Building community life plans

By: José Garth Medina

Students from URACCAN extension Waslala work on the construction of community life plans within the framework of the project "Young people with technical skills for improving the productivity of family plots of rural communities in Waslala", funded by Sei So Frei of Austria, with the aim of training technicians in coffee and veterinary, according to the university authorities of URACCAN campus Las Minas.

The life plans presented by young people are articulated under the approach of entrepreneurship and intercultural community innovation, which strengthens their own dynamics and the production chains of coffee and veterinary, becoming indicators of local development for social transformation in rural Areas of Waslala.

The sons and daughters of producers developed life plans in the promotion of good productive practices for rural farms, emphasizing the importance of initiatives and proposals from the recreation of knowledge of mestiza families, feelings and knowledge from their own perspective.

The path of social transformation from URACCAN

In this sense, the PhD. Leonor Ruiz Calderón, vice-chancellor of URACCAN Las Minas campus highlighted URACCAN's commitment to the community, from the model of Intercultural Community University to the strengthening of peoples on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast, as an effect of the university's work within the framework of the Autonomy processes in the region of the North Caribbean Coast of the country.

"We are the Intercultural Community University and, from the model of community accompaniment, we harmonize processes with the participation of communities, so we have to work to strengthen this process and do things right and contribute to social transformation from our role as a university," she said.

For her part, teacher Rosidani Molina, coordinator of URACCAN Extensión Waslala, described that community initiatives from life plans, mean a contribution to the operation of the Municipal Territorial Development Plan and to poor communities in rural areas.

"We know that we have many challenges left, this is our role as a university and therefore we must strengthen the path we have taken since our university," Molina said.

Building the way and learning from life

"We are the main responsible for social transformation from our role as the generational relay, we have made a commitment to training ourselves to contribute to our families and contribute to the social development of communities," said Fátima Herrera Hernández, Veterinary Field Technique.

In addition, Victor Moreno, a coffee field technician, mentioned that "These life plans undoubtedly become the opportunities to contribute socioeconomically to families engaged in the promotion of agroforestry systems of shaded coffee, such as small producers in the rural area," he said.

Flor de Maria Bolaños, mother of a student's family commented that "We have dreamed our idea and brought it to reality, we thank the University for its accompaniment, it is an alternative of economic transformation that can change our lives", he stressed.

A new horizon from URACCAN for communities

Sergio Rodríguez, coordinator of the external cooperation project of URACCAN Recinto Las Minas, mentioned that the project proposes new scenarios in the future. "This project allowed us to rethink new scenarios to manage a new project proposal that focuses on the promotion of production chains of coffee, cocoa and promoting peasant markets at the municipal level, to continue strengthening the processes of community extension that the university since its Intercultural Community Model promotes," Rodríguez Ruiz concluded.

Photos: Sergio Rodríguez and Ariel Chavarría