2019, A Year Of Expansion For Rural Alternative Schools

In 2019 PASO Colombia opened 10 new Alternative Rural Schools (ERA) , reaching a total of 20 ERA operating throughout the country, supporting 1,406 participants. The ERAs function as collaboration platforms that take advantage of public, private and community resources to develop sustainable agricultural projects. They also promote Collaborative Commercial Alliances in which the communities sign agreements with entities that guarantee the purchase of their products at a fair price for a certain period of time. In its first two years of implementation, this model has generated 2,224 jobs, 11.5 million dollars in trade agreements, in addition to significant savings for participants through projects aimed at producing food to contribute to their food self-sufficiency.

During the month of December, supplies were delivered in kind for the start of activities of the two newest ERAs: Pasca, Cundinamarca and Sevilla, Valle.

The ERA of Pasca, in the department of Cundinamarca, has a total of 22 participants – 10 ex-combatants and 12 members of the community – organized in the COMUPAS Cooperative. They will cultivate cape gooseberries and aloe vera in the upper part of the territory and will raise smaller species such as rabbits and curies in the lower part. PASO supports this cooperative by responding to the invitation made by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) and in partnership with the UN Verification Mission in Colombia and the World Food Program (WFP) .

The Seville ERA, in the department of Valle del Cauca, has 30 participants, including 8 ex-combatants, grouped into 3 organizations: the ASTRACAVA and AURACOL peasant associations, and the Red Hip Hop Foundation. The objective of this ERA is to reactivate the facilities of the Departmental Farm to develop projects for raising pigs, production of fertilizers, cultivation of beans, bananas and chili, as well as a recording studio for the Red Hip Hop Foundation, whose members will also participate. in agricultural projects. This ERA has the support of the Mayor's Office of Seville, the Government of Valle del Cauca , the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) , the UN Verification Mission in Colombia and the World Food Program (WFP). ) .