--- title: "“Fem cumó” — the winning proposal for the Emprius Prize 2024!" url: https://emprius.cat/en/premi-2024-fem-cumo/ description: "“Fem cumó. Passat, present i futur del comunal a Sapeira i a la vall de la Terreta” has been chosen as the winning proposal for the Emprius Prize 2024. You…" datePublished: 2024-11-12T10:31:33.000Z dateModified: 2026-11-04T01:38:12.330Z language: en publisher: "Fundació Emprius" categories: ["Awareness", "Communalism"] --- # “Fem cumó” — the winning proposal for the Emprius Prize 2024! *Published: 2024-11-12 · Updated: 2026-11-04* ![](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYP6MNCSV2NTZNGGEE88V5.png) [**“Fem cumó. Passat, present i futur del comunal a Sapeira i a la vall de la Terreta”**](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6HA6ZSSAMD7ZSR5NKF9N3JJ.pdf) (“Doing cumó: past, present and future of the commons in Sapeira and the Terreta valley”) has been chosen as the winning proposal for the [**Emprius Prize 2024**](https://emprius.cat/en/premi-2024/). You can [**download the**](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6HA6ZSSAMD7ZSR5NKF9N3JJ.pdf) [**PDF here**](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6HA6ZSSAMD7ZSR5NKF9N3JJ.pdf). ![Fem cumó (Usnea proposal) – Cover](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYPWFXR4CXH87G7DEMZMC0.png) This was the jury’s unanimous decision, made after they met a few days ago to deliberate and decide. The proposal was submitted by [**Usnea RP**](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/), an agroecological collective project based in **Sapeira**, in the Terreta valley, in the Pallars Jussà. Last weekend we met with Usnea in Vilamitjana, at the [**2nd Àgora Pallaresa**](https://www.instagram.com/agorapallaresa/), presented them with the Prize diploma, and interviewed them. ## The proposal In Sapeira, “**cumó**” is the name for the **collective neighbourhood system of maintaining and building common spaces and infrastructure**. In other regions, this kind of work has been called [**“treball a jova”**](https://reconstruirelcomunal.suportmutu.org/memoria-treball-a-jova/), “fer comú”, [**“auzolan”**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2nkFsY5iFE), “trabajo a concejo”, [**“trabajo a zofra”**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZWxO3LIgI), “facendera”, [**“sestaferia”**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4xVbkB9qLA), “minga”… They propose to carry out a **research project** that serves “as an exercise in **collective memory and justice**, and also as a **strategy to drive social change** in rural regions”. In their proposal, they set out the following **goals**: - **Generate knowledge** about historical communalism and its legacy in Sapeira, with special focus on the community management of the forest, contributing to broader knowledge of this topic. - **Analyse** the main opportunities and obstacles to progress towards realistic models for recovering communal assets and uses in Sapeira, applicable to other regions. - **Generate interest** and put communalism on the public agenda in Sapeira and the Terreta valley, and later further afield, through presenting research findings via an audiovisual work that will be part of the project. The proposal includes **research** and consultation of primary and secondary sources, **interviews** (with local people, valley farmers, local and regional public officials, experts in communalism and/or the valley’s history, etc.) and **community activities** (a public event about communal land and forest management, two cumó working days, a future scenarios workshop on the commons, and a final screening of the audiovisual work) and an **audiovisual piece** that will serve as a tool to spread knowledge of the whole topic, made from these interviews, cumó days and workshops. For the audiovisual part, they’re working with **David Andreu i Solà**, who has directed documentaries including “Aigua Tèrbola: el negoci d’Agbar a Mèxic” and “Territori cooperatiu”. One of the [**Usnea RP**](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/) team explains: > “The **commons** was what **made life in the village so much easier**. Because of outside forces, the village emptied completely; in the ’60s the people of Sapeira had to leave for the city and were robbed of all those communal assets – the forest and other infrastructure – and of all the **practices and customs** that made them who they were and how they organised their lives. This is where we see a chance for justice: restoring, at least in principle, those customs, those communal practices, and making life more liveable by coming together with the people you live alongside. Doing **historical research** and **bringing it to now**. Seeing which of these practices and customs we can still use, which still matter and are useful, and which new ones we can invent because we have different needs from our ancestors – but we still share that social dimension.” ## The collective Usnea RP are Jaume, Joan, Ana and Víctor, four young people who have chosen to make a collective commitment to rural life and primary-sector work. The project is still early, but they’ve already done and continue to do substantial work. They’re four people with a community behind them: the local neighbourhood — who are very supportive — people from the Terreta valley and their network of friends, who are getting involved with the region through the project and through activities and events they’re organising. Right now, among other things, they’re taking over an **apiary** from a neighbour of an older generation, who is teaching them his knowledge, creating bonds that go beyond that. They’re also moving into **forest management** and firewood work, and plan in future to get involved in **extensive livestock farming**, with a view to setting up a **cheese-making workshop**. You can find more information about the [**Usnea RP**](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/) team in the [**proposal document**](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6HA6ZSSAMD7ZSR5NKF9N3JJ.pdf) [they submitted](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6HA6ZSSAMD7ZSR5NKF9N3JJ.pdf). ![“Fem cumó” — the winning proposal of the Premi Emprius 2024!](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6H4GP2KSPCCP8C3K4RTQC2G.jpg) [Usnea RP](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/) with the Emprius Prize 2024 diploma. ![The collective](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYP6WRYFP3CEGKWQKXMT0W.jpg) [Usnea RP](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/), taking over from an apiarist in Sapeira. ## The jury The jury for this first edition of the Prize, as set out in the [rules](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYW9APMS9TEV80KF4P33RG.pdf), comprised: - **David Algarra Bascón**. Programmer by profession, scholar of history from below, author of the book [“El comú català. La història dels que no surten a la història”](https://reconstruirelcomunal.suportmutu.org/el-comu-catala/) (“The Catalan commons: a history of those left out of history”) and other articles on the subject. - **Federica Ravera**. Researcher in the Geography Department of the University of Girona. With extensive study and activism in rural life and agroecology, she researches mainly in mountain areas, gender issues and from an ecofeminist perspective. She is author of the book [“Dones de la muntanya”](https://pol-len.cat/llibres/dones-de-la-muntanya/). - **David Segarra i Soler**. Journalist, documentary filmmaker and graphic designer. Director of documentaries and audiovisual works including [“Savis de l’horta”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGt21e7prz8), [“Renaixem”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rne0VcYDnE), [“Per molt que bufe el vent”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPokMSHJ42k)… - **Mar Carrera i Vendrell**. Journalist and editor at the co-operative publisher [Pol·len Edicions](https://pol-len.cat/). - **Joan Pedragosa**. Member of Emprius and of the [Reconstruir el Comunal](https://reconstruirelcomunal.suportmutu.org/) initiative *(jury member with a voice, but voting only in case of a tie, which did not occur)*. ## The prize The Emprius Prize aims to **champion communalism**: the communalism that existed in the **past**, which generally occupies a non-existent or marginal place in our historical memory; what remains in the **present** and is being recreated; and communalism as a **future** proposal, to meet the social, human and ecological crises and challenges we face. By communalism, we mean a range of forms of social organisation linked to communal and collective ownership and management of resources, and communal rights over them; direct democracy and active community participation; social relations of reciprocity and mutual aid… We are working towards social change where these kinds of structures, forms and logics carry increasing weight, because we believe they can help solve many of the problems we face. The prize is **€800**. Half is given now, half when the work described in the proposal has been completed, within a maximum of 1 year. We at Fundació Emprius will do everything we can to publicise the completed work, so it has the greatest possible reach and social impact. ## 13 proposals submitted This first edition of the Prize received **13 proposals**: - The communal forests of Campelles - Communal stewardship of rural land acquired through crowdfunding - Making communalism visible: past, present and future. Educational resource kit - Communalism in Catalonia. A path to the future - Communalism in action - Origin and destiny - The emprius as communal assets - Collective housing as a spearhead for communalising the territory - Mutual aid as a tool for solidarity. The Brotherhood of Mutual Aid of Sant Crist de Bellvei - In defence of the commons: expropriation, resistance and repression in the Berguedà commons (XIX–XX centuries) - Fem cumó. Past, present and future of the commons in Sapeira and the Terreta valley - The presence of the commons in New Catalonia - Urban commons as a tool for realising the right to the city Only one could be awarded, but many were genuinely interesting, and we hope they can move forward in some way at some point. We consider the first edition of the Prize a success, valuing both the number and quality of proposals received. ## Historical background Between 1897 and 1918, the [Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas](https://racmyp.es/la-academia/historia-de-la-racmyp-y-de-su-sede/) held **21 competitions** for work on **“customary law”** and **“popular economy”**, topics closely linked to historical communalism in rural peninsular life. 50 submissions were received and 22 were awarded. The academic interest of that era grew out of works like [“Colectivismo agrario en España”](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYW66JH9VMW9KXZPHMTBQP.pdf) and [“Derecho consuetudinario y economía popular de España”](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYW9R39HX78FQ1FEZENRKF.pdf) by Joaquín Costa. We at Emprius hope our contribution can help champion communalism, and not only in academic circles. ## Emprius Prize 2025 We at Fundació Emprius are announcing that next year we will run a **second edition** of the [**Emprius Prize**](https://emprius.cat/en/premi/). Whether you took part in this one and didn’t win, or didn’t take part because of time or other reasons, you’ll have another chance! ![Prize diploma 2024](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYP62VQ0JW18BWZTF4NCJA.png) ![Premi Emprius 2025](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYP7DM9APHWZ93CGEJ3N13.jpg) [Usnea RP](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/) ![Premi Emprius 2025](https://emprius.cat/_emdash/api/media/file/01M6GYP81TQWANEV6T5TBH9DF1.jpg) [Usnea RP](https://www.instagram.com/usnea_rp/) --- Source: https://emprius.cat/en/premi-2024-fem-cumo/