Asesoríae Investigación Interdisciplinaria para el Desarrollo Local y la Conservación (ASINDEC)

Advising and Interdisciplinary Research on Local Development and Conservation is a non-profit, apolitical organization formed by environment and rural development researchers, working with three small-scale farmer coffee cooperatives in western El Salvador.

Location of Tacuba, where ASINDEC is based, and the three coffee cooperatives
in Ahuachapán, western El Salvador.

Mission - ASINDEC’s mission is to inform, facilitate and support participatory local development processes in rural landscapes through interdisciplinary research and training, which integrates social, economic and ecological concerns.

Vision - ASINDEC provides high-quality information and training to support farmers and local organizations in the areas of natural resources management, conservation and local livelihoods, and cultural development.

ASINDEC was established in 2001 to develop and promote interdisciplinary research approaches as a tool to analyze and resolve social and ecological problems in rural landscapes. The motivation to form the organization came from previous work carried out by ASINDEC founders with farmer cooperatives near the town of Tacuba, in western El Salvador, since 1999. The organization works and is based out of Tacuba, an area of great ecological importance because it borders Parque Nacional El Imposible (PNEI), one of the most important natural reserves in the country. ASINDEC has worked primarily with three distinct coffee cooperatives and the communities that surround them: 1) Cooperativa El Sincuyo (29 members); 2) Cooperativa La Concordia (22 members); 3) Cooperativa Las Colinas (99 members).

Current Project

Interdisciplinary Research for Local Development and Conservation
in Coffee Landscapes of El Salvador

The project is the result of partnerships formed between researchers, small farmer coffee cooperatives, and non-government organizations (NGOs). Our research and training activities are designed to inform development alternatives that seek to improve local livelihoods, strengthen and empower farmer organizations and promote ecologically sound natural resources management.

At present, farmers and researchers collaborate in an interactive process where results are used to inform and better implement agroecological management, alternative marketing and local development initiatives.

Research, Education and LOCAL Development Directions

In March 2002, a series of workshops were held with cooperative members to discuss alternatives to the coffee price crisis. Farmers decided that the best options would be related to the following broad topics:

• Diversification of their livelihood strategies, including coffee plantations and other options, both for the short and the long-term.
• Expanding their knowledge of and sales through alternative coffee networks (organic, fair trade, ecological, direct marketing, etc).

1. Agroecological and ethnobotanical studies of native shade trees and marketable species to diversify coffee plantations and conserve native trees.
2. In-depth studies of organizations and social networks, and their relationship to community and household livelihood and development goals.
3. Inserting cooperatives into alternative markets (direct, organic, fair trade, etc.).
4. Interdisciplinary landscape-scale analysis to better understand the social and environmental causes of past and current changes in livelihoods and natural resources over-time.

Strategies

ASINDEC aims to integrate the following four strategies in all of its work: 1) Participatory research; 2) Education and training; 3) Knowledge appropriation; and 4) Improvement of local livelihoods.

Key features of ASINDEC’s working strategies are:

• Long-term commitment.
• Local presence (headquarters are based at the site).
• Integration of local and scientific knowledge.
• Research aimed to improve livelihoods.
• Investing in relationships of trust and transparency between all actors.

Other Support to Farmers

Advising and Support

ASINDEC staff have been providing advising and support to the 3 coffee cooperatives in the areas of alternative marketing, agroecological management, development and evaluation of local development projects, and strengthening and formation of relevant social, marketing and development networks.

Infrastructure ASINDEC office and residence has become a resource center for cooperative members. Farmers utilize the house for meetings, and as a reference in their interactions with external actors. One of the most appreciated services is the use of the phone, and messaging resources.

Institutional Partners

• The Community Agroecology Network (CAN) (www.agroecology.org/can/)
• The Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
• The Salvadoran Foundation for Coffee Research (PROCAFE)
• The Association of Small Coffee Producers of El Salvador (APECAFE)
• The Natural History Museum (London).
• The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science and The Tropical Resources Institute (TRI) at Yale.
• The Master’s program in Tropical Sustainable Agriculture, University of El Salvador.

Fourteen Salvadoranean farmers, 3 ASINDEC researchers, and 3 Nicaraguan collaborators
at a farmer-to-farmer exchange in the San Ramon Cooperative Union in Matagalpa,
Nicaragua (Nov 2003). This was the second activity between El Salvador and Nicaraguan
CAN communities.

Funding

Funding for our activities comes from organizations, foundations and individuals supporting local development and environmental conservation.  In addition, our research staff finances much of our work through their grants and fellowships.

Who We Are

ASINDEC permanent staff is made up by an executive board of directors, which is supported by other research associates.

Executive Board of Directors

V. Ernesto Méndez, Executive Director

B.Sc. (Crop Science) California Polytechnic State University (SLO-USA); MS (Agroforestry) Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE-Costa Rica). Ph.D. (Agroecology) University of California, Santa Cruz (USA). Participatory and interdisciplinary research, education and training in the areas of agroecology, natural resources management, local development, and political ecology.

 

Ernesto Mendez with Don Federico and Don Pedro, members of El Sincuyo Cooperative.

Doribel Herrador, Research Associate & Treasurer

B.Sc. (Agronomy) Universidad Politécnica, El Salvador; MS (Environmental Economics), Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia)-University of Maryland joint program in Colombia. Work in environmental economics as applied to rural development, specifically in the area of environmental services.

 

Doribel Herrador presenting during a workshop at the ASINDEC office in Tacuba.

Cecilia Carranza, Research Associate & Secretary

BSc (Agricultural Economics) Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), El Salvador; MS (Environmental Economics) Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia)-University of Maryland joint program in Colombia. Work in environmental economics as applied to rural development, specifically in the area of environmental services.

 

Research Associates

Avery Simon Cohn, Research Associate

B.S. (Environmental and Resource Science), University of California, Davis; MS Candidate (Social Ecology), Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His research uses techniques from the social sciences to analyze agroecological development projects in the three ASINDEC cooperatives.

Avery Simon, third from left, with farmers in Las Colinas Cooperative.

 

Gustav Brandt Peterson, Research Associate

BS (Environmental Studies and Policy), Oberlin College; Double MA (Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning), and Ph.D. Candidate (Activist Anthropology), University of Texas at Austin. Works on the interactions between environmental and indigenous discourse, at different scales, and in relation to the realities of rural communities.

Elizabeth N. Shapiro, Research Associate

B.A. (Biology and Environmental Studies), Oberlin College; MS (Social Ecology), Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Ph.D. Candidate (Agroecology), University of California at Berkeley. Her professional interests include tropical agroecology, participatory research methodology and the pedagogy of interactive environmental and agricultural education.

Contact

Ernesto Méndez
Apto. F-4, Residencial Fountainblue, 7ª C. Pte., entre 87 y 89 Av. Nte., Col. Escalón
San Salvador, El Salvador
Email: vemendez@integra.com.sv
Tel San Salvador: (503) 264-2785; Fax San Salvador: (503) 263-2965
Cel: (503) 888-2800
Tel. Tacuba: (503) 417-4272

Information on the Farmer's Exchange