The PROEZA project is the Government of Paraguay’s first effort to address its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) via the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project objective is to improve the resilience of poor households that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and to increase the forest cover in environmentally sensitive areas of Eastern Paraguay. It also promotes incentives to mitigate climate change by planting fast-growing trees alongside valuable native species in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner. The project's strategy consists of fostering the diversification of families’ income sources and production through social and technical assistance. The goal is the establishment of climate-smart agroforestry production systems that are ecologically managed and enhance climate change mitigation (FAO and Government of Paraguay, 2017).
The project covers eight departments in the Eastern Region of Paraguay, selected based on environmental and social prioritization: Concepción, San Pedro, Canindeyú, Caaguazú, Guairá, Alto Paraná, Caazapá, and Itapúa.
PROEZA’s objective will be achieved through the following complementary and mutually reinforcing components:
- Component I – ''Planting for the Future”: Promotes climate resilience for Tekoporã Indigenous people through agroforestry models that support soil conservation, CO₂ storage, and small-scale farming. Participants receive environmentally conditioned cash transfers and technical, legal, and market access support. It also introduces energy-efficient stoves—aimed at households in rural and indigenous communities—to reduce biomass use and emissions in the eight departments within the project's intervention area. The energy-efficient cookstove model is named “Tata Piriri.”
- Component II – ''Sustainable Landscapes and Responsible Markets”: Provides financing to medium-sized farmers for high-yield plantations combined with native forests, ensuring at least 20% of land is preserved as biodiversity corridors and forests that protect riverbanks and watercourses.
- Component III – ''Good Governance and Law Enforcement”: Strengthens institutional capacity to enforce environmental laws, conduct market studies, and promote sustainable public policy.
PROEZA’s focuses on Indigenous communities and gender equality:
- Indigenous peoples are recognized as key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation due to their traditional knowledge and ecosystem stewardship.
- PROEZA ensures Indigenous participation through the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process (Consulta y Consentimiento Libre, Previo e Informado – CCLPI), as mandated by Paraguayan law and international standards.
- A Special Indigenous Commission (CEI) was created with technical representatives from institutions to guide the approach in Indigenous communities.
- The CEI supports implementation at methodological, technical, and operational levels in coordination with the Project Management Unit—Unidad de Gestión de Proyectos—(UGP/FAO/PROEZA).
- PROEZA includes a Gender Action Plan to: Support technical staff with gender-sensitive training, educate participants on rights, and to create spaces for rural women’s participation in decision-making.
- PROEZA will develop a specific targeting strategy to ensure female-headed households (FHH) are given priority access to project benefits.
The beneficiaries are 153,000 people living in poverty in the project area affected by climate change, of which 76,000 are women and 14,800 are Indigenous. The indirect beneficiaries are the 141,306 poor and extremely poor households (720,000 people/360,000 women) registered in Tekoporã (social protection programme) that could also be benefited from the transformational change to be promoted by PROEZA.
Also, currently in its first phase, the energy-efficient stoves will be installed in 662 households across indigenous and rural communities in the districts of Capiíbary, General Resquín, San Vicente Pancholo, Tacuatí, and Santa Rosa del Aguaray in San Pedro Department, as well as Curuguaty in Canindeyú Department, where the PROEZA project is being implemented. In a second phase, the project plans to expand coverage to approximately 2,788 additional participants across 30 districts within the PROEZA project's intervention area, bringing the total to nearly 3,500 households equipped with efficient stoves.
Total budget: USD 90,257,495
- USD 65,197,119 co-financed with national public funds:
- USD 49,332,332 loan through the Development Finance Agency of Paraguay.
- USD 15,864,787 grant from the public budget of the Tekoporã social protection programme of the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) and the Insituto Forestal Nacional del Paraguay (INFONA).
- USD 25,060,376 support financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF)
Summary: Multi-level governance including international organizations and national government.
The PROEZA Paraguay project is implemented by the Government of Paraguay. It is financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and receives technical cooperation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The National Coordination of the PROEZA project is overseen by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and the supervision and monitoring of its implementation is carried out through a governance structure composed of nine public institutions: the Ministry of Social Development (MDS), the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy (VMME) of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI), the National Institute for Rural and Land Development (INDERT), the National Forestry Institute (INFONA), and the Development Finance Agency (AFD).
