eng.asociacion cooperativa de produccion agropecuaria fruticola

8/2/2019 Eng.asociacion Cooperativa de Produccion Agropecuaria Fruticola

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Womens Participation in Productive Processes

with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development1. Where does the experience take place?ACPAFRUNAN de R.L experience takes place in the village of La Mosquitia, Loma delMuerto Canton, Sonsonate Municipality and Department, El Salvador, 3 kilometersnortheast from the center of the Municipality. The organization is composed of 15persons, 11 women and 4 men; the organizational structure is the following: an

Administrative Council (4 women and 1 man), a Surveillance Board (4 women and 1man) and 2 Support Committees, Production and Commercialization, each composedof 3 women.

It is located in a rural area, where the main economic activities are focused on basicgrains, such as maize, beans and sorghum. Families have an average plot extension ofone manzana (approximately 0.70 ha) and as second activity production andcommercialization of nance fruit (Byrsonima crassifolia).

The organization was legally incorporated in August 2006, as an alternative to improvenance quality and improve its commercialization conditions.

The following are some of the institutions involved with this experience: the Ministry of

Agriculture and Livestock (MAG by its Spanish acronym) through the fruit treesprogram and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) thatcontributed with technical advice on agronomic and post-harvest management; theprogram MAG-PREMODER that financed the investment and the technical assistance fornance processing plant and, later, the support of other instances, such as the Ministryof Economy through the National Commission for small and micro enterprises(CONAMYPE), as well as other institutions, such as the Agency for the Local EconomicDevelopment of Sonsonate (Agencia de Desarrollo Econmico Local de Sonsonate)(ADEL Sonsonate) and the non-governmental organization TECHNOSERVE thatsupported the process of teams strengthening.

2. What do we learn from this experience?We learn about the associations creation and strengthening process, based on nanceharvesting by women, and involving the participation of men and their families intraditionally female activities.

We identify the tools and good practices implemented by PREMODER that havecontributed to strengthen the associations management and that have promotedgreater gender equity in the nance value chain.

Identify successful processes linking stakeholders and institutions that have allowstrengthening the work of the organization.

Analyze enablers and obstacles faced by womens productive associations that take

part in production and commercialization, identifying successful strategies andprojects contributions.

Identify impacts of strengthening the association management, for the association andfor nance productive chain, as well as the impacts of said changes in members andtheir families.

Identify changes aimed at reducing gender gaps in the organization and the impact ofthese processes on their members (men and women), their families, communities, and


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Learning Route:

Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment

in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America

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the tools implemented by PREMODER that have been efficient to promote saidchanges.

3. What are the key moments of the experience?Operation as Group (early in 2005): the group was composed by 20 persons (16women and 4 men) that used to individually produce, harvest and sell nance fruit tointermediaries, and used to get together to receive technical assistance from MAG-IICA -mainly through the Fruit Trees Program- on agronomic management of nancetrees, grafts techniques, establishment of nurseries; in this way, emerged the idea ofcreating a formal organization; negotiations to develop an organizational trainingprogram started with the Department of Agricultural Associations of the MAG.

Contact with MAG-PREMODER (2005): concurrently with the legalization process,the MAG-IICA contacted us with PREMODER and we received the first visits of thePrograms staff to get to know the group and analyze support possibilities, inaccordance with the requirements established; in this way, the pre-investmentdocuments were prepared, said documents are the following: a Participative Diagnosisto analyze the groups situation in organizational, productive, marketing aspects, as

well as available resources, business proposal and gender situation; OrganizationalStrengthening Plan that includes a strengthening proposal for the different areas basedin the situation identified; and the Business Plan that defines with detail the businessprojection in productive terms, marketing, financial aspects, as well as for theorganization itself.

Obtaining Legal Status and beginning the organizational strengtheningprocess with PREMODER funds (2006): the association became a formalorganization with legal status, complying with one of the requirements of the Program;the organizational strengthening process started in the pre-investment phase,strengthening capacities in the following areas: productivity, associativity, gender andmanagement, through training sessions, exchange visits, specific consultancies, amongothers. Later that year, land was acquired to build the nance processing and

packaging plant, it was an installment acquisition to be paid in 6 years, the contractwas with a person from the community, the total amount is $ 6,000.00, and 50% hasalready been paid.

Projects approval (2007): the project to build and acquire equipment for theprocessing plant was approved by MAG-PREMODERs investment committee.

