TEAM PERU J-TERM 2012

MIIS J-TERM 2012

Agriculture Programs

Social Enterprise

NGO Network

Project Updates: A Collaboration Between Team Peru and The Andean Alliance For Sustainable Development

Table of Contents
The Team Peru Model.............................................................................................................................................................3 Agriculture Programs...............................................................................................................................................................4 Social Enterprise.............................................. 5 NGO Network..........................................................6 Stay Connected........................................................................................................................................................................7

TEAM PERU MODEL

The Team Peru Model Taking it back to the classroom

During the MIIS J-Term, seven continuing students traveled to Peru to work with the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD). The AASD is a non-governmental organization conceptualized and founded by MIIS graduates. The 2012 J-Term group worked with indigenous communities to advance existing projects and conceptualize their evolution in the coming months. The communities that Team Peru and the AASD work with are located in the Andes above the Sacred Valley of Peru, located at least 3 and a half hours outside of Cusco. The value of J-term for Team Peru participants cannot be overemphasized. During this month long period, Team Peru members gained a deep understanding of AASDs organizational culture, their specic projects, and the essence of Team Peru as a student led group at MIIS. J-term provided an invaluable opportunity for Team Peru members to take ownership of a project and dive deep into the planning stages, working with AASD to drive what will occur over the following months both in Peru and back at MIIS to advance the projects. This planning process is crucial to a meaningful and informed summer practicum for returning and new Team Peru members. At this point Team Peru members are ready to take their projects to the next level, incorporating them into classwork and collaborating on innovate approaches and project evolution with fellow MIIS students, faculty, and the AASD staff in Peru. As students explore new and informed directions to improve upon AASDs projects in the classroom, they are simultaneously acting as professional consultants to the AASD. Team Peru and AASD are proud of the J-term successes and excited about utilizing the knowledge gained in the spring semester back down in Peru for the summer practicum.

J-TERM PARTICIPANTS Jennifer Agis Kat Gordon Katie Holmberg Kelly Kremko Derek Polka Kelsey Nocket Alex Shaphren

Team Peru

AGRICULTURE PROGRAM

Agriculture Program
I. Assessing the MESA CITA Stewards Pilot Program
Team Peru worked with a group of agroecology students on a pilot program through the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture. The purpose of this program was to provide experience of Peruvian agriculture in an immersive style. Participants spent time visiting farmers in the Lares region and ended up getting more of an observation-based experience than a hands on experience they had expected. Team Peru students worked with the CITA stewards to understand their original expectations and whether these were indeed met or not. Main Findings: MESA program designers did not have a clear understanding of what AASD could provide on their end in Peru. The expectations of the MESA CITA stewards were not met; however, they did derive great value from their observations and their integration with Team Peru students during the last week of their program. The CITA stewards explained that they would still be interested in the type of program they actually experienced in Peru. However, MESA needed to adjust its program description in order to reect the true nature of the program. From observing a conversations between MESA and the stewards, it was evident that MESA needed to be better organized with its curriculum side, understanding what students were actually doing on the ground, and providing CITA students with updates of their next activities. Next Steps: It would be best to incorporate this model more into the AASD model to ensure AASD does not overextend itself and resources. It seems the most appropriate way to do so is through the use of MESA students and other individuals with technical agricultural backgrounds applying their expertise and engaging in a learning process on the demonstration farm. This project emerged from the conversations about the MESA CITA program and the exploration of ways that this model could better benet the AASD. The agriculture team identied that the AASD would

The Team Kat Gordon Kelsey Nocket Derek Polka

garner greater value from hosting students or individuals with technical agricultural knowledge in a more direct manner than through MESA. Considering the close proximity of UCSC and the well-respected Agroecology program, the agriculture team began exploring options for creating a program for students to apply their expertise and undertake research pertinent to the needs of AASD on the demonstration farm. This process is well in line with expanding AASDs immersive educational experience beyond MIIS. The two options being explored are with: 1) PhD students of Agroecology: These students can apply their expertise and undertake their thesis research with the AASD in Peru, potentially returning over the cycle of their program. 2) Undergraduate internship/ research opportunities: Options for this include working with Kresge College and the sustainable garden. Next Steps: Contact all relevant faculty at Kresge College, the CASFS farm and the ENVS department.

food sovereignty and malnutrition in the Lares region. Ultimately, the demonstration farm will serve as a launch pad and a resource for community-based projects and individuals passionate about sustainable agriculture. The demonstration farm will be a forum for a variety of workshops addressing technical agriculture topics in addition to trainings on responsible project approach for local government and organizations.This project will institute a platform for best practice exchange among individuals and groups, thus encouraging collaboration a characteristic often overlooked by organizations. During J-term, the agriculture team focused mainly on observing the land and brainstorming about the most effective use of the land. The main activities included visits to the plot of land, garnering advice from all Team Peru members as well as more technical input from MESA CITA students. Next Steps: AASD must identify the main principles it wants to display in workshops and develop a wellthought out land use plan that is most appropriate for teaching farmers in the Cusco region.

