ANNUAL REPORT 2000 CIAT PROJECT SN-3 Editors: Carlos A. Quirós and Trudy Brekelbaum Translation: Trudy Brekelbaum October 2000 T ABLE OF CONTENTS: Project Overview .............................. ... ........... .. ................... ............. ....... ........ ....... .... ... .. ..... ........ . 5 Objective .. .. .. .......................... ........ ............... ......... ................. .. ... ... ... ... ... ..... ........ ....... ... ... .. 5 Description ..... ..... ... .. .. .................. ......... .............. .... .. ........ .................... .. ... ......................... . 5 Outputs .......... ......... ....... .. .. ......... ................................. ............ .......... ..... .. ......... ... .. ... ..... ..... 5 Gains .............................. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ......... ..... ......... ... ................. ... ... ... ... .. ... .............. ... ..... 5 Mi lestones ................... ............... ............. ... .. ....... .... ... ... ... ............... .... ... .. .... ....... ... ... .. .. .. ..... 6 2000 Work Breakdown Structure ..................... ......... .... ......... .... ........ .. .. .......... ..... ......... 7 Project SN-3 LOGFRAME 2000-2002 ................... ....... ...................................... .. .... .. .. ............... 1 O OUTPUT 1: Participatory research approaches, analytical tools and indigenous knowledge that lead to the incorporation of farmers' and other end-users' needs in integrated agroecosystem management, developed for interested R&D institutions .. ...... ............ .......... ...... ........................ 13 Milestones ...... ........................................ .. ... ...... ...................... ... ............................. ...... .... . 13 Participatory diagnoses of problems ..................... ... ......... ................ ................................. 13 Participatory plant breeding with women and small farmers in Africa and Latín America .. 16 Stakeholder analysís ......... .................. .. ..... ................ .............. .. .............. ....... .. .............. ... 22 CIAT's stakeholder watershed management approach ......................... .. .......................... 25 lnterinstitutional consortium .................................. .. .... ...... ... ................ ... .. .... ......... ... ......... 26 OUTPUT 2: Strategies and organizational procedures for PR, developed ................ ...... .. ...... .. . 30 Milestones .. ........... .. ............ ............... ......... .. ........ .... ..... .... .... .. ....... ... ..... ...... .... ... .. ..... ....... 30 Making small business dreams come true in the field : Self-systematization of small- business experiences existing in the CIALs from Cauca, Colombia as a support tool for constructing future visions .. .. .. .. ......................................... .. .............................................. 30 Status of the CIALs implemented in Central America .. ...................... ...... .. .. .. .. ...... ............ 33 Status of the CIALs implemented in South Ame rica .. ...... .......... .................................... .. . .41 Project for sustaining CIALs approved .. ... .... .............. ........ ...... ................... .. ........... .. ... ... .. 46 Preparation of action plan for the Honduran CIAL network ...... ............ .. ....... .. .. .. ............. .47 Community telecenters: A strategy for promoting sustainable development (lnforCauca@) ............................. ... .... ...... ....... ............................. .. .... ...... ................. ........ 61 Community organizations network ...... ... ... ... ............................ ... ....... .... ... .... ... .................. 65 OUTPUT3: Professionals and others trained as facilitators of the participatory research approach ................. .... .. ................ ............................. ... ... .. ... .... .. .. ... .. .. ....... ........................... ..... 67 Milestones ........................ ...................................... ................. ... ... ...... ....................... ....... 67 lnternational workshop on small farmers , methodologies of experimentation; meeting to exchange experiences on the institutionalization of participatory research methodologies ..................... .............. ...... .. ........... ....................... ........... ...... ...... .......... .............. .. .. ........... 67 Professionals trained in the use of tools and methods for FPR ......................................... 68 Training course in Venezuela .. .. ........... ............. ...... .. ...... ... .... ......... ... ... .... .. ... ............. .... .. 70 Course on methods and techniques of farmer participatory research (FPR) .. ........ ...... ..... 70 ln-service training in use of the preference-ranking matrix ........................ .. .. .. .................. 71 Follow-up of trainers from training of trainers course ............ .. ........ .. .. ...... .................... .. .. . 73 TecniCIAL-Honduras ....... ... .. .. .. ............. .. .... ...... ... .... ...... ...... ... .......... .. ... ... ........................ 74 3 OUTPUT 4: Materials and information on participatory research approaches, analytical tools, indigenous knowledge and organizational principies, developed ................... .......................... .. 76 Milestones ........ .. .. ... ........ .. .. .. .... ..................... .. .. ... ................ ........ ... .................................. 76 T ools available ......... ........................ ... .... ... ........ ... ... .... ................ .............. ............ ..... ..... .. 76 CIAL book ... .... ...... .. .. ........ .. .. .............. ................ ... ................................. .... ....................... 77 CIPASLA case study ................... .. ..... ..... .. ...... ............ ............ ....... .............. ..... ..... ... ......... 77 Training guide on CIAL method .................................................................. ...... ....... .. ........ 79 Publications distributed (Table 1 ) .... ................ ......... .............................................. ... ......... 80 OUTPUT 5: lmpact of IPRA project activities, documented ....................................... ........... ...... 81 Milestones ............... .............. ................... ......... ........ ................................. ..... ....... ... .. ...... . 81 Agronomic and farmer participatory evaluation of live barriers of Axonopus scoparius and Saccharum officinarum on farms in the Cabuyal River watershed in the township of Caldono, Cauca Province (Colombia) .......... ....... ... ... .......................... .. .......................... ... 81 Theses dealing with the CIALs and other IPRA tools ....... .. .. .......... .. ............ ..................... 87 Prizes of special mentían granted to other instítutíons for using IPRA Project products ... 89 On-site activities of impact assessment.. ................. ... .......... ... .......................................... 90 Visitors attended by staff from the IPRA team ..... .. .... ......... ............................................... 99 OUTPUT 6: Projects and other institutions supported and strengthened ... .............................. 102 Milestones .... .. ............ ........... ........... ... .. ....... .................................................................... 102 Supporting NARS and NGOs in evaluation and selection of multipurpose forages for crop/livestock systems with farmer participation .. .............. ......................... ..................... 102 Centro de Investigación Agrícola Tropical- CIAT, Santa Cruz, Bolivia ................... ..... ... 104 Consultancy for IAPAR, Brazil .............. ...... .... ............ .................... ................................. 105 Local organizations strengthened ............. .. .... ...... ....... .... ....... .. .. ....... .............................. 1 06 Activities with the Solidarity Fund Committee for earthquake victims in the coffee-growing zone in Caicedonia, Valle .. ........... ........ .. .. ..... .. .. .... .. ........................ ................................ 107 Participatory development of implements for harvesting and transforming products with CIALs .. ......... ... .... ....... .................... ................ ....................... ........... ......................... ....... 108 Manual huller ............ .. .................. .. .. .. ........... ........ ... .................................................. ..... 109 Data collection on CIALs in LAG ................. ...... ................ ...... ........... ............. ... 111 OUTPUT 7: Capacity of the IPRA team, strengthened .......... ....... ........ ................................... 115 Milestones ... ........ ................. .............. .. .. ...... .. .................................................................. 115 Documentation Center ........ ... ............... ..... .... .. ....................... .... ..................................... 115 IPRA team attendance at training events during the working year 1999-2000 .. ......... .. ... 115 Methodologies in social research: The case study .......................................................... 116 Staff ...... ........... .. ... .. .. ....... ..................... .... ..... ................ .... .. ............................................. 117 Donors SN-3 ...... ................... ........... .. ...... ............. .. ................ .......... ... .. ............. ............. 117 APPENDIX ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ...... .. .. ....... .. .................................................................... 118 4 PROJECT OVERVIEW Objective: To develop and disseminate participatory methodological approaches, analytical tools, autochthonous knowledge and organizational principies that strengthen the capacity of R&D institutions to respond to the demands of stakeholder groups that contribute to improving levels of well-being and integrated agroecosystem management and conservation (IAEM). Description. Details of the Project 's seven majar outputs for the years 1999-2002 are given in the logical framework. Specific activities on a per-output basis are shown in the following abbreviated work breakdown structure for this year. Outputs > Participatory methodological approaches, analytical tools and autochthonous knowledge that lead to the incorporation of farmers' and other end-users' needs in IAEM, developed for interested R&D institutions > Organizational strategies and procedures for participatory research (PR), developed > Professionals and others trained as facilitators of PR > Material and information on participatory methodological approaches, analytical tools, autochthonous knowledge and organizational principies, developed > lmpact of IPRA Project activities, documentad > Interna\ projects and other institutions supported and strengthened in conducting PR > Capacity of the IPRA team, strengthened Gains > Methods available for incorporating end-user preferences. > Participatory methods applied on a routine basis in CIAT research. > Users involved at early stages in decisions about technology design. > At least three universities in Latin America with capacity to teach PR > methods. > At least 1500 trainees and 45 trainers able to apply these methods in the region. > Self-management increased in at least 100 communitives in at least 4 LAC countries > lncreased focus on adding value to agricultura\ products through microenterprises created in mature CIALs > Lessons learned, methodologies and materials disseminated globally in conjunction with the Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (SP-PRGA) convened by CIAT and through the Farmer Participatory Research for IPM project of the Systemwide IPM Program (SP-IPM 5 Mi festones 2000 2001 2002 Users Collaborators CGIAR system linkages CIAT project linkages CIAL methodology scaled up over a large geographic region in at least one NARS and one NGO. Systemwide projects have published results on impact assessment of FPR and GA in PPB, NRM and IPM. Capacity for multiplying FPR in CIALs established in 4 countries. At least 2 second-order associations of CIALs functioning. Documentation of rural agroenterprise development in at least seven CIALs in Cauca pilot zone. Pilot organizational model for 3 telecenters established in one urban and two rural sites of Cauca. Watershed organizational models are being replicated in at least two countries beyond the three pilot sites. Pilot testing of participatory methodologies for rural agroenterprise development in at least one site. Documentation of lessons learned. Participatory plant breeding approach(es) institutionalized in at least three NARS (in Africa, Asia, LAC) on a national scale. CIAL methodology pilot tested in Africa and Asia. At least 15 CGIAR and NARS IPM project leaders trained in participatory methodologies. Participatory IPM projects established in at least 5 CGIAR and NARS centers. Methods for participatory research on N RM at the landscape scale applied in at least one site. This work will benefit poor farmers, processors, traders and consumers in rural areas, especially in fragile environments. Researchers will receive more accurate and timely feedback from users about acceptability of production technologies and conservation practicas. Researchers and planners will profit from methods for conducting adaptive research and implementing policies on natural resource conservation at the micro level. NARS, NGOs, universities, CGIAR SP-PRGA members, SP-1 PM members Organization and management (70%); training (30%} Convenor of SP PAGA, Coordinator of SP-IPM project lnputs to PE-1, PE-3; PE-4, PE-5, IP-1 , IP-2, IP-3, IP-5, SN-1, BP-1; Outputs from PE-3, PE-4, IP-3, BP-1, SN-1. 6 1. o u T p u T S o/ A e T o/ 1 V o/ 1 T 1 E S 4. o u T p u T S 2000 - WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE - PROJECT SN-3 Project Objective: To develop and disseminate participatory methodological approaches, analytical tools, autochthonous knowledge and organizational principies that strengthen the capacity of R&D institutions to respond to the demands of stakeholder groups that contribute to improving levels of well being and integrated agroecosystem management and conservation (IAEM). Participatory methodological 2. Organizational strategies and procedures for 3. Professionals and others trained as approaches, analytical tools and PR, developed facilitators of FPR autochthonous knowledge that lead to the incorporation of farmers' and other end-users' needs in IAEM, developed for interested R&D institutions lmplement institutional evaluation of \ogit o/ Develop strategies tor concertad conectiva o/ Training in FPR 1 1 analysis software tool for preference action among watershed users and other o/ Follow-up of NARS and NGO professionals ranking stakeholder groups trained as trainer-facilitators of CIAL Develop proposal for case studies on o/ Develop logframe for strengthening CIAL methodology agroecosystem health sustainability (second-order associations) o/ Train professionals in information analysis Develop participatory diagnosis method o/ Develop workshop on agroenterprise and use of preference-ranking matrix in and use of logit analysis software tool for experience in Cauca CIALs Venezuela and Colombia preference ranking o/ Situation of CIALs in the countries where it has been disseminated o/ Test methodology for an action plan in second- arder organization of CIALs o/ Develop action plan for Honduras ASOCIAL o/ Develop strategies for promoting sustainable development; e.g. community telecenters. Material and information on participatory 5. lmpact of IPRA Project activities, documentad 6. Interna! projects and other institutions methodological approaches, analytical supported and strengthened in conducting tools, autochthonous knowledge and PR organizational principies, developed ~ - - ~ -- 7 ./ Translate into English and publish CIAL ./ Document impact of CIAL methodology in ./ Carry out diagnosis of IAP focus and A Handbooks 1-7 partners' institutions capacity in Technology Transfer Division of e ./ Prepare for publication PR training ./ Termínate participatory evaluation of live CIAT-Bolivia as input into collaborative T materials barriers in CIPASLA Project area, Cauca State, research proposal related to institution 1 ./ Systematize Training of Trainer- Colombia building V Facilitators workshop to produce revised ./ Determine impact of FPR in selection of ./ Participate in meeting of R&D network on 1 training materials cassava varieties, EMBRAPA/CNPMF, Brazil bananas and plantains in Latin America and T ./ Finish case study on CIPASLA Caribbean 1 ./ Distribute software and user manual for ./ Participate in IX Congress of Panela E statistical application of preference Producers in Manizales, Caldas (Colombia) S ranking, f inal version ./ Participate on Boards of the interinstitutional ./ Update and translate into Spanish CIPASLA consortium and ASOBESURCA, "CIALs at a glance" the community watershed association ./ Write report for IDB on the extrapolation ./ Backstop CORPOCIAL in organization of of participatory diagnoses and national meeting of CIALs evaluations of agricultura! technology ./ Support Coffee Growers Federation in R&D with farmers activities for earthquake zone ./ Support CORFOCIAL in agroenterprise development ./ Standardize inputs of information from CIAL results ./ Evaluate and select multipurpose forages for crop/livestock systems with farmer participation ./ Support telecenters project. ./ Training in Preference Ranking of Pathology Program members 7. Capacity of the IPRA team, strengthened o u T p u T S ./ Update and expand interna! database A ./ Hold planning workshop for IPRA e ./ Strengthen the capacity of IPRA team in T the English language 1 ./ Provide training on case study V methodology 1 ./ Maintain functional structure for 8 T horizontalleadership (co-coordinators) 1 y" Organize series of cross-Program E seminars to interchange experiences S and receive training in new approaches, methodologies and analytical tools --- 9 PROJECT SN-3 LOGFRAME FOR 2000-2002 Narrative Summary: Measurable lndicators Means of Verification lmportant Assumptions Goal: To develop and apply ./ Application of participatory ./ Projects, plans and ./ lnstitutions committed to knowledge, tools, methods, analytical tools and reports of public sector PR principies technologies, skills and organizational principies by R&D entities, donors, NGOs, ./ Stable institutional organizational principies that organizations that lead to the grassroots leadership contribute to improving incorporation of farmers' and organizations, second- ./ Committed communities integrated agroecosystem other end-users' IAEM-related order organizations at ./ Favorable environmental management and needs the reference sites and and agrarian policies conservation (IAEM) and ./ Use of Project products at in the agroecosystems ./ Absence of social conflict levels of well being additional reference sites in 2 of CIA T's mandate, at reference sites agroecosystems (hillsides and which refer to the use ./ Data available from forest margins) of GIA T's the Project's products reference sites mandate in 5 years ./ Use of Project products by a mínimum of 3 institutions outside the LAG region at the end of Year5 ./ lmprovement in the well being of the end-users at the respective reference sites Project purpose: To ./ No. of R&D organizations ./ lmpact study ./ Economic stability of develop and disseminate applying participatory methods, ./ lnstitutional reports institutions participatory methodological analytical tools and ./ Publications ./ Financing for training approaches, analytical tools, organizational principies ./ Proceedings activities and publication/ autochthonous knowledge ./ No. of entities in the LAG region dissemination of and organizational principies teaching participatory methods materials that strengthen the capacity of ./ No. of meetings among ./ lnstitutions willing to R&D institutions to respond to stakeholder groups prepare and support the demands of stakeholder ./ No. of participatory projects facilitators and to share groups that contribute to implementad by the R&D information improving levels of well being institutions ./ End-users-above all the and IAEM producers-willing to participate 10 Narrative Summary: Measurable lndicators Means of Verification lmportant Assumptions Outputs: -/ No. of methodological -/ Project reports -/ Funding available 1. Participatory approaches developed or .¡' Publications -/ Staff have skills and time methodological adaptad and of analytical tools -/ Proposals presentad available approaches, analytical developed for the IAEM tools and autochthonous knowledge that lead to the incorporation of farmers' and other end-users' needs in IAEM, developed for interested R&D institutions 2. Organizational strategies -/ WKK Project logical framework .¡' Project reports -/ Good coordination and and procedures for PR, developed .¡' Publications integration among developed -/ No. of strategies and collaborators organizational procedures for .¡' Minimal conflicts in PR adoptad and adaptad meeting demands -/ Full participation of stakeholder groups -/ Field staff fulfilling role of facilitators -/ Data available from reference sites 3. Professionals and others -/ No. of professionals, -/ Project reports -/ lnstitutions willing to trained as facilitators of technicians and farmer- prepare and support FPR researchers trained in PR facilitators and to share methodology information .¡' Funding available 4. Material and information -/ No. of visits to the Web sites -/ Project reports -/ Staff have skills and time on participatory -/ No. of requests for materials -/ Publications available methodological and information -/ lnstitutions willing to approaches, analytical -/ No. of materials published share information tools, autochthonous -/ Internet system knowledge and functioning well organizational principies, developed 11 Narrativa Summary: Measurable lndicators Means of Verification lmportant Assumptions 5. lmpact of IPRA Project ./ Dependent on nature of study; ./ Case studies, M& E ./ lnstitutions willing to ¡ activities, documentad e.g., in CIALs: No. of host reports and databases, share ifnnromation countries, total no. (active, impact studies ./ Data available from inactiva, mature), research reference sites capacity, self-management capacity, no. of institutions participating, gender composition, diversity of research topics, no. of people and small businesses benefited, no. of community-service actions, no. of facilitators and trainers preparad, no. of second- degree organizations formed, no. of requests for publications and traininQ materials 6. Interna! projects and other ./ No. of interna! projects ./ Project reports ./ Projects and institutions institutions supported and supported ./ Publications of interna! committed to FPR strengthened in ./ No. of externa! organizations projects and others ./ IPRA staff have time conducting FPR strengthened institutions available ./ No. of participatory projects carried out by interna! projects and others institutions 7. Capacity of the IPRA ./ No. of team meetings ./ Project reports ./ lndividuals committed to team, strengthened ./ No. of seminars and workshops ./ Minutes from meetings the team approach organizad and/or received by ./ lnterest in continuous the team or its members learninQ -- 12 MILESTONES * Strategy for extrapolating results of participatory diagnoses and evaluation of technology, developed * Comparativa analysis of end-user groups, carried out * Stakeholder analysis in natural resource management, carried out Participatory diagnoses of problems Resesrcher: Luis Alfredo Hernández R. The problems related to farming and to NRM were ranked at 14 participatory diagnosis meetings (PDMs) conducted in Honduras (Colón, the Paraíso, Lempira, Yorito and Olancho). A master list of common problems was compilad. Table 1 shows the distribution of frequencies for each one of the different problem (no. of times that a problem was mentioned in any one of the positions 1-1 O on the preference-ranking matrix). The sample selected for this analysis considers a mínimum of 4 points to run the regressions; in other words, the problem was mentioned in at least 4 diagnoses. The problems identified in the diagnoses were grouped as follows: > SOCIAL: education, housing, food security, healthlmalnutrition, sources of employment, low salaries, drinkable water, latrines, malaria, energy and agrarian policies > DISEASES ANO PESTS IN CROPS: diseases in crops, pests that reduce production, pests, pests in basic grains > MONEY/CREDIT: financing, credit and economic resources > AGRICUL TURAL PRODUCTION: production of basic grains, agricultura! production, costs of inputs, varieties, machinery, spraying with agrochemicals, preparation > COMMERCIALIZATION: transportation, commercialization, intermediarias, access roads, marketing) 13 > NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: erosion, deforestation, inadequate management, degradad soils, fertility, soil analyses, drought, contamination > ANIMAL PRODUCTION: grasses, animals, milk and beef production > OPTIONS: training, awareness of need to organiza, diversification, fruits > LAND TENURE .> STORAGE Table 1. Matrix of applied logit analysis, the ranking of problems in seven provinces of Honduras. Y oro, Lempira, the Paraíso, Colón, Valle, 0/ancho and Atlántida. Figure 1 shows the trends of the problems by means of regression curves. The most important problems (with probability of being in positions 1-4) were: LAND TENURE (67%), CREDIT {62%), NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (59%) and AGRICUL TURAL PRODUCTION (56%). The problems of average STORAGE (25%) and ANIMAL PRODUCTION (8%).importance (with highest probabilitíes in positions 5-7) were: OPTIONS (45%), SOCIAL (42%) and COMMERCIALIZATION (31%). The problems of least importance (with greatest probabilities in positions 8-10) were PESTS (29%), The regression analyses for each component (with the probability of being in positions 1-4) show that: > For the SOCIAL area, water is the most important (100%), followed by health/malnutrition (75%), food security (33%) and education (25%). > In the area DISEASES AND PESTS IN CROPS, the most important is pests and diseases in basic grains (33%). 