What is Foro Emaús?
Foro EMAÚS - "An Experience in Popular Organizing"
The Foro Emaús is a network of organizations that was created in 1992 to fight against the expansion of the area under conventional banana production and to work to solve the social and environmental problems of banana production in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica.
The objective of the Foro Emaús is to humanize banana production. We fight to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts to human health, social justice, and the environment.
Our Principles
The Foro Emaús assumes its struggles and work based upon the following values and fundamental princliples:
· Dignity · Solidarity · Equity · Diversity · Unity · Transparency
· Compromise · Coherency · Brotherhood · Social Justice
· Respect, Promotion and Defense of Human Rights
· Respect and Harmony with the Environment
Our Mission
The reasons that motivated our formation and that sustain our actions are derived from the following mission:
The defense and promotion of human rights and the environment in banna production and to support more just forms of production and marketing.
Our Strategic Objectives
The following are the Strategic Objectives that the Foro Emaús has defined in order to develop a work plan that will allow us to complete our proposed mission.
- Defend and promote human rights in banana producing zones, monitoring and denouncing all actions which go against human dignity.
- Support the work of those organizations that work to improve conditions in banana producing regions.
- Press for the substitution of agrochemicals for more sustainable alternatives.
- Support a more harmonious relationship with nature and promote changes to and compliance with environmental legislation.
- Strengthen the solidarity between member organizations of Foro Emaús with national and internationalthat seek to improve conditions.
- Transform banana production through institutions, government institutions, and modes of communication.
The Main Points of our Work
To organize the work we do and comply with our proposols, the Foro Emaús has defined 4 main points to focus our work and use to form the different activities we realize. For every point, an objective is defined, which we use to to develope our activities. The main points and respective objectives are the following:
DIGNITY OF PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES
General Objective: Promote through a Campaign of Incidence the defence and promotion of human and national rights in the banana producing zone, with a focus on equity.
A HEALTY ENVIRONMENT
General Objective: Push for a more harmonious relationship with nature and promote the necessary changes to and compliance with Costa Rican environmental legistlation.
FAIR SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
General Objective: Support the work of producer organizations that strive for a sustainable and fair system of banana production.
INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING OF THE FORO EMAÚS NETWORK
General Objective: Strengthen the Foro Emaús network, procuring a greater projection of their activities at both the national and international levels.
The organizations that form our network
In order to maintain our work as an organization, the organizations that comprise the Foro meet every month in an Assembly, to exchange informations, analyze the different problems of the Atlantic region and the country, and to make decisions. Additionally, there is an elected Coordinating Committee, elected yearly, and which meets montly to make operating and executive decisitons. The concrete work of the Foro is done through the direct actions of our member organizations and through the support of an Operating Team, comprised of three individuals.
Foro Emaús has offices in the capital of San José and in the Atlantic city of Siquirres.
