New publication | Towards inclusive rural development in the Andes
Towards inclusive rural development: Agricultural value chains, local economic development and stakeholders’ dynamics - Contribution of Belgian development projects to the elaboration of a regional and sectoral vision on rural development in the Andes
This new publication originates in a regional seminar organised by BTC in Lima in 2009. It highlights two approaches that are used more and more in agriculture and rural development, namely the value chain approach and the local economic development approach. First, these approaches are put in perspective against the evolving background of the Belgian and international agricultural sector. Next, these approaches are assessed as part of specific experiences in the regional project portfolio implemented by the bilateral cooperation.
Five elements emerge from this work:
- The political and institutional context in each country is determining in defining approaches and implementation modalities. Bolivia where the notion of the “productive complexes” assigned a new role to the State as a full economic actor is a good example in case.
- Decentralised entities and their actors are gaining significance in the planning and management of production aspects of regional development and open for actions set up by international cooperation in the matter.
- The nature of agriculture and of the value chains imposes a multiple-stakeholder vision with attention for private and public actors in their respective roles and missions.
- A “pro-poor” vision of the support to the value chains cannot be limited to a strictly commercial approach of the value chains but imposes a social economy approach, whether for fairness or inclusion or to strengthen the social capital and share the wealth generated between the actors.
- The interventions can be sites for innovation, as the examples from Peru and Ecuador illustrate.
This seminar confirmed, in as far it still was necessary, the importance of this type of meetings, which aim at facilitating and encouraging capitalisation through the exchange of experiences between the various projects of the Belgian Development Cooperation and the partner countries.
Download the publication (Spanish - 48 p. - pdf - 1,26 MB)
News
