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Risks pay off in Colombia microenterprise programme In 1997, a pilot programme in Colombia to promote rural microcredit was about to close because urban experiences with microcredit were not working in a rural setting. But then IFAD stepped in and encouraged programme staff to innovate and take risks. Ten years later, the programme was considered a model for action and knowledge both nationally and internationally. Its success is a result of an organizational process that succeeded in linking the entire chain, from production to processing to marketing. Phase II is now under way.
In the late 1990s, the IFAD-funded Rural Microenterprise Development Programme (PADEMER) was encountering start-up difficulties. The initial design – based on experience acquired under urban microenterprise support programmes – offered few clues for reversing the agricultural and rural crisis sweeping Colombia at the time. “Rural poverty was sky-high,” says programme manager Maria Oliva Lizarazo. “Nearly 70 per cent of families, about 11 million people, were poor and 40 per cent were indigent. Free trade was not benefiting smallholders, who weren’t producing for export. Farmers were not planting, and coca, which isn’t a traditional Colombian crop, was gaining ground. And all the while, armed conflict was breaking out again.” The programme was facing a formidable and urgent challenge, and the staff soon realized that the instruments available to them were not helpful. The programme called for training workshops provided by NGOs specializing in urban business management, but this did not work in the rural environment. Neither the training methods nor the subject-matter were relevant to rural issues. Citing a lack of progress, the government decided to cancel the programme. But IFAD sent a mission to the country to find a way to give the programme one last chance to work. Innovation brings positive change IFAD suggested that the programme take a whole new ‘learn by doing’ approach. “This truly marked a turning point in PADEMER,” says Lizarazo. “IFAD’s backing allowed us to take decisions, even risky ones, and make changes that would have been impossible otherwise.” The first major change was to modify the role of NGOs providing technical assistance to the programme. In the initial design, NGOs were identifying entrepreneurs and sending proposals to be supported. “This made no sense from a management point of view,” says Lizarazo. ”We were receiving hundreds of proposals in hundreds of different business areas, from a woman who wanted us to finance a washing machine to a man who wanted to open a hair salon. So we decided to group the proposals by sector and hire technical assistance for sectors rather than for individual enterprises.” Smallholder farmers were required to prepare their own technical assistance requirements and have the NGOs submit their proposals by public bidding. In other words, the farmers defined their needs and decided who would provide the best solution, rather than the other way around. This innovative approach brought about other even more positive developments, says Lizarazo. “For instance, the NGOs had to change how they engaged in dialogue with the farmers and made themselves understood. They showed the farmers ways of improving their production with better packaging and labelling. The approach was much more visual and experimental, with less theory and more practice.”
The second major change happened when programme staff realized that the technical assistance being provided by NGOs to farmers was often limited to agriculture and lacked other crucial elements such as market access, publicity and even social assistance to deal with socio-economic issues. Lizarazo says that transferring responsibility and management of technical assistance funding to the beneficiaries themselves on the real services market made sense and was already being done successfully in other IFAD programmes in the region. Knowledge is another source of income The programme generated more than 43,000 new employment positions. But the knowledge gained through PADEMER has also become an excellent source of income, says Lizarazo. “IFAD’s support enabled us to establish links with other interesting programmes that IFAD is carrying out in the region and learn from them,” she says. “One example is the Programme for Rural Development Training (PROCASUR), which is organizing ‘learning routes’ between producers in the region, to promote an exchange of knowledge, challenges and solutions among small-scale producers. We have organized several learning routes with PROCASUR so that other producers can come to know PADEMER producers and share their experiences around associations and resource management. By selling our knowledge, these kinds of exchanges are becoming a source of income, as more and more organizations want to come to visit us and learn from our experience.” After overcoming the enormous difficulties and initial design errors, PADEMER came to an end in 2006. An external evaluation qualified it as one of IFAD’s best projects due to its contributions to people’s income and self-esteem – and to peace. The