‘Hoe kijkt coördinator Marina Sampedro terug op het project?

De partner vertelt... van 12 november 2019 door Marina Sampedro


Elk jaar vragen we onze partner hoe het project is gegaan en welke lessen de partner heeft geleerd.

Context and summary


Describe the original plan/idea for the project. Has the project been executed as planned?
The Association of Agricultural Workers Piñas-ASOPROAPI, is located in the south of Ecuador, in the Province of El Oro, Canton Piñas, Damas community, is made up of 21 partners, 12 women, 10 men dedicated to the production of cocoa as the main subsistence activity.

ASOPROAPI, I believe in entrepreneurship as CHOCODAMAS agribusiness, with the objective that the women of the Association have an income generation alternative to improve their economy, developing and marketing cocoa products. The CHOCODAMAS project supported by WORLD SERVANTS contributes to this purpose, developing actions with community participation.
 
The project undertaken in the agro-industry CHOCODAMAS, is inserted in the process of implementation of the community development strategic plan undertaken by the Association, which considers taking advantage of the potential of the community, such as the production of quality cocoa, the existence of an organization strengthened and directed by women, the implementation of the cocoa processing microenterprise for the production of chocolates, linking with the El Oro cocoa solidarity network, the support of Maquita.

 Within this framework, the Association develops actions focused on:

- Diversify the sources of economic income of the families of the community, by adding value to their agricultural products, especially cocoa

- Strategic linking with local, national and international solidarity marketing networks to expand their commercial possibilities

- Facilitate women's leadership in productive enterprises recognizing their ability to do so

- To improve the productive conditions of the farms and the agribusiness infrastructure, directed towards greater profitability and sustainability.

During the presence of the young people of the Word Servants group, 60% of the planned work was carried out, pending completion of the plant.

Give a (short) general description of the implementation of the project.


In the implementation of the project the following actions were developed:
  

 Linking the World Servants volunteer group to have human and financial support.
 Linking the El Oro team of the Maquita Foundation
 Linking with leaders and members of the ASOPROAPI Association and participants in the CHOCODAMAS agribusiness
 Construction of the CHOCODAMAS agro-industry cocoa processing plant
- Offices
- Wineries
- Machine room
- Packaging room
- Sales room
- Customer Hall
- Bathroom construction
 Construction of works of art on the perimeter of the plant
 Involvement in activities with each family of the Association
 Activities with the community


How do you look back on the following topics? How was it arranged, what went well, what could be done better?


Construction

Buildings worked on
The construction of each of the aforementioned spaces was made possible by the responsible participation of the 21 members and partners of the ASOPROAPI organization, who in daily shifts for 20 days joined the group of 39 volunteers and volunteers from World Servants- 23 women and 16 men, under the operational coordination of Galo Pineda Technical of Maquita and the construction management of the master Walter Jiménez, achieved the construction of the processing plant for cocoa derivatives of the agroindustra CHOCODAMAS, leaving enabled:
- Raw materials reception area
- Machine operation zone
- Packing area
- Sales area
- Customer hall

Tasks to be done

Pending work within the construction are:
 Completion of the office area of ​​the association (plastering, placement of windows and doors, paint)
 Adaptation of the customer hall (paint, floor plastering)
 Plant environment enclosure

For the total completion of the plant, some work remains pending (painted, plastered) in the areas of the Association's offices, customer hall and enclosure of the perimeter of the plant.
There is the commitment of the Association with the support of Maquita, to continue the efforts towards local governments and obtain resources to completely finish these areas.

Programs

Children program
A fundamental part of the project, were the activities of coexistence with the families of the community and neighboring communities, boys, girls, youth were participants in different activities programmed from the volunteers, such as:

With the children of the Teniente Audón Calderón school of the Damas community:
- Health talks - personal hygiene
- Delivery of Kit for oral hygiene
- Teaching basic English
These activities allowed young volunteers to feel and live more closely as is the daily life of rural peasant children.

With the youth of the community it was done:
-  Sports
- Presentation of dances with integrated groups of volunteers and youth from the community
- Walks to important places in the community

These activities enabled the integration of young farmers with the Dutch, giving meaning to this exchange, such as the possibility of strengthening the cultural ties of diverse countries.

