A Latin America regional workshop structured for knowledge sharing and the exchange of successful organisational models regarding the integration of small scale producers, women, indigenous people and youth in forestry and agro-forestry value-chains yielded tremendous mutual learning. The event was organised by the Guatemala Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Forest and Farm Facility in partnership with CoOPequity, the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests (AMPB), We Effect, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) and the Guatemala Office of International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN). It took place in in the Rural School of agro-forestry business of the Federation of cooperatives of Las Verapaces region (FEDECOVERA), Guatemala, from 11-15 April, 2016.

The breadth of understanding and knowledge-sharing was robust throughout the week. Around 50 representatives from producer organisations and governments from 8 countries of Latin America ─ Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, México and Panama added to the rich discussions.

The ultimate objective is to improve producers’ incomes, quality of life, food security, so that all families in rural areas can find a way out of poverty. The response to this challenge is within yourselves, within your organizations. This event is organized for you to exchange and build new organizational models. The idea of association and cooperativism is about finding a third path that can help our countries get out of poverty. ─Diego Recalde, FAO Guatemala (from FAO news feed)

Although coffee, cacao, and cardamom markets and related value-chains were clearly important topics during the week-long meeting, they were augmented by a host of other relevant exchanges of information and ideas. Discussions on public policy and strategies to enhance the ability of producer organisations to access markets were target objectives of the workshop. However, the value of discussing climate resilience for producers and supplementing understanding of how to nurture rural development were also clearly important objectives. Local FEDECOVERA-led site visits and the discussions they evoked were yet another integral component of the workshop.

Perhaps the most visible product stemming from this event is a joint publication coordinated with the FAO Guatemala country office. The resulting document is entitled, Modelos Organizativos Exitosos para la Integración de Pequeños Productores, Mujeres, Pueblos Indígenas y Jóvenes, en las cadenas de valor forestales y agro-forestales - Experiencias exitosas y propuesta metodológica para realizar intercambios. This publication contains recommendations for strengthening producer organisations, recommendations to facilitate the learning process and includes 19 successful cases, documented by the producer organisations themselves.

Coffee, cacao, and cardamom are clearly more than just sweet sounding alliteration. They are important commodities associated with strong organisational models, producers, markets, policies and value-chains that can make them even sweeter. This workshop was testament to that.