MEDA has a few projects going on in Peru; but I am part of Techno-Links (TL), which is a brand spanking new project in Lima. Unlike some other projects which are more focused on specific sectors or regions, TL is broad in the sense that we focus on all of Peru and all of Nicaragua. Let me do a little professional pitch to everyone reading this – so you have a better understanding of what it is we are working on Peru. It’s actually kind of cool- and I say that with no irony or sarcasm!
TL is a “competitive agriculture technology program”, or so our tagline says. We are a program that seeks to expand the agriculture market. In essence we are looking to connect small producers with the technology they need to expand their market, and in turn expand their incomes and better their lives. How do would we do this, you ask? Great question. Well, it’s a competition! Organizations or companies send us applications with their ideas, and we determine if we think it’s something we would like to fund to see develop. We are looking to work with input suppliers, cooperatives, associations, or really anyone in a position to run a project that will have a broad scope. A very basic example: a cooperative may apply and say they intend to purchase machinery that will help them develop their crops faster. The project may consist of purchasing the machinery and training everyone to use it, maintain it etc. I’m not sure if this is a real example, but this was the way I explained it to myself earlier.
Currently we are in the first phase, or the pilot phase, since we are still learning about the sectors we are working in. I can honestly say you can prepare as best you can, but something will always come out of nowhere to surprise you in these introductory phases.
The Office:
We are working in a rather small office on the border of Magdalena and San Isidro here in Lima. If you have been to Lima before you may be familiar with San Isidro- its where a lot of the corporate head offices are located. Its relatively modern and green in comparison to the center of Lima.
Currently, there are 4 of us working here all the time, the project manager, accountant, administrative assistant and myself. However, in about a week and a half we will be joined by another intern. Since it is such a small team, it’s nice to get to know everyone really well. The office ambiance is very low key, which is very comforting when you are new to a country.
The Work:
The work is self-paced, I can do as much as I feel like on a daily basis since I am responsible for certain tasks. At this point, it is a matter of revising what we have done and what we should change or keep the same for the next phase. Personally, I am a bit of an organizational fanatic so revision and organization of things is my forte.
A side project of mine was to create and monitor social media outlets for this project. I figured since most of the organizations we were interested in and some of the companies we had been in contact with had active Facebook and Twitter pages, why not give it a shot for our organization too? Well, we launched it not too long ago, and I think it will serve a lot of purpose in the upcoming stages- we’ve already got some good traffic on the sites. Also, it’s a good way of know what is going on in terms of fairs and expos relating to the industry we are targeting.
Not too long ago I had the opportunity to attend Expo Café Peru 2011, it was Peru’s expo for coffee producers, and input suppliers. I went to go mingle and attend a few presentations… and obviously, for the coffee. The fair was relatively small, but the coffee was delicious! I will post about this expo in a later blog, with pictures! As soon as I find cables to connect my camera to my computer and extract the pictures.
This is where I will leave the brief sales pitch about the program and my surroundings because I am sure as I keep blogging I will fill readers in on more!
Wait! One last shameless sales pitch!
If you are interested in what we do, and get a chance, then check out our website: www.meda.org/technolinks, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Techno-Links/148566338569091, or Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/TechnoLinks_
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