14 100% • SOCIH 90% • CROPIPESTOI SEA SES 80% A. CREOIT 70% X A G PROD 5 60% X COMMERC 1 50% • NRM g: 40% - ANIMAL 30% PROD JIC OPTIONS 20% - LA ND 10% TEN URE • STORAGE 0% o 3 4 5 e 8 Q 10 RANK Figure 1. Matrix of logit analysis applied to the ranking of problems in seven provinces of Honduras. > For MONEY the most important are credit (1 00%) and economic resources (33%). > In AGRICUL TURAL PRODUCTION, the most important are input costs (100%), variety and agricultura! production (67%), and production of basic grains (33%). > In NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, the most important is DROUGHT (1 00%), inadequate management and erosion (67%), and deforestation (67%). > In OPTIONS, the most important is training (75%), awareness of need to organiza, and diversification (33%). We can therefore reject the null hypothesis and accept that there are significant differences in the degree of importance assigned to common problems identified via PDM. The analyses of this clustering by areas gave two outstanding results: .,.. The results are congruent with those found for the individual analysis of each one of the components (see •participatory diagnosis of problems, Annual report 1999 CIAT Project SN-3, p. 22) . .,.. The analyses of the areas made it possible to identify what is the most important in each one of them; that is, when the community is referring to an area, the component that they are emphasizing can be identified specifically. 15 Participatory plant breeding with women and small farmers in Africa and Latin America Resesrchers: Luis Alfredo Hernández R, Hernan Ceballos1; Antonio López and Blanca Nohemí Florián Corté~ On the Atlantic Coast of Colombia, cassava is a major staple crop and provides an important linkage for small farmers to urban and processing mar1 Analysis of user groups to identify types within them > Comparison of diagnostic methods The methodologies used in Output 1 were as follows: ...,. ldentification of user types. The typology of the farmer end-users was updated doing a Rapid Rural Appraisal in the project area. T o identify u ser types, a cluster analysis, using Ward's mínimum variance (1963), was done based on preference criteria elicited in a survey . ...,. Comparison of methods. This comparison was based on two criteria: > A variable named "consideration," which reflects whether a preference criterion was taken into account for each diagnostic method used in the project. This variable was measured on a scale from O to 4, where O is equivalent to no consideration or no answer and 4 was answered by 100% of the people interviewed. > A variable named "score," which measured the quantity and quality of information for each diagnostic method. For this variable, a scale from O to 3 was used, where O means total absence of a criterion, 1 means a criterion without reason, 2 mean a criterion with reasons, but without cause-effect, and 3 mean a criterion with cause-effect reasoning. With these data, a multiple-correspondence analysis was carried out to identify differences between diagnostic methods used in the preferences' elicitation phase. 1 Cassava lmprovement, IP-3, CIAT. 2 CORPOICA Turipaná Montería. 16 The results for Output 1 were as follows: ~ General users. Farmers, middlemen, consumers, starch producers, chip producers and animal feed industry were the general users updated. Jií> Farmer types. Based on the statistics pseudo f and pseudo F and an R2 = 0.86, five farmer types were identified according to preferences in six stages of cassava cycle growth. Characteristics for each type were described using frequency tables . ..,. Middlemen. In this case, three types of middlemen explain 92% of the variability among them. This means that they ha ve different preference criteria for buying cassava . ..,. Consumers. With an R2 of O. 71 , tour types of consumers were identified in the region. There are strong difference among consumers from a village, a small town and an urban consumar . ..,. Cassava chip and starch producers and animal feed industry. lt was impossible to run a cluster analysis because the sample size was less than 1 O. However, a comparativa description about preferences in cassava roots was obtained. ~ Comparison of methods. In the case of farmers, there was a preference criteria group for the different growth phases of the cassava crop, which was common to the interview, workshop and survey. However, there were criteria specifically associated with the workshop and the interview. The survey did not have discriminant criteria (Fig. 2). This means that the interview and the workshop provide specific criteria in addition to those obtained with the survey. Comparing costs, the survey provided the cheapest information per farmer, but the additional information provided by the others tools contributed toa clearer explanation of farmers' preferences. For the interview the criterion associated with this tool was cassava canopy diameter in the phase from 60-120 days after planting. At the workshop, the criteria associated with this tool were disease-free cuttings, with high latex content and resistant to drought (in the phase from cutting selection to 60 days after planting), stemborer (Chilomima clarkeil) resistance, thick roots, high starch content and only a few low-level branches in the phase from 120-180 days after planting. 17 O. 7 0.6 IIIH .. r.. IIIIU. O. 5 Q O . ~ 1 n O. J 11111 e n . S 1 1) n O. 2 O. 1 D. D -0 . 1 -0 .2 1111111. 1111111. 1 111111. IIIU.L 11\l~li 1101 1111 lll. """'- 11111.1. lll!ee.l - ll llllr. -0 .3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 -0 . J -0.2 -D . 1 D. D D. 1 0.2 o. J Dimensio n 2 1 = workshop, 2= interviews, 3= survey Figure 2. Multíple correspondence for interviews, workshop and survey. Output 2: More acceptable and productiva varieties accurately targeted and disseminated for poor women and men farmers. Farmers, intermediaries and consumers evaluated diverse genotypes. The methodology for Output 2 consisted of a comparative analysis of farmers', industry's, middlemen's and end- users' prefere~ces at one site (Barranquilla on the Atlantic Coast). In total 15 interviews were conducted in the different user categories (women = 4, middlemen = 3, farmers = 5, industry). The results for Output 2 were as follows: ...,. lndustry criteria. The feed industry "Concentrados del Norte," located on the Atlantic Coast of Colombia, has been testing cassava varieties MTAI 8, CM 4843-1, CM 4919-1, !CA-Costeña and !CA-Negrita. They have identified 18 specific requirements for these varieties, which are to be used in dehydrated feed. These clones, transferred by the CIAT Cassava Program to Concentrados del Norte, have characteristics such as a minimum of 34% dry matter (DM), low cyanogen content and an average fresh root yield of 25 t/ha (Table 2). However, these characteristics need to be confirmad with other processors. The challenge was to determine whether the participatory methodology incorporated into cassava breeding ( developed from 1986-1992) identified analyzed and incorporated end-users' criteria. lt should to highlighted that new possibilities of transforming the crop from a subsistence to an income- generating alternativa with varieties such as !CA-Negrita and !CA-Costeña, released through Participatory Plant Breeding processes, arose as a result. 1111- Women's criteria (fried cassava patties known as bollos). This evaluation revealed that women have their own selection criteria relatad to their particular cottage industry of making bollos, a typical breakfast food made from cassava and white cheese. lt was evident that cassava varieties should meet certain cooking requirements such as high starch content (= good cooking quality) and uniformity of root and flesh (parenchyma) color (yellow or white) (Table 2). These characteristics result in new possibilities for cassava germplasm in relation to this industry. This project may also provide insight into a new perspectiva about cassava- related women's and family earnings on the Atlantic Coast. The women's familias also contributed to the selection process, providing information on quality-related traits. There are areas where cassava plays an important role in more than one particular market. The broadening of the user base should be an objective in order to improve the effectiveness of the PPB methodology in the future. 1111- Middlemen's and end-users' (fresh market) criteria. The most important selection criteria for middlemen were high root DM, root morphological traits, extemal root (dark brown) and flesh color (white), root thickness and length, health (without diseases and insects) andan even surface with no indantations. In addition to having all the pravious dascribad charactaristics, and-usars prefer salecting high-yialding varieties (avg 5 roots/plant) (Tabla 2). Tabla 3 ravaals an intaresting diffarenca among woman's, middlaman's and and-usar's critaria. Yellow-fleshed clone CM 6119-5 has a high accaptance among tha women (for making bollos) in contrast to tha other two groups. Y ellow flash is of intarmadiate acceptance. This means that for woman the critarion root color could hava two possibilitias: whita and yellow. Nona of tha groups accapted a light brown color of tha axtamal root as in CM 3555-6 (intarmediate to low acceptance) (Table 3). 19 lt was evident that sorne cassava varieties (e.g. Venezolana, !CA-Costeña and SM 1411-5) play an important role in more than one particular market (Table 3) The evaluation process in this project has resultad in the following specific benefits: > Better knowledge of the market system in a given area > Refinement f selection criteria based on cassava farmers, women, middlemen and end-users 20 Tsble 2. Compsrisons smong different criteris, Atlsntic Cosst of Colombia Women (Qualitative Middlemen (Qualitative Farmers - Fresh Market Criteria lndustry Evaluation) Evaluation) (Qualitative Evaluation) Root DM (high 34% mínimum Good cooking quality High starch content High starch content starch content) HCN (cyanide Low Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned content) Planting material Good Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned (cuttings} production Rootshape Not mentioned Uniform Uniform Uniform Fresh root yield 25 t/ha One carga should produce High High 280 bollos, selling at US$0.08 each Root size Not mentioned Thick Thick Thick Color ot root tlesh White Yellow or white White White (parenchyma) Root length Not mentioned lntermediate lntermediate Intermedia te Health Not mentioned Not mentioned Without diseases and Without diseases and insects insects 21 Table 3. Comparison of preference ranking among women's, middlemen's and end-users' (fresh market) criteria, Barranquil/a, Atlantic Coast of Colombia, May 2000. Women PR SC'' Middlemen PR se Farmers Venezolana* 1 G Venezolana 1 G Venezolana SM-1411-5 2 G Costeña 2 G Negrita CM 6759-8 3 G SM-1 411-5 3 G SM-141 1·5 CM 6119·5 4 G CM 3306-1 9 4 G CM 6759-8 Costeña* 5 G NeQrita 5 1 Costeña NeQrita* 6 G CM 6759·8 6 1 CM 611 9·5 SM 805-17 7 1 CM 3555·6 7 1 SM 805·17 CM 1433·4 8 1 CM 6119-5 8 1 CM 3306-19 CM 3555·6 9 L CM 1433-4 9 L CM 3555·6 CM 3306-19 10 L SM 805-17 10 L CM 1433-4 * Vanetles released. 1 PR = preference ranking 2 SC = rating scale, where G = high acceptance, 1 = intermediate acceptance, L = low acceptance. Stakeholder analysis PR se 1 G 2 G 3 G 4 G 5 G 6 1 7 1 8 L 9 L 10 L 0 /af Westermann3 Col/aborator: He/le Munk Ravnborg4 Highlights 11> Paper on "Understanding interdependencies: Stakeholder identification and negotiation as a precondition to collective natural resource management," presented by Helle Munk Ravnborg at the intemational workshop "Deepening the Basis of Rural Resource Management," ISNAR, 16-18 Feb. , The Hague and at the 8th biennial conference of the lntemational Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP), 31 May-4 June, Bloomington, Indiana, by Olaf Westermann 11> Article submitted for publication in the intemational joumal Agricultura/ Systems Objectives. The research objectives were twofold: > to continue with and publish research on collective natural resource management (NRM) initiated in Colombia > to strengthen a project proposal for a collaborative research program called "Landscape management: Between consensus and confl ict" between CIAT, 3 CIAT Hillsides Project PE-4. 4 Centre for Development Researcb. 22 the Center for Development Research (CDR-Denmark) and various universities in Denmark and Tanzania, submitted to DANIDA 1 October 1999 Methods. Fieldwork was conducted in collaboration with Helle ·Munk Ravnborg (Center for Development Research, Denmark) in Nicaragua from 1 Nov.-4 Dec. 1999. Two sites were selected; the community of Puertas Azules in the Natural Reserve called Miraflores in the district of Estelí and the community of El Zapote in the municipality of San Dionisia. The research sites were dominated by srnall- scale farmers and selected according to their irnportance as reference sites for DANIDA, Estelí and CIAT, Nicaragua, respectively. The basic methodologies used were parts of a stakeholder analysis methodology (Ravnborg et al 19995) and a method for defining local development indicators both previously developed at CIAT -Laderas (Ravnborg 19996). Ratio na/e and justification. 1 ntensified cultivation of riverbanks and valley bottorns cause problems of erosion and depletion of the water supply and pollution further downstream. Crop damage caused by pests and diseases suddenly escalates, either due to the occurrence of new pests and diseases or dueto the sudden escalation of already known ones. These are just sorne exarnples of the spatial and temporal interdependencias that characterize NRM and which are accentuated as land use intensifies. What happens at one point in time or in one part of the landscape affects and is affected by what happens at other times or parts of the landscape. Sorne of these temporal and spatial interdependencias are immediately visible, while others such as the relationship between landscape diversity and structure and the occurrence of specific crop pests and diseases are more complex and subtle. The complex and subtle nature of the biophysical interdependencias at play in determining many NRM problams is, however, not the only factor complicating improved NRM. Particularly in hillside regions, agricultura! landscapes are fragmentad among numerous usars; that is, numerous individual decision- makers. Thus, even if the biophysical interdependencias related to a specific NRM problem are recognized, their effective management requires the individual farmer to coordinate his or her resource management with that of neighboring farmers. This brings a second set of interdependencias into play; namely, the socioeconomic interdependencias that exist between individual landscape users. Sorne farmers depend fully or partially on others for their livelihood; e.g. through their employment as day laborers or the provision of informal loans; farmers rnay 5 Ravnborg, H, Guerrero, M del P & Westermann, O. 1999. "Acción colectiva para el manejo de los recursos naturales: Manual para identificar grupos de interés." Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Cali, Colombia. 6 Ravnborg, H. 1999. "Developing Regional Poverty Profiles Based on Local Perceptions", Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Cali, Colombia. 23 belong to different ethnic or religious groups, which may complicate communication and thus coordination between them; previous experiences of cooperation among farmers may have failed. These and other factors shape the individual farmer's willingness to engage in coordinated or collective NRM and thus the ability to manage the biophysical interdependencias inherent in many NRM problems. Outputs. The paper presents a stakeholder analysis methodology (Ravnborg et al 1999), which through a process of continuous and iterativa eliciting of individual farmers' perceptions and interests with respect to their own resource management- their constructions- and contrasting these with those of other farmers forms the basis for joint appreciation and analysis of the biophysical as well as social interdependencias involved in NRM. Underlying the methodology is the assumption that it is the individual farmer's perception of a variety of factors such as biophysical processes relating to NRM problems, security of land tenure and market developments, which--combined with his or her resource endowments and obligations-make him or her act; that is, pursue a specific resource management strategy. Thus an important element in efforts to improve NRM is the eliciting, contrasting, enriching or exploring in depth (based on information from elsewhere; e.g. research) and negotiating these individual understandings of NRM. lt is argued that recognizing and understanding not only the interdependencias that exist among different parts and resources within the landscape but also among the individual resource managers are crucial to solving those NRM problems that require coordinated or collective management. The paper consists of two parts: The first part presents the stakeholder analysis methodology and its theoretical basis, while the second part presents examples of its application, particularly how understandings of biophysical and social interdependencias emerged and were negotiated. The collaborative project proposal and the primary results of the fieldwork were presentad at the local DAN IDA office in Estelí at the beginning of December. Although the proposal raised extensiva local interest for further collaboration, it was not approved by DANI DA in Denmark. Based on the experiences obtained, it was felt that these research issues were very pertinent and worthwhile pursuing. This resultad in a postdoctoral program for Helle Munk Ravnborg on organizing practicas, and a PhD proposal for Olaf Westermann on the importance of social capital in collective water management, which was submitted to DANIDA for approval on 1 October 2000. 24 CIAT's stakeholder watershed management approach Olaf Westermann7 Cross-references: Nancy Johnson, Annie Jones and Jose Ignacio San:! Highlights ~ Poster preparad on CIA T's stakeholder watershed management approach and presentad at the Technical Workshop on Watershed Management lnstitutions sponsored by CAPRi (Systemwide Program for Collective Action and Property Rights) and organizad by CIAT on 14 March, 2000. Objectives > To present CIAT's approach to watershed management as a contribution to the first objective of the workshop > To review the experiences of the CGIAR and other key institutions on watershed management research, particularly research on the institutions that affect watershed management. Methods. The poster was based on the booklet called "Land discovery: Trainin~ and tools for decision support to stakeholder watershed resource management. " The stakeholder watershed management approach was presentad to a group of watershed management researchers from different CGIAR organizations 10 and universities from all over the world at the reference sites in San Dionisia. Outputs. The elaboration of a watershed management approach is a continuad effort guiding the Project's research and at the same time benefiting from its outputs. At the workshop a presentatíon was also made as a starting point for discussing participatory watershed management and research. Based on this presentation a paper is being written in collaboration with Nancy Johnson (BP-1 ), Helle Munk Ravnborg (COA) and Kirsten Probst (Systemwide Program for Participatory Research and Gender Analysis-PRGA), which will be submitted to the intemational joumal, Water Policy. This paper will include an analysis of CIA T's stakeholder watershed management approach in relation to participation and research. 7 CIAT Hillsides Project PE-4. 8 BP-1, Editor and Project Manager, PE-3. 9 Annie Jones et al. 2000. Land discovery: Training and tools for decision support to stakebolder watershed resource management. Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Cali, Colombia. Fortbcoming. 10 ICLARM, IBSRAM, ICRISAT, CAPRi, ICRAF, ICLARM, ICARDA and IFPRI, as well as Comell University, Michigan State University, the lnstitute for Social Research-Kampala and the University of British Colombia. 25 lnterinstitutional consortium 0/af Westermann11 .., OQjectives .> T o improve coordination and collaboration among institutions and between institutions and community organizations in arder to promote sustainable development .> To facilitate local processes in arder to improve the representation and communication of local needs at regional and nationallevels .> To improve access, adaptation and diffusion of new knowledge, information and decision-making tools to strengthen institutional capacity to support local sustainable development processes > To develop an appropriate scheme for interinstitutional coordination on a territorial basis that fosters the level of human and social capital and that can be replicated in other geographical regions (upscaling) 11 Hillsides Project, PE-3. 26 Table 4. Logframe for project activities. lntermediate Outcome lndicators 1. Demand for interinstitutional ./ Need identified by coordination identified or participatory planning by requested by local and objectives (PPO) external institutions as a result of local development processes and analysis 2. lnstitutional and stakeholder ./ lnstitutions working in the analysis facilitated and reference sites identified and potential stakeholders with characterized by interest common interests (based on common visions and development principies}, identified 3. Stakeholders aware of + Leve! of awareness among institutional and personal institutions strengths and weaknesses (including research, development and organizational capacity) 4. An informaVformal forum for ./ % institutions identified and exchanging experiences selected that participate in among existing institutions Consortium meetings and events facilitated. continuously ./ A working relationship 12 among institutions (yes/no - type) ./ % institutions with working relationships ./ Public collaborative agreement {yes/no} 5. lmproved operational ./ lncrease in no of collaborative collaboration 14 among activities 15 over time institutions working in the ./ No. of proposals written by 2 same geographical area, or more institutions resulting in better dialogue and coordinatíon among ./ No. of projects executed by 2 institutions working in the or more institutions same geographical area. 12 A worldng relationshlp is defined as sharing of work-related experiences 13 Social capital assessment tool Means of Verification ./ Documentation of PPO . ./ Documentation of stakeholder anatysis + Matrix of institutional activities with discussion ( competition or conflicts among objectives and clients, relevance of activities to client needs and effectiveness) ./ Participants list of meetíngs ./ Venn diagram and analysis of institutionallinkages through semistructured interviews (SCAT13- organizational profile) ./ Small group discussions on the theme of collaboration 16 ./ Project proposal documents ./ Venn diagram and anatysis of institutionallinkages and collaboration through semistructured interviews (SCAT- organizational profile) 14 An operational collaboration is defmed as ranging from coordination of common activities, sharing of resources, to writing and executing project proposal collectively in order to increase effectiveness. 15 Collaborative activities are specific tasks organized by 2 or more institutions (e.g .. workshops, fieldwork). 16 Brainstorming on the meaning of collaboration and grouping by themes (worldng together, sharing resources, project coordination and implementation, funding, etc.)-"Getting a comnwn definition of collaboration. " 27 lntermediate Outcome lndicators Means of Verification 6. lnstitutions work according to ,/ lnventory of principies and ,/ Documentation of workshop and shared working and ethical checklist indicators checklist indicators for each principies of collaboration 17 % checklist of indicators principie (5) ,/ accomplished ,/ Analysis of activities in relation to application of checklist indicators 7. Growing institutional ,/ Institutional definitions of ,/ Group discussions on theme awareness and application of participation of community participation, 18 participatory principies, ,/ Participatory approaches resulting in construction of implying acceptance of full used in project conceptual framework participation of community implementation Analysis of participatory organizations in decision- ,/ making ,/ Community organizations' processes applied in selected perception of involvement in collaborative projects, based decision-making on the above conceptual ,/ No. of decisions taken in a framework participatory manner 8. A mínimum capacity for ,/ Quality of participation of ,/ SCAT organizational profile, community participation on community organizations Section C decision-making processes achieved, resulting in improved dialog and coordination with the interinstitutional forum 9. Operational collaboration 19 ,/ No. and characteristics of ,/ SCAT organizational profile among institutions working in relationships between community ,/ Nature of relationships the same geographical area organizations and institutions between institutions and and the community ,/ Clarity of roles community groups explored, organizations, improving the No. of shared responsibilities usingVenn diagram relevance of institutional ,/ interventions to community and activities (more= better) , ,/ Analysis of institutional needs and their effectiveness. especially participation on collaboration with different Jevels and activities communities and institutions such as diagnosis, analysis, with focus on roles, rights and planning, and monitoring and responsibilities to explore evaluation). relationships (focus group interview following the Venn diagram) (SCAT- organizational profile) ,/ Yolanda Wadsworth's open inquiry evaluation methodolog/0 17 Working and ethical principies should include things such as "collaboration" and ' 'panicipation." 18 Brainstorming on the meaning of "community participation" - "Getring a common definirion of panicipation" 19 Operational collaboration defmed as ranging from coordination of common activities, sharing of resources. to writing and executing project proposal collectively in order to increase effectiveness. 