ACOMUC OPG - RURAL WOMEN LEADERSHIP TRAINING

ACOMUC will implement the project with USAID-approved assistance from outside institutions in specific project areas. To ensure that ACOMUC has sufficient resources of skilled personnel, training will be extended to 130 ACOMUC volunteers, which is 10% of ACOMUC"s national volunteer staff. These volunteers will be selected from ACOMUC"s 14 affiliates for at least one week"s training in leadership development, accounting and bookkeeping, promotion and communication skills, and basic administrative and management techniques. Training will include group dynamics, workshops, and practical exercises, and will be conducted at Chicalayo, Cuzco, and Huancayo. Of the 130 trained volunteers, 50 will be chosen for additional training in teaching methods and communications to enable them to educate the campesina in vital economic, health, and social areas. The 50 volunteers will take part in a pilot training program in Peru"s Agrarian Zone VIII. The program will consist of 480 month-long courses to be extended to campesinas over an 11-month period. The program will train 2,700 campesinas from 27 associative enterprises in the areas of health and nutrition; family and home care; food preservation and artisanry; animal husbandry; and vegetable gardens. From the 2,700 program participants, campesina leaders will be chosen for special training and to be reponsible for the program"s follow-up and continuation in their localities. Selected ACOMUC volunteers from other agrarian zones will visit the program to study its methodology for possible replication in their areas. ACOMUC volunteers with a strong performance record in this last project training component will be selected to visit other areas to transmit their experience to other ACOMUC volunteers.