La Cacica rural district · Zapatoca · Santander · Colombia

A hub for the territorial network.

CIDERT connects veredas (rural districts), peasant associations and municipalities in Santander, Colombia, into a technical network that manages partnerships, socio-environmental restoration projects and cooperation funding that no organization could reach on its own. We believe community organization is the engine that transforms a territory and reduces multidimensional poverty. The La Cacica district sparks the network; the network of Zapatoca's districts builds the model.

Partner with us → Read our local AI proposal →
01
0K
people in Zapatoca, our first territory (DANE 2025)
02
0+
hectares of restoration planned (target)
03
0K
tCO₂ carbon potential (estimate)
04
COP 2B
in funding to mobilize (target)

Who we are

A non-profit rooted in the territory

Non-profitTax ID (NIT) 902085017-1Legal personalityZapatoca, Santander

CIDERT (Corporación Integral para el Desarrollo Rural y Territorial) is a non-profit corporation based in Zapatoca, Santander, a mountain municipality of about 10,300 people in northeastern Colombia. We work within the legal framework of Peasant Agri-Food Territories (TECAM). We are the technical and institutional arm of local peasant communities: we handle what communities need but cannot process alone, always with territory and food sovereignty as non-negotiable priorities.

We are not an outside organization that comes to "help" the countryside. We are part of the territory. We connect rural districts, Community Action Boards (JAC), associations and municipalities with the State and with international cooperation, keeping community autonomy at the center of every decision.

La Cacica rural district, Zapatoca, Santander La Cacica rural district · Zapatoca · Santander

"We are the technical instrument of Zapatoca's Peasant Agri-Food Territory — the network that turns community sovereignty into projects, partnerships and enforceable rights."

CIDERT · TECAM framework · La Cacica

Legal and strategic framework

Peasant Agri-Food Territories (TECAM)

TECAM is the Colombian legal figure that recognizes peasants as a collective subject of rights, with autonomy over their territory, production and way of life. It is the legal and strategic basis of everything we do.

The spark

La Cacica opens the way

A pilot district for Colombia.

District · La Cacica
The process

La Cacica drives the network

The network of Zapatoca's 27 rural districts: the real regional pilot.

27 districts · Zapatoca
The result

The network positions Zapatoca

A pilot municipality for the world.

Municipality · Santander
01 — Territory

Land is not an asset: it is life

TECAM recognizes the collective right to inhabit, manage and defend the territory. Land is cared for, passed on between generations and worked in common — not speculated with.

02 — Agri-food

Food sovereignty, not dependency

Communities have the right to decide what they grow, how they grow it and who they sell to. Production serves the family and the district first; then the market.

03 — Community

Decisions are made in assembly

Territorial management is collective. Projects, investments and partnerships are decided with the community — not in a city office or an outside company.

Legal basis

Arts. 64–66 · Constitution 1991

Right to land. The State must promote progressive access to land ownership for agricultural workers.

SU-016 · Constitutional Court 2021

Subject of rights. The Court recognized peasants as a collective subject of special constitutional protection.

Comprehensive Rural Reform · 2016 Peace Agreement, Point 1

Rural transformation. Communities as protagonists of rural change, not passive beneficiaries.

Decree 902 · 2017

Land regularization. Implements the Rural Reform in access to and formalization of rural property.

Law 2169 · 2021

Climate Action. Links sustainable peasant production with carbon markets and the Paris Agreement.

Decree 780 · 2024

TECAM regulation. Regulates how Peasant Agri-Food Territories are created, delimited and governed, and how they connect with agrarian policy.

The challenge, in numbers · DANE 2025

The gap our network aims to close

According to Colombia's national statistics office (DANE), living in the countryside still means facing far more deprivation than living in a town. The gap is not only about income, but about education, work, housing and connectivity — and it is the reason behind each of CIDERT's lines of work.

22.4%
of people in rural areas live in multidimensional poverty, versus 6.3% in urban centers — 3.6 times more.
DANE · MPI 2025
65.5%
of rural poverty is explained by two dimensions: education (35.9%) and work (29.6%).
DANE · MPI 2025
13.9%
of rural residents of Santander live in multidimensional poverty, versus 5.0% in its urban centers.
DANE · MPI 2025
56.9%
of rural households have internet access (+15 points since 2024), still far from 78.8% in urban centers.
DANE · Quality of Life Survey 2025

"Rural poverty is not a single problem: it is lack of decent income, schooling, adequate housing and connectivity, all at once. That is why the network works on all four doors at the same time."