20 Yolanda Wadsworth "Everyday Evaluation on the Run". Whal are we doing together, How is it going, Why is it going that way, How do we know (signs), What are we gaining from it, and What can we change/do differe ntly? 28 lntermediate Outcome lndicators Means of Verification 1 O. Processes for consensus ./ Common vision statement ./ Documentlreport building and coordination (yes/no) ./ Mapping process for among existing institutions ./ Process for generating the generating the vision . and community organizations results in the generation of a vision common vision, goal and strategies for community development among the different stakeholders 11. Local processes of community ./ No. of commuoity projects ./ representation and improved presented to regional and/or communication of local needs national governrnents at the regional and national ./ % community projects funded levels are developed by regional and/or national governments ./ No. of community members participating in local, regional or national governments 12. Complementarities and ./ % duplication of activities ./ Retrospectiva analysis of synergies among institutions, ./ % needs identified in the PPO previous variables (present- and between institutions and that are (not) being responded past comparisons) community organizations, to (i.e. gaps exist) ./ Matrix of institutional activities improve institutional Examples of how with discussion (competition relevance, coverage, ./ effectiveness and organizational behavior have or conflicts among objectives representation changed (how they worked and clients, relevance of before vs now). activities to client needs and effectiveness) 13. lnstitutions and community ./ Level of commitment of ./ Focus group discussions organizations cooperate institutions and community within institutions to identify towards the achievement of organizations to the vision changas in goals and the common vision, goals and (visible by changes in agendas towards the common strategies organizational priorities and vision activities in line with the common vision) 29 MILESTONES * Self-systematization of small-business experiences existing in the CIALs from Cauca, Colombia, carried out * Diagnosis on situation of the CIALs in Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia * Project for sustaining CIALs, approved * Diagnosis on situation of the CIALs in Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia * Preliminary guidelines for establishing an action plan for second-degree farmer organizations, approved * Diagnosis on situation of the CIALs in Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia * Bargaining capacities of community organizations to negotiate with * extemal agents, increased * Representativa local structures developed in arder to improve the communication of local needs to externa! support agents and the bargaining power of local actors Making small business dreams come true in the field: Self-systematization of small-business experiences existing in the CIALs from Cauca, Colombia as a support tool for constructing future visions José Ignacio Roa and Alfonso Truque Co/lsborstors: Mark Lundy, Fredy Escobar, Nolberto Zambrano' Table 1 provides a synthesis of activities carried out under the CORFOCIAL- Chorlavi agreement and the results of the same. 1 SN-1 , SN-3 and CORFOCIAL, respectively 30 Table 1. Synthesis of activities carried out and the results of the same. ACTIVITIES PROPOSED JNITIALLY ACTJVITIES CARRIED OUT RESULTS 1. Workshop with participation ./ Workshop held from 31 Jan.-1 Feb. in Piendamó, Cauca, ./ Socialization of the project among the participants of 2 representativas from with participation of 1 O microenterprises and 24 ./ Generation of information on lessons learned. each of the 12 micro- representativas .. ./ Horizontal exchange of these concepts to generate 1 enterprises to be studied, ./ Socialization of project, clarification of doubts and concepts in common as well as the coordinator generation of commitments. ./ Design of study guide 1 of CORFOCIAL and 2 ./ Presentation of each microenterprise and horizontal scientists from CIAT exchange of concepts 1 ./ Design of the study guide by CORFOCIAL and CIAT 2. Application of the study ./ Meetings with 1 O small businesses to apply the study ./ Definition of term "success" for each small business guide by each micro- guide, which has been used with 71 members of small ./ Recommendations on what to do/not to do when forming enterprise with the support businesses (32 men and 39 women) tor their crops of small businesses of CORFOCIAL maize, common beans, soybeans, blackberries and ./ Compilation of each small business' history and its processing of organic panela, a noncentrifuged brown members sugarpatty 3. Systematization of the ./ Systematization of information generated through ./ Proceedings generated by the 1 O businesses studied results obtained from the application of the study guide to the 1 O small businesses case studies. 4. Workshop to present, ./ Workshop held from July 27-28 in Popayán (Cauca) with ./ Strengths/weaknesses of small businesses identified analyze and discuss the the participation of 20 people from 1 O small businesses ./ Key factors of success (seed production, management, results of the studies ./ Group work training, marketing, time available, closeness to com- munity, research and personal improvement), defined ./ Steps defined for forming small business as part of CIAL ./ Training needs defined ./ Level of community interest measured ./ CIAL functions defined ./ Objectives of the small business defined ./ Interna! norms preparad ./ Work and activities planned ./ lnventory of assets taken ./ Activities lnitiated ./ Outcomes evaluated ./ Business analyzed ./ Benefits obtained from the small business, made known - 31 ACTIVITIES PROPOSED INITIALLY ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT RESULTS 5. Workshop on futura ./ Held in Popayán (Cauca) from 21-22 Aug. ./ Primary information on the SWOT of small visions for the small ./ Individual work by each small business to determine businesses, generated businesses in rural its weaknesses, opportunities, strengths and threats ./ lnterest in organic crops Cauca. (SWOT analysis) ./ lnterest in visiting the marketing sitas ./ Conferences on: ./ Strategic planning guide designad ./ Marketing studies ./ Organic medicinal herbs, a true experience - 32 Status of the CIALs implemented in Central America Carlos Arturo Quirós and José Ignacio Roa Collsborstors: Juan González/ José Jimenez, 3 Fredy Sierra, 4 Nelson Gamero, 5 Carlos Ama1.a, 6 Pablo Selan, 7 Daniel Selener, 8 Verónica Proaño, 9 Hector Andrade, 10 Humberto Fierro, 1 Manuel Aré va lo 12 Efforts by CIAT to initiate the development of participatory methods in Mesoamerica, in which the farmers play an active role in the decision-making related to research processes, began in 1993. There were already a number of methodologies that attempted to involve the producers and that formed part of the "fan" of alternativas available to R&D projects. But it wasn't until 1996 that the opportunity for the mass dissemination of the CIAL methodology was made possible through the Kellogg Project "Dissemination of a model for developing agricultura! technology at the leve! of the community, using a participatory approach." There were a number of obstacles that had to be overcome in this expansion process, including institutional instability, turnover of agronomists, the lack of commitment on the part of sorne NGOs, and reluctance to change. Despite these difficulties and given the large number of institutions that saw in the methodology tools and virtues that met many of their needs, the CIALs were introduced into the Central American environment. Today there is a team of professionals trained in the CIAL methodology, primarily in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, who have formed considerable number of CIALs that are carrying out research projects arising from their communities concerns. A brief summary is given of the status of the methodology in Honduras and Nicaragua, which will be the target of the next phase of the project: "Sustaining CIALs," recently financed by the Kellogg Foundation. 2 Investigación Participativa en Centro América (IPCA). 3 lbid. 4 1bid. 5 Procuencas/Zamorano 6 Sociedad Cristiana para el Desarrollo (SCD) en Laderas. 7 Programa de Reconstrucci[ on Rural (PPR). 8 Intemational Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR)-Ecuador 9 lbid. 1° Fortalecimiento de la Investigación y Producción de Semilla de Papa (FORTIP AP A). u Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (CORPOICA). 12 Ibid. 33 Honduras. Table 2 shows the number of existing CIALs, the institution and the agronomist who facilitated the process, its composition with respect to gender, the research topic and the number of familias directly relatad to the Committee that does the research. Photo 1. CIAL Pinabete Playa del Río Salado and the IPCA agronomist, Juan González, planting nurseries of sweet bell peppers for the next research tria/. At present Honduras has 62 groups of which men make up 25.8%, 16.1% by women and 58.1% are mixed groups. The number of familias directly relatad to the CIALs total 582, for an average of about 9 people per group. This figure indicates that many people are sufficiently interested in the Committee to accompany it continually, in addition to those people who are being exposed to the generation and development of technologies. At the end of each cycle, every CIAL should hold a meeting to communicate the results to the community, at which at least 15-25 familias attend per meeting, which increases that figure by 1 000-1500 farmers more who are involved in the process. lnitially, the research topics preferred by the communities were related to maize and common beans, basic staples in their diet and trying to solve the problem of their familias' food security. Today, as can be seen in Tabla 2, there are a larga variety of topics and crops in which the farmers are interested in innovating or resolving the community's concerns. 34 Today there is a team of trained professionals who are applying the CIAL methodology in their respective work area. Their informal group, known as TecniCIAL, applies the CIAL methodology. Their meetings are held every 2-3 months in sorne of the regions where there are CIALs for analyzing and discussing the accomplishments and/or problems related to the implementation of the methodology. This organization originated from the meetings that the IPRA team held during the monitoring and follow-up during the dissemination phase. Other accomplishments include: > Seven institutions in Honduras are applying participatory methods in their R&D agenda. Trainers have been preparad in the methodology, and they have carried out several events for other agronomists and local institutions > The EAP (Escuela Agrícola Panamericana) at Zamorano has included in sorne of their training events the topic of PR. The Centro Universitario de la Región del Atlántico is also including the topic of PR in their currículum. > Thus far, three National CIAL Encounters have been held for a greater dissemination of the results. > There are tour regions or focal points for expanding the CIAL methodology in Honduras: Santa Bárbara, Y oro, Francisco Morazán and El Paraíso. An ASOCIAL (Asociación de CIAL) is being formed in arder to establish alliances and agreements with other institutions in the search of self-reliance. > At this point the farmers have begun to test different technologies or nontraditional crops other than the traditional staples of common beans and maize. > Sorne groups have begun their research in what has been callad ecological agricultura, growing natural products with no contaminants and at very low costs. > Two groups have begun training and artisanal seed production as a result of their research. > The CIALs have been recognized by many other institutions that work in their region or in neighboring areas and are constantly visitad or invitad to participate in important agricultura! and livestock events for presenting or discussing their results. > Parallel to the research projects, the Committees are carrying out their productiva projects as an incentive for the group and at the same time support the investment that are made in the research projects. > The participatory evaluations of technology are already on the agendas of several institutions that recognize the value of the criteria of the farmers who will be the end-users. 35 Tsble 2. Breskdown, by institution, of informstion on CIALs, their gender composition, no. of fsmilies in volved, snd their resesrch topics. Men's 1 Women's Mixed No. of Families lnstitution Agronomists CIALs Research Topics involved IPCA Fredy Sierra, 3 5 20 .._/ Evaluation of highland rice varieties 269 (lnvestigation José Jiménez, .._/ Evaluation of highland tropical maize varieties Participatíva en Juan González .._/ Evaluation of highland maize varieties Centro América) .._/ Characterization of two landrace maize varieties .._/ Evaluatíon of common bean varíeties .._/ lmprovement of the common bean var . "Concha Rosado" .._/ Artisanal production of common bean seed .._/ Evaluation of soybean varieties .._/ Evaluation of cassava varietíes and preparation of the soil .._/ Evaluation of sweet potato and taro (Colocasia esculenta) varíeties .._/ Evaluation of hot pepper varieties .._/ Control of P/utella xylostella in cabbage wíth natural insecticidas .._/ Evaluation of the effect of burning and the no . of burnings .._/ Fertilization of highland maize .._/ Fertilizatíon of carrots .._/ Evaluatíon of 4 planting dates USAID Project Nelson Gamero 2 7 .._/ Evaluation of cassava varieties 58 "Watershed Management" at .._/ Evaluation of maize varíeties Zamorano .._/ Evaluatíon of bean varíetíes .._/ Evaluatíon of varietíes of bananas and --- - 36 ' 1 i Men's J Women's Mixed No. of Families lnstitution Agronomists CIALs Research Topics involved plantains ./ Evaluation of potato varieties IIRR Pablo Zelan 2 2 1 ./ Evaluation of maize varieties 33 (lnternational Mejía lnstitute of Rural ./ Evaluation of highland maize varieties Reconstruction) ./ Effect of the phases of the moon on the planting of radishes seo (Sociedad Carlos Amaya, 5 3 7 ./ Evaluatlon of maize varietles 178 Cristiana para el Desarrollo)- Cristóbal ./ Evaluation of cassava varieties Hlllsldes Barahona ./ Artisanal production of common bean seed ./ Comparison of traditional and technical management on the common bean crop IHDER (Instituto Edwin Amaya 1 ./ Quality of maize seed 8 Hondureño de Desarrollo Rural) ' World Neighbors Santiago Pineda, 3 1 ./ Maize and common beans 36 Marcial López TOTALS 16 10 36 582 ---- ---- ----- -- ---- ----- - -- --- 37 Obstacles to be overcome include: > Apply the criteria for selecting communities and motivating them better in order to minimiza the cases of CIALs that become inactiva because of a deficiency in their application and/or explanation in the meetings with the communities that are approached about forming a CIAL > Continua identifying the strategies for integrating, each time more, the community in the CIAL events and activities to extend their local coverage. > Strengthen the knowledge of the methodology of PR of the Committees to guarantee the results of research and their stability in the community > ldentify mechanisms of self-financing that permits the farmers groups to establish and maintain sufficient funds for the research. > Achieve institutional stability in order to provide continuity to the projects initiated with the farmers > Provide the regional ASOCIAL with sufficient accompaniment by agronomists and business expertise so that they can achieve their consolidation and functioning in search of the CIALs sustainability > Establish mechanisms of participatory monitoring and evaluation that enable the groups to do their own analyses and obtain results for improving the groups' conditions as such. Nicaragua. The CIAL methodology was first implementad in Nicaragua in August 1996. At that time, a group of 17 agronomists from 8 national institutions were trainad. Here it was decidad to use a passive monitoring and follow-up system with much more independence in the use of the methodology by the institutions. This latter fact-together with institutional instability and not having done the course at the time establishad in the yearly operational plan-resultad in the methodology not being widely applied by the participating institutions. Despite the foregoing, there are three institutions that are applying the methodology with great success and interesting results: INPRHU (Instituto de Promoción Humana), UNICAM (Universidad Campesina) and the CIAT Hillsides Program in Nicaragua {Table 3). In contrast to Honduras, these institutions have been working isolatad from one another; therefore, there has been no exchange of experiences among the different groups of farmers or their agronomists. In order to leam about the situation of the CIAL in San Dionisio, an event was organizad in which the farrners could express freely their concepts, both positivas and negativa, relatad to their CIAL. They are also askad to suggest possible solutions. A total of 26 farmers, representing 9 of the 12 CIALs existing in this region of the country, participated. 38 Table 3. lnstitutions, number of CIALs and crop on which research is currently being done by the Committees in Nicaragua. Crop on Which They lnstitution Current No. of CIALs Conduct Their Research INPRHU 5 Maize, control of Spodoptera frugiperda and common beans UNICAM 17 Common beans, sorghum, green manure, compost, IPM with natural insecticidas, association of crops and control of slugs Hillsides/Nicaragua 12 Rice, common beans, soybeans maize TOTAL 34 Photo 2. Farmers partícipating at the CIAL encounter in San Dionisia, Nicaragua. The main objective of the meeting was to diagnose the situation of the CIAL by means of group analysis (only the farmers; the agronomists acted as facilitators), which was later presentad in plenary. A summary is presentad of the results obtained in response to the question: What are the positiva aspects of their CIAL? 39 > The community works better when it is organizad. > There is motivation and a desire to work > There are more opportunities to interact with other people in the community. The knowledge and results are shared with the farmers and CIALs from other zonas. New people are joining the CIALs. > They receive visits from agronomists and paraprofessionals, who help them have more experiences and feel more opportunity. They have had the chanca to visit other communities. > There are more relations with the institutions and, consequently, greater exchange of knowledge. > They ha ve learned to select the best variety and learn about new crops. > They learned to manage their crops, know about the type of soil , combat pests with organic products. > They learned to process sorne products of crops such as soybeans. > They have greater knowledge about crop diseases > Women are participating > From an economic standpoint, they have been able to maintain the initial research fund. > Their work has resultad in development. > They expect good results with the research > They are looking forward to new experiences, new knowledge. > Negativa aspects of their CIAL include: > Sorne members of the CIAL do not participate in the meetings because they have commitments or positions with other programs or organizations, resulting in deficient follow-up of the work. > Lack of communication among the leaders of sorne CIALs > Lack of responsibility on the part of sorne members of the CIALs > Lack of knowledge or interest on the part of the community in sorne work carried out by sorne CIALs > On sorne occasions, lack of coordination between the community and the CIAL > Lack of training in PR and the use of the handbooks for all the members that collaborate with the CIAL. > New members, who do not have a good knowledge of the CIAL methodology, want to pass to production lots without small-scale trials and confirmation plots. > The people do not like todo research on a small scale. > They are not conducting trials on other crops such as vegetables and grasses > Limitations of land for establishing the trials, and those who do have land have not joined the CIALs 40 > Expand the CIAL activities toward other components of community development. > The institutions do not fulfill their obligations; e.g., the National CIAL encounter. > Sometimes the agronomists visit only the coordinators to conduct surveys, and they do not go to the other farms to taken them new knowledge. Alternativa solutions suggested by the farmers include: > The farmers from the CIALs should be models for the rest of the community. > Have the option to change the persona who is not interested > Speak with the members of the Board of Directors who are not participating and remind them of their commitment. > Dialogue > Give the members sufficient training. > More organization of the group, make sure that everyone collaborates. > Have the Board meet to prepare the budget requi red for research and present it to the respective agronomist. > Plan the work ahead of time. > Communicate the different activities to the community at least 8 days ahead of time. > Educational tours or exchanges that motívate the community, obtaining more convening power. > Promote cultural acts, videos, parties and let people know what the CIAL is and what it does. > Carry out a workshop on organizational aspects and research. > The CIAL carries out activities with the community for technical assistance. > Training workshops in pastures, setting up trials, seed quality, not burning. > More training on how to manage the crops better. > Expand the program to include credit, follow-up to credit, gender analysis, soil conservation. > Seek financing for production-oriented projects: crops, swine and layers). > CIAT provides new varieties for research. > Seeds to reforest > Do work with pasturas in the communities because they have a lot of animals. > Intercede with other organizations so that they can buy land for those who do not have it. Status of the CIALs implementad in South America Ecuador. At present the CIAL methodology in Ecuador has advanced greatly by means of institutions such as the lnternationallnstitute of Rural Reconstruction 41 (liAR) and the Instituto Nacional Autónomo of Research Agropecuaria (INIAP). These organizations with different objectives-extension and R&D, respectively-have accomplished important things in their areas, which have permitted the formation and strengthening of various groups, especially in lndian communities. In conjunction with other partner organizations, they are working with the farmer groups on a great variety of tapies in search of viable alternativas for their communities (Table 4). Table 4. lnstitutions, agronomists, number of CIALs and research topics of the groups formed in Ecuador. Participating No. of lnstitution Agronomists CIALs Research Topics » liAR 20 36 ./ Adaptation of snails to their conditions » FUNAN, ./ Resistance to pests and diseases in patato varieties Fundación ./ Resistance to "lancha" (Phytophthora infestans) in Antisana pota toes » INIAP ./ The most effective fungicide against the "lancha" » FORTIPAPA ./ Fruit trees adapted to the zone (Fortalecimiento ./ Organic fertilizers evaluated for yield and cost de la lnvestigation ./ Different crosses of guinea pigs y Production de ./ Varieties of blackberries Semilla de Papa) ./ Traditional vs. alternativa management for milk and » MAG (Ministerio beef production de Agricultura y ./ Performance of tomatoes in the glasshouse Ganadería) ./ Organic control of diseases in tree tomatoes ~ UNOCANC (Unión ./ Chemical vs. organic products for controlling diseases de Organizaciones in broad bean varieties Campesinas del ./ Pea varieties Norte de Cotopaxi} ./ Effect of chemical vs. organic fertilizer on flavor and ~ DIPEIB-C production in potatoes (Direction ./ Production of humus with different local raw materials Provincial de ./ Rates of humus production in blackberries Education ./ Two treatments for controlling white grubs lntercultural (Premnotrypes boraX} in potatoes Bilingüe) ./ Profitability of broad beans in an agroforestry system ~ Consorcio Carchi ./ Rations for guinea pigs ~ Proyecto ./ 4 races of guinea pigs MANRECUR ./ Adaptation of rabbits for meat production ~ APAE, Asociación de Promotores Agro-forestales del Ecuador ~ DFC, Desarrollo Forestal Campesino Preliminary results were as follows: > There is a team of professionals capable of disseminating the CIAL methodology and of implementing projects directly with the communities. 42 > Although the agreement signad with the partners ended in 1999, the implementation of the methodology has continuad to expand. > Both formal and informal agreements have been established for coordinating the development institutions interested in implementing PR in agricultura in their institutional programming. Photo 3. CIAL .. El Candor," Pintag, Pichincha (Ecuador) In front of the shed where the guinea pigs from their tria/ are kept. > liAR is supporting the Program for Training Agroforestal Paraprofessionals at the Universidad de Loja in their distance education program, preparing the PR in Agriculture module. > The application and adaptation of the methodology in development projects by institutions such as FUNAN, which work with communities in buffer zonas in conservationist projects. > The participation of women in the CIAL project has increased considerably, and there have several groups. Different from the men's groups, the women tend todo research on aspects that are directly relatad to the improvement of their family's diet. Colombia. CORPOICA, after having testad the CIAL methodology in various parts of the Cundi-Boyacense savanna, has adoptad it as one of their strategies within their National Technology Transfer Plan. With this tool, they expect to link 43 the R&D areas very closely, which is fundamental to their operational structure. T able 5 shows the research topics being addressed by the dífferent CIALs. Table 5. Research topics being addressed by the different CIALs in Colombia. Participating No. of COA POlCA Agronomists CIALs Research Topics > Region 1, 18 31 ./ Varieties of papaya Cundina-marca ./ Varieties of melon and Boyacá ./ Varieties of rice > Region 7, N&S ./ Varieties of maize Santander ./ Varieties of tomatoes > Region 3, ./ Varieties of bananas Valledupar ./ Varieties of plantains > Region 6, Tolima ./ Varieties of green onions ./ Varieties of grasses for cutting ./ Varieties of alfalfa ./ Methods of improving pastures ./ Varieties of lulo (Solanum quitonense) ./ Effect of planting distance on fruit drop in lulo ./ Effectiveness of two planting depths in controlling the moth Tecia solanivora in potatoes ./ 1 PM in pota toes ./ Rations for broiler chickens ./ IPM in hot chili peppers ./ Control of the cassava stemborer ./ Control of recia solanivora in potato seed ./ Control of a fungus causing stem necrosis in blackberry ./ Control of root rot in peas ./ Chemical control of the stemborer in peas ./ lmproved vs farmers' seed in pota toes ./ lmproved seed for green beans Prelimínary results were as follows: > With the results obtained thus far, CORPOICA has been able to obtain resources, thereby providing continuity to the CIAL project. Donors such as SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) and PRONATTA (Programa Nacional de Transferencia de Tecnología Agropecuaria) have financed projects on two occasions. > They are currently gathering information for publishing a book containing articles with the results of the CIAL researchers. 