II. UCSC AASD relationship

III. The Demonstration Farm

In summer 2011, The AASD identied the creation of a demonstration farm as the most effective way to responsibly impact

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Social Enterprise
Working with the Choquecancha Womens Weaving Group: Wiay Warmi
The team began its work this J-Term with the Womens Weaving Group of Choquecancha by reading up on some of the current work that had been done by Jeanne Amrein, Tina Novero, Danielle Johnson and Natalie Sherman on the INKAcase project. They read documents from Natalie Sherman and Danielle Johnsons MPA capstone project on Community Savings. Those documents as well as Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD) and Team Peru reports helped the team to understand where the project stood currently. To prepare some next steps the team decided to meet with the women in Choquecancha to better understand who they are and the capacity they have to produce textiles for the INKAcase project. During this time in January, the team identied many key informants that will be crucial to the successful development of the INKAcase project.

The Team Jennifer Agis Katie Holmberg Kelly Kremko Alex Shaphren

questions for Helder Guttierez. After a meeting with Helder it was clear that a partnership would be mutually benecial to both his organization and ours. The team developed an action plan that details the production of the INKAcase as well as its marketing and distribution. After interviewing the key informants listed above, the team returned to Choquecancha to meet with the women a second time and attend a workshop run by Carmen. At this workshop the social enterprise team learned how each textile was evaluated to determine its ability to be exported. The afternoon was spent on price determination, teaching the women how to fairly price their items. Since then, production of both textiles and the INKAcases have begun to speed up. The team felt ready to move on with production and begin marketing, however in the past few days it has become more difcult to manage all of the partnerships. With many actors to consider, it is now crucial to solidify a business plan that prioritizes the

social benets the INKAcase offers the women. Next Steps: Asses the womens quality of textile and nd ways to offer more workshops Help to create the Casa de Tejedoras, through Community Savings or a Grant Establish a relationship with Helder that is more concrete, this could even include a contract Possibly nd investors: Nest, Ashoka, Kiva, etc. Continue to work on solidifying the production section of the action plan Gather information about the relationship between the various womens groups in the area of Choquecancha.

Helder Guttierrez: Director of Rufada Peru with experience in supporting indigenous womens textile groups in the Sacred Valley. Carmen de Rios: Master weaver and instructor for the Choquecancha Womens Group. Tina Novero: Founder of INKAcase and crucial distribution component in the USA. Valentin and Henry: Tourism directors of the Municipality of Lares.

To learn more about the INKAcase and to view the designs, please visit: http://www.wix.com/ indigocraftwork/indigo

The knowledge gained from the interview with the women in Choquecancha was used to generate

NGO NETWORK

NGO Network
I. The Network Structure, Conference Agenda and Timeline
After two conferences in 2011, in January of 2012 the Andean Alliance and Team Peru had the objective to create a framework for a network of NGOs in the Sacred Valley to improve the efciency of projects carried out in the region and encourage collaborative efforts on future projects. During this month, the NGO Network team drafted an agenda for a meeting of ve founding NGOs to take place in February 2012. The purpose of this meeting is to solidify the structure and bylaws of the network. The team developed several options for the structure of the network and how it will run, including:

The Team Jennifer Agis Katie Holmberg Kelsey Nocket Derek Polka

hosting visits, tracking member participation, and monitoring and evaluation.

The rst website developed by the team is the NGO Network Ning website. The second website that has been drafted as a model is the NGO Network database. This website model was created on weebly.com, and would serve as a set information center for the network. This site would serve as a hub where the general public and new members could nd out more about the mission of the network, and learn about the different members of the network. Potentially, funders could use this database as a resource to nd out more about organizations that are working in specic areas of interest in Per, such as agriculture, health, or education. This website draft will be presented at the upcoming meeting in February and will be evaluated by the founding committee. Once a nal draft has been completed, the website will serve as a foundation behind the Ning website, which will serve as the main media of communication for the NGO Network.

Monitoring and Evaluation of grant funded projects will take place Workshops skill based through establishing a baseline and common metrics for accurate Site Visits - accountability for measurement. Inviting key project maintenance community representatives to these subcommittee meetings will be an Conferences networking, important step to ensuring the knowledge sharing, project projects are working for those collaboration, increased intended beneciaries. legitimacy, increased core competencies The proposed structural items are a starting point for those attending the founders meeting and NGO network conference to work from in making the nal decisions regarding structure, decision making, and collaboration. While the rst year or two of the networks existence may operate slightly differently than the intended cycle for a normal year, this time will be spent easing into a collaborative relationship amongst organizations.

A timeline for 2012 was proposed and includes 2 founder conferences 2 full network conferences 2 site visits 2 workshops

As the network develops into a more established and independent entity, workshops and site visits will become more frequent. Future potential funding will necessitate subcommittees to handle new responsibilities such as: writing and distributing grants and funding,

II. Websites
As part of the network agenda drafting, the team has put together two websites that could be potentially be used by the network.

Team Peru J-Term 2012

STAY CONNECTED

Follow Our Work & Get Involved

Team Peru Blog: blogs.miis.edu/teamperu Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development Website: http://alianzaandina.org/ INKAcase Website: http://www.wix.com/indigocraftwork/indigo Facebook: Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAndeanAlliance/feed