Bolivian and Peruvian microenterprises win regional competition against poverty.

(La Paz, November 3, 2007).- The Bolivian association Inca Pallay, and the Peruvian llama meat production and marketing association Aswank'ari, were today selected as best Andean undertakings by the First Regional Women Fighting Poverty Competition, held in the city of La Paz.

Ten women's associations from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia participated in the event. The competition had two prize categories: one for craft production and another for agro-food products.

The first prize in the craft category went to Inca Pallay, a women's cooperative from Tarabuco, Zudañéz province, which produces traditional hand-made fabrics with ancestral techniques. The winner received a US$4,000 cash prize. The second prize was awarded to the Peruvian “Las Vicuñitas” cooperative based in Puno. The third prize went to the association of producers of hats woven from paja toquilla in Nariño, Colombia.

In the agro-food production category, first and second prizes were awarded to producers’ associations of dried alpaca and llama meat (charque), Aswank'ari in Peru, and Las Delicias cooperative in Oruro department, Bolivia. The third prize was won by the Colombian "Vamos Mujeres" association producers of sugar-cane honey.

The competition is sponsored by the Andean Development Corporation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) jointly with other cooperation agencies, local authorities and private enterprise.

This competition is the first regional event; the first national competition was held in La Paz in 2005, and a second and third in 2006 and 2007.

Recognition and learning Justina Tofanero, representative of the winning Peruvian Aswank'ari association, reminded contestants that all were winners in this exchange and told them to not lose hope. "Don’t let anyone take from you the dream of working for a better future for your children, and of women occupying the spaces they deserve in their families and their countries," she said.

The promoting institutions say the competitions are a methodology that fosters creativity and knowledge exchange. The participants explain their ideas in public, the problems they have had to overcome, and how they have solved them. For their part, the partner institutions learn from the solutions contributed by the communities based on their cultural identities.

Access to markets and information technology The new information technologies, such as internet and mobile phones, can be great allies of small producers. Many of the associations participating in the competition already use e-mail to receive orders but there are still many limitations, they recognized. In many poor rural areas, lack of connectivity is still a barrier to market access, information and professional training.

During the meeting, Gabriela Ugarte, specialist in new information technologies, shared with the contestants some successful examples of information technology which is favoring exchange of information - such as market prices and training offers. The meeting agreed to create a virtual catalog for online sales by the participating associations.