CRACYP Sustainable Rural Development

Description

CRACYP (which stands for Rural Forestation and Progress Network Corporation, in Spanish) is a non profit organisation facilitating reforestation and sustainable rural development in an agricultural area of extreme poverty including over 200 communities in the foothills of the Western Andes in Ecuador.  

Our mission is "Progreso Verde" or "Green Progress" - that is, social and economic development, but in a way which protects the environment.  We build environmental awareness and motivate and assist local communities to take practical conservation action.  Our sustainable development projects help to increase incomes to the point where people are able to think further ahead than the next meal and can afford to care about the environment.

The 'price' of our help is that they must use a small percentage of the extra income to plant trees - which stabilize and enrich their land and provide them with fruits or other useful products.

CRACYP's "Green Progress" projects are long-term.  We train people in techniques for sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology to add value to their crops by processing them locally rather than selling them as raw materials, and provide ongoing support.  We advise on and assist with the reforestation process.  In this way the communities improve their quality of life and preserve the environment on which their future depends.