Sistema Integrado de Información Social – SIIS: It is a management tool for social protection policies that integrates information about current and potential beneficiaries (a single beneficiary registry), as well as the available public offerings (social programs) and the budgets linked to these programs. Among the main requirements necessary to access Proeza’s program is that of being registered in the Tekoporã programme, whose participants are incorporated into the SIIS.
The United Nations Human Rights Office is supporting Paraguay’s efforts to adopt a social protection system that integrates human rights, alleviates structural inequalities and generates sustainable growth. With funding from the Surge Initiative, the Office is working with the government, civil society, human rights institutions and academia, providing technical assistance and analytical data, and enhancing capacity with the goal of building institutional and financial capacity to ensure social security for all.
Following three years of development and support provided by specialists from 27 government offices, the Paraguay‘s Technical Unit of the Social Cabinet (UTGS) has deployed the social protection card (Ficha Integrada de Protección Social – FIPS) in 10 communities of Villeta District. This government-led initiative is the first step towards the establishment of a social registry.
2023 Annual Performance Report for FP062: Poverty, Reforestation, Energy and Climate Change Project (PROEZA) (Green Climate Fund, 2023).
The PROEZA project continues to represent an innovative intersection of social protection and climate action in Paraguay. In 2023, implementation faced significant institutional changes due to a new national government, affecting governance structures and technical teams. Despite this, notable progress was made. Agroforestry systems were implemented on over 835 hectares with strong participation of women (80%) and Indigenous communities (47%). The first environmental conditional cash transfers (E-CCTs) were delivered to families maintaining forest cover, and advancements were made on land tenure regularization, gender equity frameworks, and improving forestry regulation. Despite delays and challenges, the project shows promise in strengthening climate resilience and livelihoods if adaptive strategies continue to be implemented effectively.
Evaluation of the project “Poverty, Reforestation, Energy and Climate Change (FAO, 2024).
The PROEZA project in Paraguay embodies an innovative strategy that intertwines social protection with climate action, aiming to bolster resilience among vulnerable populations and advance the nation's climate objectives. Despite its ambitious goals, the project has encountered significant hurdles, including political and institutional shifts and design shortcomings, which have impeded its progress. Notably, the reliance on pre-established models in Component 1 failed to foster beneficiary ownership, and the criteria for participant selection—such as requiring Tekoporã participants to possess a minimum of 0.8 hectares—proved problematic. These issues, coupled with underestimations of the time and resources needed for effective engagement, led to delays and increased costs. As of October 2023, only 700 hectares of forests had been planted, representing a mere 5% of the original target of 13,941 hectares.
Nevertheless, the project has made strides in areas like land tenure regularization, development of efficient stove models, and enhancements to forestry legislation, laying groundwork for future improvements. In the design stage, the project adequately addressed the vulnerability and differential impacts of climate change concerning gender, Indigenous Peoples, and poverty. During implementation, the project leveraged the fact that most beneficiaries are women to promote equity and empowerment, as the majority of agroforestry model implementations occurred in female-headed households, with 1,153 women beneficiaries compared to 288 male-headed households.
Sustaining project impact requires medium-term planning and strong institutional backing. Key lessons include simplifying procedures, improving coordination, ensuring inclusive registration, engaging communities, and tailoring procurement to support local service markets.
- Need for medium-term plans backed by institutional resolutions, which preempt discontinuities due to political changes.
- The project effectively contributed to land tenure security by achieving the expected results for Component 1, while paying particular attention to the situation of rural women.
- Component 1 costs (agroforestry models and cookstoves) exceeded initial estimates. This reinforces the need for prior community work, as their engagement is essential to ensure adoption and sustainable use of cookstoves.
- Lessons include the need for simplified procedures, stronger inter-institutional coordination, and tailored financial mechanisms.
- It is necessary to improve participant registration processes by implementing inclusive census efforts and targeted outreach in Indigenous communities in order to prevent inadvertent exclusion from program enrollment.
- New efforts should focus on developing tailored procurement strategies by identifying local service providers, evaluating their capacities and willingness, and adapting approaches to strengthen emerging forestry and livestock service markets.
