Elaborated: Mariusz Wolonciej (Prometeo) Cacao farm for persons with disabilities and mental disorders The content Objective of the project... 2 Place... 2 Preliminary costs and incomes... 3 Some necessary expenses... 3 Responsibility and coordinators:... 3 Phases and types of activities of creating and running the cacao farm... 3 Activities during creating and running the cacao farm... 5 Phases of the production process... 6 I believe in this project... 6 To be continued... 6 1
The project name will come soon : optionally: Cacao Farm: Social Responsible Business for Persons with Disabilities and Mental Disorders Talita cum in Santo Domingo de los Tsachillas Objective of the project 1. To creating the place of occupational therapy for persons with mental disorders and disabilities - THERAPY 2. To stimulate local organizations to support social responsibility business in the region of Santo Domingo. If possible, avoiding external financing of social project s in Ecuador (preventing the high risk of failure and short run perspective eg. 1-2 year of short live MIES, CONADIS, SBV, Patronato etc. projects) - SUSTAINABILITY 3. Looking for systemic solutions for persons with disabilities and mental disorders as a continuation of social project of MIES (prevention of the risk of finishing the MIES project after the institutional financing stops) SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS 4. To elaborate the model of sustainable work places to support poor families of persons with mental disability and disorders ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS 5. To work out a solution/model to be copied in other places in Ecuador MODEL, PATTERNS 6. To create a net of cooperation between: science and education, social institutions (church), public institutions (MIES, Patronato, CONADIS), business UNITS, medical services ETC. NET OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS 7. Include the Banco de las horas as one of the model tools to create a society of workers exchanging their resources and skills Place Santo Domingo de las Tsachillas 10 ha of land 100.000 square meters 10.000 plants of cacao (and shadowing plants: banana trees) 2
Preliminary costs and incomes Cost of cacao plants for 10 ha (one of the best quality bought in Terra 360) ca. 15.000 USD Fertilizers; ca 3.000 USD Planned, estimated incomes from cacao after 2+3 years - 80.000 USD Monthly maintenance costs 3000-10.000 USD Some necessary expenses Plants (cacao, banana); Fertilizers; Monthly rental payments; Monthly water, gas, electricity payments; Maintenance costs; Transport of persons working in the farm; Salaries;. Responsibility and coordinators: Technical support: Juan: Terra 360 Fray Marco Szymanski (Puertas Abiertas; Antoniana); Fray P. Euclides Carrillo Lasso (Caritas) Project development and management: Mariusz Wolonciej Cooperation with Terra 360 (Juan Lecaro) jlecaro@prodel.com.ec Optionally cooperation with Padre Graziano (from Italy, experience in planting cacao and management in Ecuador) FUNDACIÓN MAQUITA CUSHUNCHIC Phases and types of activities of creating and running the cacao farm 3
Activities before picking first crops An important aspect of the project is occupational therapy of persons included in the project and helping them economically, providing them with paid work in the cacao farm 1. To make the project self sustainable it is planned to create small barrel gardens to be offered for vegetables production. The advantage of this project is recycling of used barrels and reconstruction into modern and efficient plant production. 2. Activities in the Farm of Caritas; taking care of animals: 20 cows, chicken, plants and so on 4
Activities during creating and running the cacao farm 3. Preparing the land, infrastructure, tools etc. 4. Preparing the staff (learning training) 5. Administrative activities: Management of the project a. management of the cacao production process and b. management of the staff included in the project 6. Business management a. Looking for external business sponsorship b. Looking for institutional sponsorships (MIES, Caritas, etc) 7. Training the workers/persons with mental disabilities 8. Division of work in the farm 9. Monitoring activities (responsibility for the plants) 10. Assisting the staff (persons with disabilities). Each group of workers has one leader/caregiver/instructor 11. Planting the banana trees (shadow): digging and planting 12. Planting cacao seedlings/plants 13. Cleaning from weeds 14. Fertilizing 15. Picking crops according to the level of fruits maturity 16. Extracting the cacao grain from the plant 17. Drying 18. Storing and packing the grain 19. Transport 20. Selling 5
Phases of the production process 1. 1-3 years process of external financial support; a. Learning and training (use other examples and good practices from similar projects: Tulipe, Salinas, Miski, etc ) b. Building the team of caregivers/technical staff and management staff c. Looking for sponsorship, contracting sponsors Learning from other similar projects (contacting Padre de Italia cacao producer) 2. After 3 years self sustainability period I believe in this project To be continued 6