The community "Las Salinas" faces numerous conditions that hinder the enjoyment of a dignified and fulfilling life, consequently preventing community development. These issues were identified through a community diagnosis conducted with the people in this geographic space.

The philosophy of our project aims to impact the community positively, but this is not limited to the economic sphere. From Kokonut Network, we want to contribute to the community by impacting various areas of people's lives, such as health, education, and the environment.

General Objective:

To improve the living conditions of community members.

Specific Objectives:

1. Promote employment opportunities for youth and young adults.

2. Advocate for comprehensive sexual health in adolescents and young adults.

3. Foster the creation of spaces for technical training.

4. Address sanitation issues proactively.

Undoubtedly, implementing this project will generate a positive socio-economic impact in the region. According to the parameters considered by international organizations to assess the living standards of a population, Kokonut aims to benefit the municipality of Las Salinas (where the project is executed). Additionally, the municipalities of Cabral, Cristóbal, Duvergé, El Peñón, Enriquillo, Fundación, La Ciénaga, Mella, and Polo will also benefit. For these communities, Kokonut represents progress, employment, health, education, care for natural resources, equality, and more opportunities for everyone.

Intending to improve the living standards of the communities, we have prioritized the following actions:

1. Improvement in housing quality. Official data from the National Office of Statistics (ONE) indicates that: 4.3% of homes have roofs made of asbestos, cement, yagua, cane, and other materials. 10.2% of homes have walls made of palm boards, yagua, and tejamanil. 6.2% of homes have earthen or other types of floors.

2. Improvement in health quality. Data collected from the IX Population and Housing Census show that the municipality has only one primary care hospital and no specialized centers, placing the entire population in a vulnerable position.

3. Increase per capita family income. We will create more jobs, elevating the quality of life for each family.

4. Improve the healthcare system, which will reduce infectious diseases. The municipality lacks a healthcare system and wastewater treatment. 58.9% of households lack an indoor toilet.

5. Switch to a different fuel type for cooking. 27.8% of households use solid fuels for cooking.

6. Improve access to clean water. We will support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. 11% of households have water supplied by a public network inside the dwelling.

A circular economy aims to re-introduce wastes and energies from a system back into it via inputs in a different form. This model can make the system sustainable. Coconut is a unique plantation crop, grown with a large interspace to avoid overlapping of its wide canopy and laterally spreading roots. The interspaces can be beneficially farmed with field, horticultural, and forage crops along with animal husbandry to maximize the below and above-ground natural resource utilization and add to the farmer’s economic returns per unit area. A coconut-based farming system that includes black pepper, banana, pineapple, forage grasses, and milch cow, in an integrated or discrete fashion, offers an ideal ecosystem for circular carbon and microbial economy by the way recycling the abundant biomass produced in this farming system via vermi-composting technology. The scope of coconut leaf vermi-composting technology to be carried out on a stand-alone basis, or mixed with other agro-waste; its potential to return the all-important organic carbon and critical microbiota to soil; the impact of its application on plant properties and crop yield.

Coconut provides a unique opportunity for plant-based food security and climate change mitigation under an adaptive circular economy model. At Kokonut we will focus on supporting and implementing initiatives that promote a circular economy to give new uses to coconut waste.

At Kokonut, women will take center stage.

All projects related to the circular economy will be spearheaded by women. We have significant plans to implement the concept of a circular economy and to achieve this, women will lead all projects related to this theme. This will generate both social and environmental impact.

There is a real problem, and it is the massive consumption of plastic and its devastating impact on our planet. Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the sea, taking hundreds of years to decompose. We need a radical change, and we have to start with ourselves by eliminating plastic from our everyday products.