In Paraguay:
- Instituto Forestal Nacional (INFONA)
- Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES)
International:
SDG 1 - No Poverty
- Target 1.1 - By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
- Indicator 1.1.1 - Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographic location (urban/rural)
- Target 1.2 - By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Indicator 1.2.1 - Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
- Indicator 1.2.2 - Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Target 1.3 - Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
- Indicator 1.3.1 - Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable Indicator 1.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
- Target 1.5 - By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
- Indicator 1.5.3 - Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 2 - Zero hunger
- Target 2.2 - By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
- Indicator 2.2.1 - Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 - Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy
- Target 7.1 - By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
- Indicator 7.1.2: Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
- Target 11.b - By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
- Indicator 11.b.1 - Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 13 – Climate action
- Target 13.1 - Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
- Indicator 13.1.2 - Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 15 – Life on land
- Target 15.2 - By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
- Indicator 15.2.1 - Progress towards sustainable forest management
Conditional cash transfer (CCT);
Emergency cash transfers in fragile and humanitarian contexts;
Support to livelihood diversification;
Training (vocational, life skills, cash for training, entrepreneurship);
Unconditional cash transfer;
Integrated programmes for climate and shock resilience, including programmes related to anticipatory, adaptive and shock-responsive social protection
SDG 1 – No Poverty
- Target 1.1 – By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
- Indicator 1.1.1 – Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographic location (urban/rural)
- Target 1.2 – By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Indicator 1.2.1 – Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
- Indicator 1.2.2 – Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Target 1.3 – Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
- Indicator 1.3.1 – Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable Indicator 1.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
- Target 1.5 – By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
- Indicator 1.5.3 – Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 2 – Zero hunger
- Target 2.2 – By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
- Indicator 2.2.1 – Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 – Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy
- Target 7.1 – By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
- Indicator 7.1.2: Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
- Target 11.b – By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
- Indicator 11.b.1 – Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 13 – Climate action
- Target 13.1 – Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
- Indicator 13.1.2 – Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
SDG 15 – Life on land
- Target 15.2 – By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
- Indicator 15.2.1 – Progress towards sustainable forest management
The PROEZA project is the Government of Paraguay’s first effort to address its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) via the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project objective is to improve the resilience of poor households that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and to increase the forest cover in environmentally sensitive areas of Eastern Paraguay. It also promotes incentives to mitigate climate change by planting fast-growing trees alongside valuable native species in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner. The project’s strategy consists of fostering the diversification of families’ income sources and production through social and technical assistance. The goal is the establishment of climate-smart agroforestry production systems that are ecologically managed and enhance climate change mitigation (FAO and Government of Paraguay, 2017).
The project covers eight departments in the Eastern Region of Paraguay, selected based on environmental and social prioritization: Concepción, San Pedro, Canindeyú, Caaguazú, Guairá, Alto Paraná, Caazapá, and Itapúa.
PROEZA’s objective will be achieved through the following complementary and mutually reinforcing components:
- Component I – ”Planting for the Future”: Promotes climate resilience for Tekoporã Indigenous people through agroforestry models that support soil conservation, CO₂ storage, and small-scale farming. Participants receive environmentally conditioned cash transfers and technical, legal, and market access support. It also introduces energy-efficient stoves—aimed at households in rural and indigenous communities—to reduce biomass use and emissions in the eight departments within the project’s intervention area. The energy-efficient cookstove model is named “Tata Piriri.”
- Component II – ”Sustainable Landscapes and Responsible Markets”: Provides financing to medium-sized farmers for high-yield plantations combined with native forests, ensuring at least 20% of land is preserved as biodiversity corridors and forests that protect riverbanks and watercourses.
- Component III – ”Good Governance and Law Enforcement”: Strengthens institutional capacity to enforce environmental laws, conduct market studies, and promote sustainable public policy.
PROEZA’s focuses on Indigenous communities and gender equality:
- Indigenous peoples are recognized as key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation due to their traditional knowledge and ecosystem stewardship.
- PROEZA ensures Indigenous participation through the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process (Consulta y Consentimiento Libre, Previo e Informado – CCLPI), as mandated by Paraguayan law and international standards.
- A Special Indigenous Commission (CEI) was created with technical representatives from institutions to guide the approach in Indigenous communities.
- The CEI supports implementation at methodological, technical, and operational levels in coordination with the Project Management Unit—Unidad de Gestión de Proyectos—(UGP/FAO/PROEZA).
- PROEZA includes a Gender Action Plan to: Support technical staff with gender-sensitive training, educate participants on rights, and to create spaces for rural women’s participation in decision-making.