Oportunidades Rurales (Rural Opportunities) project got under way in 2007, continuing where PADEMER left off with an investment of US$30 million. A new silk road paved with hope In southern Colombia, a new 21st century “silk road” is emerging – a road that traces the magical story of a shiny, thin thread from the moment it is spun by a tiny grey caterpillar that devours mulberry leaves for 40 days running to its ultimate transformation into articles of clothing. This road is today the road of hope. In a country where violence and death have become the legacy of a complex armed conflict, and where intolerance is part of day-to-day life, the production of silk is viewed as an act of peace, faith, harmonious coexistence, tolerance and cooperation. PADEMER breathed new life into the efforts of various local and international agencies that had been working with silk production with varying degrees of success and setbacks. The programme developed a new strategy that consolidated an entire production chain – from raising the silkworms and processing silk thread to marketing finished products, including training, technical assistance, and support for organization and marketing channels. PADEMER pulled together all the links of a production chain through a comprehensive approach to production, organization and marketing. To ensure the success of small-scale producers, it fostered microenterprise development efforts by creating links between production and marketing. The programme also funds a wide variety of other microenterprises, including honey production, ecotourism, goat and rabbits raising, medicinal plants, handicrafts out of recycled materials, bread and milk production and commercialization, fishing and fish processing. A lasting, positive impact The programme’s impact on community organizations, most of them women’s groups, has gone far beyond economic well-being to affect their very outlook on life. According to Jorge Albeiro Rodríguez, director of the Centre to Promote Silk Production in the Cauca Region (CORSEDA), it is impossible to quantify the programme’s impact on area residents. “There is a new awareness that well-being does not have to be begged for or achieved through violence,” he says. As they hone their negotiating skills and become true stakeholders, the programme participants graduate from a “mentality of subsistence to one of entrepreneurship.” Efigenia Chantre, one of PADEMER’s chief promoters, learned about the programme’s weaver training component through a brother-in-law who had attended a meeting. Since she does not know how to write, he helped her fill out the application form. “My mother-in-law and husband looked after my five children while I attended the course,” she says. “Everyone helped out and I was able to learn. I looked for support wherever I thought I could find it. I remember people saying, ‘How is anyone going to believe in this woman who doesn’t know anything?’ And that was true, I didn’t know anything. But I was out there trying to find someone who did.” Chantre made a deal with the weaving instructor: she was to share what she learned with other women. Eventually she set up her own group and invited all her neighbours and relatives to help with planting mulberry bushes, fetching water and building a roof for the silkworm beds. Building self-esteem and a cohesive society Being part of an organized group of weavers and craftworkers has had a tremendous impact on women. Many were able to finish their secondary-school studies. They have health-care coverage, their children are receiving an education, and they themselves are more independent because they manage their own incomes. Self-esteem and the ability to view themselves as producers and, by extension, as a crucial link in the rural production chain is perhaps the most noteworthy achievement of these women’s groups. These processes lead not just to productive activity but also to the establishment of new links and relationships through organizations that have a special impact on people’s personal lives and on family relationships. “It’s a very good arrangement, because you can work at home with your family,” says CORSEDA member Mercedes Hurtado. “Everyone chips in and it keeps us together. Even the children help out, carrying leaves and helping with silkworm feeding.” Helena Ramírez, another CORSEDA member, seconds that opinion. Myrian Collazos, a member of Efigenia Chantre’s weaving group, says her life changed radically after joining the group. “I can even tell you the exact date: 5 February 1999. Efigenia invited me to work with her as a spinner, so I learned how to spin at home. When she told me to come and work on the looms, I didn’t sleep all night. I was so excited I didn’t know what to do. She believed in me. I got up early the next day and went over. I stayed there weaving. Before, all I did was cook, scavenge for wood, clean, and take care of the smaller children. I was hardly ever able to go out. Now, I can. I go out because the children have grown and because I want to and I can. Now, my children help me as well; they all understand that organizing is like being reborn.” Source: IFAD |
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