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Adriana Martinez

Project coordinator
Agencia de desarrollo local Nariño
Pasto, Nariño, Colombia

"I'm a project coordinator and I work in Nariño, Colombia, on local development initiatives. I came to learn about how rural businesses in a neighbouring country are tackling issues related to market access.

I learned a lot about how organizations articulate themselves around a project. This is something that will be very useful in my own work."

Ana Lucia Palaquibay
Ecuador

Financial advisor
Banco Solidario
Ecuador

"I work in a bank that provides credit to small rural producers, and this ruta is, for me, an excellent opportunity to understand better the realities of living in poor rural communities, and the challenges and difficulties poor people face when starting their own businesses.

Although I'm Ecuadorian, I did not know any of the enterprises that we visited, and the ruta allowed me to learn about them and appreciate them. During the past few days I have learned a lot about what needs to be done and what should not be done in business management. I would like us to meet again in a year's time to see how each one of us has integrated what we've learned into our own work."

Anna Manikowska
Canada

Communications specialist
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Rome, Italy

"I work as a communications expert in IFAD, a UN agency working with poor rural people. I work mostly on communications strategies for development in francophone countries and on knowledge access for poor rural communities and the people who work with them. I'm very interested in the ruta as a learning tool, and in the ways it can be replicated in other regions where IFAD operates.

This ruta taught me about this excellent learning and sharing tool, and about market access difficulties and organizational issues faced by poor rural communities. I also realized how important diversity is -- in terms of backgrounds, experiences, countries and contexts -- in generating new ideas and stimulating new ways of thinking."

Cesar Visarrea
Ecuador

Capacity-building specialist
Consejo de Desarrollo de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos de Ecuador (CODENPE)
Quito, Ecuador

"I work in a public institution whose role is to promote the social, economic and cultural development of indigenous identities and peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE). I'm particularly interested in strengthening the capacity of these communities. This ruta is a great opportunity for me to learn about these experiences and about opportunities in accessing markets, so that I can then share this knowledge with the communities CODENPE works with.

I was pleased to see that external partners and donors played an important role in stimulating the communities to outdo themselves and overcome market access difficulties. I think the methodology of the ruta is excellent, and I would like to develop similar thematic rutas in Ecuador on specific themes such as how fair trade and organic markets, bio-certification and quality requisites function. This is a work plan I'm taking away with me."

Conrado Gomez
Colombia

Representative
Asociación de Apicultores de Risaralda
Pereira, Colombia

"I represent a Colombian beekeepers' association, and I came to the ruta to share our experiences and to learn. What impressed me most were the management and organizational skills of the organization leaders we met. I also liked the feeling of learning from the people we visited."

Eybar Insuasty
Colombia

Attorney
Asociación para el Desarrollo Campesino (ADC)
Pasto, Nariño, Colombia

"I'm a lawyer and I work for an association for rural development in Pasto, where I live. Until now the farmers belonging to our association haven’t tried to explore global markets, but I think that in such a rapidly changing world we need to learn from one another, and this is why I am here: to see how other small farmers in the region have succeeded in accessing new markets.

One of the lessons I have learned is that it is possible to make sustainable changes in living conditions through small rural production enterprises. But I have also learned that mistakes can jeopardize this dream, and that is why it is so important to learn how to limit risks."

Fernando Zelada
Peru

Marketing expert
Mercadeando S.A.
Lima, Peru

"I am the director of a marketing consultancy firm in Lima and I came to the ruta to learn more about the idiosyncrasies of the rural world in order to be better equipped to identify the needs, potentials and limitations of businesses in poor rural areas.

I learned that development methodologies relating to accessing markets are still in their early stages, even though international cooperation organizations have been aware of their importance for at least eight years. We've seen that even cases that are considered successful still have big gaps in areas of organization, management or positioning on the market. This demonstrates that there is still a lot to be discovered and learned in this area.

The rutas are a fabulous means of extracting knowledge and drawing conclusions that allow poor communities to resolve the difficulties they face in accessing markets. I think that the methodology for systematizing and collecting information should be refined still further, to be used in guiding discussions and helping to formulate conclusions."

Flor Salazar
Chile

Weaving teacher
Fundación CholChol
Temuco, Chile

"I work with indigenous Mapuche women, helping them develop their weaving skills and textile designs. I'm very interested in reconciling tradition and innovation in our textile production to open up new markets for our products, and I see this ruta as a great opportunity to learn about how to do this.

Jesús A. Pérez
Nicaragua

Rural development expert
Programme for the Economic Development of the Dry Region in Nicaragua
Jinotepe, Nicaragua

"I'm a rural development expert and I work with poor farmers in the dry region of Nicaragua. I came to this ruta to learn about product innovation and how to introduce changes in business management. In my country, there are families who have been producing the same product in the same way for generations, and it's important to me to be able to provide them with new options.

My main lesson was understanding how complex and difficult it is to give the correct support to people in their fight against poverty. And this also made me think about how courageous those development workers are."

Louise McDonald
New Zealand

Country programme manager
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Rome, Italy

"I work as a country programme manager for Swaziland, in the Eastern and Southern Africa Division of IFAD. As an operational division, we operate closely with governments and other stakeholders such as the private sector, NGOs, UN agencies and donor partners, working towards rural poverty reduction.

