International Partnership—1999-2000
Roots of Renewal: Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development in Morelos, Mexico
This project, a partnership between VIDEA and the Centro de Encuentros y Diálogos (CED), contributed to sustainable development in three rural communities—Tlaltizapan, Zacatepec, and Temixco—in the state of Morelos, in central Mexico. The project integrated environmental conservation with social and economic objectives, and focused on providing training and support for indigenous women in the small-scale production of organic produce.
Beyond the benefits to CED, VIDEA and the community participants, this project helped support the emerging organic farming movement in Mexico. The project improved the level of healthy nutrition for women, children and families in the project communities and it provided opportunities for rural women to organize, contribute to family income and play an important role in their community.
This project provided an important link between the emerging Mexican organic farming movement and the already well established organic farming network on southern Vancouver Island. The project has the potential to become a model for small-scale community economic development initiatives, integrating social, economic and environmental concerns.
CIDA Youth Internship Project—1998-2000
This project built on the second year of an international development and education program based in Canada and Mexico - empowered by a partnership developed with the Centro de Encuentros y Diálogos (CED) in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
The objective was to provide two Canadian interns with hands-on community economic development experience in both a northern and southern context. The interns developed skills in language, global and popular education, facilitation and participatory planning, as well as in project management. In 1999, VIDEA's interns worked to develop a micro-credit program that provided small loans and support to small-scale businesses. They also researched the marketing of organic produce grown by a network of small-scale organic producers.
In 2000, VIDEA's interns contributed to the development of small backyard organic community gardens. They worked directly with approximately twenty women in Temimilcingo, near Cuernavaca, Mexico. In doing so, they assisted local women and indigenous people to develop their own economic voice in the marketplace, and developed an economic model for other communities.
Community Currencies—1998-2000
Parallel Currency Systems and Community Development in Mexico & Argentina
Community currencies allow people to purchase and sell goods and services independently of the national currency. Such currencies are generally seen as providing alternative employment strategies and "community mutual aid" amongst marginalized and unemployed individuals and households—and a new strategy for integrating the local economy. Perhaps the best known community currency is the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS), which was initiated in Canada in 1983. There are now over 2000 such systems operating in 15 countries, most of them in industrially developed economies.
However, there is great interest in community currencies in the southern half of the hemisphere, and VIDEA, with a grant from the International Development Research Council (IDRC), supported a research project on the use of community currencies in the developing world. This research focused on the Tianguis Tlaloc, a community currency system in central Mexico, run by the Promocion del Desarrollo Popular AC. The Tianguis Tlaloc is a currency valued in units of time, with a corresponding Mexican Peso and US Dollar value. Goods and services can be traded through the network, with the primary focus on knowledge exchange and basic needs. The Tianguis Tlaloc circulates on a pilot project basis in several southern Mexican States, including Michoacan, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi and Tlaxcala. Variants of the system can be found in Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina.
The research examines the degree of participation in the Tlaloc system by individuals within the community, and identifies social and technological barriers. The report, published in 1999, is available at:
ccdev.lets.net/latin/mexico/mexico.html (English)
ccdev.lets.net/materiales/dinero.html (Español)
For more information about the use of parallel currencies in community development in Mexico and Argentina, and in other countries, including Thailand, Japan, Senegal and Honduras, visit: ccdev.lets.net
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