RECA’s path is marked by our sense of community and the support we have received. Naturally, we rely on each other, but also on the support of individuals and institutions that believe in our dream. After the initial “no” received from the state governments of Acre and Rondonia, we managed to start the project that gave rise RECA reach the bishop of Acre on the occasion, Dom Moacyr Grech.
Dom Moacyr liked our idea and believed in it. He put us in contact with the Center for Religious Statistics and Social Research (CERIS), in Rio de Janeiro, which helped us reformulate RECA’s foundation project; finally, he made the bridge with the Dutch institution CEBEMO, which financed the proposal. This institution, a Catholic foundation that financed projects in developing countries at that time, is now represented by Cordaid, of the Netherlands, bringing about the first resources for the implementation of 200 hectares of SAF. We planted and harvested the first fruits of peach palm, cupuaçu and Brazil nut. Today, our roots are stronger, we have more hectares of land and produce fruit all year round. We always grow with the support of new partnerships.
Paternships for community growth
We have developed several projects with national and international partners. Our partnerships, generally in the technical area, provide training to improve SAFs management, technical training for farming families, education for children, certification, and marketing. Some important partners are highlighted as follows: INPA (National Institute for Amazon Research), Embrapa-AC, PESACRE (Research and Extension Group for Agroforestry Systems in Acre), MLAL (Lay Movement for Latin America) from Italy, MMA (Ministry of the Environment), PDA ( Amazon Development Project), CCFD (Catholic Committee Against Hunger for World Development), GIZ (Technical Cooperation Agency of the German Government), Friends of the Earth, Banco do Brasil, and CPT (Pastoral Land Commission).
We receive students from different countries in academic research for master’s and doctoral degrees. The findings of their research provided us with references for SAFs and cooperatives, as well as for RECA.
Business partnerships
Natura
Our customers can also become great partners, as is the case with Natura do Brasil. Natura supported RECA’s Forest Certification with project funding, as well as support to several capacity-building activities and training courses. As a customer, Natura buys from RECA cupuaçu butter, nut oil, andiroba oil, cumaru almonds, and açai extract.
Petrobras
Through this partnership, we built our product exhibition and retail center. In addition to exhibiting and selling RECA products, we offer space for products from partner organizations working on social and environmental issues.