0 | Executive Summary
We conducted a constructivist qualitative research project, designed as an instrumental collective case study, in order to discover potential ways to foster sustainability in agrarian-reform settlements (assentamentos) in Brazil. We visited twelve communities—six assentamentos and six ecovillages—in May-October 2014 and gathered data through interviews, observations and documents produced by other sources. Inspired by the so-called “Gioia Method” and grounded theory, we followed a research strategy characterized by a constant process of interaction with the data, involving the use of qualitative data analysis (QDA) software. In the process, one broad research question —‘how can sustainability in assentamentos be fostered?’— was broken down into two: ‘which are salient challenges to fostering sustainability in assentamentos?’ and ‘which insights for addressing those challenges may be obtained from existing assentamentos and ecovillages?’.
The synthesized results were three clusters of challenges—moving towards sustainable production, building infrastructure for sustainability and creating attractive conditions for the youth; two elements for the design of potential solutions—improving access, use and dissemination of sustainability know-how and enabling cooperative collective dynamics; and four insights that can serve as input in the design of policies and governance arrangements to foster sustainability in agrarian reform: (i) the power of example can be an effective means for the transition to more sustainable practices; (ii) building a common vision among assentados can support the maintenance of cooperative collective dynamics; (iii) more room for experimentation can strengthen sustainability know-how; and (iv) collective initiatives can prevent isolation in rural communities by acting as touchpoints with the external world and bringing exchange opportunities for assentados.
>>> 1 | Introduction