Instituto Cultivar (Instituto Nacional para o Desenvolvimento Social e Cultural do Campo)

Instituto Cultivar is the administrative partner of the intervention, while MST is the implementing partner. Instituto Cultivar is a non-profit civil association founded with the aim of contributing to the social and cultural development of the countryside. The result of a wide-ranging networking process, it has a national presence and is based in the city of São Paulo. A national network for agrarian and environmental education and training was established at the National Meeting to Support Agrarian Reform, held in São Paulo in 2000. This made it possible to coordinate studies and educational practices in the Agrarian Reform areas. This national network formed the Cultivar Institute, with the aim of formalising and organising the work carried out in Agrarian Reform areas, cooperation and collaboration with other organisations and networks in implementing development proposals for the Brazilian countryside. The Institute works intensively to promote human rights and food sovereignty, contributing to the formulation and implementation of proposals related to agrarian reform, production, fair trade, the environment, biodiversity and gender equality. Instituto Cultivar's actions are geared towards leveraging or promoting changes aimed at socio-environmental development on a sustainable basis. They are based on permanent dialogue with its network of collaborators and partner organisations. Actions are focussed on three main areas: Production and agroecology, Gender and Human Rights. Articulated with these themes, actions are also developed in other areas, such as education, health, culture, communication, training and capacity building, youth, among others.