Plants construction and equipment (2008): the first stage of the plant was built,women were in charge of the materials, they worked in shifts, leaving their childrenwith relatives or with their husbands, at each construction stage they contributed withlabor, as well as their families labor, hauling water, materials, preparing mix and otherconstruction activities.

Plants operation (2009): the operation process started, the associations fiscalsystem was legalized, in order to formally trade in the market; funds extension wasrequired from PREMODER, to adapt the plant to sanitation requirements. At this phase,an expert provided training on food production process in accordance with qualitynorms and standards, good practices, equipments use and management, amongothers, through theoretical-practical sessions and visits to similar enterprises.

Alliances with other institutions (2010): as result of the organizational growth,alliances were made with the NGOs TECHNOSERVE and ADEL Sonsonate. They havecontributed with the process of teams strengthening, as well as raw material to


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with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Developmentprepare shampoo and soap. The National Commission of Small and Micro Enterprises(CONAMYPE) supported with accounting and marketing training.

Adaptation of the plant, commercial permits and records (2011): currently,wehave adapted the plant in accordance with established sanitary regulations, permitshave been obtained, 10 products count with sanitary registration, brand registry, and 6products have code bar, among them: nance pulp, coconut, strawberry, nance jam,

mango, loquat, jocote and nance in syrup.

4. What are the results and achievements?ACPAFURNAN that has been a legal entity for 5 years, is an organization composedmostly by women. The organization has worked hard on strengthening the social-organizational and productive-entrepreneurial aspects, through trainings, technicalassistance, consultancies, visits, exchange of experiences, among others.Participation has been strategic to achieve the favorable results at personal, familiarand organizational level. The following are the most relevant aspects:

PROGRESS IN WOMENS PARTICIPATION, EMPOWERMENT AND GENDEREQUITY

Personal and familiar level

Women have improved self-esteem levels, as they trust themselves, are aware ofwomens rights, and the value they have in their families and communities. They facechallenges in their personal, familiar and organizational lives with greater maturity andserenity, identifying alternatives. They have achieved leadership and recognition fromtheir families and communities, evident in the respect for their points of view anddecisions.

In the families, incomegeneration allows improving thediet and covers -in a better way-some basic needs, theireconomic contribution isrecognized by the husbands, ashousehold incomes haveincreased. Before the project,incomes were irregular andscarce due to the low price ofnance fruits in the area. Communication in the family has improved, there is greaterrecognition of personal work, the entire family has better organization of time,distributing the housework between all the members, including husbands and sons;members daughters have been include in organizations activities.

Organizational and entrepreneurial level

The organization manages a social-entrepreneurial approach, as the group conceivesthe cooperative as an economic entity that generates jobs and benefits, expectingsurplus for the future, but without neglecting the human aspect; this approach hasbeen achieved through capacity building in productive aspects, as well ascommercialization, administration, associativity and gender equity that have allowhuman development. Women lead the business and the organization, men aremembers that work outside the community, and thus they spend less time in theorganization, but support the decisions; women produce, commercialize and take part

Im proud of my mother, being successful in this stage of her life; andbecause she has achieved her goals and objectives, there is a great

change in her life, thanks to her participation in the organization andtrainings, now she is more active and happier. Im also happy becauseI take part in some events of the organization.

Mara Ins Rodrguez AquinoMembers daughter


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in different events organized by several institutions, they also take part in theproduction of nante as raw material, in the same way as men do, and sometimes theywork during the harvest.

Another important achievement is that the business has become a heritage for theorganization; families expect it to grow and be inherited by their sons and daughters.This effort has given added value to the nance; before the project, they used to sellthe fruit to intermediaries without the possibility of negotiating prices and many timesthe fruits got spoiled.

Women also consider meaningful the degree of solidarity, team work and the feelingthat the business belongs to all the members, for this reason they make all the effortsto take care of the resources and work responsibly.Currently, the business generates 7 jobs for 6 women and 1 man, in production andcommercialization; they receive $0.62 per production hour and 10% of sales.

Production work is distributed between men and women; the job starts with nanteproduction, this job is performed by men and some women; women are in charge ofthe harvest and the process, including: disinfection, excoriation of raw material,

washing and sanitation, scaling, pulping, and pasteurization after refrigeration;likewise, they produce jams, syrups, among others, using good production practices.

The business has an integral work plan that includes nante processing andcommercialization, but also production of raw material, social actions, managementand organizational strengthening.

