The success of the projects mentioned already and other ecological and educational projects encouraged the Asociacion to branch into more ambitious projects such as “Nashira”, our ecological sustainable development eco-village project.

The “Nashira” cooperative housing venture is a permaculture project. It will have 88 housing units, distributed in groups of 8 houses. There will also be premises for workshops and warehouses. As a means for providing at least 50% of the food consumed, Nashira is being built on a piece of land where lemon, orange tangerine, plantain and Nonie trees are in full production. There is also space for vegetable gardens, poultry, fishponds and sheep rearing to provide enough protein for the families. As an preparatory educational project the women of Nashira have already made their own vegetable beds, their own compost heaps and are in the process of harvesting worms for organic feeding of poultry and fish. Every Saturday, the future occupants of the houses participate in agricultural and handcraft workshops. At present 41 houses have been built and the new dwellers are starting to participate in the new community life.

The Nashira project goes beyond offering just a house, it seeks to provide a better quality of life, offering a secure and nutritious supply of food on its own land, in an environmentally friendly fashion, and a means of generating income by establishing workshops where women can manufacture their own products. The Asociación has so far been in charge of marketing, but it is important that the women of Nashira learn to design and market their production at least locally. The Asociacion will continue to help them access international markets and to obtain certification and promote the organic food they produce.

Most of the beneficiaries of this project are internal refugees from the civil war in Colombia, at present barely surviving at the margins of the cities and villages of the Department of El Valle del Cauca, principally Cali and Palmira. Their ages range from 17 to 85. As a pilot project to solve the problem faced by low-income households headed by women, this is an important solution which can be reproduced not only in Colombia where models of this sort are in short supply but also as a solution to the problem faced by many third world counties.