assessment of
sustainability
community
In February 2018, Vila Céu do Mapiá joined the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), formed by communities from all over the world. This link brought the opportunity for the community to interact with other members of the network and its organization, as well as increasing the Vila's responsibility to be a representative of the Amazon in the world.
The Community Sustainability Assessment is a diagnostic instrument that any community can respond to in order to have a basic idea about aspects of its sustainability. It was developed by GEN to support Ecovillages to assess achievements and increase the sustainability of community life. In the context of Ecovillages, systemic approaches have the most potential to be effective. Like a nine-direction mandala, sustainability is achieved and maintained when all considered strands are flowing with vigor and balance. At ASC, these nine aspects have the same importance: ecological, economic, governance, health, education, culture, spirituality, communication and community “glue”.
PRINCIPLES OF THE AMAGIA PROGRAM:
The Raimundo Irineu Serra Institute for Environmental Development (IDARIS), along with representatives from various sectors of the community, applied this GEN assessment to obtain a more specific diagnosis of sustainability in Vila Céu do Mapiá. The purpose of the ASC to create a system of indicators (or sustainability map) that describe the initial situation or the zero point of sustainability in the community is inserted in the construction of a wide participatory diagnosis process to promote and implement a Strategic Plan of Regenerative Development of the territory.
Within this process, IDARIS's role is to identify and design programs and projects not only to consolidate axes or sectors with satisfactory result indicators, but especially to strengthen and improve the dimensions or areas whose indicators obtained the lowest scores. The intention is to promote actions and interventions that strengthen the health and vitality of the community and the ecosystem.
With the successive cycles of diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation of initiatives, we will have an important database for the formation of an Observatory of Sustainability and Local Governance. A multidisciplinary, inter-institutional and participatory nucleus for the study and expansion of knowledge on principles and good practices of sustainable and regenerative development, in its multiple dimensions.