Cultural and touristic outings
The celebration of the festivities of the community, was reason to further strengthen the bonds of solidarity between peoples, the Wordl Servan group had the opportunity to be part of the organized programs, such as sports, religious celebrations, dances, theater and allowed the group strengthen closer ties of friendship with people and learn about the customs and traditions of the community

The local tourism knowing important places in the community and the province, was part of the tourist activities that the young people could experience, visiting the viewpoint called the Angel and the beach of Jambelí in the city of Machala

Engaging in the farming activities of the community families was part of the activities that were also done with the group, visiting the homes of the peasant families, visits to the cocoa farms, executing agricultural activities
This experience generated expectations for the group participants, allowed them to learn from the peasants they visited.


Life Skills program and Football for Water

Sports and mainly football was an important element that united the youth of both countries, a championship was held where both men and women from both countries participated, showing that sport can unite the peoples

Cooperation and involvement


Leadership team World Servants
For the coordination from Maquita, Galo Pineda was assigned, with the support of two people for the translation, for the coordination meetings were held with the leaders of the different topics, health, culture, construction, religion; Everyone showed the opening to make a good coordination, understanding the conditions and circumstances that arose in the daily life of living together

The meetings that were held daily, allowed the communication to be permanent, which helped to fulfill the activities planned in the itinerary of permanence of the group

Local leaders / key persons
The local coordination was in charge of the directors of the Association, in the general coordination Mrs. Verónica Aguilar general coordinator, Germán Tene construction coordinator, Mr. Raúl Ruilova visits to families and farms, Ms. Leticia Ruilova food and affairs coordinator social, this coordination was accompanied by Galo Pineda from MAQUITA.
These people effectively coordinated with the leaders of the group, which helped to ensure the proactive participation of the youth of the group and the people of the community in the organized programs.

Community
The community was the main protagonist of this exchange, given that the 50 families that live in the community were actively involved with the 39 participants, welcoming them as members of the community; In the afternoons, families gathered on the neighborhood courts to develop integration activities especially with young people and children, the memory remaining; some activities that the group worked for the community, painting of the communal house, dressing of the gardens of the school, painting of the community church and more activities that involved the participation of all.

Beneficiaries
The 21 families part of the association, direct beneficiaries, showed all the predisposition and participated with all the will in the activities programmed by the group; they collaborated with labor for the construction, they shared products of the place to share with the group, they welcomed the young people in their families and farms sharing their experience of cocoa farmers.

(Local) authorities
The local institutions were present and were interested to support the work of the Association, and at some times they shared with the group and the community.

- President of the Cantonal Local Government of Saracay - Gustavo Romero
- Deputy Mayor of the Cantonal Local Government - Norma Loaiza
- Director of the Education District - Angel Sanchez
- Director of the Health District - Ingrid Gallardo

Facilitation of the team

Accommodation

The facilitation in Ecuador was in charge of Marina Sampedro from Maquita Nacional, at the Guayaquil Emilio Aguilar headquarters, Galo Pineda in the community, Verónica Aguilar as Administrator in the community, in addition to the permanent presence of Bryan Catillo and Diana Castillo as translators.

The accommodation was coordinated by the community, the members of the group stayed at the premises of the communal house the women and the school of the neighborhood men.

Food
A demonstration of the culture of peasant families is their food, where the main base is the products of the area. The food preparation was coordinated by Mrs. Mariuxi Armijos accompanied by the women of the Association, who shared moments with the young volunteers and volunteers where they exchanged the knowledge and the ways of preparing the meals of both Ecuador and Holland.

Transportation

The transfer both from the airport to the offices of Maquita and from there to the community was made in buses suitable for the transport of people, respecting the requirements stipulated in the country's traffic regulations.

Safety

For the safety of the people in the group it was offered as previously agreed with the people of Word Servans; Torata parish health sub-center 20 minutes from the community and for larger cases public hospitals and private clinics in the city of Machala 1 hour from the community, these care centers have paramedics and ambulances in case of emergencies, A group of young people were able to visit the sub-center and learn a little about the services provided by the health center

Lessons learned
The lessons that experience leaves in the community.

- You can live tangible solidarity, sharing and living together between different cultures and striving to do good in the world.

- In the world no culture is superior to another, they all have their particularities and can complement each other

- The young people of the group, by sharing with the youth of the community, the efforts they made to travel and live this experience, leave in the youth of the community the certainty that with effort the dreams are attainable

- That it is possible to live harmoniously between people of different generations.