With great joy, the Rural Youth Innovation Award in Latin America and the Caribbean presents the ten winning initiatives announced during the week of July 6-10 in our virtual ceremonies.
It is worth mentioning that the ten awarded groups will have the opportunity to strengthen their capacities as individuals and as organizations through mentoring programs, knowledge exchange opportunities and the dissemination of their initiatives throughout the region. To know all the offered Prizes, click here.
With no further due, we present the winners for each category:
Sembrando Vida group, from Buga Valle, in the Valle del Cauca province, Colombia, is organized by the young environmentalist Karem Bejarano and her brothers. They support the operation of a forest nursery that benefits family mothers and young people displaced by violence.
To know more about Sembrando Vida’s history, access here.
Raiz is an agrotechnology company made up of eight young engineers and economists from the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. They developed an application that directly connects market and 251 family farmers – last year their profit was equivalent to USD 22,000.
To learn more about Raiz Capixaba’s history, access here.
Flor de Tierra is a company of three young Guatemalans that develops highly efficient organic products and promotes the proper use of microorganisms in agricultural activities. Its products are commercialised in the departments of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.
To learn more about Flor de Tierra’s history, access here.
Una Mano para Oaxaca was born to support the recovery of areas affected by the 2017’s earthquakes in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Oaxaca, Mexico). It carries out activities to strengthen the social fabric and the Zapotec indigenous identity, including workshops to recover traditional trades, cultural routes and popular education programs.
To learn more about Una Mano para Oaxaca’s history, access here.
Gralha Azul is a collaborative tourism network that generates income to 28 families, besides local young and small businesses in Turvo, Paraná, Brazil. It offers adventure sports and cultural visits in partnership with local indigenous and Quilombola communities.
To learn more about Gralha Azul’s history access here.
Libertat is a Colombian company that offers rural financial education programs based on a more approachable methodology by using real rural life cases. In addition to teaching workshops, they monitor their participants via mobile phone (SMS and calls).
To learn more about Libertat’s history, access here.
The Pé na Terra Group promotes natural food and sustainable agriculture as a path towards social justice. Through its agroforestry work, they build bridges between forests recovery, organic food production and market. They are located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil.
To learn more about Grupo Pé na terra’s history, access here.
Hexa Biotech is a company that produces animal food in a sustainable way, taking advantage of the physiological processes of the black soldier fly. They can transform 25 tons of organic waste into 15 tons of organic fertilizer and five tons of animal food in about 2 weeks. They operate in Coahuila, Mexico.
To learn more about Hexa Biotech’s history, access here.
Two prizes were awarded within this category:
AgroWayu is an agribusiness made up of young Peruvian engineers who are passionate about projects with high social impact. They promote the inclusion of vulnerable people throughout their production chain and directly benefit indigenous children and families in rural areas. Its goal is to develop nutritious products that have the capacity to replace unhealthy foods in the children’s market.
To learn more about Agrowayu’s history access here.
Fortalecimento e consolidação de grupos de coletores de sementes do Cerrado (Strengthening and consolidation of groups of seed collectors) is a group of young people from the Alto Rio Pardo region, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. They supports traditional communities in the preservation of the indigenous species from the Cerrado biome, that occupates the majority of Brazil’s central area.
To learn more about Grupo de Coleores de Sementes do Cerrado’s history, access here.
he Rural Youth Innovation Award would like to thank the almost 600 participants from 18 countries in the region who have submitted their proposals and assure our commitment to rural youth in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the coming months, we will release more details about the award-winning initiatives on our social media. Stay tuned to find out how these inspiring young people are promoting sustainable development in their region and how they have been achieving it.
Congratulations to everyone!