- PROEZA will develop a specific targeting strategy to ensure female-headed households (FHH) are given priority access to project benefits.
Sustaining project impact requires medium-term planning and strong institutional backing. Key lessons include simplifying procedures, improving coordination, ensuring inclusive registration, engaging communities, and tailoring procurement to support local service markets.
- Need for medium-term plans backed by institutional resolutions, which preempt discontinuities due to political changes.
- The project effectively contributed to land tenure security by achieving the expected results for Component 1, while paying particular attention to the situation of rural women.
- Component 1 costs (agroforestry models and cookstoves) exceeded initial estimates. This reinforces the need for prior community work, as their engagement is essential to ensure adoption and sustainable use of cookstoves.
- Lessons include the need for simplified procedures, stronger inter-institutional coordination, and tailored financial mechanisms.
- It is necessary to improve participant registration processes by implementing inclusive census efforts and targeted outreach in Indigenous communities in order to prevent inadvertent exclusion from program enrollment.
- New efforts should focus on developing tailored procurement strategies by identifying local service providers, evaluating their capacities and willingness, and adapting approaches to strengthen emerging forestry and livestock service markets.
Access to clean fuels and technology; Conditional cash transfer (CCT); Emergency cash transfers in fragile and humanitarian contexts; Support to livelihood diversification; Training (vocational, life skills, cash for training, entrepreneurship); Unconditional cash transfer; Integrated programmes for climate and shock resilience, including programmes related to anticipatory, adaptive and shock-responsive social protection
In Paraguay:
- Instituto Forestal Nacional (INFONA)
- Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES)
International:
Summary: Multi-level governance including international organizations and national government.
The PROEZA Paraguay project is implemented by the Government of Paraguay. It is financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and receives technical cooperation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The National Coordination of the PROEZA project is overseen by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and the supervision and monitoring of its implementation is carried out through a governance structure composed of nine public institutions: the Ministry of Social Development (MDS), the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy (VMME) of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI), the National Institute for Rural and Land Development (INDERT), the National Forestry Institute (INFONA), and the Development Finance Agency (AFD).
The beneficiaries are 153,000 people living in poverty in the project area affected by climate change, of which 76,000 are women and 14,800 are Indigenous. The indirect beneficiaries are the 141,306 poor and extremely poor households (720,000 people/360,000 women) registered in Tekoporã (social protection programme) that could also be benefited from the transformational change to be promoted by PROEZA.
Also, currently in its first phase, the energy-efficient stoves will be installed in 662 households across indigenous and rural communities in the districts of Capiíbary, General Resquín, San Vicente Pancholo, Tacuatí, and Santa Rosa del Aguaray in San Pedro Department, as well as Curuguaty in Canindeyú Department, where the PROEZA project is being implemented. In a second phase, the project plans to expand coverage to approximately 2,788 additional participants across 30 districts within the PROEZA project’s intervention area, bringing the total to nearly 3,500 households equipped with efficient stoves.
Total budget: USD 90,257,495
- USD 65,197,119 co-financed with national public funds:
- USD 49,332,332 loan through the Development Finance Agency of Paraguay.
- USD 15,864,787 grant from the public budget of the Tekoporã social protection programme of the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) and the Insituto Forestal Nacional del Paraguay (INFONA).
- USD 25,060,376 support financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF)
Sistema Integrado de Información Social – SIIS: It is a management tool for social protection policies that integrates information about current and potential beneficiaries (a single beneficiary registry), as well as the available public offerings (social programs) and the budgets linked to these programs. Among the main requirements necessary to access Proeza’s program is that of being registered in the Tekoporã programme, whose participants are incorporated into the SIIS.
The United Nations Human Rights Office is supporting Paraguay’s efforts to adopt a social protection system that integrates human rights, alleviates structural inequalities and generates sustainable growth. With funding from the Surge Initiative, the Office is working with the government, civil society, human rights institutions and academia, providing technical assistance and analytical data, and enhancing capacity with the goal of building institutional and financial capacity to ensure social security for all.
Following three years of development and support provided by specialists from 27 government offices, the Paraguay‘s Technical Unit of the Social Cabinet (UTGS) has deployed the social protection card (Ficha Integrada de Protección Social – FIPS) in 10 communities of Villeta District. This government-led initiative is the first step towards the establishment of a social registry.