Data Analysis workshop supports Frechal Quilombo in Life Plan management

On February 22-44 Frechal Quilombo Extractivist Reserve leaders and other members of the community took part in a socioeconomic data analysis and mapping workshop, conducted by IBPAD - the Research and Data Analysis Brazilian Institute.

The 28 participants came from the communities Rumo, Frechal, Deserto, Santiago, Santa Tereza, Bom Viver, Porto Nascimento Colônia e Graças de Deus. The workshop aims at providing the quilombolas with the necessary tools so that they can design action strategies aiming at the sustainability and quality of life in the community, including proposing public policies and keeping track of their implementation.

“It is very important for us to exchange experiences between the different communities and to know that we are all engaged in the same situation. This is also important to show to the system what we know. We have a different reality, we have our struggles and resistances. Sometimes policies don’t get to us, and we have trouble accessing public policies. Every community has its own reality, some have already accessed public policies, others haven’t, and this course helped us get a base for how we can access our rights”, said José Ribamar, president of the Deserto Quilombolas Association, and member of the Resex Council.

The activity is part of the third stage of the New Technologies and Traditional Populations Program, and the Sharing Worlds Program, developed through a partnership between National Coordination of Quilombola Black Rural Communities  (CONAQ), the Frechal Association, ECAM, Google Earth and USAID. During the first stages of the project the communities gathered information about their territories and populations using Technologies like Google Maps and ODK.