LATIN AMERICA:
Rural Women Forge Their
Own Path in
Microenterprise
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ, (IPS) -
Rural women from five
Andean countries
presented their
successful
microenterprises as part
of a regional
competition for female
crafts and food
producers, which also
served as an opportunity
for sharing the life
stories of these leaders
in the struggle against
poverty.
Ten women’s
organisations from
Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru,
Colombia and Venezuela
participated in the
first ever Women in the
Fight Against Poverty
Regional Competition,
sponsored by the United
Nations International
Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD),
whose mission is to
enable poor rural people
to overcome poverty.
Damiana Quispe, a
representative of the
Inca Pallay Association
of Bolivia, travelled to
La Paz to accept first
prize in the crafts
category. Thanks to her
participation in a
successful
microenterprise, she has
earned the respect of
her community and is
able to exercise her
rights, while her
children look up to her
as one of the family’s
breadwinners.
Quispe’s journey to La
Paz from her hometown of
Tarabuco, an indigenous
municipality in the
southern department
(province) of Chuquisaca,
was turned into a
veritable odyssey by the
social and political
conflicts currently
plaguing Bolivia.
Along the arduous
805-kilometre route, she
feared being intercepted
by protesters from the
city of Sucre who were
waging battle against
the police and
pro-government
indigenous sectors at
the time.
During a stop on the
highway, the van
transporting Quispe and
the rest of her group
was stolen, and she was
on the verge of giving
up on the trip. Holding
up the cheque for 4,000
dollars that accompanied
the first-place prize,
she commented, "With
this money I think I can
get my van back."
Justina Morales, a
32-year-old Peruvian
woman and leader of the
Aswanq'ari ("Strong
Man") Association of
Dried Meat Producers,
said that her small
enterprise stands out
for its strict quality
control in the
selection, processing
and marketing of dried
alpaca and llama meat.
As the winner of the
4,000-dollar first prize
in the food products
category, Morales
travelled to La Paz from
the province of Azangano
in the department of
Puno, located 1,300
kilometres south of
Lima.
Barefoot and clad in a
baize blouse and pleated
skirt, she recounted
that by creating her own
source of employment,
she was able to give up
the risky business of
smuggling food and
clothing across the
Bolivian border two
years ago.
Thanks to her new job,
she now covers 70
percent of the household
costs she shares with
her husband, a public
school teacher with a
modest salary.
Morales and her 19
partners took on the
daunting challenge of
starting up a business
that demanded
perseverance, a change
of attitude and patience
until the first profits
could be realised. That
was the hardest part of
all, she told IPS.
Ana María Pinaya is the
director of the Delicias
Andean Rural
Microenterprise located
in the altiplano or
highlands region of
Bolivia in the
department of Oruro, 250
kilometres from La Paz.
Under her leadership,
the microenterprise has
succeeded in breaking
down the prejudices of
consumers by raising
awareness of the fact
that llama meat is both
healthy and nutritious,
with a protein content
of 24.82 percent and a
fat content of merely
3.69 percent.
Pinaya and her partners
took second prize, worth
2,500 dollars, in the
agricultural food
products category, after
winning first prize in
the Bolivian national
competition.
In the same category,
the third prize of 2,000
dollars went to a
Colombian
microenterprise called
Vamos Mujeres ("Let’s
Go, Women" in Spanish),
which specialises in
products made from sugar
cane derivatives.
Fourth prize, along with
1,500 dollars, was
awarded to the
Ecuadorian women who run
the Mulalillo Dairy
Product Processing
Plant, which was started
up with a single cow and
has now grown to support
numerous families in the
area where it operates.
The Emprendedoras (Women
Entrepreneurs) of
Venezuela were awarded
1,000 dollars for
organising and creating
a team spirit among a
group of women who
produce tropical fruit
jams, jellies and
preserves.
In an exhibition hall at
the National Art Museum
in La Paz, llama and
alpaca meat, honey,
dairy products and jams
and jellies were
displayed in late
November alongside
colourful Andean woven
goods, hats crafted from
natural fibres and
ornaments created by
women from the Waorani
indigenous community who
live deep in the
Ecuadorian jungle.
The event also served as
a space for the sharing
of experiences among
these rural women who
not only displayed the
results of their work,
but also their strength
and courage in tackling
the challenge of
creating and developing
sources of employment
and production in areas
of extreme poverty.
Overcoming fear and
distrust, becoming small
entrepreneurs and
breaking into a field
normally reserved for
men are the primary
achievements proudly
emphasised by these
successful rural women
leaders.
All of them share the
conviction that their
work is crucial for
improving the living
conditions, health and
education of their
families.
The idea of rewarding
these entrepreneurial
activities was promoted
by the IFAD
representative in La
Paz, Marie Canavesi. The
goal was to create a
spirit of competition
that would create
awareness among the
prize winners of how
successful they have
been in their
initiatives, Canavesi
told IPS.
Women from Bolivia,
Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
and Colombia
participated in national
competitions, and in
each of these five
countries, two
associations --
representing the two
categories of crafts and
food products -- were
chosen to travel to La
Paz for the regional
competition.
The first national
competition was held in
Bolivia. It attracted
the participation of
women from 150 poor
municipalities, or
almost half of the
country’s 327
municipalities, and
served as the
inspiration for the
regional event.
One of the most
effective means of
transmitting knowledge
and encouraging women’s
involvement in these
initiatives is through
horizontal leadership
training, said Canavesi,
who added that the
presentation of
audiovisual material
about the 10 groups
clearly illustrated the
success of the project.
The second and third
prizes in the crafts
category, which included
cash awards of 2,500 and
2,000 dollars,
respectively, went to
two groups that produce
handmade hats: Las
Vicuñitas from 3 de Mayo
in Collini, a town near
Lake Titicaca in Peru,
and the Coofa
cooperative from
Colombia.
The Waorani Association,
made up of women from
this indigenous ethnic
group of the Ecuadorean
rainforest, received the
fourth prize and 1,500
dollars for their crafts
created with stones and
seeds from their natural
surroundings.
Finally, the Gavidia
Women Weavers
Cooperative of Venezuela
was awarded fifth prize
for their successful
work in raising sheep
and producing wool and
woven goods.
These women have
overcome the barrier of
fear, said Canavesi, and
they talk about their
ideas and projects so
passionately that they
fully convince their
listeners of the
successful direction in
which their initiatives
are moving.
The support provided by
IFAD is a means of
recognising the women
who have achieved these
successes through
tremendous effort, Nuria
Felipe, IFAD
communications officer
for Latin America and
the Caribbean, told IPS.
From the experience of
this first regional
competition, Felipe
highlighted the forms of
organisation practiced
in the communities and
their contribution to
the integration of
peoples with productive
traditions, which
together serve as
"engines of
development."
The generation of
economic opportunities
based on their own
cultures and with
respect for
autochthonous means of
production represents a
formula for confronting
globalisation, under the
principle that "the past
is the key to future
development," Felipe
concluded.
The project also had the
support of German
Technical Cooperation (GTZ),
the Andean Development
Corporation (CAF), the
Regional Programme in
Support of the
Indigenous Peoples of
the Amazon Basin (PRAIA)
Foundation, and the
Bolivian Vice Ministry
of Small Enterprise.
|
