About IALA Mesoamerica

In the streets of Juigalpa, Chontales.

Greetings friends, I am back from another few days of traveling and am finally getting around to writing a bit more specifically about scope of my internship here in Nicaragua – and why I’ve been traveling around to different departments of Nicaragua to see different ATC schools. 

In the past decade, the ATC and La Via Campesina have made a concerted effort to integrate agroecology into the movement.  For the ATC and La Via Campesina, agroecology is a set of principles that values and (re) claims traditional knowledge, that builds gender equity and familial relations, asserts the autonomy of the producer, and works towards food sovereignty. (You can read more about the context of the movement in my previous post here and from Kira’s blog here.)  Agroecology, therefore, is crucial for the survival of peasant peoples and therefore training the next generation in agroecological principles is also imperative.

One of the ATC’s major projects to build the agroecological movement and train the next generation is to construct a regional peasant university.  In this university, rural peoples will come to learn the principles and practices of agroecology, share knowledge with one another, and then return to their home communities and implement agroecology.  This is what IALA Mesoamerica hopes to be.

The ideas and principles behind IALA are not new.  In fact, regional training schools in agroecology already exist in other parts of Latin America including in Cuba, Venezuela, and Brazil, and many also carry the name IALA (Instituto Agroecológico de Latinoamérica).  The idea is that the IALA in Nicaragua, or IALA Mesoamerica, can be part of this network of schools in Latin America and around the world that are affiliated with the La Via Campesina movement. 

IALA Mesoamerica also pairs with another one of the ATC’s current projects-in-formation, the Agroecological Corridor.  This is a regional-scale program of teaching, practicing, spreading, and promoting agroecology through peasant-to-peasant education.  The ATC has already been organizing producers, promoters, and schools in different parts of Nicaragua to be a part of the Agroecological Corridor.  The hope is that IALA Mesoamerica, as a demonstration space, educational space, and political training space, will be the central hub for the Corridor. 

While the vision for IALA Mesoamerica is strong, there are still a number of steps the project must take before it becomes a physical reality, and that’s where I’ve been able to dedicate my internship time.  In particular, I’ve been working on how to build up IALA Mesoamerica’s network of friends and allies as well as crafting fundraising/resource development strategies.  Finally, I feel like I am putting some of the skills I’ve learned in my nonprofit management masters program to use for something I believe in.

One fun project that I just completed with Kira and Alicja (the other two interns here) was to create profiles of other ATC schools in Nicaragua to share with folks at events and to eventually share online through the IALA Mesoamerica network.  This is why I have been able to do a lot of travel (including to Santa Emilia, and Somoto + Estelí) in the past few weeks.  The idea is that these profiles will be simple ways to share with others what work the ATC already does, and to start dialogues about how the creation of IALA Mesoamerica will integrate itself with these other schools in a cohesive region-wide educational platform to support, connect, and train rural workers and producers.

Our completed profiles on display at a recent event in Napa, CA

In 2014, the ATC acquired 240 acres of land in order to make IALA Mesoamerica a physical reality.  This past weekend, I finally had the chance to visit the site.  The farm is located in the department of Chontales, which is well-known for being Nicaragua’s cowboy and cattle country.  There is saying that in Chontales, the river flows with milk and the rocks are made of cheese.  The region includes lots of small villages, lush farm fields, and tropical forest.

En route to the farm...

very windy for Erika, Dionys, and Gilvio.

The entrance to the school & farm site.

The farm site itself is located near the village of Santo Tomás, a number of miles outside of the department capital of Juigalpa.  This site has a lot of potential for being an agroecological university that is as self-sustaining as possible.  It includes some pre-existing structures that can be upgraded to use as classrooms, dormitories, and a cafeteria.  There are animal dwellings and lots of available pasture for cows, pigs, chickens, and goats.  Approximately 70 acres of forested land provides animal habitat (monkeys!) and provides wood that can be used for building additional structures.  There is also space for vegetable and fruit production to grow food for the students, teachers, and workers on the campus.  Opportunities abound for the university to be both a demonstration and production space.

The lower area, with some pre-existing structures and cultivos.

Kira and Alicja chatting with Ulysses, who is living at the farm.

The creek that runs through the farm.

A view of some of the pasture area that is available for grazing animals.

Currently, a dozen ATC affiliates are living on the farm and doing what they can with the limited resources that they currently have and with the challenge of a particularly dry planting season.  They are tending to a small flock of Rhode Island Red hens, 5 goats, some pigs (including young piglets), a few cows, and two productive worm compost boxes.  They’re also dry farming some root crops and other vegetables.  

Checking out the livestock area.

yucca

lombricultura/vermiculture/worm compost

Cerditos!

curious cerditos

curious gallinas

I enjoyed seeing the farm and learning the histories of the people involved in working towards IALA Mesoamerica.  Many of these folks have been with ATC since the beginning and are revolutionaries who have known political struggle for decades.  Others are young and have grown up in the “developing” Nicaragua, each with a variety of reasons for affiliating with the ATC and IALA Mesoamerica.  Each person we spoke with had unique but complementary visions for the school, and are doing what they can to see that it becomes a reality.  I’m interested to see the hard work and creativity that pursues to create IALA Mesoamerica.  With a network of supporters, dedication, and time, I believe it can come to be.

PS: If you happen to live in the Bay area or know folks there who may be interested in IALA Mesoamerica, please check out these events in San Francisco, Oakland, and Larkspur coming later this week.  Thanks for sharing with your networks.