TY - THES A1 - Paschoal, Bruno A1 - Werneck, Caio A1 - Guillot, Javier T1 - Fostering sustainability in Brazilian agrarian reform : insights from assentamentos and ecovillages N2 - We conducted a constructivist qualitative research project, designed as an instrumental collective case study, in order to discover potential ways to foster sustainability in agrarian - reform settlements (assentamentos) in Brazil. We visited twelve communities — six assentamentos and six ecovillages — in May October 2014 and gathered data through interviews, observations and documents produced by other sources. Inspired by the so - called “Gioia Method” and grounded theory, we followed a research strategy characterized by a constant process of interaction with the data, involving the use of qualitative data analysis (QDA) software. In the process, one broad research question — ‘how can sustainability in assentamentos be fostered?’ — was broken down into two:‘ which are salient challenges to fostering sustainability in assentamentos?’ and ‘ which insights for addressing those challenges may be obtained from existing assentamentos and ecovillages?’ . The synthesized results were three clusters of challenges — moving towards sustainable production, building infrastructure for sustainability and creating attractive conditions for the youth; two elements for the design of potential solutions — improving access, use and dissemination of sustainability know - how and enabling cooperative collective dynamics; and four insights that can serve as input in the design of policies and governance arrangements to foster sustainability in agrarian reform: (i) the power of example can be an effective means for the transition to more sustainable pract ices; (ii) building a common vision among assentados can support the maintenance of cooperative collective dynamics; (iii) more room for experimentation can strengthen sustainability know - how; and (iv) collective initiatives can prevent isolation in rural communities by acting as touchpoints with the external world and bringing exchange opportunities for assentados. T3 - Hertie School Student Paper Series - 04/2015 Y1 - 2015 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-20399 PB - Hertie School of Governance CY - Berlin ER -