Newsletter that describes our activities in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America in 2014.

1. 1
Procasur NEWSLETTER
Spring 2014 Edition
Procasur Corporation is a global organization specialized in harvesting and scaling-up homegrown
innovations. The organization’s mission is to foster local knowledge exchange to end rural poverty.
By sharing innovations through customized local knowledge management tools and methodologies,
Procasur connects global institutions with local talents, providing the structured learning platforms
necessary to spread innovation.
Since 1996 Procasur facilitates knowledge sharing for the southern hemisphere, linking international
and regional organizations with national and local governments, associations and micro-enterprises,
rural communities and talents, to sow, share and harvest innovative ideas.
Ongoing Learning Routes in Africa
GenderandRuralMicrofinance:newapproaches,
services and products for the empowerment
of economically active rural communities by
ensuring Gender equality
Uganda, between the 16th and 23rd of June
2014
Read More
Natural Resources Management and Climate
Change Adaptation best practices. The
experience in Kenya
Kenya, between the 6th and the 13th of July
2014
Read More
Upcoming Learning Routes in Africa
Innovative ideas and approaches to integrate
Rural Youth inAgriculture. The progress in Kenya
Kenia, August 11-18, 2014
Deadline for applications: July 7, 2014
Apply and Read More
Innovative tools and approaches to enhance
gender equality in value chain development
Uganda, September 7-14, 2014
Deadline for applications: August 16, 2014
Apply and Read More

2. 2
Scaling Up Nutrition through “Learning Routes”
As a global Movement, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN)
unites governments, civil society, businesses and
citizens in a worldwide effort to end undernutrition.
Launched in 2010, today the SUN Movement has
50 member countries, where half of the chronic
malnourished children of the world live. To
improve sharing and learning initiatives between
national SUN multi-stakeholder platforms,
the SUN Movement Secretariat partnered
with PROCASUR Corporation to design and
implement two “Learning Routes” in Senegal
and Peru, to respond as learning exchange
tools to specific countries’ knowledge needs.
The Learning Routes are hosting country teams
from Benin, Burundi, Ghana, Guinea Conakry,
Guatemala, Lao DPR, Madagascar, Niger, Peru,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.
Fight Against Malnutrition Unit (CLM, for its
French acronym) hosts the Learning Route in
Senegal. The Ministry of Development and Social
Inclusion (MIDIS, for its Spanish acronym) hosts
the Learning Route in Peru. The two Learning
Routes are being completed between May and
September 2014.
For more information contact Ms Giulia Pedone:
gpedone@procasur.org and visit http://sun.
aulaprocasur.org
Brazil: knowledge management in the ‘Semear’ Programme
In 2014, the ‘Semear’ (Sow) Programme-with IFAD-AECID-IICA support-started a second phase
of collaboration with PROCASUR to build a technical proposal which purpose is to coordinate the
network of IFAD-supported projects. This new phase of collaboration, which runs through early
2015, aims to promote opportunities for systematization of good practices, experiences exchange
and dissemination of innovation through different mechanisms such as exchange visits, internships,
Learning Routes and Knowledge Fairs, that facilitate the flow of information on good practices and key
success factors, plus lessons learned from the IFAD-supported projects and other rural development
actors in the Brazilian Northeast.
For more information contact Ms Rita Bórquez: rborquez@procasur.org and Ms Lia Poggio: lpoggio@
procasur.org

3. 3
Supporting Family Farming Businesses
Building upon the fruitful completion of the ‘Learning
Route on Farmers Organization’ implemented on
February 2013 under the KARIANET-PROCASUR
Learning Route programme, and in view of the global
meeting of the IFAD’s Farmer’s Forum (FAFO), in
February 2014, PROCASUR, IFAD and Diversity and
Development (D&D) joined to promote a Learning
Route aimed at generating knowledge and a better
understanding of the successful development model
supporting family farming businesses.
For more information contact Ms Viviana Sacco:
vsacco@procasur.org
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Rural Youth Entrepreneurship Program
El Salvador:
Workshop on
“Diagnosis and
Strategic Planning for
the Technical Support
of the Rural Youth”
About fifty people representing
national MAG-IFAD projects
(PRODEMORO, PRODEMOR
CENTRAL and AMANECER
RURAL), NGOs, Salvadoran
youth and PROCASUR Corpo-
ration attended the workshop,
held in San Salvador from 26 to
28 March 2014. Its objectives
were to jointly analyze the lines
of action raised at the national
level and within the projects;
generate recommendations for
improvement and strengthe-
ning of the proposed strategies,
and identify priorities for techni-
cal and methodological support
of the Regional Rural Youth
Entrepreneurship program
(Procasur-IFAD) for the imple-
mentation of specific activities
towards the inclusion of young
people in El Salvador.
Venezuela: Workshop
on “Diagnosis and
Strategic Planning for
the Technical Support
of the Rural Youth”
As a first step to monitor the ac-
tion plan prepared by the Sus-
tainable Rural Development
Project for the Semi-Arid Agro-
Food Safety of Lara and Falcon
States (PROSALAFA III, IFAD),
the “Workshop on Diagnosis
and Strategic Planning for the
Technical Support of the Rural
Youth” was conducted in the
city of Barquisimeto, Lara state,
on 6 and 7 May 2014. Among
participants there were techni-
cal and field projects staff from
PROSALAFA, representatives
of the Regional Rural Youth En-
trepreneurship Program (Pro-
casur Corporation-IFAD), as
well as agriculturists and youth
representatives from the above
mentioned territories. Members
of the consulting firm respon-
sible for evaluating the PER
(Youth Entrepreneurship Pro-
ject) and a representative of the
Ministry of Youth also attended
the activity.
Haiti: Workshop on
“Defining Lines of
Action to Work with
Rural Youth”
The gathering took place in
Port au Prince, on April 29,
2014. It was oriented to define
and coordinate lines of tech-
nical and methodological su-
pport from the Regional Rural
Youth Entrepreneurship Pro-
gram (PJRE), from Procasur
Corporation and IFAD, for the
implementation of the action
plan activity for the inclusion of
rural youth within the scope of
coverage of the “Projet de Pe-
tite Developpelement of Irriga-
tion” (PPI PPI II and III, IFAD).
Representatives of IFAD, the
PJRE, PPI, and youth organiza-
tions from Nippes and Plateau
Central departments, plus the
Ministry of Agriculture of Haiti,
attended the workshop.
For more information contact Karen Rees: krees@procasur.org