44 > At the institutionallevel, the CIALs have gained recognition although stronger support is requireed to improve the coordination among projects. The participatory methods now forman important part of CORPOICA's conceptual base. > They have a group of agronomists with experience and knowledge of the methodology that will enable them to correct errors in future projects and have groups with a more solid technical and methodological background. > They have supported the tendency of many farmer groups to become involved in community development objectives based on their research results, such as projects for microenterprises, marketing and/or small-scale seed production. > Alliances have been made with sorne UMATAS (Unidad Municipal de Asistencia Técnica Agropecuaria) for financing events together with the CIALs, as well as for financing sorne production Jots. The following difficulties were identified: > Sorne resistance has been found, especially in the Cundi-Boyacense savanna, wíth respect to conducting trials in small plots. They would like to begin with large lots from the onset of the research > CORPOICA requires the agronomists to implement several projects at the same time. Therefore they have not been able to dedícate sufficient time to the farmer groups, to strengthen them methodologically and understand the approximate dimensions of the tria! experiments, the purpose of which is to reduce risk when they do not know much about the new technology being tested. > When there is money involved for fieldwork, the agronomists are attracted by those projects that have the most resources to the detriment of those with fewer resources. > The experiments have developed slowly because the agronomists do not trust the results, inducing the farmers to repeat the tríal in the next cycle. > There is the technical bias of the agronomist, and insufficient attention is given to the methodological process of strengthening the groups' self- reliance. The groups are not very sol id and are therefore susceptible to the institutional problems that atfect their backstopping. > Equal weight is not given to the qualitative and quantitative results because in traditional research, the latter has more valued. > CRECEDs (Centro Regional de Estudios de Capacitación, Educación y Desarrollo) have been withdrawn from sorne regions and the trained personal transferred, which has resultad in abandonment of about 40% of the groups that had been formed. > The personnel have to present short-term results, which impedes the investment of time initially required by the groups for their strengthening. 45 > The process of selecting communities has not been the best; thus great effort has been made to identify more reliable criteria and improve their commitment to conducting field trials. Project for sustaining CIALs approved On August 1 O, the WK Kellogg Foundation approved a three-year grant for this project, the purpose of which is to promote sustainable rural development by extending the capacity of poor rural communities to solve their agricultura! and environmental problems, take advantage of economic opportunities and integrate these within broader community development efforts. The project has eleven proposed outputs, focusing on the consolidation of second-order associations of CIALs: > Develop and strengthen second-order associations of CIALs > Validate and document self-financing mechanisms for CIALs and ASOCIALs > Establish participatory monitoring and evaluation processes for the ASOCIALs > Systematize and disseminate lessons learned with respect to the processes of organizing second-order associations of CIALs > Document experiences and lesson learned with respect to national-level organizations replicating the CIAL methodology > Enhance local capacity for implementing R&D processes at the grassroots level through CIALs and ASOCIALs > Determine the impact of the ASOCIALs with respect to food security, income generation and decision-making at the grassroots level > Determine the capacity of the ASOCIALs to stimulate both agricultura! innovation and NRM locally > Expand the CIALs capacity to establish microenterprises The following action plan was developed as the first major activity of this new project. 46 Preparation of action plan for the Honduran CIAL network Resesrchers: Carlos Arturo Quirós and José Ignacio Roa Collsborstors: Fredy Sierra, José Jiménez and Carlos Amaya13 The Local Agricultura! Research Committees (CIALs) were introduced in Honduras by the CIAT Hillsides Program in 1993. lnitially, two CIALs were formed in the region of Atlántida: Santiago Arriba and El Recreo(Jiménez, 199i4). With these two groups, the process of doing research with small farmers was begun, based on the demand from the community and the adaptation of the methodology to the conditions of this country. Based on the experiences with 5 groups in 1995, the Participatory Research Project in Central America (IPCA), the following needs were identified: involve more interested institutions and have more agronomists trained in the method. Thus aCIAL course for 9 institutions and 17 agronomists was held in the city of San Pedro Sula. All the participating institutions acquired the commitment to implement the methodology and evaluate it after at least two planting cycles had been carried out in the respective communities where the CIALs had been formed. 70 eo 50 o o 30 z 20 10 Figure 1. Number of CIALs reported by the particlpating lnstltutions in the project for dlssemlnatlng the CIAL methodology in Honduras from 1994- 2000. 13 IPCA and SCD 14 Jimenez, J . 1997. la methodología CIAl: Caso El Recreo municipio la Masica, Departamento de Atlántida. Investigación Participativa de Agricultores para la Agricultura sustentable en laderas. la Ceiba Atlántida. Doc. de Trabajo No. 0011769-02. 24 pp. 47 With the training and follow-up received from the 1 PRA Project and with the impetus from the participating institutions, the number of CIALs and the strengthening of the methodology in the country became more important (Fig.1 ). Toda y 51 groups ha ve been formed by five institutions. The Committees ha ve been meeting yearly since 1997 in order to share the results obtained in the so- callad "National Encounter of CIALs" (Memorias 97, 98, 9915). At these events, it is the farmers themselves who-in their own words and with visual aids preparad by them with the help of the agronomist facilitator, present the results and conclusions obtained in their research to their fellow farmer-researchers. At these events two members per Committee and representativas of the sponsoring institutions participate in the process directly or indirectly. These experiences have been important. Sorne CIALs have consolidated as a group and make recommendations to other members of the community. Others with more experience have established small agroenterprises that permit them to give added value to the products derivad from the research process. Given the degree of progress reaching during these years and taking into account the experience of CORFOCIAL, the Corporation for Promoting CIALs in Cauca, Colombia, their coordinator, Alfonso Truque, was invited to the 111 National Encounter of CIALs in Honduras, held in Siguatepeque. He told the Honduran farmers about the Corporation's experience in Colombia and suggested the possibility of creating an organization that would meet the needs of the CIALs in Honduras. After severa! meetings and interna! discussions on the topic, they decided to create Regional Associations, which they initially called the National CIAL Network (Fig. 2). Given the foregoing, the group of agronomists who are in charge of the CIAL methodology, TecniCIAL, was asked to help them develop an action plan that would serve as a guide or map for their futura actions. 15 1PCA. 1998. In: Segundo Encuentro Nacional de los Comites de Investigación Agrícola Local {CIAL) de Honduras. Memoria. "Damos lo que hemos hecho y recibimos de otros CIALs lo que nos hace falta conocer•. Lago Yojoa, Santa Bárbara, 1-3 April. 56 pp. Primer Encuentro de los Comités de Investigación Agrícola Local (CIAL) de Honduras. 1997. Memorias. Ser investigador es difícil, es querer saber lo que no sabe y querer buscar lo que no se ha perdido. No todos tenemos la misma forma de trabajo, pero sí llevamos el mismo camino". Lago de Yojoa, Santa Bárbara, Honduras. 20-21April. 14 pp. IPCA, CIAT. 1999. In: 111 Encuentro regional de CIALes Honduras y Nicaragua. Memoria: "Por la formación de la red Nacional de CIALs". Centro San Francisco, Siguatepeque, Honduras 9-10 Dec. 78 pp. 48 ASOCIALAYO Association of CIALs in Lago Yojoa (14 CIALs) ASOCIAL Yorito Association of CIALs in the region of Y orito 06 CIALs) ASOHClAb. Honcluran Associatioa of CIALs - 49 ASOCIAL Vallecillos Association of CIALs in the region of Valle- cillos (15 CIALs) ASOCIAGUARE Association of CIALs in the Y eguare micro- watershed (9 CIALs) Figure 2. Network of CIAL associations in Honduras. The general objective was to develop an action plan that pennits the Board of ASOHCIAL to chart the route to follow for consolidating the second-order association of CIALs in Honduras by means of a participatory process. The specific objectives were as follows: > Pennit all the representativas of the tour regional associations to contribute their ideas > Gather infonnation on the different types of associations, their advantages and disadvantages > ldentify the objectives desired for the organization > ldentify actions for fulfilling said objectives > Propase possible verifiable indicators Methodology. The procedure used was based on sorne steps of the methodological proposal for the participatory component of a municipal land ordinance developed by Beaulieu et al (2000) 16, with certain adaptations that made it possíble to apply wíth respect to the objectives proposed in this study. Four working groups were established, one for each of the ASOCIAL participants. The moderators were the agronomists who backstop the CIAL in that region. The sequence of activities was as follows: IJII- General description of the desired conditions. In a brainstonning session the participants were asked to imagine that within three years (the time when the Kellogg project ends), how they would like to see their organization, assuming that all the conditions had been favorable; in other words "how did they see the organization of their dreams in 3 years". The participants were asked to begin their sentences with the words "1 see" "1 wish." Emphasis was placed on the vision of what they wanted rather than on possible problems. The moderator made note of the participants' comments in their own words and verified their understanding of the same. The moderator did not seek an explanation of why the fanners wanted something so as not to bias the opinion of the other participants or inhibit their comments. In the description of the "dream," they were told that they could also refer to conditions with which they feel satisfied today or that they have accomplished and about which they feel good. 16 Beaulieu, N.; Jaramillo, J.; Leclerc, G. 2000. Propuesta metodológica para el componente participativo del ordenamiento territorial municipal, basada en el desarrollo de una visión común. Documento de trabajo. Versión preliminar. Centro Internacional de Agriculltura Tropical, CIAT, Cali, Colombia. 15 pp. 50 To the extent possible during this exercise and others, the moderator or facilitator grouped or classified the farmers' comments into more general tapies . .,.. Prioritization of the general tapies and their items. Each group was given the opportunity to mention their tour most important general tapies for reaching their dreams/wishes. The votes were tabulated, and the priorities, established . .,.. Presentation of results. Each group named a rapporteur from among the farmers, and the results obtained were presentad in a plenary session . .,.. Where are we. what have we accomplished todav. Although the organization has just begun, an inventory was made of their principal accomplishments or progress related to their organization to date . .,.. Who wi/1 be responsible for what has been visualized in the orqanization of the future? Using the vision desired for the organization, the different items identified in relation to the competency of the ASOHCIAL or the ASOCIAL were analyzed in the assembly . .,.. lt was decided to continue working only with the items related to ASOHCIAL given that each ASOCIAL will do their respective analysis Jater, using this same methodology . .,.. After the brainstorming, the moderators oriented the discussion around the broad tapies that were not mentioned and that have been important for the organization of the CIALs in CORFOCIAL-Colombia (see Box 1 ) . .,.. Preparation of objectives. Given that the objectives were for the national organization, the members of each ASOCIAL were divided into tour groups. Based on the results of the prioritization of the broader tapies, tapies were paired-<>ne of higher prioritization with one of lower prioritization. Then the tapies were assigned at random to the groups of farmers to carry out the work . .,.. For each topic, a specific objective was prepared to cover what the group of farmers hoped to achieve. 51 Photo 4. Members of the National CIAL Network, ASOHCIAL and agronomists from TecniCIAL, who work with the CIAL methodology in the discussion and planning of future activities. 52 53 '~!"'- ¡ . .t- - -,1 .... ) • ·-1' ..,. Activities bv objective. For each specific objective, the required activities required to accomplish it were specified. This was done by asking the question: 'Well, now what should we doto achieve the objective that you have just described?" ..,. Time limit for their achievement. The need to establish time limits by which time the activity should have been terminated is important for commitment and to facilitate their follow-up . ..,. Confirmation of outputs Ondicators). The producers were asked to think about what would be the best way of confinning that each activity has been accomplished as planned. 54 (/) ro L. ::J "'' e o I ~~ <(;$ J:U UI so oc.n _J<( u_ e ro -a.. e o :e <( LO LO ..,. Results General description of the conditions desired. Based on the foregoing methodology and with the aid of the flowchart, the information in Table 6 was generated on the dream the participants had with respect to their organization. Table 6. Description of the conditions desired in their organization. ORGANIZATION RESOURCES ANO LOGISTICS AOMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONING ./ A legally constituted organization, ./ Should have its own technical staff . ./ Access to emergency (e.g., droughts) recognized both nationally and ./ Should have their own means of funds for their members internationally with a well-defined transportation for mobilizing the ./ Have funds at low interest rates for register of the CIAL members. agronomists, members and producers supporting production projects and ./ ASOHCIAL-ASOCIAL communication ./ Headquarters should have a capacity strengthening the CIALs should be reciproca! and orientad for holding meetings ./ Funds/scholarships for students and/or towards a common goal. ./ Should have equipment for facilitating CIAL members ./ All members should work with lave for the regional associations' work with ./ Capacity for presentíng proposals and their organization, and everyone CIALs: machinery for microenterprises implementing them at both national should be responsible in carrying out or other necessary equipment and international levels their functions . ./ Have the necessary resources to ./ Credit for the regional association of ./ The Board should be well organizad. conduct research CIALs ./ More ASOCIAL regional associations ./ Office equipped with computar in arder ./ Organization that supports ASOCIAL should be affiliated to the ASOHCIAL to have access to information on the projects ./ There should be more participation of CIAL results women. ./ Should have a display area for showing ./ There should be a follow-up system at their products the national level. SOCIAL ANO INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS PROJECTIONS TRAINING ./ Capacity for preparing and presenting ./ The ASOHCIAL should be a model of ./ More training in organizational skills proposals to ensure sustainability community organization ./ Train one staff member of the ./ Should have sufficient economic ./ The ASOHCIAL should promete ASOCIAL in project administration resources integrated regional development ../ Services for formatiol} of family ~--- 56 ' ' .. ñ i ./ Members of the ASOHCIAL should ./ Should be an organization with a social members (student scholarships) know their duties and rights purpose, providing more opportunities ./ for people to improve their quality of lite Formation as agronomists v' Should have sufficient knowledge of (farmer/community leaders) in PR administrativa aspects v' The research results obtained should methods and techniques be disseminated to increase the ./ Should have capacity for self-reliance productivity of the associates v' Training in conducting experiments v' A organization that shows solidarity with all the ASOCIALs MARKETING AGROINDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS 1 ./ Seek channels for commercializing the v' Should have the mechanisms and ./ Members of the network should be like ' products that the ASOCIALs produce contacts for promoting agroindustry sisters ./ Promete the participation of the v' Give added value to the products: ./ Dissemination by radio and "La hora ASOCIAL in the farmers' fairs, artisanal seed production and organic CIAL en Honduras" on Radio America agricultura! & livestock markets coffeeforexport v' Systematize the experiences and ./ ldentify at both national and exchange information, encounters, international levels the contacts for study tours and workshops exporting its products (e.g., coffee, ./ Dissemination v ia radio programs and watermelon) ASONACIAL newspaper ./ Have a storage system ./ Document experiences ./ Seek way to advertí se the products 57 Priaritizatian af the general tapies. The following scale (1 =1 O, 2=9, 3=8, 4=7, 5=6,6 =5, 7=4, 8=3, 9=2) was used to make a general prioritization by topics, by position occupied (T able 7) Table 7. Priaritizatian af the general tapies by representatives. Topic 1st 2nd 3r" 4'" 5th 6th 7th Total Prioritization Resources and 2 1 o 1 o 1 41 1 SI logistics Organization 2 2 38 2'"' Training 2 1 1 36 3"' Social 1 1 1 20 4"' projection Administration 1 1 19 5"' Marketing 1 1 15 6'" lnstitutional 1 1 15 6Ul strengthening Agroindustry 1 1 12 8 Communication 1 6 gu S Preparation of objectives, activities and indicators . The following is an example of the output that was accomplished with the active participation of the members of the ASOCIAL in the preparation of objectives, activities, responsibility and indicators (Table 8). 58 Table 8. Objectives wiJh their respective activiJies and inputs requiredfor ASOHCIAL's action plan. Verifiable Objectives Activities Necessarv lnouts Resoonsible Deadline lndicators 1. Organization: .¡' Obtain legal status .¡' Economic resources .¡' Lawyer .¡' Feb./2001 .¡' Legal status Have a legally .¡' Hiring services of a obtained constituted lawyer organization .¡' Contract person .¡' Economic resources .¡' Entities .¡' Aug./2000 .¡' Lawyer qualified to carry out .¡' Recommendation of the providing contracted necessary lawyer about support transactions organization kind .¡' lnform him of what needs to be accomplished .¡' Prepare bylaws .¡' Contract lawyer .¡' Assembly .¡' Dec./2000 .¡' Bylaws preparad .¡' Meetings with the .¡' Lawyer and applied ASOCIALs to learn how they want ASOHCIAL to function .¡' T o elect Board of .¡' Assembly meeting .¡' Assembly .¡' OctJ2000 .¡' Board named Directors .¡' Election of the Board and functioninQ 2. Training: Achieve .¡' Evaluate level of .¡' Human .¡' TecniCIAL .¡' Dec./2000 .¡' Report of the 1 technical operational knowledge of the evaluation results capacity of the Board members of .¡' Economic .¡' ASOHCIAL ASOHCIAL through ASOHCIAL (self- .¡' Report distributed the active reliance, to regional participation with their administration, associations, regional associations organization, CIAT, and other research) entities .¡' Document on training needs, preparad 59 Verifiable Objectives Activities Necessary lnputs Responsible Deadline lndicators 1 ./ Strengthen their ./ Didactic: handbooks, ./ TecniCIAL ./ May/2003 ./ ASOHCIAL 1 knowledge of the videos ./ ASOHCIAL Board members CIAL methodology show mastery of the CIAL methodology ./ Draw up norms, ./ Secretary, computar, ./ ASOHCIAL ./ Dec./2000 ./ Bylaws, regulations and printer ./ TecniCIAL regulations, functions of the ./ Papar ./ CORFOCIAL norms and Board ./ Lawyer functions preparad and distributed ./ Training in how to ./ Human resources ./ ASOHCIAL ./ June2003 ./ Proposals prepare project ./ Diagnoses ./ TecniCIAL preparad proposals ./ Maps ./ Outside ./ Formats consultant ./ Training in project ./ Local human resources ./ ASOCIAL ./ Dec./2001 ./ Book of acts management ./ Externa! human ./ TecniCIAL ./ Administrativa resources ./ Externa! control system in ./ Economic resources advisor place ./ Logistics 60 Conclusions > Although there is a disparity in the degree of knowledge of the farmers in the enterprise that is being initiated, there is strong interest in establishing the third-order or centralizad organization of the CIALs; that is, ASOHCIAL. > The CIALs from each of the four regions are willing to form their ASOCIAL and their national network, which will be called ASOHCIAL. > The institutions that facilitate the CIALs are offering continuous support to the organization of the ASOHCIAL. > The principal lines of action that serve as a guide for the formation and strengthening of their organization were identified. > The Board of Dírectors needs to establish its norms, functions and bylaws for its interna! functioning. > Once the organization has been formed, the Board members should be trained in administrativa and financia! aspects, as well as in the preparation of proposals. > lt is necessary to identify mechanisms for financing in order for both ASOCIAL and the CIALs to become sustainable, thereby permitting continuity in the proposed goals. > The research tapies and the management of natural resources were not discussed in depth as these are tapies related directly with the CIALs, which are the implementers. Community telecenters: A strategy for promoting sustainable development (lnforCauc@) Researcher. Luis Alfredo Hernández R Collaborators: Oiga Patricia Paz17,Nathan Russell8, Eduardo Figueroa19, Alvaro del Campcl0, and Grassroots Group in Cauca Project goal. The purpose of the lnforCauca Project is development communications, where appropriate models are tested for strengthening the local capacity to obtain and use information of different types, especially that related to the economy and the sustainable management of natural resources. Challenges. The project propases to install three telecenters that will enable the communities to use, exchange and produce information. In addition to setting up the infrastructure, joint activities are being conducted in arder to determine how the telecenters can link up to the demands of the community, how they can improve the performance of the community organizations and what the impact of 17 Coordinator, Telecenters Project 18 Head, CIAT Communications Unit 19 Assistant, CIAT Communications Unit 20 Vice-Rector, CUAO 61 the new technologies will be. lnforCauca has at least six basic levels: convocation, setting up of the telecenter, training, operations, research and evaluation. From the onset, CIAT established contacts with the Corporación Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (CUAO) in Cali, known for promoting access to the new technologies. The two entities invitad various community organizations to apply for the position of operators of the telecenters. Of 11 applicants, 7 joined to form a support group that will pennit them to operate a telecenter in central Cauca; and from the remaining organizations, two were selected: one from Cali and the other from northern Cauca. The urban organization is a training center located in a marginal area of Cali, known as the District of Aguablanca, which has more than 450 thousand inhabitants, the majority of whom have migrated from the Pacific Coast and rural areas of nearby provinces. An Association of Paez lndian Councils is in charge of operating the telecenter in northern Cauca. This organization brings together 14 councils. In the zone covered by the Reservation, 65% of the population is Paez lndians; 35% are mestizos (30%) and 5%, Afro-Colombians. lt is in charge of managing and developing productiva and social projects that favor its communities. The Support Group that operates the telecenter in central Cauca is formed by seven organizations, the majority of which conduct research and provide technical backstopping to agricultura! and livestock activities and to rural microenterprises. In this way institutionallinkages were established, bringing together the experience of different organizations committed to the social development of both urban and rural communities. Setting up the Telecenters. This phase included the selection and adaptation of the sites for the telecenters, the acquisition and installation of the technological platform and the selection of the purveyors of Internet. Parallel to this process, the operators of each telecenter (called local coordinators) were selected: 6 half time (2 per telecenter), of which 4 are women and 2 are men, ranging in age from 20-40 years. The most important thing is that these people belong to the communities where the telecenters are located and are thus committed to them, understand the interna! dynamics of the community organizations and, above all, have a lot of enthusiasm and confidence in the project. Training. One of the components that links lnforCauca is the training. lt is present throughout the process as a need to strengthen the skills of the local coordinators and of the members of the community organizations, so that they in turn can become multipliers for other members of the community. The training consists of severallevels. The initial induction describes the telecenters, the world movement of telecenters, and the objectives of the 62 lnforCauca Project. Technical training is provided in management of the software, and sorne training is orientad towards strengthening communication skills, offering tools for improving the performance of the telecenter and proposing alternativas in project management and negotiation. This training is for the local coordinators, with the support of the other members of the organization and of the project coordination. The purpose is to strengthen their capacity to design strategies that guarantee the sustainability of the telecenter, generate its own projects and its own resources with the purpose of developing and expanding the current technological platform, which consists of two interconnected computers, a printer and a scanner. Telecenter activities. At this time, an action plan is being designad for each telecenter, which means establishing schedules, services to be extended, costs of the same and user policies. Each organization is preparing its own plan given that each telecenter operates under different organizations and environments so that their actions do not have to be the same. Nevertheless, parallel to the activities specific to each telecenter, lnforCauca plans to build projects on line to exchange products and services. Considering that two of the telecenters offer their services to rural communities dedicated to the production of food, the initial focus will be on a network for marketing products with the purpose of facilitating and promoting direct contacts and negotiations between the producers and the distributors and end-users in urban areas. This will make it possible for the producers to market their products directly, obtaining better profits and leaming of possible demands on the market. lt is also expected to improve the food supply for the residents of marginal sectors in Cali. Basic production projects were defined to start the marketing network. Afterwards studies will be conducted to determine the commercial viability of these products according to their amounts, characteristics and production methods. The participating institutions-CUAO and CIAT-will develop other lines of action related to technology transfer, training in different fields including environmental and natural resource management, promotion of their business capacity, negotiation and technical assistance for the projects. The project 's Web page is being designad with links to the telecenters, to the community organizations and to each institution's programs. One of the objectives of the Web site is to market products and services, as well as exchange experiences, techniques, agricultura! knowledge, etc. This page will make it possible for the organizations to make available on-line information about the projects that they are carrying out, thereby facilitating possible meetings and strategic alliances. Lines of research. lnitially, the opportunities and risks associated with the implementation of new communication and information technologies in the communities were determinad. 