August 28, 2006
Interview with Nelda Hidalgo Sanchez, New Greengrants Coordinator for Central America.
On August 18, 2006, Journey Herbeck of the Greengrants staff in Boulder interviewed Nelda Hidalgo Sanchez, Greengrants’ new coordinator for Central America. Nelda, a sociologist from Nicaragua, has a wealth of experience related to rural communication and the evaluation of rural development projects. Nelda is taking over one of the several positions that have been ably held by Denise Bebbington.
What should be Central America’s priority in order to lower poverty to such a level that people can begin to realize their highest potential?
Well, maybe we can start by saying that Central America has changed a lot in the last 12 or 15 years. It’s a region that is used to very abrupt changes and has become accustomed to dictators concentrating power and wealth among small groups of people. It’s an area that has lived through many difficult wars and this has increased the poverty and has not allowed for better forms of monetary investment development to occur. On the other hand, all the Central American countries have been deeply involved in an agricultural economy. We are export economies, but nonetheless our economic models don’t allow us to take advantage of the all the export potential that we have. Central America primarily exports unprocessed materials instead of finding ways to produce final products and then export them abroad. All these reasons contribute to the fact that over half of the 34.7 million people in that region live at or below the poverty level.
There are two actions that I feel need to occur in order to help Central Americans reach their potential. One is to begin supporting the vast number of civil society groups that are working on development, economic, and social initiatives. Concrete examples of successes in development exist all over the region, and supporting these people and allowing them to share their successes with others of different regions is key. The lower classes are developing and surviving on their own—we just need to find the examples that are working the best and try to get these people connected with other people so that the value of these experiences can be multiplied.
The second action is to involve the lower classes in the process of public policy so that a better economic environment can be created. The economic activities that exist need to be included in a competitive climate where they have a chance to develop properly. There are 2.5 million micro-businesses in Central America. These are informal businesses that are finding a way to survive outside of the normal business model. With proper support and networking, this incredible foundation of people and small businesses could become an important platform on which to lower unemployment and lift the economies of these countries. If governments could offer programs that involved these people in public discussions on how to create a better competitive climate for them, they might (therefore) be more quickly ready to contribute to the country’s economy on a larger scale.
How can the people begin to feel like they can involve themselves more effectively in the politics of their country when many times the government is not willing to listen to them?
I have supported many initiatives by people who are involved with land ownership issues, anti-mining projects, and other struggles. But I believe that in the economic context of the region Central American governments are now feeling obligated to provide a space for public participation and comment when it comes to these kinds of issues. There is, of course, a space for private participation and comment as well, and this space is filled by the World Bank and private sector representatives. These entities are very good at using the space that the government gives them. We are not as good yet at using the opportunities the government provides us to make comments and to voice our opinions. One of my goals is to provide support to proposals by local groups and communities that can make a difference in national politics and decision making. The problem here is that the groups often don’t know how to use the space that the government offers them. When a project is proposed that may endanger some local community’s interests in an area, that community needs to learn how to make a counterproposal so that their rights are protected as well.
There are examples of groups in Nicaragua and Guatemala that have been able to involve themselves in political processes that benefited the public. In this way these groups have been able to strengthen their proposals and therefore won space to voice their opinions and make decisions. This is very important.
When you were growing up, what encouraged you to become active in social and environmental issues?
I come from a family of farmers, and since I was very young I have had a lot of contact with the reality of rural life and with the possibilities of bettering my life through work. I think that people in these kind of rural areas always are looking for ways to do things better: they know that they want a better life and they look at their surroundings, and they know that it is completely up to them to find a way to succeed with what they have around them. They know how to dream and how to make that dream become a reality. In Central America we have a lot of potential. We have a lot of energy. We have a lot of important experiences which can help to change the development paradigm. We can succeed by beginning to believe in one another by forming strong networks and by realizing that we can change and better our situation. Rural people are not static. We are people that are always changing, always working to develop a strategy that will help them succeed.
Where is your family from in Nicaragua?
My family is from an area north of Managua called Crucero. It’s a coffee area and I grew up harvesting coffee and yucca. I am a sociologist by profession, but I like the agricultural side very much. I have a lot of past experience in this area.
What are the funding priorities for the Central America Board?
Regarding the whole program of the region, what most motivates me are the environmental groups that I have met here in Central America. I have had the opportunity to get to know the majority of them and they are very determined and dedicated people. I think there are three areas in which these groups need to be supported.
One of them is the struggle for the access to resources. So much of the support we have offered lately has been to help small groups attain access to resources that are important to them like land and water work programs.
The second area is the support of groups that already have access to resources but need help defending their right to these resources. Right now we’re supporting a small group that has been sustainably using an area of forest for years that now is being included within the boundaries of a national park. The law of the national park is going to affect six or seven groups that have been actively managing this part of the forest for years. Thus the struggle is to find a way to have the law written in such a way that their right to access the forest is maintained.
The third area that we are supporting is the sustainable use of natural resources. We are trying to help people figure out economical ways to manage the natural resources that they have so that they can produce a good living but at the same time preserve what they have. Part of this support is manifested in finding ways to help the people involve themselves better with the local markets so that their products and services receive a better price.
So these are the three focus areas that we are working on with the environmental groups of Central America. But in the center of all this is one important goal, and this is the empowerment of the groups. We can do all we can do to improve the economic opportunities that these groups have, but if they don’t have a clear plan and a clear proposal of action, it will still be very difficult for them to reach their goals. We think we can help them create more concrete plans by introducing them to networks of groups from which they can draw support and inspiration in order that they may organize themselves better and more efficiently.