CIDERT · Territorial reading of DANE's MPI and Quality of Life Survey 2025

What we do

Six lines of work for the territory

Complementary technical fronts for sustainable territorial development in Santander, focused on the Magdalena Medio and Comunera regions.

Agroforestry system and water body, Zapatoca Agroforestry and water · Zapatoca
01Environment

Ecological restoration and agroforestry

Agroforestry systems, reforestation with native species and restoration of riparian strips and biological corridors.

02Institutional

Project design and management

Projects under Colombia's public investment methodology (MGA-BPIN, royalties system), international logical frameworks (FAO, GEF, UNDP, GIZ) and national calls.

03Technical

Water and environmental monitoring

A community protocol to monitor springs, water quality, biodiversity and carbon, with community members trained as certified field technicians.

04Carbon

Environmental markets — PES and carbon

Payment for Ecosystem Services schemes with the Ministry of Environment and carbon credit projects under the Verra VCS standard.

05Education

Technical training and rural extension

Partnerships with SENA (the national training service) and regional universities for certified training in agroforestry, nurseries and monitoring.

06Circular

Circular economy and fair markets

Compost, bio-inputs and native-species nurseries with traceability, and access for local producers to differentiated markets and direct channels.

Territorial network

A network we build together

Five ways to take part, each with different rights and commitments. Governance is lean: a General Assembly of members, a Board, a legal representative and a statutory auditor, plus a quarterly Territorial Roundtable open to every member and ally.

Full governance

Members

Peasant associations and Community Action Boards with legal status. They vote in the Assembly.

Framework agreement

Institutional allies

Municipalities, SENA, universities, environmental authorities.

Resources and markets

Strategic allies

International NGOs, foundations, companies, environmental funds.

Open participation

Community allies

Rural groups and collectives without legal status.

Expertise

Expert allies

Researchers, professionals and consultants.

Technology proposal · Seeking funding

Small, local AI that rural communities can use

We propose affordable AI tools that run without internet, in Spanish, on equipment installed inside the territory. Nothing is implemented yet: an earlier attempt to fund a pilot in La Cacica did not succeed, so we are starting from zero — with a low-cost seed pilot designed to produce our own evidence first.

Water monitoring

LoRaWAN sensors at springs would record water levels around the clock and send alerts when they fall out of range.

LoRaWAN · IoT

Spanish-language assistant

A small open language model on a local computer, answering only from verified documents — technical guides, procedures, funding calls.

Local LLM · RAG

Early pest detection

A photo of a coffee or cocoa leaf, taken with a phone, would identify disease before damage is visible.

On-device vision

Evidence for funders

Verifiable metrics — water levels, trees planted, forecast accuracy — for PES, carbon and cooperation reporting.

Dashboard · MRV

Seed pilot: ≈ COP 1.9 million (≈ US$580) in equipment

One LoRaWAN gateway, three water-level sensors and a language-model prototype on an existing computer. Larger phases are unlocked only if the pilot meets its indicators.

Read the full proposal →

Who walks with us

Current allies

Organizations already part of the network. The network is growing.

JACCommunity ally

Community Action Board of La Cacica

The first level of local self-government in La Cacica, the community's voice before the municipality of Zapatoca, and a key partner in participatory processes.

La Cacica · Zapatoca
ACALCACommunity ally

La Cacica Agroforestry Peasant Association

An association of the district's peasant families, currently being consolidated. It is part of the pilot and is meant to become the community and productive arm of the network.

La Cacica · ZapatocaBeing consolidated
LUStrategic ally

Lógica Urbana S.A.S.

LegalTech firm in law, technology and territorial intelligence. Active agreement with CIDERT on land-title management and rural property formalization.

Bucaramanga · Santanderlogicaurbana.com ↗

We also have agreements with local companies in technology, sustainable real estate and food. See all our allies.

Partnerships

Let's build a partnership

If your organization works on rural development, environment, digital inclusion or technical cooperation, we would like to hear from you. We write in English and Spanish.

Address
La Cacica rural district, Zapatoca
Santander, Colombia
Email
contacto@cidert.org
Documents
Bylaws, institutional proposal
and work plan on request
Social media
LinkedIn · Facebook · Instagram

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