63 lll> Research will be initiated to design communication strategies for the community organizations that are members of lnforCauca. The idea is to diagnose their processes of interna! communication and formulate a communication plan, the strategíes of which make it possible to identify the stakeholders and the linkages among the different organizations and their work with the communities. The proposed methodology is participatory research so that the members of the organizations can be active participants in the design of the strategy basad on the needs of their institutions and of the telecenters. Joint meetings are being preparad to define the steps to follow, the lines of work and the tools to initiate the process. lll> lt has been important to learn about the activities and projects carried out by each community organization and sorne of their information and communication needs. This will make it possible to identify the way the telecenter can contribute to satisfying these demands. In addition, it has provided the information necessary for determining the project's base for initiating the network among producers and consumers. lll> A basic component consists in monitoring the project, evaluating it and measuring the impact of the telecenters over a three-year period. For this purpose a proposal was developed, which includes the participation of the local coordinators and the members of the organizations. Additional resources are being sought to conducta rigorous impact evaluation, the results of which can be shared wíth other projects. Lessons learned. lnforCauca is a project in which 11 organizations are participating. The initial process of approaching them servad to generate confidence and construct a solid institutional base. 1 nforCauca and the organizations are fully committed and willing to support each other, establishing the bases for ongoing communication-aspects that are key for transmitting their action plans jointly. The organizations that form part of lnforCauca all work towards community development, but in different fields. The members of the community organization located in the urban area of Cali have established set periods for complying goals, which are generally fulfilled; while the rhythms tend to be slower for the members of the lndian organization. This has taught us to be aware of the different dynamics of each organization and to take them into account before planning activities or designing tasks. The Organizing Committee consists of representativas from the Association of lndian Councils, the training center in Aguablanca, the interinstitutional consortion from the Central Cauca zone, CIAT and the Universidad Autonoma de Occidente, the general coordinator of the lnforCauca Project, and the coordinator of the T elecenters. This structure has enabled the different actors to feel a part of and committed to the project. lts purpose is to develop an integrated strategy for establishing the T elecenters and to ensure that the stakeholders have the opportunity to express their concerns. Although they are in charge of operating 64 the telecenters, everyone is thinking about how this can best be done. In the case of the lndian organization, some of their members do not trust the new technologies, perceiving them as a threat, making it possible for persons from outside to usurp, for their own benefit, information that belongs to the lndian communities. Consequently, some of them have rejected the project. These situations have been dealt with in conjunction with the leaders of their organization as they trust fully in the project and in the potential benefits of the telecenter. These fears imply, nonetheless, an important issue to bear in mind throughout the project---especially in the evaluation of impact: the effects, both positive and negative, that the technology can have on the communities. Based on the training carried out thus far, we have derivad the following lessons: .,. The learning rhythms and modes are different in each case . .,. The most important aspect of the training is that is a space where the participants get to know each other, exchange ideas, share likes and fears with respect to the new technologies, and begin to plan possible collaborative alliances among the organizations they represent. .,. lt has also been meaningful to keep informad of other processes, learn about experiences and put into practice the lessons learned from others. This is particularly true because we are part of a relatively new movement and because there are still many reservations about having access to the new technology. Community organizations network Researcher, 0/af Westermanrf1 .,.. Objectjves > To strengthen community organizations in order to develop their abilities and capacities for interaction with externa! agents and decision-making > To develop representativa local structures in order to improve the communication of local needs to externa! support agents and the bargaining power of local actors > To increase the bargaining capacities of community organizations to negotiate with externa! agents 21 Hillsides Project, PE-3. 65 Table 9. Logframe for project activities. lntermediate Outcome lndicators Means of Verification 1. Cemmunity erganizatiens .¡' ldentificatien ef cemmunity .¡' Cemmunity Prefile (SCAT} identitied andler termed, erganizatiens previding a ferum fer analysis and negetiatien ef diverse interests 2. Awareness ef the existence .¡' Cemmunity erganizatien .¡' Cemmunity Profile (SCAT} and purpese ef ether greups relatienships recegnizing diversified .¡' Cemmunity erganizatien interests, increased netwerks and erganizatienal density 3. New and existing cemmunity .¡' Membership .¡' Cemmunity erganizatiens greups strengthened with pretiles (adapted frem ímpreved leadership and .¡' SeNices previded by the institutienal pretiles ef SCAT}, shared respensibilities, nerms netwerk applied te leaders, members and rules, centlict reselutien % seNices previded by the and nenmembers. capacity, impreved .¡' management and decisien- netwerk that reach the target making abilities, gender pepulatien equity, capable ef preject lnstitutienal capacity prepesal design and reseurce .¡' mebilizatien (leadership, participatien, erganizatienal culture, erganizatienal capacity) 4. Netwerk ef cemmunity .¡' No. ef members of the .¡' Community erganization asseciatiens established with netwerk that live in the pretiles ( adapted frem clear eperatienal rules, norms community institutienal prefiles ot SCAT}, and principies (internallinks applied te leaders, members established) and nonmembers. .¡' Analysis ot linkages 66 MILESTONES * Professionals trained in the use of tools and methods for FPR * Professionals trained in CIAL methodology * Professionals trained in use of the preference~ranking matrix * Organization of agronomists working with CIALs in Honduras * Follow-up of trainers who were preparad in Training of Facilitators course lnternational workshop on small farmers' methodologies of experimenta- tion; meeting to exchange experiences on the institutionalization of participatory research methodologies Resesrchers: Carlos Arturo Ouirós and José Ignacio Roa This event was held at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ) of the Universidad Autónoma of Yucatán (UADY) and supported by members of the DIP (Diagnóstico, lnvestigation and Participation) project. This group prometes action research orientad towards endogenous change in rural communities. The training activities were held from 27 Sept. -8 Oct. with the participation of 32 participants from 15 institutions and 4 countries. The objectives of the course were to: > Provide training in the CIAL methodology > Reflect on the potential of the CIAL methodology in their respective projects > Share different strategies for doing PR > Visita small farmer experimentation project in Yucatan > Discuss possible adaptations of the methodology for use in the area of animal production Highlights of the results obtained are as follows: ~ The advantages and disadvantages of the CIAL methodo\ogy were discussed, placing emphasis on its application in small animals. There was also an opportunity to exchange experiences in the use of other methodologies. The following points of reflection resultad: )' lt is necessary to form and train agronomists in PR methods starting in their undergraduate studies. )' Follow-up is an essential component for establishing dynamic and interactiva participatory processes. ">' The systematization of the processes and results from the field are essential for disseminating them both within the institution and interinstitutionally. 67 > There is a need to evaluate the impact of applying FPR methods in order to measure their importance, as well asto integrate evaluation criteria. > The need to expand the social role of the organization > The lack of adequate statistical tools > Relation between product and result of the small farmer experimentation and conventional research. 111> The most relevant aspects for applying the PR methodology in research on animals were analyzed with respect to: >General >Diagnosis > Experimentation phase > Evaluation of technologies > Dissemination Professionals trained in the use of tools and methods for FPR Resesrchers: Luis Alfredo Hernández, Carlos Arturo Quirós and José Ignacio Roa Collsborstors Maria Elena Morros and Angela Bolívar1 Tabla 1 summarizes the training events relatad to FPR, the participating institutions. the number of participants and country. Table 1. Participation in training events on FPR. No. of Date Citv/Country Event Participating lnstitutions Participants Sept. 27- Mérida, IPRA/CIAT .¡" DISE-FMVZ-UADY: 32 Nov. 1, Mexico Methodological - Rector's Office 1999 Proposals for Small - Dept. of Beekeeping Farmer - Dept. Animal Breeding Experimentation - Dept. of Ecology ./ Instituto Técnológico Agropecuario .¡" Desarrollo Integral Agrfcola ./ FONAES .¡" ICRAF ./ lEPA A.CJMAC .¡" WEY College. London Univ . ./ Reading Univ .• England ./ DECOTUX ./ NRG-CIMMYT ./ PROTROPICO ./ Maderas del Pueblo .¡" CIRAD/CIMMYT .¡" Sociedad de Solidaridad Social 1 Researchers, Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (FONAIAP), Venezuela. 68 No.of Date City/Country Event Participating lnstitutions Participants Nov. 8- Barquisimeto, llllnternational ./ Convenio CIARA- BM, 33 19, 1999 Venezuela Course on PR Empresa APROA, C.A. ./ Convenio CIARA- BM, Empresa RENTAGRO, CA ./ TECNOSERVI, CA ./ CIAE- Lara ./ CIAE- Yaracuy ./ CIAE - Guarico ./ CIAE- Tachira ./ FONAIAP - Trujillo ./ FONAIAP - Mérida ./ FONAIAP - Sucre ./ FONAIAP - Apure ./ FONAIAP - CENIAP ./ CIARA- Yaracuy ./ CIARA- Rojas ./ CIARA - Mérida ./ CIARA- Aragua ./ SERVIOCAF, CA ./ ESSINIFOR, CA Feb.14- Maracay, CIAL course, Aragua ./ Instituto de Investigaciones 34 18,2000 Venezuela Region Agronómicas: - Dept. of Plant Protection - Dept. of Plant Genetic Resources - Dept. of Fruits ./ Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Agro- ecológicos - Dept. of Agroeconomics - Dept. of Soils ./ CIAE-Trujillo ./ CIAE-Lara ./ Extension agents Feb. 7-11 CIAT, Cali, Participatory Methods ./ CORPOICA R-5 12 Colombia and Techniques for ./ FIDAR FPR ./ UMAT A-Restrepo ./ Corporación Ecólógica Reverdecer ./ SERTEDESO ./ PRODESSA ./ DICTA ./ CIAT /Nicaragua ./ CIAT/Costa Rica ./ CIATNillavicencio ./ CIAT/Cali May31 Sasaima, Partícipatory Methods ./ NOVARTIS de Colombia 21 June 2, Colombia and T echniques for SA 2000 FPR TOTALS 5 59 132 69 Training course in Venezuela Researcher: Luis Alfredo Hernández CENIAP (Centro Nacional of Investigaciones Agropecuarias), an experimental center located in Maracay; is under FONAIAP. They carry out agricultura! research related to agroeconomics, plant protection, soils, etc . ..,. Training objectives. The training course in Venezuela took place from 14- 18 February. There were 33 participants in the course, the purpose of which was to train CENIAP-FONAIAP researchers and extension agents, as well as farmers, in the following steps of the CIAL research ladder: (a} Planning the trial (what, where, how, when); (b) evaluation (open, absoluta and preference ranking); and (e) analysis of the information (logit analysis) . ..,. Synthesis of results. CENIAP has begun a process of becoming self- sufficient in training, based on tha information containad in the CIAL handbooks, which were compilad as a learning unit. lt was observad that they were capable of training in the stages such as Motivation, Election of the Committee, Diagnosis and Planning. In tha other stagas of tha research ladder, they have available possibilities such as preference ranking, principal components, logit analysis, etc., which were proposed and analyzed by exparts (statistical analysis), in search of their adaptation and latar application based on their needs. The management of the information, its systematization, analysis and feedback into the different research processes are key to these learning processes, considering that all the actors participate in the technological development. A strategy for following up on the process is required in order to leam more about the successes and failures of the diffusion of the methodology in the different contexts of Latín America. Course on methods and techniques of farmer participatory research (FPR) Resesrchers: Carlos Arturo Ouirós and José Ignacio Roa This course was held in Sasaima, Cundinamarca with the participation of 21 agronomists from the different regional offices of NOVARTIS in Colombia. This multinational has, for severa! years, been exploring the possibility of involving farmers in their research plots. 70 The overall objective was to apply methods and techniques of FPR to improve etficiency of their agricultura! projects. The specific objectives were to: > ldentify production problems from the standpoint of the producers > ldentify and interpret the local knowledge > lnvolve the farmers in the design of technology trials > lnvolve the producers in the evaluation of technology being testad > lncorporate the feedback from the farmers into the generation of new technology > Give feedback to the community on the results of the trials. Results > lt was possible to establish the differences between the traditional methods of on-farm research and the participatory processes in which the farmer participates in the decisíon-making > The negativa impact that patemalistic practicas have on the communities was made clear. They leamed that it is better to teach them how to fish than to give them fish. > When the farmers participate in the research process, they feel that the project > is theírs and they are capable of disseminating the technology rapidly. ln-service training in use of the preference-ranking matrix Researcher: Luis Alfredo Hernández ..,. Actors. Agronomists and scientists have been trained to use the matrix in Venezuela (33), Honduras (3) and CIAT HQ-Agroenterprises (2), breeding and pathology programs (6) . ..,. Procedure. T each the philosophy of logit analysis and how the information ís processed so that the user can construct and interpret the technology- acceptance graphs . ..,. Accomplishments. The tool is being applied in the selection of cassava varieties in the Pathology Program. As a result of this, the project "Evaluation of the adaptation of cassava varieties with resistance to Phytophthora spp. through participatory research in lndian communities of Mitú (Vaupés Province, SE Colombia) has obtained the following information. Cassava is a staple in the indigenous diet in the Amazon basin, and the marketing of its byproducts provides a source of income. Because of land pressure around Mitú, shifting cultivation with rotations is no longar 71 practicad, which had perrnitted forest regeneration, and plots are not adequately selected. One consequence is an increased incidence of cassava pests and diseases. Root rots, caused by several Phytophthora species, comprise a major production constraint in the region. A survey to determine crop management practicas and their relationships with root-rot incidence found that two-thirds of the indigenous women farmers agreed that rots constituted the main cassava-production problem. The farmers were willing to try new varieties, describing the characteristics that they preferred and helping the researchers choose four chagras (slash and burn cuftivation), each from a different community. The farmers evaluated 1 O CIAT materials and 91ocallandraces according to their own selection criteria for the plant development stage: vigor, plant health, plant height, stems per plant, and days to maturity. At harvest the fanners also had specific criteria for adequate yield, starch content and planting materials (cuttings). The criteria identified resultad in a field book for evaluating cassava varieties in the zone. The farmers preferred the CIAT materials CM 2772-3 (sweet, with yellow pulp) and M Bra 97 (sweet, with white pulp) to the local landraces. Results (Fig. 1) were diffused, with fanners' participation, through meetings with communities along the Mítú-Monfort highway (Vaupés Province) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). A field day was also conducted in one of these communities (Mucura, Mitú township); anda pictographic handbook was published. A 120% • MBn 71 • CM2772·l 100% • Miriti (A) 80% )( CG165·7 -~ ll MBn 1044 :;¡ -~ • MVn lS 40% + MAra6 . Mll Analyze the different situations occurring the application of the CIAL methodology in the four regions of Honduras > Discuss the methodological and technological innovations that can be considerad for implementation by the farmers > Communicate and disseminate the results obtained > Organiza the national encounter of CIALs > ldentify the mechanism of communication among participating institutions and coordinate the collection and shipping products and inputs to and from the different regional offices > ldentify those institutions that can offer technologies for the CIALs. > Channel the demands for training from other institutions and coordinate their execution. 75 MILESTONES * Materials for training course for CIAL facilitators, modified * Final version software for logit analysis to analyze preference rankings, final versions in Spanish and English * Spanish version of CIAL book edited * Comparison of farmer field schools and CIALs presentad and published * Case study on CIPASLA, finished * Material for CIAL Training Course 1, revisad and available on CD-ROM Materials for training course for CIAL facilitators In mid-1999 a training course was organizad for preparing trainers from national programs to facilitate CIAL training courses in their respective countries. In addition to their preparation as facilitators, emphasis was placed on providing further training in areas where the participants felt a need; e.g., analysis of trial results. This added to the intensity of the course, and it was found that there was a need for more time to explore certain aspects in greater depth. Consequently, the IPRA team met after the course to discuss the content of the same, anda consultant was given the task of revising the content and developing new materials for a second course. For lack of funds, it was not possible to follow up all the trainees in their respective countries or test these new materials in a second course, after which they will be made available on CD. Tools available Software for statistical applications for analyzing preference ranking, final version in Spanish and English: > Title: Logistic preference ranking analysis for evaluating technology options, A user's manual. Application for Microsoft Excel7.0 by Luis Alfredo Hernández Romero, IPRA CIAT Project. Final version May 2000 (ISBN No. 958-694-0276-8) > Title: Regresión Logística en el Análisis de Preferencias; Manual con Matriz en Excel7.0 by Luis Alfredo Hemández Romero, CIAT IPRA project. Final version May 2000 (ISBN No. 958-694-0276-6) 76 CIAL book In 1999 the English version of the book on the impact of the CIALs was edited. In 2000 it was published, and the Spanish version is in the process of being printed. The English version has been distributed both within and outside CIAT. > Ashby, JA, AA Braun, T Gracia, M del P Guerrero, LA Hernández, CA Quirós and JI Roa. 2000. lnvesting in farmers as researchers; Experience with Local Agricultura! Research Committees in Latín America. CIAT, Cali, Colombia. 199 pp. > Ashby, JA, AA Braun, T Gracia, M del P Guerrero, LA Hernández, CA Quirós and JI Roa. Invirtiendo en los agricultores como investigadores: Experiencia de los Comités de Investigación Agrícola Local en América Latina. CIAT, Cali, Colombia. ±200 pp. (In press) Comparison of farmer field schools and CIALs Braun, AA, G Thiele and M Femández. 2000. Farmer Field Schools and Local Agricultura! Research Committees: Complementary platforms for integrated decision-making in sustainable agricultura. ODI AgREN Network Papar no. 105. 16 pp. Available on AgREN website: http:/www.odi.org.uklagren/publist.html Humphries, S, J Gonzales, Jose Jimenez and Fredy Sierra. 2000. Searching for sustainable land use practicas in Honduras: Lessons from a program of participatory research with hillside farmers. ODI AgREN Network Paper no. 1 04. 16 pp. Available on AgREN website: http:/www.odi.org.uk/agren/publist.html Cl PASLA case study Resesrcher: Helena Aizen, Consultant1 Collsborstors: Carlos Arturo Quirós, Magnolia Hurtado and Jorge Trujillo2 This historical case study, which was terminated in Dec. 1999, is available from IPRA electronically (55 pp.). CIPASLA, an lnterinstitutional Consortium for Sustainable Agricultura in Hillsides, was created in response to initiatives of the CIAT Hillsides Program, which bagan a new project in the Ovejas River watershed in 1992. The purpose was to contribute to the dual objectives of increasing the food security of the farmers in Tropical America, while ensuring the sustainability of the natural resources. Hillside agricultura in Tropical America is characterized by a vicious circle of poverty, which increases the degradation of the natural resources, which in tum increases poverty. The rural populations are torced to cultivate the marginal, highly fragile land. In order to break this circle, the Hillsides Program decided to 1 Social anthropologist 2 Researcber, SN-3; Coordinator, CIPASLA; and President oftbe Board of ASOBESURCA, respectively. 