Context Matters

It has been more than a month since I arrived to Costa Rica, and I have miserably failed to maintain track of my own work. I shall attempt to recollect some thoughts of the last two weeks working with the rural development projects with the UN University for Peace and the Global Environmental Facility, operated by the United Nations Development Program.

As my friend Tiffany Elnston said once, “context matters”. The people of Mora consider themselves a forgotten county; Mora isn’t part in the eco-tourism boom blessing most of the country, or being placed in the map of the high-tech industry revolutionizing the country’s economy. But survival is compulsory, and agriculture and food industry are some of the main activities employing the 21 800 inhabitants of the region. The industry, however, is being driven into extinction by food commodities imported from the United States. These imports (corns, cereals, soy, sorghum, etc) are subsidized by the US government and introduced to the market at virtually unbeatable prices. In addition, the Costa Rican government is about to sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, which will make importing food commodities –amongst others- even easier. The people of Mora are fully aware of their opportunities and threats, and they know they need to act otherwise they will pushed to the cities to work as unskilled workers – feeding the country and living in the countryside is considered barbarian in a world striving to become an homogenous mega urban slum.

So, what am I doing? Before I start my rant, I shall clarify that I am not been deceived to believe that we are going to bring magical solutions. I am working with the 6 communities in the county of Mora: Picagres, Piedras Negras, Jaris, Tabarcia, Llano Grande, and El Rodeo. We are collaborating with the local grassroots development associations to create a strategy to cope with the unavoidable change facing the county. We are organizing community gatherings to facilitate the cognitive process of creating solutions to the threats identified by the community members. From that collaborative process we will draft a strategic plan for each community that will address the environmental and socioeconomic problems and propose solutions conceived by the community as they envision their lifes 10 years ahead. We are trying to connect the GEF operative programs to the strategic plans to carry out the goals of community orchestrated with the goals for the GEF. There are many ideas already proposed by different community members, but it is know a matter of finding a common ground that reflects the common interest of the communities…. It is a matter now of redefining progress.


I am working with group 9 people in the projects, four Spanish, two Americans, one Canadian, one German, and one Chilean. We have a very diverse range of expertise, from anthropologist to environmental engineers in the group, and that has allowed us to use Rapid Rural Assessments techniques to collect information. In addition, we have the support from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and a few local NGOs. There will be a lot more to share as the time goes on, as for now, I want to listen to the voices buried under the development paradigm.