 million unemployed.
Public welfare policies have not grown in the same proportion to support the thousands of families whose incomes have been affected. At the same time, cities are expanding without proper planning, renewable energy sources are being deployed without active listening with affected communities, while climate change is increasingly noticeable.
Here, we experience these challenges together with our network, and we ask ourselves with each action “how to transform this reality and remove the spectre of inequality?” We are working for a fairer reality, with people who face each struggle with courage, and seeking solutions compatible with the experiences of each people, each community. The Casa Fund’s mission is to provide the base communities with support so that, with the knowledge of their territory, they can do whatever is necessary to strengthen themselves. This is the way we expand our alliances towards a common goal.
Our 2021 annual report shows the Casa Fund’s alignment with this purpose of strengthening the traditional local communities. In it, our results are illustrated through beautiful photos of the supported projects and infographics prepared so that our activities can be viewed more easily.
The numbers show that around 70% of our budget is donated directly. In absolute numbers, we have already supported 2,777 projects and more than R$62 million (over US$15 million) have been donated until the end of 2021.
The focus is on groups that have less access to resources, such as indigenous and quilombola communities, artisanal fishermen, forest dwellers and groups of residents who struggle to maintain the environmental integrity of their territory, populations that live in harmony with the surrounding environment and also those that work mostly in protecting biomes. The amounts donated are in average between US$4,000 and US$12,000 for each project.
In 2021, we launched four public calls to support projects throughout Brazil, in which we always aimed to look at each region of Brazil with attention to the needs of each moment. From a point of view of the biomes, we have reached them all, as can be seen in the chart below:
Another highlight that can be seen in our report is the support to Defenders of the environment, which has already had great results since 2018. The Defenders play a fundamental role in their territories, with impact actions in preserving the environment and in many localities in defense of human rights. Between 2019 and 2021, there were more than 200 projects supported on this topic.
Two of our 4 Calls for Projects in 2021 were aimed at strengthening groups so that they could mitigate the impacts caused by the pandemic – 158 projects were contemplated and a total of more than US$1 million allocated to communities so that they could face this difficult period.
Altogether, our Programs served 414,688 families – 622,675 people benefited directly and 10,363,414 people benefited indirectly. All graphs, figures, analysis and considerations can be accessed in full in the 2021 activity report, available to the general public.