For me the ruta provided an opportunity to experience and learn about enterprise development and market access in another region. A significant difference between group formation in the two regions is the original purpose. In Latin America most groups were formed around issues of culture and tradition and have since turned into enterprises. The organizational and planning skills of these groups were impressive, to say the least -- even over large distances -- and our region could benefit from some of the lessons learned here."

Luis Provoste
Chile

Manager
Federación Red Apícola de Chile - National Beekeeping Network of Chile
Concepción, Chile

"I'm responsible for the beekeepers' network of Chile and I was curious to learn about how the businesses we were going to see were able to enter markets.

I learned a lot from the visits and from discussions with the various leaders, but I would recommend, for future rutas, that participants have the opportunity to talk more to members of the cooperatives to gain a broader understanding of each case."

Maria Christina Muñoz
Colombia

Representative
Asociación Campesina Organizados en el Tercer Milenio (OTM)
Sibundoy - Putumayo, Colombia

"I work for an NGO in the Andean Amazonian region of Colombia. The organization carries out land rehabilitation activities on slopes that have been affected by ecological disasters. I'm interested in learning through examples of local development and business organization and management.

I learned a lot from the groups we visited and I think I'll be able to transfer that knowledge to groups in my region. I'm also happy to know that I can count on the advice of other participants in the future. As a recommendation for future rutas, I think it would be good to have more leaders of organizations as participants, so that they can learn from the cases visited and bring that knowledge back to the people they work with."

Milton Reyes Tobar
El Salvador

Representative
Instituto Salvadoreño de transformación agraria (ISTA)
Santa Ana, El Salvador

"I'm in charge of issues related to land reform and access to land through peace agreements in my country. I came to the ruta looking for new ideas that I can adapt to help the poor producers I work with.

I learned to value what we each have on our land. What was very positive about the ruta is that we learned not only from the countries we visited, but also from the countries that the participants came from."

Nuria Felipe Soria
Spain

Communications specialist
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Rome, Italy

"I am a journalist working for IFAD, a UN agency dedicated to combating rural poverty. My work consists of gathering information, listening to stories about the lives of rural people and interesting rural development initiatives, writing about them and making them known to readers worldwide. And this is what I am here for!

I have learned many things: about rural poverty, market access,
the constraints that poor rural people face in their daily lives and the ways they have found to overcome these constraints. I think these findings can be very useful to other organizations and it is my responsibility to share them with a wider audience.

Raúl Navas
Ecuador

Development advisor
Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio - FEPP
Ibarra, Ecuador

"I work for an NGO that works with poor rural producers in Ecuador. What I was looking for in this ruta is the answer to a question that has been on my mind for some time: Why are some development projects successful and others not?

Sergio Lazo
Peru

Sustainable rural development expert
Fondo de Cooperación para el Desarrollo Social (FONCODES)
Moyabamba, Peru

"I work in the area of capacity-building for farmers in the San Martín region of Peru. They are mainly coffee, cotton and sugar cane producers who are trying to enter the fair trade market.

I came to the ruta to look at how other producers have organized themselves and how they were able to access new markets.

I learned a lot from this new learning-by-visiting methodology. It is the first time I have participated in something like this myself, although we always offer these types of visits for farmers in our projects. I think it's extremely important."

Vincon Nyimbo
Tanzania

Project coordinator
Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme
Arusha, Tanzania

"I'm responsible for market access in an agricultural development programme in Tanzania. This is the first time that I have been to Latin America and I'm really interested in learning about marketing strategies of poor farmers in this region.

Ariel Halpern
Chile

Coordinator, Rutas de aprendizaje
PROCASUR
Santiago, Chile

"I learned about markets, organization issues and also how to overcome some of the unexpected problems that always arise during any ruta.

I think we're starting to generate a lot of knowledge that will be disseminated throughout the virtual community and that we hope will be picked up. We're starting to analyse themes that we seldom analyse in our own organizations, and I think this is great."

Cesar Morales
Chile

Manager of the programme Rutas de Aprendizaje
PROCASUR
Santiago, Chile

"I learned a lot, like all the participants, from the experiences we visited. But I also learned a lot from each participant — and I think this is very important. Choosing the right people is one aspect of the success of a ruta, but there's also an element of luck: We were lucky that those people we wanted on board were able to come. The right mix of people is what creates the best group dynamic. I really value the way each participant helped overcome complicated or difficult situations with good humour and optimism, despite the fact that we were sometimes extremely tired.

Yes, we travelled a lot and sometimes did not have enough time for discussion. Most of the participants raised that point. However, I think it is part of the learning process. The logistical difficulties that inevitably come up in every ruta help us understand the difficulties faced by the people who live in poor and remote rural areas."

Francisco Aguirre
Chile

Executive director
Agraria
Santiago, Chile

"An interesting aspect is how to synchronize the rhythms of the market with the production capacities of the communities, and to see the linkages of the communities with the various types of markets: local, informal, regional and global. I'm interested in finding ways to give value to rural areas, since they are fundamental to the development of a region and of countries. Finally, I'm interested in learning more about organizations and how they behave in their experiences of market access.

I enjoyed talking to the participants about the meaning of innovation in the light of their own experiences and also about their market access strategies. I’m going back home with lots of ideas, while I can't help thinking about what still needs to be done."