4. 4
Colombia: Workshop on “Design and Planning of the Rural Youth
Plan”
The activity was held in Bogota, on 12 and 13 May 2014, aimed at defining the methodological
and technical support required for the implementation of the action plan prepared by the Building
Rural Entrepreneurial Capacities - Trust and Opportunities Program (IFAD). In particular, the project
requested the technical support of the Regional Rural Youth Entrepreneurship Program (Procasur
/ IFAD), to guide the creation of a Youth Investment Capital Fund as part of the development and
strengthening of rural financial assets component of the project.
For more information contact Karen Rees: krees@procasur.org
Dominican Republic: Learning Route Follow up with the Ministry
of Agriculture
Within the Ministry of Agriculture rural extension and agricultural training system reformulation plan,
Procasur held a Learning Route-with a group of technicians and agriculturists-in the Azua Province,
in January 2014. The event was called “Best Practices of Production, Associative Labor and Export:
lessons for a new extension model from agents of change.” The participants designed six Innovation
Plans related to the strengthening of Musaceae (banana) production in the Province. In parallel, three
follow-up meetings were developed with the staff of the Ministry’s Department of Extension to discuss
guidelines for incorporating the “Learning Routes” methodology as a strategy for capacity building
and dissemination of innovations.
For more information contact Maria Jose Araya: mjaraya@procasur.org
Colombia: Methodological Transfer of the “Learning Territory”
Model
Procasur has established a technical cooperation
agreement with the National Learning Service
(SENA), with support from the Ford Foundation,
to integrate the “Learning Territories” tool within
the Young Rural Entrepreneurs Program (PJRE-
SENA). The objective is to serve as a strategy for
enhancement of local knowledge oriented towards
scaling-up good practices and innovations related
to rural enterprise development, value chains for
competitive access to markets, business model
innovation, product development and value-
added development technology among rural youth
of Colombia. The agreement will help expand
the model in 32 departments, as a permanent
specialized training offer, led by local talents and directed to benefit rural youth that are trained in the
SENA training programs.
For more information contact Pablo Olmeño: polmeno@procasur.org and Carlos Vanegas:
cvanegas@procasur.org

5. 5
The value of partnerships showed at UNPFII
‘Managing Forests, Sustaining Lives, Improving Livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Groups
in the Mekong Region’, was a Learning Route promoted and implemented by Procasur and the Asia
Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), with the full support of the United Nations International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), in 2012.
The successful outcomes of the experience carried out in Lao PDR and Thailand, lead to an IFAD
publication on lessons learned from the Learning Route, in 2013.
On occasion of the Thirteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
(UNPFII), on May 22, IFAD, AIPP, and Procasur shared the experience and the methodology of
the learning route during a Side Event focused on the role indigenous peoples’ communities and
ethnic groups play in managing and preserving natural resources to nourish and support their present
and future generations, plus the centrality of partnerships and alliances between communities and
governments with the support of external actors.
For more information contact Mr Ariel Halpern: ahalpern@procasur.org
Thailand: South-South Cooperation spreading innovation: Thai
path out of poverty
Within IFAD’s SSC framework, four organizations
implemented the Learning Route “Developing
RuralTerritoriesthroughBusinessandKnowledge:
The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC”,
during October 21 - 28, 2013. The Agricultural
Technology and Sustainable Agriculture Policy
Division (ATSAP) at the Ministry of Agriculture
and Cooperatives (MOAC), the Community
Development Department (CDD) of the Ministry
of the Interior (MOI) of Thailand, joined with
IFAD and the Procasur Corporation to execute
the Learning Route. 40 participants including high-level government officials, rural development
practitioners and outstanding farmers from Cambodia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Nepal, Peru,
Rwanda, and Thailand took part of this Learning Route through Bangkok’s rural surroundings in the
provinces of Saraburi, Suphanburi, Lopburi, Nakorn­ratchasima and Nakorn­prathom.
For more information contact Mr Ariel Halpern: ahalpern@procasur.org
Nepal: Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable
Natural Resource Management
The implementation of two Learning Routes in Nepal is the result of a continuous process of partnership
between IFAD ICO and supported projects and PROCASUR Corporation during 2012 and 2013,
as part of the activities promoted by the IFAD-PROCASUR Programme “Strengthening Knowledge
Sharing on Innovative Solutions using the Learning Route Methodology in Asia and the Pacific”. In
this framework, a proposal for knowledge stocktaking, capacity building and training involving project
staff and stakeholders from 4 IFAD investment projects in Nepal, namely LFLP, PAF, the High Value
Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain Areas (HVAP) and the Western Upland Poverty.
The experiences reported testify the important achievements made so far to reduce poverty in Nepal’s
rural areas, especially when targeting those social groups traditionally left aside from mainstream
development processes, as the case of the Dalit, Janajati and the rural women.
For more information contact Mr Ariel Halpern: ahalpern@procasur.org
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