 Naturaleza para Todos (previously known as Arte Natura) is a small Mexican NGO working in the southern state of Chiapas
(in the region known as Meseta Comiteca, near the border with Guatemala).
Naturaleza para Todos aims at strengthening the capacities of the local population
towards sustainable development, providing specific advice and also organising
training workshops and courses. As part of a broad programme, it promotes
a low external input agriculture, with the aim of promoting local production,
consumption and sale.
Documentation with farmers
 Naturaleza para Todos is particularly interested in the participation of farmers in the documentation process. Since July 2007, they are therefore facilitating a documentation process in which farmers are actively involved. Working with groups of farmers in the south of Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua, this process consists of:
- the drafting of a documentation methodology for working with small scale agricultural producers, on the basis of existing methodologies and a bibliographical review;
- the application of this methodology for the documentation of field level experiences; and
- an analysis of the whole process, monitoring the activities taking place and including a final evaluation, focusing on the lessons learnt.
Results
 By September 2007, Naturaleza para Todos reported having started a bibliographical review on systematization and on its relation to local knowledge. They recognised that one of the most important challenges is working around the documentation of local experiences as part of the decision-making processes within farmers' organisations.
The actual facilitation of various documentation cases started with the establishment of contacts with various farmer organisations: S.S.S. Lagos de Colores (Chiapas), Productores Alternativos de la Selva (Chiapas), Grupo de Mujeres de la Selva (Chiapas), Radio Asuncion (Guatemala), Fundacion Leon XIII (Chiapas), Fundacion Avina (Guatemala) and Elvis Perez Castro (Nicaragua). This is presented in the first bulletin (PDF file in Spanish, approx. 2 MB).
 In November the team organised a seminar with the representatives of these organisations, with whom they discussed the roles of farmers and extension agents when working on the documentation of field experiences. They also looked at the advantages which a systematization process can have, and the challenges for actively involving academicians. Again, this has been presented in "Nuestros Saberes", their bimonthly bulletin (PDF, approx. 2 MB). This bulletin also describes some of the other activities in which the team is involved.
 The third number of "Nuestros saberes" presents the "tianguis" which took place in Chiapas last December. This is meant to facilitate a direct contact between producers and consumers in the city, avoiding middlemen. All producers, hosted by the local farmers organisation Tojtzotze li Maya, came from the region, and all brought organic products (even if they were not certified), including fruits and vegetables. Everything was sold before the end of the day. The bulletin also describes other commercialisation efforts.
The bulletin also mentions some of the activities carried out by Naturaleza para Todos in their analysis of the possibilities and advatages of involving farmers in a documentation process. They held meetings with Musa A.C., a women's organisation, and with Productores Alternativos de la Selva, a local producers organisation. As part of their bibliographical review, they also recommend a few guides and manuals.
 The fourth issue of the bulletin looks in detail at the work of Radio Unidad, as a very interesting documentation experience. Radio Unidad broadcasts from Guaquitepec since 1995. It started thanks to a group of young people interested in enhancing the flow of ideas between the members of their community. After a few years of working together, sometimes against the wishes of some of the members of the community, the results are many. They prepare their own programmes and spots, discussing about many of the issues and problems which their community faces. They are also in touch with other radio senders, with whom they exchange ideas and even some of their spots.
Their analysis of the participation of farmers in the documentation process continued with a meeting held in Panajachel, Guatemala. This took place the last day of April, involving representatives of two groups of maize producers and of two groups of coffee producers (in both cases, one from mexico and one from Guatemala), and two organisations involved with local radios (one from Mexico and one from El Salvador). Having been all involved in the documentation of their experiences, they all contributed very much to the discussion. The results of this meeting will be uploaded soon.
Earlier documentation efforts
Early
in 2004, Naturaleza para Todos received an invitation from the Latin American LEISA Magazine
to take part in a systematization process. They thought that our many experiences
with ecological agriculture would be interesting to look at in detail,
and accepted the invitation. This was a good opportunity to get
to know a systematization methodology and be part of its further development.
This process proved particularly interesting, especially because of the
relationships established between all those involved, and the effectiveness
of the method.
 Read their description of the process here.
Having been working with many farmer organisations over the years, their main interest was to document the experience resulting from a small
study they did in Chiapas, with which they tried to identify the most important
aspects involved in the transition process which these organisations went
through.
Read the resulting article: "The transition process to
ecological agriculture in Chiapas, Mexico"
|