77 implement an institutional model for watershed management, capable of designing new tools for management of land-use systems, whereby a decision- support tool for managing the information would enable the users to link their local knowledge with externa! knowledge. This model implies an important institutional change, given that the regulatory and punitive measures traditionally employed by the institutions to improve natural resource management (NRM), have proven ineffective. In order to revise the strategy and integrate the different sectors involved in NRM and prepare collective work plans, all the entities working in the Ovejas River watershed were convened at the end of 1992 to participate in a workshop, which led to the creation of the lnterinstitutional Consortium for Sustainable Agricultura in Hillsides (CIPASLA). The consortium, which began functioning with the economic support of international and national organisms, brought together governmental entities, NGOs, grassroots organizations and CIAT in the joint work that they have been carrying out since then. In a gradualleaming process, an interinstitutional relationship has been developed that has made it possible to unify the criteria for action and the definition of common objectives. The participating institutions-based on the assumption that the poverty of the individuals and the weakness of the community organizations are closely linked to the ecological damage in the hillsides environment-are committed to supporting the communities in their search for new options for increasing their income and improving their food security. Although the projects implementad by the consortium are aimed at diversifying production, commercialization and the introduction of new agroindustries, these activities are linked to soil conservation practicas, the integrated management of crops and agroforestry systems, with the intention of providing economic incentives to the farrners in order to facilitate the adoption of ecologically sound practicas. Within the strategy developed by the consortium, the community organization and the development of their capacity for leadership play an important role. The creation of the Association of Beneficiarles (ASOBESURCA), forrned by representativas of the local and village organizations, contributed in great measure to accomplishing this goal. ASOBESURCA is linked directly the Consortium's decision-making processes and has its own budget for financing small productiva projects in the communities, and its relativa autonomy enables it to act as an interlocutor between the communities and the entities, ensuring an ongoing process of consultation. The consortium brings together all the sectors involved in NRM, representing a space for discussion and negotiation that make it possible to develop and implement new technologies that emphasize the more efficient and equítable use of the resources. The participation of all the sectors, including those who are traditionally marginal in decision-making of this natura, ensures the sustainability of the process. The work that CIPASLA has been carrying out over the past seven years has contributed to the strengthening of the community organization and theír 78 leadership capacity, not only because it opened up a space where the communities are representad but also through training in different areas, enabling them to create new organizational forms linked to production and research. They have managed to recover ample degradad zones through reforestation, isolation of areas to protect water and establishment of live barriers, thanks to the large-scale participation of the community. They have contributed to improving the information for conducting basic and participatory research in organic agricultura, validation of agrosilvopastoral systems, use of geographic information systems for decision-making and methodologies for the identification of potential zones for irrigation and indicators of water quality. They generated, validated and adapted alternativa technologies that guarantee food security and developed the implementation of local agroindustries based on marketing studies and support to commercialization networks. Today, this process, begun in 1992, with its difficulties and accomplishments, represents a support model for the replications that are being implementad with similar characteristics in several Central American countries. At the national level, CIPASLA enjoys institutional recognition and has considerable support from the community. The interinstitutional process is in itself an important result of the work carried out. The consortium has established a network of interconnections at all levels, thereby ensuring a constant flow of information and exchange and helping the community reach its objectives. Training guide on CIAL method Gracia, T, JA Ashby, M del P Guerrero, JI Roa, CA Quirós andAR Braun. Método CIAL: Guía de Capacitación. Proyecto IPRA, CIAT, Cali , Colombia. (CD- ROM) This training material in Spanish consists of seven sections, each with its respective exercises and support materials, as follows: l. lntroduction; 11. Motivating communities for forming CIALs; 111. Diagnosis; IV. Participatory planning of farmer trials; V. Evaluation, analysis and feedback to the community; VI. Monitoring; and VIl. Confirmation of comprehension of methodology. The materials were revised and consolidated on CD-ROM for distribution to LAC countries. Publications distributed Tabla 1 shows the publications distributed within CIATand externally. 79 Table 1. Request for publications to the IPRA Project. October 1999 - September 2000 Date Person Requesting Publication Institution 1999 25-10 Norman Uphoff Evaluating technology with farmers Preference ranking manual Open-ended interviewing manual CIALbook 02-11 Les Swindale IPRA method video ICRJSAT CIAL video 06-11 David Gibbon CIAL video Swedish University of Ag¡icu1tural Sciences 16-12 Ursula Hollenweger FFS/CIALs paper CIAT Africa 1999 annual report 21 -11 The Institute of Cultural Affairs IPRA methods video ICAGhana 2000 02-2 Reinhardt Howeler Evaluating technology with farmers. A handbook CIAT Thailand CIAL handbooks 01-3 Angel Pita Duque Evaluación de nuevas variedades de yuca con la participación de Mexico agricultores. Doc. de Trablijo No. 130 02-3 Louise Fortmann Annual report 1999 SN-3 EPMR- USA 10-4 Elizabeth Byers The CIALs at a glance USA 12-4 Luis H. Fierro, M. Arévalo, Investigación participativa con el agricultor en América Latina: 4 CORPOICA- Santafé de Bogotá Beatriz Franco casos 17-4 Ramiro de la Cruz ODI paper EARTH- San José, Costa Rica Article: Fartl1er_Qil!tisipatory research in Latin America: Four cases ---- 80 MILESTONES * Participatory evaluation of live barriers, finished * Theses dealing with the CIALs and other IPRA tools * Evaluation of the CIAL strategy for developing technologies for other entities * Data collection and analysis of a collaborative effort in Y orito (Honduras) and San Dionisio (Nicaragua) and impact evaluation of milestone relatad to Output 2, initiated * Conceptual framework for monitoring impact, developed * Professionals and technicians attended by the project Agronomic and farmer participatory evaluation of live barriers of Axonopus scoparius and Saccharum officinarum on farms in the Cabuyal River watershed in the township of Caldono, Cauca Province (Colombia) BS thesis resesrcher: Elías Claros Trujillo 1 Soil erosion is one of the problems that has most affected the development of agricultura and livestock production in Latin America. Soil degradation caused by erosion decreases the productivity of the crops, generating in the long term, a crisis that can seriously affect food security in addition to the hillside ecosystems with adversa consequences for biodiversity and the water table. Therefore, the implementation of soil conservation practicas is fundamental for maintaining crop productiva capacity. In Colombia 27% of the country corresponds to the Andean hillside zones, which account for 70% of the population.2 The hillsides are characterized by a high density of small farmers, who are poor or extremely poor from the standpoint of unsatisfied basic needs. One of their problems is that land use is limitad to short- cycle crops that require frequent plantings and weeding such as maize, vegetables and common beans. Cassava is another crop with poor ground cover. This leads to problems of runoff and sedimentation, among others. There has been a tendency for farmers not to adopt soil conservation practicas for several reasons: Complicated techniques, technological components that are not linked to other farm activities, lack of technical assistance, high costs, few economic incentives or lack of short-term benefits. 1 Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Palmira. 2 Colombia, Estadística, DANE, 1990. 81 An economic incentive could become a very strong motivator for the introduction of technologies such as live barriers, which are rows of perennial plants of dense growth, planted perpendicular to the slope, on the contour, between the crops and prevent erosion and soil degradation in general. Uve barriers not only reduce the rate of runoff but also actas live filters, trapping the sediment carried by the runoff water. Live barriers have several advantages, including: > Biomass from the vegetativa material can be used for different purposes according to the species. > Establishment costs are low, using family labor, requiring few tools and using local materials > Farmers readily adopt them because they are easy to establish. > Maintenance does not require much labor input. Research site. In the township of Caldono fanners have gradually developed an awareness of the importance of conserving their own resources (soils, water, etc.). This is the result of an interinstitutional consortium (CIPASLA) in the province, which has been working with them to sensitize them with respect to the need for conserving their soils and water sources. CIAT, through several of its programs including that of Cassava, Hillsides, Soils and IPRA (FPR) and the demonstration fann SOL, among others, and entities such as Fl DAR (Fundación para la Investigación y Desarrollo Agrícola), CORPOTUNIA (Corporación para el Desarrollo de Tunía) and CETEC (Corporación para Estudios lnterdiciplinarios y Asesoría Técnica) ha ve proposed the use of live barriers. Sorne of the farms in this area have adoptad barrier systems, which are evaluated here. General objective. The principal objective of this research was to evaluate the agronomic performance of live barriers of Axonopus scoparius (imperial grass var. 60) and Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) on fanns in the area of the Cabuyal River microwatershed in the township of Caldono, Cauca. Specific objectives > Determine the fanners' opinion and perceptions about the live barriers established on their fanns > ldentify the species preferred by the fanners of the zone for establishing the live barriers on their fanns > ldentify the criteria the fanners take into account when evaluating the live barriers. > ldentify what were their reasons for introducing or not the live barriers on their farms. > Determine the production of the live barriers of imperial grass and sugarcane on sorne farmers, as well as on the SOL demonstration farm, to identify tendencias of production according to the different management given to the barriers and to the crops that affect them. 82 Characteristics of the zone. The Cabuyal River watershed is found in the Central Andean mountain ranga of the township of Caldono, Cauca Province. Work was carried out in the villages of Buenavista, La Primavera, La Esperanza, El Cidral, Los Quingos, La Laguna, Santa Barbara, Crucero de Pescador, La Campiña, Potrerillo, Palermo, Cabuya!, La Llanada, El Socorro, El Caimito and San Pedro (township Piendamó). The altitude ranges from 1000-3000 m, with temperaturas ranging from 12-24°C. Annual rainfall ranges from 1000-1600 mm. Methodology. lnitially an open-ended survey was conducted in the zone to determine which farms had adoptad the technology of live barriers. Then it was determinad which of these farms had barriers in production, eradicated, recently plantador deteriorated in order to determine the species preferred for planting. The next step was to identify the reasons why the farmers had established these barriers and why sorne of them had been abandonad, had disappeared or were in poor condition so that it was possible to establish not only the negativa aspects of the barriers but also the way they were incorporated on the farms. The final step was to determine the criteria the farmers use to evaluate the performance of these barriers. In consultation with the advisory group, several farms were selected for an in- depth study of barrier management and production. In total 8 farms were selected: 4 with barriers of imperial grass and 4 with sugarcane barriers. Results and discussion IJio The species that were most commonly used as live barriers in the zone were imperial grass (56.4%), imperial grass var. Telembí Morado (51 .3%), sugarcane (35.9%), elephant grass (12.8%), king grass (12.8%), vetiver (10.3%) and citronella (5.1%). Sorne farmers had severa! species plantad in barriers. IJio The most frequently cited reasons for using barriers were to control soil erosion (87.2%), use the barrier for feeding their animals (69.3%), to produce food for on-farm consumption (30.8%) orto produce income from the sale of the products; e.g., panela (30.8%), for managing runoff water (28.2%), for use as green manure of crops being affected by soil degradation resulting from continuous erosion (15.4%), or because it was a requisita for obtaining credit for planting another crop (15.4%) (Fig. 1 ). > Of the live barriers established in the zone, those that had greater acceptance because of their easy management and multiple uses were sugarcane (1 00%), imperial grass (86%), dwarf elephant grass (75%) and imperial grass var. Telembí Morado (62.9%). > The live barriers that offer the best projections for futura establishment in the zone are sugarcane (76.9), imperial grass (64.1 %), dwarf elephant grass (30.8%) anda live barrier that was not included in those already established in the zone, which is pineapple (25.6%) 83 100 ~ o reasoi1S fa establish 1 ert •erooim •tero • farrily fcxxf •irurre •VBterrraragemrt 11 ferti liZEJ Elcredt Figure 1. Reasons for establishment Of the live barriers that had been planted as a requisita for obtaining credit, 68.2% have disappeared; 2.3% have for all practica! purposes been abandonad; and only 29.3% are still in production (Fig. 2) ..,. In arder to determine the production of imperial grass, cuts were made on the following farms: SOL, the hillside demonstration farm under CIAT"s administration; La "Morabia," property of Eliécer Patiño; "La Forcha" of Aru Patiño; and "La Pedregoza" of Luis Piyimue. The most important results are shown in Figure 3 . ..,. The farms where the cane was cut were SOL; "San Calixto" of José Amoldo Gonzáles; "El Morro" of Hermogenes Soto; and "La Camelia" ot José Baicue. The results are given in kg of cane per meter of barrier, which is expressed as 1.4 m2, kg of tops per meter of barrier, liters of juice per meter of barrier, and the number of kg of panela produced per meter of barrier (Fig. 4). 84 8 7 6 5 ~4 3 2 1 o 2,27 7.45 •eradicate • deteriorate Din Figure 2. Live barriers sown for credit Imperial grass results •Morabia •La Forcha mJ La Pedregoza kg fresh matter/ m banier kg dry mat:t:er/ m banier Figure 3. Imperial Grass Results 85 25 20 15 10 5 o Sugarcane Results • kg cane/m barrier • kg tops/ m barrier O lt can e juice/ m barríer • kg panela/m barrier sol san El morro La calixto camelia farms Figure 4. Sugarcane Results Recommendations .,.. Futura work with live barriers in the zone should take into account the species that have proven to have the best projection potential based on the farmers' preferences. Sugarcane has outstanding qualities for controlling erosion and for its multiple uses, which range from animal feed and human consumption to generating income through the sale of products such as panela. Second in importance is imperial grass, which has a very positiva image among farmers as a live barrier. Other alternativas that offer potential are crops such as pineapple, which, although not being used at present, has good acceptance among the farmers and therefore offers good projections for establishment as a live barrier . .,.. The fact that farmers who are torced to implement a practice such as live barriers as a condition for credit tend to abandon it later should be taken into account when designing policías. Those farmers who made the decision to establish the barriers on their own, tended to value them more and became disseminators of the technology . .,... Futura work on live barriers should take into account species that offer multiple options, above and beyond that of erosion control: providing feed for the animals and food for the family, and generation of additional in come (e.g. , vegetable and fruit crops). 86 Theses dealing with the CIALs and other IPRA tools .,.,. Gamero Velasquez, NF, 2000. Evaluación de ocho variedades de frijol (Phaseo/us vulgaris) con productores investigadores, utilizando la regresión logística para el análisis de la información [Evaluation of 8 Phaseo/us vulgaris varieties with farmer-researchers, using logit analysis to analyze the information]. Catacamas, Olancho. Undergraduate thesis, Agr. Eng., ENA, 73 pp. Agricultura plays a very important role in Honduras, where data generated by the Central Bank show that the GNP generated by agricultura in 1998 was greater than that for industry. Among the existing crops, the common bean is a basic staple and represents an important source of income for the small farmer. Agricultura! research in general has been carried out at research centers or experiment stations with all the conditions necessary for successful production. The farmers have not participated in this process, which has made their access to new technologies difficult or in many cases, they are rejected. Given the foregoing the FPR methodology was developed, whereby producers with the support of researchers, identify and prioritize their problems, design their research trials and evaluate alternativas, which leads to the acceptance or rejection of the same. As a complement to PR, the IPRA project at CIAT (Colombia) created the program "Logit analysis in Preference Ranking," which analyzes the farmer's preferences for a given set of technologies. The product is the probability of acceptance of each of the technologies being evaluated. This program was tested for the first time in Honduras to evaluate 8 common bean varieties in the valley of Zamorano, with the participation of 13 producers from tour communities, considerad experts en the bean crop, carried out tour evaluations: seed (dry and fresh), harvesting, cooking quality and flavor. Taking into account the ranking of the producers, their criteria and the results obtained with the program, the variety with the greatest probability of acceptance was El Dorado. The var. SRC 1-12-1, MD 23-24 and Tío Canela 75 had intermediate acceptance and should be included in futura research. The other tour varieties should be excluded from further research given their low acceptability by the farmers and should be replaced by others with greater potential. The program is suitable for any type of research done with producers, and the results complement the criteria of acceptance or rejection that the farmers use. Above all, the program is easy to use and interpret. This too! should be validated with the best varieties of the trials conducted or with other crops from the region . .,.,. Vargas Cárdenas, FH. 2000. Farmers from the region of Y eguare accept improved common bean varieties. BS thesis research. School of Agronomy, EAP at Zamorano, Honduras. 87 The productivity of the common bean crop in the tropics is below yields obtained in developing countries. One of the major reasons for this problem is the use of local varieties that are susceptible to the attack of insects and diseases, in addition to their low yield potential. In 1996 the UNIRIEAP-Zamorano project began PR processes with farmers from CIALs in the communities of Lavanderos and Tabla Grande in the region of Y eguare. The purpose was to facilitate the adoption of common bean varieties and improved lines that are suited to their production systems. In 1999 the Bean Research Program/EAP-Zamorano investigated the criteria used by the farmers in this process, as well as the patterns of preference for the potential accepting and adopting of said varieties and improved lines in these communities. The farmers expressed the need for pest-resistant varieties as these traits ensure a mínimum production for on-farm consumption. The farmers expressed a preference for varieties with a shiny red grain of commercial size (small). They would also be willing to accept darker red-grained varieties as long as their performance were good. The most important aspects related to consumption were smoothness of the grain and a thick broth. The overall acceptance of the improved varieties was 85% in Lavanderos and 75% in Tabla Grande. There is a need to continua work on improving the pest resistance, using the full potential of varieties that perform well under their production conditions. The focus of technology transfer with the active participation of the farrners, such as the case of the Local Agricultura! Research Committees (CIALs), can facilitate and accelerate the process of evaluating and adopting technology . ..,.. Haddad, JR. 2000. Local Agricultura! Research Committees (CIALs), the efficient response to the distribution of improved seed. BS Thesis Research. School of Agronomy, EAP at Zamorano, Honduras. As a result of hurricane Mitch, the destruction of crops throughout Honduras made it necessary to find an efficient form of distributing improved seed to be multiplied by farmers in the spring so that there would be sufficient seed available for the last planting season, which is when production is greatest. In addition to the foregoing, there is the problem that subsistence farmers use poor-quality seed; andas a result, percent germination and seed vigor are low, and yields are poor. EAP-Zamorano was placed in charge of executing a USAID/DfiD (UK)- financed development project that included seed production and its distribution, financed by Healing Hands lnternational (HHI). In the region of the Y eguare River, located 45 km to the SE of Tegucigalpa, the effectiveness 88 of three channels for distributing improved seed for artisanal seed production of common beans was evaluated in the communities of Lizapa, Llano del Ocotal, San José de Tabla Grande and Limón. For each the two altitudinal zones, 15 farmers participated (30 producers), and both zones had the three different distribution channels: The CIALs, a Producers' Cooperativa and independent producers. The evaluation of the distribution channels was favorable for the CIALs, which produced 1573.5 Kg/ha, almost double that produced by the other two channels. lt should be mentioned that in addition to the greater production, the CJALs were better organizad and worked together better with respect to research. Their knowledge was better and they obtained higher yields. The production costs were also more favorable for the organizad groups: US$67 for the CJALs and Cooperativas vs. US$212 for the independent producers. Prizes or special mention granted to other institutions for using IPRA Project products As a result of applying the CIAL methodology, severa! institutions have received prices or special mention in their respective countries or institutions. Three cases are presentad here: Project UNIRIEAP, Zamorano, Honduras.3 This Kellogg Foundation project concluded its activities recently. In their final report they made reference to the impact that the CIAL methodology had had on other sections of the EAP. "The CIAL as an organizational body played a very important role as it permitted the organizations to be more efficient and obtain greater productivity." They also mentioned that the CJALs strengthened agricultura! production in the communities through research projects that the Committees carried out for their communities. In the UNIR project, the CIAL project benefited from the participation of professors, students and, of course, a\1 the members of the CIALs in the region of Y eguare. They also emphasized the role that the CIALs played in artisanal seed production and its distribution after the disaster of hurricane Mitch in 1998. FEPROH, Fomento Evangélico para el Progreso de Honduras4 . For the 5th National Forum on Sustainable Agricultura, information was collected on more than 50 experiences of local participation in the management and administration of these processes in both the public and prívate sector. Of these, only four were 3 Source: UNIR/ZAMORANO, 1996-1999. Programa de desarrollo sostenible de la región del Yeguare, Honduras C.A. Sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 4 Source: Inventario de experiencias de gestión y administración local sobre ASEL. 51° Foro Nacional sobre Agricultura Sostenible. La Participación Local, Base para la Gestión Sostenible de los Recursos Naturales en las Laderas. Work carried out by Emprende Consultores S. de R.L. for CONASEL, Tegucigalpa, May 2000. 89 selected for presentation and discussion at the Forum. Among these was the experience of FEPROH, "CIAL network Vallecillo Francisco Morazan." This experience has been documentad and presentad by the farmers themselves, resulting in great success and the admiratíon of the participants. CORPOICA, Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria, Regiona/1, Colombia.5 At its headquarters in Tibaitatá, the Regional Director, convened an Interna! Technical Seminar on 14 July as part of the ínstitution's policy to stimulate the scientific and technological work executed by the Corporation's human talent. The purpose was to select the five best works from the Regional office, carried out during 1999. The Committee awarded first place to Luis Humberto Fierro with his work entitled: "Experiences in Participatory Research -The CIAL methodology-in Boyacá and Cundinamarca." On-site activities of impact assessmenf Contributor 0/af Westermann Collaborators Veronica Gottret', Maria Eugenia Baltodano, Dominga Tijerino, Orlando Mejía, Luis Brizue/a, Bruno Barbiel and the rest of the /mpact Assessment Working Group. 9 Objectives > To develop a conceptual framework for monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of CIAT-Hillsides (PE-3) work in the reference sites with specific emphasis on organizatíonal models > T o gather data and experience from the reference sites for further elaboration and refinement of the impact assessment methodology. Rationale and justification. CIAT-Hillsides is committed to establishing a long- term impact evaluation process in its reference sites in order to: > Ensure the long-term development impact of its research, elaborating causal uptake paths with key stakeholders > Guide its research process through the participatory development of a clear vision, objectives and research paths and milestones > Provide feedback into the research processes to get new ideas, make corrections, change directions and identify new priority areas of research 5 Source: Transferencia al día. Regional 1, Cundinamarca y Boyacá. Boletín Informativo no. 018. Tibaitatá, Colombia, Ju/y 2000. 6 For a cross-reference and more details on the conceptual framework and on other NRM outputs, see Veronica Gottret, SN-1. 7 1mpact Assessment Project, BP-1 . 8 CIAT Hillsides Project in Nicaragua and Honduras, respective/y. 9 Alejandro lmbach, Douglas White and Nathalie Beaulieu. 90 Methods 1 - Oeveloping a conceptual framework. The process started by developing the CIAT -Hillsides' vision or final development objectives of the research output defined in the conceptual framework for the CIAT-NRM division. These were redefined and discussed at a two-day seminar on organizational processes held in Cali to exchange experiences among the researchers at the reference sites in Pucalpa, Cauca, San Dionisio and Yorito10. Then causal uptake paths were developed for each of the Hillsides outputs to the desired development impact or goal. Finally intermediate indicators for each step in the causal uptake path were selected, as well as final development indicators. Afterwards, methodologies and models for impact assessment analysis were defined to ensure that the data collected would be the most appropriate for the analysis. Finally, data collection methodologies, protocols and sampling strategies (including reference-site boundaries and limits) were defined and testad in the field with specific emphasis on institutional and community collaboration. Resu/ts and discussion The following tablas summarize the outcomes, indicators and means of verification. These conceptual frameworks are very extensiva, especially for the organizational models; but the exercise has been very useful as a planning tool for developing the impact evaluation methodology and for futura directions of research with institutional and community organization. Such planning is seen as a learning process in itself, in which experiences from action research in the field interact closely with the informal process of exchanging experiences on organizational processes, which has been started among the reference sitas in Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia and Peru. To make the conceptual frameworks for organizational models more operational, a diagram of the research path to development impact was made, emphasizing only important milestones (Fig. 1 ). This framework shows what is the path of desirable milestones that the Project expects to reach and what are the critica! milestones that should be reached to achieve its development vision. Although organizational models are the backbone of the framework, specific emphasis is given to the importance and integration of other CIAT decision-support tools in the process. 