Latin America – 2022 Comparte Network Meeting
After three years, a period that brought with it a pandemic with several peaks of contagion, which forced us to work and meeting dynamics where our faces on screen were the protagonists through virtual platforms that we met and learned to manage; we met again face to face to enjoy the closeness that only face-to-face meetings offer, which gave us the joy of seeing again the faces of the learning and action community Red COMPARTE. The propitious setting could not have been other than the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Instituto Mayor Campesino - IMCA, perhaps the oldest social center of the Society of Jesus in Latin America.
This
valuable and timely re-encounter of COMPARTE took place from July 6 to 10, an
emblematic month due to the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Undoubtedly, these
were days of celebration, reflection, analysis, putting into context for the
entire network, the different areas of work that have been developed, including
the adjustments made in response to the repercussions that the pandemic has
left on the producer organizations with which the network works in the
different regions of Latin America.
More than 70 people, including representatives of social centers, universities in Latin America, the United States, Canada and Spain, cooperants, producer organizations, networks, among other collaborators, gathered in the city of Guadalajara de Buga - Colombia, hosted by IMCA, the social center that also hosted the first meeting held by the network in Latin America in 2013. The work week was inspired by the motto "For the Collective Construction of Economic Alternatives", which defines very well the focus of the work developed by the network in its more than 10 years of existence.
The work sessions had four moments. The first was an international seminar entitled "Rural and Peasant Latin America: Challenges and Horizons for Good Living", which addressed relevant aspects of the rural world, on the occasion of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of WSBI.
As a second moment, field visits were made where participants had the opportunity to learn about different agroecology experiences, economic-productive initiatives, market networks and community aqueducts, which are accompanied by IMCA in the central region of Valle del Cauca.
In a third moment, the central meeting of COMPARTE took place, in which the progress of the main lines of work being developed within the network was presented, such as the link with the Common Apostolic Project of the CPAL, the multi-actor approach and alliances for collective construction, the pro-gender equity approach, the Socio-Environmental Audit System (SASA), the Participatory Guarantee System (SPG) and COMPARTE in the context of the Amazon.
Finally, in the fourth and last moment, the General Assembly was held with the participation of most of the Social Centers that make up the network, where we projected our dreams and glimpsed the paths full of hope in the construction of a better world.
These were intense days, full of fellowship, of re-encounters, of recharging batteries, filling us with energy and strengthening the bonds of collaboration. These days confirmed that COMPARTE continues to be a network with a lot of vitality, where each actor shows that he is committed to his mission and that the whole is much more than the sum of each one. There remain new challenges, but also clarity of the road we are traveling together with marginalized communities, with whom we hope to achieve conditions of good living.
Source: CPAL
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