5.1 | Access, use and dissemination of sustainability know-how
Access to knowledge seems essential for developing sustainable assentamentos for various reasons. First, as most assentados come from very underprivileged backgrounds, many (especially older adults) are illiterate, and most of the things they have learned are connected with practical know-how acquired by experiences they had in the past. Assentados who have lived in the city their whole lives probably know little about agricultural techniques or life in a smaller community. If an assentado lived in rural areas, chances are high that she used to be an employee in a large farm and, as stated by an interviewee, “was born with a poison pump on their back” [17:76]. If she is to change towards more sustainable methods, others will need to somehow convince her of the benefits and teach how it can be done.
Access to knowledge, however, goes beyond formal education and learning, because knowledge required for sustainability comprises skills, practices, capabilities and technologies that can empower assentados to produce, build, communicate and live more sustainably. Many of these capabilities are not included in the official school program and are not disseminated in most big agribusiness farms or in cities. Examples of knowledge assentados could learn include techniques for energy production [19:38]; processing of agrarian goods [7:33]; organic fertilizers [13:19]; bio-construction techniques [23:75], and agroecological practices [19:20, 21:9]; and about relevant public policies available to them [33:27]. Although we found these sorts of knowledge to be relevant for fostering sustainability in agrarian reform, they were often missing and not always easily available for assentados.
Our data shows that knowledge in assentamentos is usually accessed by means of (i) courses offered directly or indirectly by MST; (ii) residents taking part in external courses and returning to the community [19:38]; (iii) technical assistance provided by government or universities [33:27]; (iv) by assessing and experiencing the positive results from others (learn by seeing others do); (v) through partnerships with national and international organizations; (vi) or simply obtaining information from internet.
In Terra Vista, the use and dissemination of ecological know-how was especially present through participative research for organic cocoa production, a collective initiative that has led to results enabling them to move towards organic methods while increasing their production and revenues, reforesting their land, and recovering their natural resources while deeply involving the youth. Terra Vista also hosts a technical school that offers courses on agroecology and rural technologies with students from all ages from seven different municipalities in the surroundings. The school constantly hosts events, which help to diffuse knowledge and learning from others, and act as touchpoint between the assentamentos and local communities. Instituto Cabruca—an NGO of which some Terra Vista residents are members—has become a partner institution providing them with technical assistance and, with knowledge produced in Terra Vista, promoting sustainable economical development consultancy for other small farmers and traditional groups. Another noteworthy spillover from this knowledge dynamics was in the audiovisual sector, which was recently created and employs mainly the youth, who produce videos and broadcast music, talks and news on the Internet and in their recently-acquired radio station.
Accessing, using and disseminating sustainability know-how as a way to address those challenges became an even more salient topic after our interaction with ecovillages. All ecovillages that we visited exhibited high stocks of sustainability know-how and an explicit intention to translate them into practices, as well as disseminating them as part of their model. Two big strands of know-how seemed more prominent: knowledge for ecological sustainability—such as bioconstruction, compost toilets, agroforesting, permaculture—and knowledge for community- building. These types of know-how were used in different forms: as source of income (through courses and workshops); as enablers for building more sustainable infrastructure; and as drivers for creating a stronger community and for attracting new residents and visitors who can learn, implement and disseminate this knowledge in their own environments. Finally, sustainability know-how is also appealing to young volunteers and can help to attract and keep the youth.
>>> 5.2 | Enabling cooperative collective dynamics through conflict resolution