10 Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua and Honduras, respectively. 91 Table 1. Bioeconomic modeling in NRM. lntermediate Outcome lndicators Meansof Verification 1. Assess available data .¡' % secondary data .¡' supplies and conduct surveys .¡' survey 2. Create database of .¡' yes/no responses from survey .¡' surveys socioeconomic and .¡' structure ./ data files biophysical information .¡' %complete 3. Stakeholders trained in the .¡' no. of workshops .¡' workshop use of the model .¡' comprehension of training material evaluation 4. Economic and environmental .¡' no. of uses of tool .¡' evaluation of feasibility of land-use options .¡' leve! of understanding tool users vía examinad and understood by interviews using the model 5. lnformation disseminated to .¡' no. of reports .¡' identified key policymakers ./ no. of projects influenced 6. Policymakers understand and .¡' no. of projects funded .¡' interview of use the information to .¡' funds obtained ($) policymakers formulate and implement .¡' no. of policies influenced sustainable policies Table 2. Cropping systems options (SOL) in NRM. lntermediate Outcome lndicators Means of Verification 1. Network of institutions and organizations working with technology development and extension[see Output 2) 2. Technological options for hillsides cropping .¡' No. of options .¡' systems available and diffused to farmers .¡' No. of visiting farmers through the SOL .¡' No. of farmers aware 3. Farmers experiment with new technological .¡' No. of farmers .¡' HH survey options .¡' Are a 4. Farmers adopt new technological options .¡' No. of farmers .¡' HH survey .¡' Are a 5. Productivity of farmers who adopt the new .¡' technological options, increases Change t/ha .¡' HH survey 6. Production costs of farmers who adopt the ./ Change production costs/ha ./ HH survey new technological options, decrease .¡' Change net benefitslha Methods 2 -lmpact eva/uation in Central America. The fieldwork conducted in Honduras and Nicaragua consisted mainly of semistructured interviews and participatory exercises with regional and local institutions and community organizations, both individually and in focus groups. Furthennore, sorne interviews were conducted with selected communities. The objectives were as follows: ..,_ To present and share the process of impact evaluation with the local CIAT teams in Nicaragua and Honduras in arder to increase their long-term 92 capacity, interest and commitment to the work. Part of this task was accomplished with the Central American Hillsides teams-Maria Eugenia Baltodano and Dominga Tijerino in Nicaragua and Orlando Mejía and Luis Brizuela in Honduras-who participated in all stages of the fieldwork. "" T o initiate an inventory of available information and key stakeholders in order to specify the framework and methodologies to be used. The development of the framework and methodology is an ongoing process, which is far from completad. "" To adjust and validate CIAT's development-impact vision with the CIAT local teams, local institutional partners, community organizations and selected members of communities. Hence all individual interviews and group meetings included the elaboration of key stakeholders• individual or shared vision, either through interviews or specific exercises developed for the purpose. Furthermore, short or more thorough introductions to the development vision and the impact evaluation process were given, depending on the natura of the interview or meeting. As a result, it is expected in the long run to establish a process of negotiation and prioritization of development-impact indicators among the different stakeholders. "" To make an initial assessment of social and human indicators with a focus on institutional collaboration for NRM, agricultura! research and agroenterprise development activities. For this purpose interview guides were preparad, and the Venn-diagram exercise was used. "" T o make an initial analysis of the use and usefulness of CIAT decision- support tools (DSTs) by key stakeholders in the reference sites and to assess the effect of the DSTs at these sites. This inquiry was based on semistructured interviews as well. ...,. Results and discussion (method 2). The products of the fieldwork in Central America are being preparad with some initial analysis. The six major outputs, as well asan initial analysis of the extent to which the critica! path towards development was achieved, are summarized here: "" All the interviews and workshops were taped and are transcribed. "" A summary of all interviews was written in chronological order (almost complete) "" An inventory of the different surveys and interviews conducted in San Dionisio and Yorito has been made. This inventory íncludes the ... ./ name of the study ./ content of the survey and/or interview ./ sampling procedure, if available ./ availability of the data set in the CIAT offices or if an agreement is needed with the institution that owns the data set. 93 ..,. Based on this inforrnation an analysis is being conducted for each critica! path including: .1 a list of proposed indicators for the critica! path .1 an analysis of the extent to which this critica! path was achieved .1 an evaluation of the usefulness of the proposed indicators (This analysis is presentad in more details below. lt should be noted that the paths-to-development impact was generated as a result of ongoing research and continuad feedback, notas a preplanned process. Thus many milestones in the path have either not been completad or only partially so .1 needs for further inforrnation and analysis The set of preliminary development impact indicators developed for the tour types of capitals (human, social, economic/financial and natural) are being contrastad with the development visions defined in the workshops with CLODEST (Comité Local para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Cuenca del Rio Tascalapa, Honduras), REDOLL YS (Red de Organizaciones Locales de Yorito Sulaco) and Campos Verdes. Moreover, the short-terrn expected changas are contrastad with the paths-to-development impact developed for the PE-3 and SN- 1 projects. Stakeholder analysis > The stakeholder analysis developed by the Hillsides Project has not been used forrnally to identify institutions and community organizations that form part of Campos Verdes, REDOLL YS and CLODEST given the fact that this methodology was developed for analysis of stakeholder groups within communities. > Nevertheless, an analysis of representation was done afterwards for Campos Verdes, replacing severa! of the community representativas in the association. > In the case of REDOLL Ys an inventory of community organizations was done, and all were invitad to participate in the network, but a specific analysis of interrelations and interests was not done as such. Networks of community organizations established and functioning > Formal structural network of community organizations has been established (Campos Verdes and REDOLLYS). > In the case of Campos Verdes the network has not been able to fulfil the objectives of colfaboration and coordination among a diversity of community organizations. Campos Verdes is regarded more as another community organization rather than a network of collaborators. > This may be a reflection of the lack of coordination among the externa! institutions that have each promoted its own community organization at its reference sites. 94 > In the case of REDOLL YS it appears that the participating community organizations do perceive REDOLLYS as a network, but further research is needed to estímate the level of collaboration among them. > The most obvious kind of informal coordination that occurs in both cases is among local leaders who participate in severa! different community organizations at the same time, drawing heavily on their time and resources. Process of interinstitutional coordination facilitated > In the case of San Dionisia no formal coordination structures have been established. Nevertheless, there has been sorne level of bilateral coordination between CIAT and another organization in relation to specific activities. Furthermore, a multilateral type of collaboration is starting to emerge around the SOL (Supermercado de Opciones para Ladera) activities. > In the case of CLODEST a formal structure for interinstitutional collaboration has been established. However important support organizations have withdrawn from Yorito (liGA-Holanda, DRI-Yoro) or been restructured (DICTA -Dirección de Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria de Honduras). This has implications for the leve! of coordination that can be achieved among the institutions participating in CLODEST. A forum estab/ished for coordinated planning > CLODEST is well representad by community organizations; but their actual levels of participation, leadership and decision-making have to be researched further. > The activities coordinated by CLODEST seem to more of an ad hoc natura rather than as part of a coordinated planning process with shared vision for NRM among the participating institutions. > lt may be observad that the organizational processes in Yorito and San Dionisia have followed two different strategies. In Yorito the process has included three steps: .t establishment of a forum for stakeholder involvement and coordination (including institutions and community organizations) .t creation of an interinstitutional consortium .t creation of a network of community organizations In San Dionisia the focus this far has been on strengthening the network of community organizations > An important conclusion for further research on organizatíonal processes is that although it seems that the process of formal collaboration is more advanced in Yorito, there are still problems of participation and real motivation. In San Dionisia Campos Verdes has been focusing more on specific activities than organizational collaboration. However the organization function and the process of informal collaboration is growing. At the sama time all of the institutions interviewed are now asking for institutional coordination, an indication of genuina interest. 95 Action plans designed and implemented for NRM using CIA T DST. Partners and institutions at the reference sites are aware and to sorne extent have been exposed to the tools, but they have yet to use them for their own planning and implementation processes. A first assessment of the reasons for this shows that: > The tools are useful to design new projects but are not perceived to be useful for ongoing or finishing projects > The majority of the institutions say they will use the tools in new projects, adjusting them to their specific needs. PRODESSA, for example, would like to apply the market and opportunity identification and evaluation tool, but they would like a more participatory process. > Another option is that they may take sorne ideas and construct their own research process. lmproved land use management > Although there are sorne signs of improved land management (in Yorito it is estimated that 30% of the farmers are using soil conservation measures), it remains to be verified if and how this is relatad to CIAT research activities. > Although production systems are mainly traditional (maize, common beans and coffee), there are small signs of diversification anda growing demand for market and commercialization support. This may indicate that sorne surplus production is starting to be available after satisfying basic food security needs, especially in Yorito. 96 Paths to Development Impact: Interinstitutional Consortium and Selected DSTs ,--- , CIATDSTs "Stakeholder Analysis" "Local organizational \.. process • .) Stakeholder analysis and local organization processes, facilitated + A forum is established for coordinated planning, implementation and evaluation activities, aimed at solving NRM- specific problems ¡ Increased awareness, coordination and collaboration impact on social capital 1 r ~ CIATDSTs H Users of DSTs diffuse "Better Understanding and promete their use r-t of Problems" by other interested (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8) stakeholders are used .. •' Better understanding of problems and opportunities for improved design of action plans ... ... Action plans are designed to solve demand-led, prioritized NRM problems ~ 11 11 11 1 1 , 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 1 1 ~ ---------------¡..- Agronomic research and technology diffusion supplies NRM t- options and technology (SOL) O = Critica! .). Better understanding of problems and opportunities improves implementation of action plans --.- -Action plans are implemented in a collaborati ve manner, _ ... JI improving the [\ relevance and effecti veness of interventions ¡ Evaluation of actions gi ves feedback for planning-action cycle • "' CIATDST "Monitoring and Evaluation" ... ---.,... The implementation of action plans results in impr oved land use management, impacting the environment and the eco no m y. 97 O == Desirable The use of DSTs by other stakeholders impacts their interventions (non- CIA T -related interventions) = l o ~ ~" ,¡# 'fll> · -~~ ~~~a ~ tD M .• ·.· .... ,i N ·_· ··~ , '"' Q.- e flli '-ti. ~ - ·~ 'i~-: ,· e· ,._,.,. _ ..... _ ~1~ =- ' ~- tD !l ~ Publications and training materials by institutions working with FPR in cassava CNPMF has published the following documents: > Wania Maria GonQalves Fukuda; Mauto de Souza Diniz; Ranulfo Correa Caldas. 1999. Analise de estabilidade de novos clones de mandioca avaliados em provas participativas com agricultores nos tabuleiros costeiros do estado da Bahia. Boletin de Pesquisa no. 16. EMBRAPA Mandioca e Fruticultura. > Wania Maria GonQalves Fukuda; Chigueru Fukuda; Carlos Estevao Leite Cardoso; Osorio Lima Vasconcelos; Luis Carlos Nunes. 2000. lmplantaQao e evolu Wania Maria GonQalves Fukuda; Mauto de Souza Diniz; Ranulfo Correa Caldas. 1999. Luis Alfredo Hernández Romero; Carlos Iglesias. Analize de preferencia de novos clones de mandioca avaliados em provas participativas con agricultores nos tabuleiros costeiros do estado da Bahia. Boletin de Pesquisa no 15. EMBRAPA Mandioca e Fruticultura. 98 VISITORS ATIENDED BY STAFF FROM THE IPRA TEAM September 1999 - September 2000 Date N ame Position Country In Charee Sept. 30 Claude N ankam World Vision USA ABraun James Chapman Oct. 28 Gloria Meléndez IDRC Consultancy Canada CA Quirós Nov. 3 Jorge Zarnbrano Fonner advisor to Ecuatorian Congress on Ecuador PR&NR agracian affairs Universidad UTE, AP 172417, Santo Domingo Cadrai@ a u lo .satnet. net Nov. 17 Julio César Toro Advisor, EIAG, Rivas Nicaragua CA Quirós Tel. 4533551/4534390 Fax 4533957 Email: Eiu@tmx.com.ni Nov. 17 Francisco Silva Val verde Rural Ex.tension Nicaragua CAQuirós Martín Jiménez Dec. 6 Jorge UMATA Colombia CA Quirós (5 people in all) Municipio de Cali Dec. 6 Freddy Lizcano UMATA Colombia CAQuirós Municipio de Cali Tel. 550 1357 Dec. 9 Carlos Manchego Head, Planning Office, "CIA T'' Bolivia ABraun Santa Cruz 2000 Jan. 19 Louise Fortrnann Reviewer - EPMR Universidad de California, U.S A Braun Jan. 27 & J.l. Maillat Reviewers - EPMR u.s A Braun 28 Edmundo Acevedo Eduardo Venezian Coffman Imonen D. Plucknett Ter Kuile Feb. 11 Arnulfo Gómez Carabalf Universidad del Pacífico Colombia flRoa 1 Carlos Castilla -- --- -- - 99 Date N ame Position Country In Chart!.e Feb.18 Sally Humphries University of Guelph- Ontario (C) Canada ABraun JI Roa Feb.22 Emil Q. Javier T AC Chairman Filipinas A Braun Feb.29 Silvio Sinisterra Advisor, Province of Cauca Colombia A Braun Rafael Córdoba Advisor, Province of Chocó J. Elías Córdoba Regional Advisor, Productive Activities Program, IDB, Plan Pacífico, Depto. Nacional de Planeación April 12 Carlos E. Castilla Director of Researcb, Agro no m y Program for the Colombia CAQuirós Humid Tropics, Universidad del Pacífico Av. Simón Bolívar #54A-10 Tel. (092) 2449675 Buenaventura E-mail: unpa-tb@col2.telecom.com.co April27 Pedro Valencia Director Colombia CA Quirós Paula Uribe Researcher Tel. 8863214 (Of.) (Contacts among Adriana Giraldo Researcher Tel. 8866532 (Home) Kellogg projects - Mariela Rivero Researcher Ce!. 5406239 posible interaction) UNIR Project - Universidad Autónoma de Email: Manizales Pedroval@ latinmail.com May3 Oiga Sánchez Coordinador, TELECENTROS Colombia CA Quirós May lO Franklin Rosales INIBAP Colombia CAQuirós May 18 FredyParra CORPOICA Colombia CA Quirós Fparra@ telesat. com. co Interaction with CIP ASLA projects June 9 Norberto Zambrano CORFOCIAL Colombia JI Roa Alfonso Truque CORFOCIAL lO farmers Quisgó Indian Reservation- Silvia (Cauca) June 20 Paul Harding DflD UK LA Hernández July 21 Daniel Selener IIRR Ecuador CA Quiros/JI Roa July 24 Javier Moncayo Director, Projects Unit Colombia CAQuirós Ricardo Sánchez Coordinator, CIAT PDPMM Pact July 27 Teresita Cárdenas UMAT A-Caicedonia Colombia JL Cabrera Raúl Varela Comité de Cafeteros (Caicedonia) F Escobar Aug. 9 Alfonso Truque & CORFOCIAL, Tambo (Cauca) Colombia JL Cabrera GrQI.IQ_ of fanners F Escobar 100 Date N ame Sept. 14 Héctor V al buena Sept. 14 Pedro Bautista Se¡>t 14 Frank.lin Angarita Sept. 14 Muffi Jorge Rueda Sept. 14 Luis Fdo. Villegas Sept. 14 Juan C. Mendeta Position President, Asociación de Frijoleros del Sur de Bolívar, UMATA y Minera del Sur de Bolívar UMAT A-Morales UMA T A-Santa Rosa UMA T A-Morales COLNIBAN UMAT A-Morales 101 Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Country In Char2e CAQuirós Interest in CIAL methodology CA Q_uirós CA Quirós CA Quirós CA Quirós --- CA Quirós ··• MILESTONES * National programs strengthened * Local organizations strengthened * CIAL microenterprises supported * Database on CIALs in LAG available for interna! and externa! consultation National programs strengthened Supporting NARS and NGOs in evaluation and selection of multipurpose forages for cropllivestock systems with farmer participation 1 Researcher: Luis Alfredo Hernández Romero .,. Hiqhliqhts > NGO and NARS partners trained to contribute to participatory selection of forages. > lnnovative farmers in Honduras test selected grasses on their farms. > Major problems with respect to forage production identified by farmers in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. > More than 1 00 farmers start participatory selection of improved forage options > Seed production method by farmers Forage germplasm in its multiple uses-for example, as feed, for suppressing weeds, maintaining and improving soil fertility, and for erosion control-could play an important role in improving the well being of the small- and medium-sized farmers in the Central American hillsides. Adoption-particularly of forage legumes-has been limited, however, possibly due to lack of direct interaction with the farmers. Given the foregoing, it was decided to develop forage germplasm technologies with farmers, using participatory approaches. A combination of agronomic evaluation techniques, participatory technologies, soil indicators, socioeconomic studies and GIS tools were employed. To initiate this process, severa\ training and planing activities with involved partners were executed, including: 1 Support for Michael Peters, Researcher, Tropical Forages Project IP-5, on special project funded by BMZ. 102 .,. A coursa on Mathods and T achniquas of Participatory Rasaarch was carried out at CIAT in Feb./March for 12 participants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia . .,. Staff from various national and intemational R&D institutions and NGOs in Honduras (CIAT, DICTA and SERTEDESO), Nicaragua (CIAT, INTA and PRODESSA) and Costa Rica (MAG and Fundación Ecotrópica) were trained in methods of stakeholder analysis (May) . .,. A major activity was a project planing workshop held for 15 officials from institutions in Honduras (CIAT, DICTA, SERTEDESO), Nicaragua (CIAT, INTA, PRODESSA), Costa Rica (CIAT, IICA-GTZ, MAG, .,. Fundación Ecotrópica (Costa Rica), Colombia (CIAT) and Germany (University of Hohanheim) in Comayagua, Honduras. Staff from IICA-GTZ, Costa Rica, facilitated the course. ~ Proqress .,. Participatory diagnosis in three communities in the Department of Y oro, Honduras. Of tha 59 persons who took part in the participatory diagnosis, 45% were women. The participants' ages were very diverse, ranging from 18-75 years. Both livestock and/or crop farmers, responsible for various activities in the field and at the homestead, were involved. The diagnosis included plenary sessions and small-group activities, leading to the identification and prioritization of problems as related to agricultura and NRM, with emphasis on forages. The diagnoses were done at thrae sites in and around CIAT's reference site Yorito (El Jícaro in Victoria, Las Cañas in Sulaco and Luquigue in Yorito). Thase sitas are characterized by a hilly topography with slopes of 30-50%. Altitudes range from 50-650 m. Annual rainfall is 1200-1500 mm, with 5 rainy, 5 dry and 2 moderately dry months; Conifers characterize the forest. Soils are moderately acid-to- neutral clay. T emperatures ranga from 24-30°C. The main agronomic activities include maize and common bean cultivation and small-scale livestock production. In all tha diagnosas the women's participation was significant, axcept at Luquiqua, whare only 18% of tha participants were women. Common problams identified across tha 3 communities include: > Erosion, lack of water, burning, daforestation, low productivity of the rasource base and low fartility 103 > Free roaming of animals in the dry season, lack of wood (potes and firewood), lack of land and lack of green material in the dry season for conservation and as feed > Lack of technology options and support, lack of seed and planting material > lnterestingly, one group mentioned their own lack of interest in improving their situation as a problem. > Most problems were closely related to the lack of feed for animals (particularly during dry periods), soil degradation and lack of firewood. Results of the prioritization of these problems were heterogeneous, but tended to emphasize the lack of suitable planting material and lack of livestock feed particularly during the dry season. The communities had a clear perception of the degradation of soils and deforestation and their inherent negativa effects on the communities. The farmers were motivated to participate in the project because by addressing the aforementioned problems, family income and both family and community nutrition would be improved. Centro de lnvestigation Agrícola Tropical- CIA T, Santa Cruz, Bolivia Trudy Brekelbaurrf, Verónica Gottref, Dean Hol/ancf From 10-14 April, a team of three CIAT consultants traveled to Bolivia to follow up on the initial phase of this institutional strengthening project (see 1999 Annual Report, p. 93). A Planning and Reflection workshop was held outside Santa Cruz. The purpose was to "Construct a Strategy anda Methodology for lncorporating a Participatory Research Focus in CIAT-Bolivia." Specifically, the consultants and their counterparts from CIAT-Bolivia carried out the following activities during the workshop: > Analyzed the conceptualization and focus on PR and come up with a joint definition of the basic concepts for the project > Presented and analyzed case studies with a PR focus in Latín America that are relevant for CIAT-Bolivia (e.g. Campesino-a-Campesino, CIALs, Farmers Field Schools) > Orientad the technical team of the project and researchers interested in using PR methodologies, techniques and tools > Analyzed the mínimum profile of the PR project and make the technical and methodological recommendations for its execution and propose adjustments to the concept note. 2 PhD in lnterdisciplinary studies, IPRA Consultant. 3 Ms in Food and Resource Economics, SN-1 Agroenterprises. 4 PhD in Agricultura/ Extension and Rural Development, PE-5, Sustainable Systems for Smallholders. 