Balsamo Project

Why we workThe region of La Libertad has a crucial poverty situation also highlighted by the 2002 Report on Human Development. It is also one of the areas most struck by the earthquakes of January and February 2001.
As it is in a strictly agricultural vocation area, the local communities suffer the typical problems found in all rural areas of the town, always in relation to the state of abandonment in which the agricultural sector is left. This explains the extreme poverty in which this area’s inhabitants find themselves.

Our aimsTo help improve the living conditions of families in extreme poverty conditions, increasing income and encouraging the formation of a civil conscience on the subjects related to the respect for the environment.

How we workThe intervention will take place in direct collaboration with the beneficiary communities, through the participation method. We wish to ensure that various small communities, who are generally independent, not only work together for a common aim, but also work in a project whose results will be seen in the medium-long term.

Description of the projectThe basic lines of the project entail a uniforming of the quality level of resin extracted from the balsam tree and its derivative products. The aim is to support an organized marketing by the group of producers, and at the same time to sensitise on matters concerning the awareness and respect for the environment and the natural riches present in the Cordillera del Balsamo, both on a community level and in terms of local territorial management.A total of 10 communities are involved by the intervention, for a total of approximately 1000 families (around 5,100 inhabitants), of which 331 are considered direct beneficiaries of the project, as they are traditional balsam producers.