Project to support rural business organizations in Central America is moving forward

Costa Rica takes off with active participation of producer organizations and other institutions involved in the project (World Bank/CIRAD/RUTA)

Taller de la Agrocadena de Frijol. Los Chiles de Upala, Costa Rica. Abril, 2007

Seeking to participate in an export oriented economy and responding to the new challenges of free trade and to the market and local consumers demand, small and medium size producers of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica felt the need to make significant improvements to their production systems.

RUTA, in collaboration with the International Cooperation Center on Agronomy for Development (CIRAD) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG) of Costa Rica (during the initial phase), launched a project on October 2006 to support producers on such initiative. This project is funded by the World Bank through the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP). The table below highlights the main progress achieved so far.

Program launched to strengthen participation of rural organizations in policy dialogue in the context of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-RD) (FIDA/CIDH)

This program seeks to develop, promote and strengthen the capacity of rural organizations to participate in the definition of measures and instruments to achieve rural development and to improve their negotiation skills. It is expected that the establishment of an institutionalized dialogue among rural organizations and government agencies of Central America and Dominican Republic, will lead to an effective definition of priorities and an improved design and implementation of public policies aiming at small rural producers at country and regional level.

The program, which is funded by IFAD and executed by the International Center for Human Development (CIDH), was launched on February 2007 and it will be executed over a three-year period.

So far, the Program Technical Unit (UTP) has been established and it is led by Mr. Eduardo Izquierdo. A second version of the 2007 Annual Operational Plan has been prepared, defining the activities, tasks and expected results for the April – December period. The UTP has already met the disbursement conditions and has set in place the operational manuals. During this period, the program has supported the temporary Monitoring Group, integrated by representatives of organizations from Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This Group seeks to improve the promotion and dissemination of Program’s activities.

Several information networks have been established among organizations, including a database for the registration and analysis of participating organizations. The General Assembly is expected to take place during the second semester of 2007, as well as the appointment of a Steering Committee which will substitute the Monitoring Group.