104 The CIAT-Bolivia group decided it was important to organiza their interactions on a more formal basis. Thus they decided to form a CIAL (called ClAC in Bolivia) of researchers who have sufficient time, interest and who want to participate. At the same time, the idea of forming a Group of Mentors, whose role would be to support the ClAC, was proposed. The two bodies would maintain a continuous flow of information between them. The members of the ClAC were elected and functions for this Ad Hoc Committee (1 July 2000) were proposed, together with a schedule of the tasks to be carried out. The primary task was to finaliza the proposal of the draft concept note, which was preparad by the CIAT -Colombia consultants as part of the consultancy. CIAT-Bolivia willlook for funds to finance this interinstitutional project, with the possible participation of IPRA and Agroindustry (PE-3). In addítíon to the workshop materials, the CIAT-Colombia consultants gave the group publications to enrich theír experíence wíth respect to: ./ quantifying farmers preferences wíth respect to varietal evaluation based on logit analysis ./ criteria for selecting CIAL communities ./ a typology of participation preparad by the Systemwide Program PAGA ./ brain maps Consu/tancy for IAPAR, Brazil Researche~JosélgnacíoRoa The farmer-experimenters project was the initiative of the IAPAR (Instituto Agronómico do Paraná) Production Systems Program with financia! support from PRONAF. An agreement was signed among the Rural Workers Union in Centrai-Southern Paraná, AS-PT A (Asesoría de Proyectos en Agricultura Alternativa) and the IAPAR Production Systems Program. The main objective was to improve the communication among the different actors with respect to the identification of research demands and the development and implementation of institutional R&D projects. The objectives of this consultancy, which was carried out from M ay 4-12, were to: > Visit their farmer-experimenter participatory projects > Presenta seminar on the IPRA experience toa bread audience of extension agents, farmers and researchers, with the purpose of sensitizing them to the importance of the proposal > Collaborate on the preparation of a methodological proposal tor setting up a pilot project on CIALs to be executed jointly with AS-PTA, IAPAR and the farmers. In the visits to the communities, there was an opportunity to interact with sorne farmer-experimenter groups in the townships of Río Azul, lrati, San Mateo del Sur and Antonio Olinto. Field visits were made to experiments prometed by 105 FORUM (farmers) and PSP (Proyecto de Plantío Directo en Centro Sur). Members of PSP, FORUM AS-PTA and the CIRAD-PRIAG Project. At the end of the two weeks, the foundations of an action plan between IAPARIPSP were developed. The purpose is to continua work with the existing farmer-researcher groups in order to strengthen, improve and complement the processes begun with the farmers. Local organizations strengthened Researchers: Carlos Arturo Quirós and José Ignacio Roa Col/aborator: Freddy Escobar, IPRA technícian Support for CIPASLA. Since its creation in 1992, 1 PRA has been providing support to the different activities relatad to the lnterinstitutional Consortium for Sustainable Agricultura in Hillsides (CIPASLA). This year the activities have tended to decrease as several projects have terminated. At present the objective is to present proposals for providing continuity to ongoing work. The institutions that continua participating actively in the area with projects are as follows: CETEC, SENA, FIDAR, CORPOTUNIA, CAC, FEDECAFE, UMATA and CIAT, in addition to local organizations such as ASOBESURCA, CORFOCIAL and the Aqueduct Board. Other institutions such as ICA, the Provincial Department of Agricultura and CORPOICA have continuad to participate actively in the meetings and are currently in the process of presenting projects for beginning or reinitiating activities with the community in the Cabuya! River microwatershed. IPRA's support has been with respect to the following activities: > Participation in the activities of the Support Committee or the assembly of representativas every three months . ./ Scientific support to the Project "Adaptation of in vitro material of plantains in order to improve the production of small farmers in the lower and medium-altitude zones of the Ovejas River watershed in the township of Caldono, Cauca, implementad by SENA in tour communities ./ Formulation of the new interinstitutional pact ./ Participation in the discussions for designing and supporting the project: ".Conservation of soils and recovery of degradad areas in the Cauca River watershed, presentad to CRC ./ Participatory diagnosis within the assembly of representativas in search of alternativas for financing the Consortium ./ Coordination and collaboration in the construction of the case study of the Consortium, written by Elena Haisen > Participation in the meetings of the Board of Directors ./ Analysis and presentation of the Consortium's budget ./ Formulation of the system for evaluating the Consortium's employees 106 ./ Selection of the new coordinator ./ Direct administrativa support for the new coordinator Support for ASOBESURCA. Strengthening the Association of Beneficiaries of the Cabuya! River microwatershed (ASOBESURCA) has been central to both CIPASLA and the IPRA project. The support is based on trying to build their self- reliance based on accompaniment and follow-up to activities requested by them, among which are the following: > Attend the monthly meetings of the delegates from the villages, without the right to vote > Accompany and supervise the treasurer in authorization of expenditures > Participate in the identification and construction of the profile for a technical assistant who would work exclusively for ASOBESURCA's projects Activities with the Solidarity Fund Committee for earthquake victims in the coffee-growing zone in Caicedonia, Valle Researchers: Carlos Arturo Quirós and José Ignacio Roa Collaborators: Mercedes Mejia, Aydeé Salas, Teresa Cárdenas, Raúl Varela5 As a result of the earthquake in January 1999, CIAT employees contributed to the alleviation of the problem, collecting Ps$19,081 ,581 from among the employees. Other donations were made from the CIAT Social Welfare Fund, the CIAT Volunteers Foundation, a donation from individuals linked to CIAT and others from the Senior Staff of the Center. A Committee, "Solidarity for Earthquake Victims from the Coffee-Growing Zone, • was created in order to decide how to use and distribute these resources. lt was decided that one of the most efficient ways to help would be to invest these funds in something that was not perishable and that would continue as an R&D project, where the rural communities that were affected would play an active role. In order to accomplish this, it was necessary to enter into an agreement with local institutions that would be the links to the communities and at the same time transmit FPR methodologies so that they could implement the project sponsored by the CIAT employees fund. The following sequence of activities was carried out, in which IPRA participated, was as follows: s CIAT Human Resources office, CRECIAT, UMATA Caicedonia, and Comité Cafeteros Caicedonia, respective/y 107 > The CIAT Solidarity Fund for the coffee-growing zone invited IPRA and other CIAT projects to discuss different alternativas that could be implementad in the zone. > The Committee requested IPAA to present the CIAL methodology, after which they decided it would be a good alternativa that CIAT could offer as am aid to the coffee-growing communities that were affected > Members of the Solidarity Committee and the IPAA Project traveled to the zone and presented the proposal to local institutions: the Cotfee Growers' Committee and the UMAT A. > lt was decided to begin a pilot project, forrning two CIALs in two townships to be defined. > They were given the necessary materials for carrying out the work, including the CIAL handbooks. > Two participatory diagnoses were conducted to identify the research priorities of the communities most atfected by the quake: Montenegro and El Salado. > CIAT Project SB-2 "Using Agrobiodiversity through Common Sean Biotechnology" provided the seed for one of the communities that prioritized this crop. > The farrners who forrned the CIALs and the facilitating agronomists from the UMAT A and the Comité de Cafeteros were taken to visit sorne CIALs in the Province of Cauca who have experience in FPA. To date, the following results have been obtained: > Nonmonetary aid in the forrn of knowledge and training, where information ideas are stimulated without creating paternalism or dependencias > Creation of two CIALs with the direct participation of 21 farrners affected by the recent quake > Training of 7 agronomists in the CIAL methodology > Evaluation of genetic materials of maize and common beans by farrners, seeking adaptation to their agronomic, economic and social conditions > Farmer-to-farrner exchange of knowledge between and within zones that are resource poor, stimulating their desire to progress despite theír precarious situation CIAL microenterprises supported Participatory development of implements for harvesting and transforming products with CIALs Resesrchers: José Ignacio Roa and Carlos Arturo Quirós Collsborstors: Freddy Escobar, Nolberto Zambrano, Alfonso Truque and the CIALs in Cauca6 All the communities where CIALs have been established have as their objective to improve the local agricultura! system. The CIAL methodology seeks to help the community identify their most important research topic and the steps to follow 6 IPRA technician and farmer-researchers from CORFOCIAL and the CIALs, respectively. 108 to arrive at alternativa solutions, leaving a local R&D capacity installed. Sorne prefer to solve their problems of food security; others seek innovations because they are unhappy with their current systems. In any case all the groups seek new alternativas to the extent that their research program progresses and the group is strengthened, they begin to broaden their way of thinking and to make projections externally. They seek to improve their existing technologies by making them more efficient and improving the existing technologies or adapting them. This has been the case of many CIAL groups in northern Cauca, who have been working since 1990. Toda y there are 44 active groups doing research, 9 of which have small businesses that offer their community low-cost, good-quality services. The IPRA Project, together with CORFOCIAL, has supported the generation and/or adaptation of agroindustrial implements to local conditions. A local manufacturar of this equipment, Humberto Muñoz, has worked closely with the research team to ensure that the modifications suggested by the farmers are incorporated. In this joint process, the following equipment has been generated: > Maize sheller (Photo 1) > Maize thresher (Photo 1) > Maize crusher > Rice huller (Photo 2) Manual hul/e,Z Michel Vales and José lgnacio.Roa8 Upland rice was introduced for planting on the hillsides of the Colombian Andes by the CIAT-CIRAD collaborative project, which forms part of the CIAT IP-4 Rice Project. CIALs in the villages of Chambimbe, Betania, Totoró and Pan de Azúcar, Cauca Province have been evaluating sorne upland rice varieties. Their interest is to determine which are best adapted to the region's climatic conditions, low-fertility soils and scarce economic resources. They have been supported in their work by two CIAT projects (IPRA and Rice lmprovement, IP-4), their second-order association (CORFOCIAL) and the Municipal Agricultura! T echnical Assistance Units (UMATAs). These communities are trying to meet their nutritional needs by increasing rice consumption. As the area plantad to rice became largar, the farmers had to find a method for mechanizing the process of milling the grain-a very strenuous task for them, especially the women. They used a rustic wooden pestle (pilón) , which consists of a concave base and a cylindrical piece of wood or tree trunk used to pound the rice unti/ the outer husks and rice bran are separated from the grains. 7 Translated from Arroz en las Américas, vol. 19( 1 ), 1999, 6-8. 8 lmproved Rice for LAG (/P-4) and IPRA, respective/y 109 A manual huller is therefore an indispensable tool for the postharvest processing of the paddy rice in a rural community that wishes to establish upland rice cultivation for local consumption. In 1999, a second tria! was conducted with the huller so that the farmers could evaluate it and make recommendations to the manufacturar (Photo 2). The final acceptance of the machine among the small fanners belonging to the Cauca CIALs was very high. The prototype machine weighs less than 50 kg, but the next version will be lighter. One person can dehull at least 4 kg of rice in an hour. After the grain has passed twice through the huJier, brown rice is obtained. The machine does not break the grain. The huller is operated manually, but it is possible to hook up a 1-hp motor. A group of small farmers can purchase the huller for US$300. Ata recent FLAR convention, the huller was presentad to the delegates from the Latin American countries and was well received by them. · Photo 1. Members of the CIAL El Diviso, Rosas, Cauca, with the maize thresher and shel/er, from left to right, respective/y. 110 Photo 2. Prototype of rice huJier developed by Humberto Muñoz, with adaptations suggested by the C/AL farmers who are conducting upland rice experiments in Csuca, Colombia. Data collection on CIALs in LAC Datsbase Jorge Luis Cabrera and Carlos Arturo Quírós Collsborstors: José Ignacio Roa, Luis Alfredo Hernández, James García The information that is generated through the interactions with the communities using the CIAL methodology has originated a larga amount of information that merits special management because of its diversity and origin. Based on the results obtained in the different regions and countries and in the spirit of compiling and maintaining the information available, the IPRA Project has created its own database. The initial idea is to create it maintain it and make the necessary adjustments so that it functions as a tool in the interactions between the research partners and the communities. lt is expected that any organization in each country will eventually take the initiative of creating its own 111 database and establish the linkages necessary to make the connection between them, establishing an efficient network for updating and supplying information for anyone who requires it. This database should also establish linkages and connections with other projects, such as the INFORCAUCA project, offering its services as a tool that helps establish the decision-making in the participating communities and institution. The objectives are to: > Compile and store the information proceeding from the research of projects with the communities > Convert the database into an agile and efficient tool in PR processes > Make it available to the public > Establish a system of feedback with partners who will feed into it and maintain the information system up to date The database was created in Microsoft Access, which is compatible with many other software programs and is also flexible with respect to possible future modifications should that be necessary. The structure was designad based on the steps of the CIAL methodology: Motivation, Election of the Committee, Participatory Diagnosis, Planning the trial, Evaluating the technology, Analyzing the results and Feedback to the community. The information is organizad by crop cycle or trial, considering the research phase in which the CIAL is found: Trial, Confirmation, Production Lot and Commercial Lot. At present, the information is being compilad from those institutions that have been partners of the IPRA project in the Dissemination Phase of the CIAL methodology: Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras. lnformation relatad to the population of the community, geographic coordinates, altitude and principal crops-information of use for generating maps using the GIS system-is also being stored. The database is available to all those who are interested in the topic: institutions and/or farmers who which to consult it. In the near future, it will be included in the Project's Web page. 112 Figure 1. lnitisl window, which pennits user to enter dstsbsse. 113 Figure 2. Format for entering database of a given CIAL, where user simply c/icks CIAL icon. 114 MILESTONES * Access to relevant information, improved * Knowledge of methodologies in social research (case studies) * T eam capacity and skills, enhanced Documentation Center Jorge Luis Cabrera The project has created a library, where its products, documents, talks, books, and videos are being referenced. Externallnformation and documentation of interest is being stored in Endnote. In the near future, this information will be placed on the Web site in arder to share it with those who are interested in the tapies in the form of talks, videos, documents, and photographs. IPRA team attendance at training events during the working year 1999-2000 In an effort to strengthen the IPRA team members with respect to their knowledge and skills, training opportunities have been offered. This year members of the team participated in the events shown in T able 1 . Table 1. lnformation on courses in which IPRA team members have participated. Name of course IPRA team Date or event Length Place member trained 17 Jan.-24 Intensiva English 10wk Bournemouth, Carlos Arturo Mar. course England Quirós 24 Feb. Management of 1 h Library, CIAT Ligia García library services HQ 23 Mar. Endnote 1 h Library, CIAT Ligia García, HQ Jorge Luis Cabrera 12 April Databas e 2h Computar Ligia García, management classroom, Jorge Luis CIAT HQ Cabrera 29 May-2 Power Point 10 h Computar Fredy Escobar, June classroom, Ligia García CIATHQ 115 3 July-25 Intensiva English 8wk Victoria, Luis Alfredo Aug. course Ganada Hernández 31 Aug. Case studies 8h CIAT HQ, Entire team methodoloQy Palmira 1 Sept.-1 O Intensiva English 10 wk Victoria, José Ignacio Roa Nov. course Ganada 25-29 Sept. Advanced course 10 h Computar Ligia García in Word classroom, CIAT HQ Methodologies in social research: The case study Trudy Brekelbaum1 On August 30, the IPRA team participated in a workshop that focused on the case study: Design and methods.2 The topics dealt with included: situations relevant for different research strategies, definitions, strengths and weaknesses, desirable researchers' skills, five basic design components, the role of theory in case study design including the level of analysis and how to generaliza from a case study, as well as criteria for judging the quality of the case study. Four relevant designs were discussed: simple and multiple cases with a holistic or incorporated design. The types and sources of data for case studies were analyzed as well as how to develop the protocol. For each of the topics, a series of questions were developed to be used in preparing the protocol, based on a sample or pilot case study. This ensures familiarity with the methodology before engaging in a full case study. The consultant submitted a synthesis of this material (Estudios de caso: Diseño y métodos) as well as a presentation in Power Point. 1 Consultant to the IPRA Project. 2 Based on the book by Robert K. Yin (1994) Case study research design and methods, ~ ed. Applied Social Research Methods Series vol. 5. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. 170 pp. 116 Carlos Arturo Quirós Acting Project Manager, Research (1 00%) Luis Alfredo Hernández Associate 1 Research (75%, jointly with IP-3 José Ignacio Roa Professional Specialist (1 00%) Olaf Westermann Research Fellow (50%) Trudy Brekelbaum Consultant Jorge Luis Cabrera Technician 1 (100%) Ligia Garcfa Secretary IV (1 00%) F red y Escobar Technician 11 (70%, jointly with SP-PRIGA) Elías Claros Thesis Student, Animal Science, Universidad Nacionai-Palmira (50%) Ann R. Braun Senior Scientist (1) María del Pilar Guerrero Assistant (2) (1) Left CIAT on April 19, 2000 (2) Left CIAT on June 3, 2000 * BMZ - Der Bundesminister für Wirstschafliche Zusammenarbeit, Germany * Chorlavi Group * Df\D - Department for lnternational Development, United Kingdom * DANIDA- Danish lnternational Development Assistance, Denmark * W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Michigan * lnternational Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Ganada 117 LIST OF ACRONYMS ANO ABBREVIATIONS USED Acronyms APAE ASEL ASOBESURCA ASOCIAL ASOHCIAL ASONACIAL ASOPANELA BMZ CAPRi CDR CENIAP CENICAFE CENTA CETEC CGIAR CIAE CIAL CIARA CIAT CIAT CIMMYT CIPASLA GIRAD CLAYUCA CLODEST Asociación de Promotores Agroforestales del Ecuador (Honduras ) Agricultura Sostenible en Laderas Asociación de Beneficiarios de la Subcuenca del Río Cabuyal (Colombia) Asociación de Cials Asociación Hondureña de CIALs (Honduras) asiciacion nacional de CIALs Asociación nacional de Paneleros (Colombia) Der Bundesminister für Wirtschafliche Zusammenarbeit (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Oevelopment) Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights Center for Development Research (Denmark) Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (Venezuela) Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de Café (Colombia) Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (Honduras, Salvador) Corporación para Estudios lnterdiciplinarios y Asesoría Técnica (Colombia) Consultative Group on lnternational Agricultura! Research Centro de investigación Agrícola y extension Comité de Investigación Agrícola Local (CIAT, Colombia) Fundación para la Ciencia y la Investigación Aplicada a la Reforma Agraria (Venezuela) Centro de Investigaciones en Agricultura Tropical (Bolivia) Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (Colombia) Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (Mexico) Consorcio lnterinstitucional para la Agricultura Sostenible en Laderas (Colombia) Centre de Coopération lnternationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (France) (Colombia) Consorcio Latinoamericano y del Caribe de apoyo a la investigación y desarrollo a la yuca Comite local para el desarrollo sostenible de la cuenca de río Tascalapa Honduras 118 CNI CNPMF CONASEL CORFOCIAL CORPOICA CORPOTUNIA CORPOVERSALLES CRECED CRECIAT CUOA cvc DANE DAN IDA DECOTUX DFC DfiD DICTA DIP DIPEIB-C DI SE EAP EARTH E lAG EMBRAPA ENA EPMR FEDECAFE FEPROH FIDAR FLAR FMVZ FONAIAP FPR (Honduras) Centro nacional de investigación Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Mandioca e Fruticultura Tropical (Brazil) (Honduras) Comision nacional para la agricultura sostenible en laderas Corporación para el Fomento de los Comités de lnvestigacion Agrícola Local (Colombia) Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (Colombia) Corporación para el desarrollo de Tunia Corporación para el desarrollo Versalles (Colombia) Centro Regional de Estudios de Capacitación, Educación y Desarrollo (Colombia) Fondo de ahorro y credito de los empleados del CIAT Corporación Universitaria Autonoma de Occidente (Colombia) Corporación Regional del Valle del Cauca (Colombia) Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (Colombia) Danish lnternational Development Assistance Desarrollo Comunitario de :os Tuxtlas (Mexico) Desarrollo Forestal Campesino (Honduras) Department for lnternational Development (UK) Dirección de Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria de Honduras Diagnóstico, Investigación y Participación (Mexico) Dirección Provincial de Educación lntercultural Bilingüe (Ecuador) Departamento de lnvestigacion y Servicio de la Universidad de Yucatán (Mexico) Escuela Agrícola Panamericana at Zamorano (Hcnduras) (Costa Rica) Escuela de Agricultura de la región Tropical Húmeda Escuela Internacional de Agricultura & Ganadería (Nicaragua) Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Brazil) (Honduras) Escuela Nacional Agrícola (USA)External panel management Review Fedración nacional de cafeteros (Colombia) Fomento Evangélico para el Progreso de Honduras Fundación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo de la Agroindustria Rural (Colombia) Fondo Latinoamericano y del Caribe para el cultivo de arroz Facultad de Medicina veterinaria y zootenia (Mexico) Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (Venezuela) F armer Participatory Research 119 FU NAN FUNAPIB FUNCOP FUNDACITE GTZ HHI IAPAR IARC IASCP ICA ICARDA ICLARM ICRAF ICRISAT IDB IFPRI IHDER IICA IIRR liTA ILRI INIAP INIVIT INPRHU INTA IPCA ISNAR MAC MAG MUSALAC NOVARTIS PDPMM Fundación Antisana (Ecuador) (Honduras) Fundación Parque nacional de Pico Bonito Fundación Para la Comunicación Popular (Colombia) Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tecnología del Estado Lara (Venezuela) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Agency for Technical Cooperation) Healing Hands lnternational (Brazil) Instituto Agronómico do Paraná lnternatonal agricuultural research center (CGIAR) lnternational Association for the Study of Common Property lnstitute of Cultural Affairs (Ghana) lnternational Center for Agricultura! Research in the Dry Areas (Syria) lnternational Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (Philippines) lnternational Centre for Research in Agroforestry (Kenya) lnternational Crops Research lnstitute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (India) lnteramerican Development Bank (= BID, USA) lnternational Food Policy Research lnstitute (USA) Instituto Hondureño de Desarrollo Rural (Costa Rica) Instituto Interamericano de coperación para la agricultura lnternational lnstitute of Rural Reconstruction (Ecuador) lnternational lnstitute of Tropical Agriculture (Nigeria) lnternational Livestock Research lnstitute (Ethiopia) Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (Ecuador) Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales (Cuba) Instituto de Promoción Humana (Nicaragua) Instituto Nicaragüense de Tecnología Agropecuaria (Nicaragua) Investigación Participativa en Centro América (Honduras) lnternational Service for National Agricultura! Research (The Netherlands) Ministerio de Agricultura y Cría (Venezuela) Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (Costa Rica, Ecuador) red Latinoamericana de Musaceas Artes de la nueva vida Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Medio (Colombia) 120 PRIAG PRODESSA PROFRISA PROINPA PROLANSATE PRONATTA PROSALAFA PSB PTA RNG seo SENA SERTEOESO SOL SP-PRGA TAC TecniCIAL UADY UMATA UNA UNICAM UNIR UNIR UNOCANC U SAlO UTE Programa de Reforzamiento a la Investigación Agronómica sobre Granos en Centro Aménca (Nicaragua) Centro de promoción en investigación, desarrollo y formación para el sector agropecuario (Colombia) Proyecto Regional de frijol para la zona Andina Fundación Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos (Bolivia) (Honduras)Fundación para la proteccción de Lancetilla, Punta Sal, y Texiguat Pragrama Nacional de transferencia de tegnologia Agropecuario (Colombia) Proyecto de Apoyo a Pequeños Productores y Pescadores Artesanales de a Zona Semi-Arida de los Estados de Lara y Falcón (Venezuela) Proyecto de Plantío directo en el centro sur Projects in Alternative Agriculture (Brazil) Natural Resourse Group del CIMMYT Sociedad Cristiana para el Desarrollo (Honduras) Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (Colombia) (Honduras) Servicio tecnicos para el desarrollo Sostenible Supermercados de Opciones para laderas Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program (CIAT) Technical Advisory Committee (ltaly) (Honduras) Tecnicos que trabajan con CIAL Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Mexico) Unidad Municipal de Asistencia Técnica Agropecuaria (Colombia) Universidad Nacional Agraria (Nicaragua) Universidad Campesina (Nicaragua) Una Nueva Iniciativa Rural (Manizales) (Honduras) Una Nueva Iniciativa Rural Unión de Organizaciones Campesinas del Norte de Cotopaxi (Ecuador) United States Agency for lnternational Oevelopment Universidad Tecnológica Equinocial (Ecuador) 121 Abbreviations CG DSSAT DST FFS FPR GA GIS GNP GO HQ lA IAEM IARC IPM ISFM LAC M&E NARI NARS NGO NRM PB PDM PM&E PPB PPO PR PRA PVS R&D RAAKS RESTO RE SCAT SOL SWOT CGIAR Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer Decision-support tools Farmer field schools (FAO) F armer participatory research Gender analysis Geographic information system Gross national product Government organization Headquarters lmpact analysis lntegrated agroecosystem mangement and conservation lnternational agricultura! research center (CGIAR system) lntegrated pest management lntegrated soil fertility management Latin America and the Caribbean Monitoring and evaluation National agricultura! research institute National agricultura! research systems Nongovernmental organization Natural resource management Plant breeding Participatory diagnosis meeting Participatory monitoring and evaluation Participatory plant breeding Planning by objectives Participatory research Participatory rural appraisal Participatory variety selection Research and development Rapid assessment of agricultura! knowledge systems Research Tool for Natural Resource Management, Monitoring and Evaluation Social capital assessment tool Cropping systems options Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 122