Fieldwork with communities in Aguabonita, Colombia
The entities for the Social Innovation Platform of Aguabonita (Corpomanigua, ALC, IEI-PUJ) and the veredas (population districts) involved, met from February 26th to March 2nd in Aguabonita, Caquetá. This time with the visit of the ALC team to facilitate deliberation spaces and support the development of prototypes on the food system and food sovereignty.
The Open Platform for Social Innovation of Aguabonita (Department of Caquetá) promotes the development of the area with the connection of social transformation initiatives that are articulated to the process of reintegration of ex-combatants and local communities. The territory of Aguabonita is made up of the following veredas: Cedro, Cedrito, Morros, Juntas and Aguabonita I.
After months of work with local agents collaborating in a process of deep listening, co-creation and definition of productive lines, a portfolio of 82 prototypes was presented in February, built with the participation of 25 delegates (5 per table and per village in collaboration with the platform team and IMAGO) of the villages involved in the Platform. This portfolio will lead to the implementation of approximately 15 economic initiatives with their specific working groups for each village and production line (Good Livestock Practices, Food Production, Tourism, Minor Species and Organizational Strengthening), which we have been able to visit this time. The portfolio is made up of three types of initiatives: (1) existing projects that connect with the listening process; (2) pilot projects that have worked in other areas and are replicated in Aguabonita; (3) pure prototypes that have been identified as areas of opportunity by the communities.
The visit allowed the team to listen to the communities and delegates from each work area in each village to learn first-hand about the process, expectations, context and concerns surrounding the project. This has lead to evaluate the new implementation phase of the prototypes in each production unit.
Prototypes
ALC met with the members of the board of COOMBUVIPAC Cooperative in Aguabonita II, the largest population center [1] in Colombia. The meeting explained the general context in the development of the populated center in recent years, some of the productive initiatives and projects with which they have collaborated in recent months (Red Adelco, UNDP or World Food Program)
During the week, the treasurer of the cooperative showed the work carried out in the shoemaking and tailoring workshops, which gave rise to potential collaborations with Basque and European footwear brands in support of the peace process and the production of boots and backpacks.
On the other hand, the ALC team visited the infrastructures that are part of the portfolio, such as the pulping plant or the fish farming initiative. The criteria demanded by the communities is that each project is structured around life projects, to bring resources and project them into change projects that provide sustainability to the territory.
Deliberative spaces
The visit also generated deliberative spaces that made it possible to adapt the initiatives to real needs and local perceptions in real time. In the villages of Aguabonita and Cedritos we were able to visit the farm prototypes for the network of country inns. The Cedritos farm has bananas, cassava, corn, citrus and several types of tomato crops, among others. We also met with the leaders of the tables of the 5 production lines in the villages, Don Justo, Ofir, Dura and Jairo Vaquiro. In the village of Cedritos we got to know the farm for country inns whose owner is Doña Viviana. The farm has bananas, cassava, corn and citrus crops; as well as dairy cows, horses and laying hens. Doña Viviana, like Ofir, is part of the aromatic project in which 41 women and 5 men participate: in it, oils and cosmetics are processed thanks to a project of Red Adelco (Caqueteño Territories for Peace).
In the vereda of Juntas, for example, the importance and benefit of the territorial space for the area was highlighted, since it has generated spaces of support between districts in terms of allied consumers and the articulation of initiatives that allow the generation of comprehensive territorial development by territory. Currently, space and territory face the challenge of finding a balance between what is theirs and what is collective. The work and needs of each initiative were also highlighted:
- Good livestock practices: need to generate a pilot initiative for intensive production in a smaller space for livestock and minor species as a demonstration farm.
- Minor species: there is a need to improve the feeding of the species through the implementation of an alternative feed processing plant. Milk production in the area stands out too: 400 liters of milk are produced daily.
- Tourism: support for the adequacy of routes and the adequacy of 1 or 2 inns per village.
- Promote the strengthening of the relationship with the rest of the veredas.
- Food production: technical training is required to explore the possibility of producing cheese in the area. In addition to milk, another of the assets of the village is the production of citrus fruits (lemons, tangerines, and oranges) that are sold in the gallery in Florencia (Colombia).
In general, the importance of rescuing popular knowledge in relation to food, herbs or routes through the mountains was highlighted. Regarding minor species, ideas were shared around the transformation of products as a potential productive initiative and food production. The initiative to improve the parcel and milk production was also highlighted.
Work with local agents and next steps
ALC met with the field implementation team to recapitulate and define the next steps for the interconnection of the initiatives that make up the portfolio. The new implementation phase brings with it the generation of synergies between the work areas of the productive units of each district so that they are interconnected at the level of the entire district nucleus. The Platform’s work team accompanies and enhances this work to delve into the community’s governance mechanisms.
Likewise, the support of the Imago group and the new opportunities for international collaboration will be strategic.
[1] Centro poblado: “[in Colombia] concentration of at least twenty neighboring and attached dwellings, located in the rural area of a municipality”.