Project News

Alhajuela Project began its activities in August 2006 and since then already nearly a year has passed.  In this and following Project News, I would like to introduce what we have done until now so that our readers can learn about our Project's main activities.

Our Project helps farmers form groups and then does extension activities on their group farms to disseminate environment-friendly farming techniques and improve the farmers' quality of life.  The process begins by organizing farmer groups.

To do this we first invite all the people of a community to what we call a "promotional meeting" where we explain to them the purpose of our Project and the activities we can do.  This forms the base for the next meeting where we conduct a PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal).  Photo 1 is the scene from the promotional meeting we held in the church of San Juan de Pequeni community.  The person sitting at the front of the church facing the community residents is Ms. Victoria, the Project personnel in charge of participatory development.  Photo 3 is a view of the promotional meeting held with the Chilibrillo community.  We met in the work shanty of a farm.

The second meeting is held with those who showed interest in participating in the Project in the promotional meeting.  A PRA workshop is held with them (photos 4 and 5) and the current problems they face are analyzed and an annual plan of activities is formulated.  With this plan we can begin the actual activities on the farm.

(Photo 1: left) Promotional meeting held in the San Juan de Pequeni community.
(Photo 2: right) The community is in the back of the photo. There are no roads so the last part of the trip has to be on foot or by boat.

(Photo 3) Promotional meeting in the Chilibrillo community.

(Photo 4: left) The PRA workshop held in the Salamanca community.
(Photo 5: right) The PRA workshop held in the Boqueron Abajo community.

(Mr. Isao SAKAI, Chief Advisor / Rural Development)