Success factors and main constrains

One of the factors that havecontributed to the achievementshas been the entrepreneurial spiritof the women, their desire to

move ahead. Another factor wasPREMODERs support methodologythat besides the investment fundshas financed technical assistancein productive, entrepreneurial,accounting, organizational andgender areas, through thecontract of specialized technicalstaff, following PREMODERs guidein each of the areas. In this way, women have strengthened their economic and socialcapacities. Other institutions have also supported these efforts, such as CONAMYPE,ADEL Sonsonate and TECNOSHERVE, and FUDEM has supported in the social area,

Health Unit, among others.

Other enabling factors have been the highly capable local manager, the contact withother womens entrepreneurial experiences and having in the organization womenthat are studying, as for example, one member from the commercialization committeestudies marketing as a response to the associations need.

Main obstacles

At the beginning, the main obstacles were related to problems in the household, due tothe time spend in the business, and this was not understood; some members left

Being part of ACPAFRUNAN de R.L. has been a wonderfulexperience, to achieve this project has been a great challenge, at

the beginningwe didnt have infrastructure and with PREMODERs

support we have a processing plant, equipment and installedcapacity to move ahead the business. God had given me theopportunity of belonging to the business and for this reason I will

continue fighting with my fellow women

Antonia Garca

Local manager and member of the production committee


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with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Developmentbecause they didnt have economic resources to pay their contribution for the land;criticism from other women in the community; rivalry in the communal direction.Currently, the obstacles are lack of right-of-way to access the plant and someproducers dont want to sell nance to the cooperative. Some of the obstacles havebeen overcome, for the others we are still looking for alternatives.

5. What tools and good practices implemented by PREMODER havecontributed to this achievements?

Since the organization acquired legal status, it has counted with the support ofPREMODER that contributed with technical staff, who has guided the entire processthrough consultancies, trainings, visits, exchange of experiences, technical assistancein weak areas, for example, in the productive process in the plant, management,marketing, commercialization, gender equity, accounting and organizational operation,using participative methodologies. The following strategies, methodologies and toolshave been developed:

PREMODERs guidelines include gender approach in the work; this allowsaddressing gender through the entire process.

Elaboration of pre-investment studies: with PREMODERs support anorganizational diagnosis was prepared that allowed identifying resources,strengths, constrain and external factors that could affect or contribute in theimplementation of the business. Then, an organizational strengthening plan wasprepared, in order to overcome constrains and weaknesses identified through thediagnosis. Later, a business plan was prepared, in order to define and design thenance processing project, each tool includes gender approach.

Direct resources management by the organization. This includes financing fortechnical assistance, infrastructure and equipment investment, through thetransfer of PREMODERs funds to the organization. In this way, we learned aboutthe necessary administrative procedures to pay services, procurement, and banksaccounts management, among others. Women got empowered in financialadministration. Likewise, in the selection process of administrative and technicalstaff with the support of PREMODER. The process included contracting a localmanager, a woman member got the position, she received training, contributing towomens leadership. The Administrative Council has improved its capacities, andhas coordinated not only administrative processes, but also productive, marketingand commercialization processes.

Capacities Strengthening Process: facilitated by technical teams composed byexperts in organization, gender, business development, accounting and food; theywere contracted for 6 months, the terms of reference specified results andproducts; the services were delivered through weekly visits in order to developcapacities, and technical assistance on punctual topics, such as, productiveprocesses, markets, commercialization processes, exchange visits, technicalfollowing up; trying to identify days and times convenient to develop saidactivities. In this way, the group has learned about good agricultural practices for

nance crops, as well as good food production practices, negotiation and marketingtechniques, production costs, administrative processes, organizational aspects andthe relevance of womens participation in all the economic and social processes.

In relation to gender, the methodology used to include this approach in otherareas was the following:

Training on gender: the training was given through mixed workshops andparticipative sessions for men and women, daughters and husbands were includedin some activities. Among the topics remembered by the group are the following:what is gender, relevance of men and women participation in the organization andin the business, leadership, self-esteem, and empowerment, division of labor,


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gender violence indicators and womens rights. All these were useful to achievegreater awareness about the importance of mens and womens participation in theorganization and business, as well as the involvement of the family and thedistribution of housework.

