Bring digital technology to 550 Colombian Farmers

Hello,
We hope you are very well. We want to thank you for staying in touch with us and reading our report; thanks to your collaboration we can continue reaching more farmers in the rural areas of Colombia, and continue fulfilling our goal of "Bring digital technology to 550 Colombian Farmers". We hope you continue to believe in our purpose and thus be able to reach more farmers in rural areas of Colombia.

As we told you in the previous report, during these months we have had the opportunity to reach a new rural area in Colombia and we are happy about it. Our destination was the Department of Caquetá and especially the municipality of San Vicente del Caguan.
If you know a little about the history of Colombia, you will have heard that San Vicente del Caguan, for a long time, was a territory that was at the center of the Colombian armed conflict and where many relevant events occurred in relation to the conflict in our country. For this reason, it is a territory that until now is really being known, not only by foreign visitors but by Colombians themselves.

Within the tour of San Vicente del Caguan we were able to share with wonderful people, with whom we had the opportunity not only to get to know the territory, but also to seek technological solutions according to their needs. During the tour we were able to learn about various initiatives; as was a youth association that seeks to highlight rural enterprises, natural conservation and above all, demonstrate that San Vicente del Caguan is a territory of peace. From this Association we want to highlight Jacqueline, who is an entrepreneur of cocoa products, which she grows herself. She highlights the manufacture of cocoa cocadas, cocoa wine, cocoa arequipe and cocoa chocolate, among others. The challenge is that she, through the association, can publicize her delicious products and also that they have all the current regulations for their sale. Jackeline relies on the association, since she lives in a rural area more than 2 hours from the urban area of San Vicente del Caguan, the internet signal is not the best and she only has basic primary education, which makes it difficult for alone can achieve the goals that have been proposed. That is why Jackeline is very grateful to Más Por TIC, because thanks to the methodology used, it has allowed her to learn about digital tools and to know the advantages that her products can be commercialized digitally for her and her family. This is just one case of the 30 people who are part of this association.

Another wonderful person we had the opportunity to meet is Nancy, she is a leader from the Guacamayas region. This wonderful place is located 3 hours from San Vicente del Caguan, by a single uncovered road. This town once again showed us the abandonment that many rural places in our country still suffer from, such as the lack of energy service, internet, roads, health and education infrastructure, among other things. However, it is worth highlighting its people, who are people with great resilience and perseverance. Mrs. Nancy leads an association made up mostly of women, which seeks through its activities to generate resources for her associates, since most of them are housewives and their level of education is basic primary. The challenge with this association is to digitally make visible the territory of Guacamayas and the products that are produced there, such as panela, plantain, cassava and, above all, milk, since it has been the product that has characterized them the most and which has given them It has allowed them to improve their quality of life, which is why work is being done on a digital tool for this product that can help producers centralize their production data, since up to now everything is done manually.

Although the adoption of technology and digital literacy has been a challenge, with these rural communities which are not used to a digital environment, the team has transformed and adjusted the methodology in a simple and clear way according to the context of each one of the associations and based on the "learning by doing" approach, the participants have been motivated so that they generate the necessary skills to continue implementing the technological solutions they have arrived at.

This co-creation exercise with the two associations has not yet finished, however, the results and prototypes that have been generated so far have been accepted and recognized by the participants since they are the ones who have designed it. and created according to your digital, social and environmental needs; with the accompaniment of the Fundación Más Por Tic team.

Thanks again for getting here, in the next deliverables we will finally be telling you about the digital solutions in which we have worked during these months and about new territories that we will be reaching with more technological solutions in the rural areas of our country.
Until our next report!