The Biosmart team was on the move again in March 2023 thanks to a third round of funding from the BBSRC to deliver impact activities.
It was moving to return to Florencia where we held a day of activities with our participant farmers. We presented each of them with the results of our plant and i
nsect surveys for their individual farms and then shared our findings from the human geography and economics components. We discussed ways in which they could use and apply our findings to improve their livelihoods and listened to what they had to say when we asked them what support they would need to persevere with their silvopastoral system and conservation agreements. Their views on the importance of meaningful participation, regular and consistent technical assistance, and honouring of the trust they put in those who enrol them into projects validated our fieldwork findings, which have now been published. Mike had time to continue his gourmet expedition through the best of Colombian food, with the additional perk of some excellent company for lunch from some monkeys.
We then flew back to Bogotá to bring these farmer views to a meeting we organised with decision-makers meeting. Our guests represented three different stages in the arrival of agrienvironmental projects in Colombia’s Amazonian region: project designers, project funders and project implementers. This meant our audience included local and national NGOs and research centres like SINCHI and the Humboldt Institute as well as industry stakeholders such as Nestlé, national policymakers and agencies like the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Development Agency and representatives of international cooperation agencies, including the GTZ, USAID and the British Embassy in Colombia. Originally planned for two hours, the participants decided to stay for another hour as they found the discussion very useful. Our feedback showed the most important learning from the event was “understanding the reality of project implementation on the ground” and that “Changing project design and implementation” was the action that most participants wanted to take after attending the event.
On the cusp of this success, we visited CIAT in Cali to start the planning for our next funding application, which we secured in October 2023, and about which you can read here.
Last but not least, to deliver these impact activities Biosmart partnered with Dr Sandra Martínez Basallo, PhD in Social Anthropology at the Universidad del Valle, with whom we worked on the analysis of our fieldwork interviews with farmers, project funders and project implementors to produce a paper the project-based mode of local governance, which has now been published here. And we also welcomed a new member of the Biosmart team, Catalina Quintero, our consultant based in Bogotá, trained in law and sociology and whose experience on event planning and more importantly on international cooperation has brought impact power to the team. Welcome Catalina!!
