Constraints and Opportunities for Rural Women Producers in Terrabona, Nicaragua

Fundación Mujer y Desarrollo Económico Comunitario (Foundation for Women and Community Economic Development, FUMDEC) works to assist rural women in the areas of economic and social empowerment, sustainable agriculture, and entrepreneurial development, including access to credit. Since FUMDEC was founded in 1997, it has been successful in organizing more than 2000 rural women in the Terrabona municipality, offering resources and access to credit that government agencies have failed to provide. However, the small-scale producers in San Pedro and El Paraíso, and FUMDEC as one of their main supporting institutions, lack the capacity and the networks to become competitive players in the local market. The objective of the workshop was to addresses the constraints and opportunities for rural women producers in the communities of San Pedro and El Paraíso in the Terrabona municipality of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The goal of this project is to improve the socio-economic conditions of rural women and their families in these communities, enabling them to upgrade and develop their own capabilities to improve their respective positions in the local value chain as well as to consider alternative production activities.