Federación de Campesinos Hacia el Progreso (FCHP) is a peasant-led organization founded in 1992 to protect peasants’ rights to food, land, and water, while also protecting the environment from extractive industries such as mining and exploitative tourism.

Situated in the mountains of Monseñor Nouel, home to over 70% of the Dominican Republic’s basins, FCHP tirelessly advocates for and upholds peasants’ social, political, economic, and cultural rights. FCHP is fostering resilience and implementing sustainable solutions within peasant communities by employing an integrated approach that includes direct resistance actions, popular education grounded in agroecology, agroforestry, ecotourism, and advocacy. This engagement serves to foster intergenerational exchange within the organization, provide income generation and incentivize them to remain in their communities. FCHP firmly believes in the critical role of youth in preserving ecosystems and achieving the comprehensive and sustainable development of peasant families and is determined to strengthen and support the consolidation of youth movements to become catalysts for positive change in their communities.

FCHP stands as a successful exemplar of a community-based economic model that harmonizes socioeconomic advancement with responsible environmental stewardship. Moreover, they are as a testament to the resilience demonstrated by numerous peasants who have confronted unilateral actions, including the construction of the Blanco River dam, attempts to exploit a gold mine in El Higo within the Blanco River basin, and efforts to displace communities under the pretext of ‘protecting natural resources’. These actions ultimately aimed to suppress resistance from peasant communities against multinational mining interests.