Closing Gaps Methodology: this methodology included workshops of men,women and directors, using a guide of questions in order to analyze existingequity gaps between men and women in the organization, business and family. Allthe answers had a pre assigned code and were recorded in a board located in theoffice to be reviewed by groups every 6 months, through a similar workshop inorder to assess achievements. ACPAFRUNANs main gaps - identified through thismethodology- are the following: little experience with organized work, husbandslittle acceptance, issues with womens leadership, the productive chain was short,just harvest and sale, low educative level, among others. The training proposalswere on leadership, empowerment, self-esteem, production, marketing andcommercialization, awareness on gender topics. The proposals are presented in aspecific action plan that is part of the organizations Integral Work Plan, actionsthat are executed through negotiations with different local institutions, in order toaddress identified needs and bring additional benefits to membersfamilies and tothe community.

Development of complementary social actions

Health sessions: these are an answer to womens reproductive health problems.Women dont have periodic medical tests and there are cases of breast cancer in thecommunity; and thus, presentations on breast cancer prevention have been heldattended by 25 participants, both members and no-members. A cytology campaignwas also implemented, 20 women were treated; as well as, a monthly medical sessionthat offers general medical services, this is coordinated with the Health Unit ofSonsonate, an average of 60 persons per month have received this service; 2 eye carecampaigns coordinated with the Foundation for the Development of Women (Fundacinpara el Desarrollo de la Mujer) (FUDEM), there the entire community had access to thisservices at economic prices, an average of 160 persons benefited from this service.

Literacy groups: these groups have been implemented to answer the need of literacyfor members, their families and the communities, an average of 15 persons -9 womenand 6 men- have received this service during 2009-2010.

Mechanism to integrate youngsters to the association: Thinking in the future ofthe organization, the group consider necessary to include other women, mainly youngdaughters of member, currently there are 3 young women that have formally join theassociation, and 2 members daughters contribute in some events and in promotionsand sales; Currently, one of the young women is the manager of the cooperative, theothers take part in fairs and expos; the Cooperative has promoted the inclusion of new

young members through verbal and

written invitations delivered in thecommunitys church, no many peoplehave answered to this call as the groupis still paying for the plants land andpeople dont want to share thiscommitment.

Small entrepreneurial initiatives: as income generation

strategy, members skills have been developed andstrengthened, skills related with flowers arrangements for theDay of the Death, as well as preparation of pickles, soap,shampoo and Christmas decorations with the participation of

8 women and 1 man.


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with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development6. What are the lessons learned?ACPAFRUNANs experience has left a series of lessons for the organization, as mainstakeholder, as well as for other stakeholders that have had direct or indirectincidence:

Gender analysis at the different stages of the productive chain, allowsidentifying possibilities and constrains that guide the capacity building process,this guarantees better results in rural business.

The inclusion of gender approach in productive organizations requires a seriesof actions related with financial and technical resources to facilitate theinvolvement of women and their families in productive and entrepreneurialprocesses, especially in decision-making to see real benefits for women andtheir families.

Womens social and economic empowerment requires a series of strategies,methodologies and tools to facilitate competencies for their integralorganizational, productive and entrepreneurial performance, in order to allowsustainable business, the direct participation of members in all the processes isessential.

Gender awareness processes are an important strategy to promote womensparticipation in rural business, through the analysis of roles, decision-making,constrains and possibilities at personal, familiar, organizational and communallevel, as starting point of an intervention in productive and entrepreneurialsectors.

To belong to ACAPAFRUNAN has been a wonderful experience,since we started 5 years ago, we have worked hard with my

colleagues, as a team, we have faced difficulties, but we haveovercome them, as we believe in ourselves and in our project.

Here, I was able to realize my dream, in the past, I had no plans formy life, but I have found what I wanted. First, I was in surveillance,

then in commercialization, I enjoyed being with the clients, I decidedto study marketing, my projection is to be big in the market, asdaughters of God, we are important, Im happy, My biggest dream is

that our products will be commercialized nationally andinternationally, to Europe, for example, thats my dream

Delmy Yaneth ArvaloCommercialization Committee

Im Vice-president of ACPAFRUNAN, Im proud of working therebecause this is a business that has given me the opportunity ofimproving incomes for my household and being a women with futurevision, with many dreams. I ask other women to join us, to create ateam and learn many things as we have done, and be able to havea better life.

Yolanda Flores

Vice president of the Administrative Council.

eng.asociacion cooperativa de produccion agropecuaria fruticola

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