Established in 1987, the Center for Alternative Technologies of Zona da Mata (CTA) was founded by union leaders, family farmers, and agricultural science professionals with the aim of expanding social training and developing production systems suitable for the reality of Zona da Mata in Minas Gerais.
Its actions focus on expanding the knowledge and practice of agroecology for family farmers and rural workers, as well as building and promoting access to appropriate public policies for the context of family farming.
The project “Sharing Knowledge and Producing Flavors in the Community Kitchen of CTA-ZM,” supported by CESE within the methodology of dual participation, aims to train women farmers and entrepreneurs who use the CTA-ZM community kitchen, as well as strengthen productive enterprises and enhance income generation. It also aims to strengthen the leadership and autonomy of these women and the formation of new groups.
“This action strengthens and gives visibility to the work of women entrepreneurs, where they themselves led the workshops, so that they felt like protagonists of this space. Besides promoting the kitchen to other groups, the main focus was on promoting nutritional food security,” said Sinthia Luzia, Technical Advisor – Women and Agroecology Program.
The proposed activities took place between October 3rd and December 15th, 2022, involving workshops on various themes such as Dough, savory snacks, Marketing and Communication, Confectionery and Baking, Enterprise Management, Product Pricing, institutional food policies, and marketing methods for family agriculture. There were also workshops on good practices and exchanges for sharing experiences among the enterprises.
CTA Kitchen
The thematic workshops were aimed at entrepreneurs already using the community kitchen. The good practices workshops were directed at forming groups and enterprises. During the exchanges, the beneficiary groups exchanged experiences and shared knowledge.
Resource Mobilization – Dual Participation Methodology
The Center for Alternative Technologies of Zona da Mata was awarded in the Dual Participation Methodology category, a modality involving the mobilization of local resources by supported groups, with CESE matching the amount raised.
“The first thing we did in this resource mobilization process was to think about what would attract more people and be accessible. There’s no point in thinking about agroecology and food production if it’s not accessible,” Sinthia explains.
The mobilization strategy adopted, conducted from July to September 2022, involved selling soups, special lunches from the CTA-ZM community kitchen, and a product raffle, utilizing social media for activity promotion.
According to Sinthia, the experience of resource mobilization was unprecedented and had significant effects: “The kitchen has gained a lot of visibility after the project’s execution and has become a reference in Viçosa for producing healthy foods.” She mentioned that the construction of the community kitchen was completed at the beginning of the pandemic, making it impossible to carry out activities during this period due to people’s distancing, leading to a demobilization of the group: “We were already thinking about alternative ways to reorganize and resume work.”