1992 - PAC II (Bolivia)

The Program for Farmers’ Auto-development-II (“Programa
de Autodesarrollo Campesino-II”) was a Project financed by hte European
Union and the Bolivian Government. PAC-II started using Pachamama Raymi
from 2003, when Willem van Immerzeel was designated as co-manager of
the Patacamaya work area. This is a very high, cold, dry and huge
region of the bolivian highlands, between La Paz and Oruro. Willem
immediately set out to prepare a number of documents and produced them
in rapid succession, using his experience from PRODERM. See:
Contributions of the Patacamaya Work Area to the Annual Operational Plan (pdf) of PAC-II, and the first project draft (pdf)
of Pachamama Raymi, using a new but similar name chosen by the project
field staff and authorities of Aymara Communities: "Pachamaman Urupa"
(day of Mother Earth, in Aymara). The first contest started after a
difficult period to obtain the approval of the project directors in
August of 2003. See also: The first contest PAC-II (pdf).
The training system Pachamama Raymi, as implemented in PAC-II, included a number of elements: (1)
demanding targets in terms of number of families and communities, as
well as the general orientation of the innovations to be introduced
(focusing mainly on improving communal natural range land management) (2) the farmer-to-farmer training (also called inter-learning, or peer learning), (3) motivators: mainly consisting of contests between families and between communities, (4) transcultural bridges and (5)
partnering with local farmer unions (and not with local governments,
which at the time, were little more than offices registering births and
deaths. Later, when government policy changed radically, giving more
resources to local governments, these were involved in the program as
well, but through SID-Bolivia, as PAC-II had already expired). (6)
The crucial decision to allocate project resources (prizes) according
to the farmers’ decision, and based on criteria of quality of natural
resources management. PAC-II didn’t allow to provide cash prizes.
Instead, small infrastructure, “materials” (barbwire, alfalfa seed,
tools and even good breeding animals) were distributed as prizes. The
winners could pick from a list of options. Their choice was mainly
oriented towards “materials”, diminishing the construction program to
almost nothing, simplifying the project significantly, as almost the
entire tiny-infrastructure program was eliminated, and with it, a
managerial nightmare evaporated (making it possible to concentrate
investments in infrastructure on more relevant issues such as roads and
bridges).
The sixth element was particularly interesting (allocating
resources according the quality of resources management) as an
alternative to distributing resources according to “needs”, problems,
or “demands” of the population. This element caused a rapid improvement
of natural resources management. It is believed that distributing
according to “needs” or “problems” would tend to optimize such needs or
problems. Besides, the population no longer needed to express their
demands through “workshops” or other time consuming mechanisms, such as
letters, frequent visits to the head office, etc. saving time and
trouble for project staff, as well as for the authorities of the farmer
communities.
One
day, out of the blue, came a student of anthropology from the
University of Amsterdam, looking for an “anchor” to do her field work:
Luella van Turnhout. She arrived when the discussion between the 14
member field staff about how, and whether or not to introduce Pachamama
Raymi, was in full swing. It took Luella only a few days to be
convinced that Pachamama Raymi was a bad idea. She feared it would
cause or worsen conflicts and tensions in the communities. Her opinion
weighed heavily among the field staff. However, ultimately it had the
effect of improving the discussions and strengthening convictions,
either in favor or totally against Pachamama Raymi. Such an atmosphere
is a good thing, as the field staff taking on the responsibility to
implement the new ideas want to prove that they are right. Quickly
though, all doubts and opinions against Pachamama Raymi evaporated, as
the enthusiasms and other very positive reactions of the population
became evident. Turnhout (pdf)
The European Union organizad
a workshop “identifying supply and demand in Training Methodologies in
Projects of the European Union in Latin America (Arica-Chile, 27-28 of
march 1995)”. Pachamama Raymi stood out in this workshop as the most
effective training system of the EU used to date in the entire region.
The EU ordered PAC-II to write a manual for use in other projects of
the European Union, to facilitate replication. Its author was Juan
Carlos Soria (co-manager of the Patacamaya Area, with Willem van
Immerzeel).
He continued after PAC-II closed down, to use Pachamama Raymi in the Post-PAC-II period. The title of the manual is
RURALTER (pdf) also Publisher a manual base on the experience of PAC-II. The European Union decided not
only to continue Pachamama Raymi in the Post-PAC-II period of its
project in La Paz, but also in similar PAC projects in other areas of
Bolivia (Oruro and Potosi). The scale on which Pachamama Raymi was
implemented by EU projects would never again be so huge.
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