ACDI/VOCA Conducts First-Ever Ecuadorian Cocoa Trainings in Indigenous Language

The Esmeraldas province in northwestern Ecuador is the home of the indigenous Chachis. Despite influxes of Spanish-speaking people into the region, the Chachis have preserved their native language, Chapalache, and in fact, a large percentage of Chachis—including almost all women—do not speak Spanish, Ecuador’s official language.

This language barrier posed a challenge to ACDI/VOCA’s efforts under its USDA-funded Ecuador Food for Progress project to promote increased cocoa production through farmer training, tree rehabilitation and the development and strengthening of farmer associations. ACDI/VOCA, USDA and the World Cocoa Foundation have partnered to form the SUCCESS Alliance project in Ecuador as part of a global network of ACDI/VOCA-supported SUCCESS Alliance projects. The projects increase farmers’ incomes by sharing cocoa-growing best practices and empowering them to create collective bargaining power to achieve higher prices. However, SUCCESS Alliance trainings in Ecuador are typically conducted in Spanish, which meant they were not accessible to most Chachis.

To overcome this obstacle and to best reach out to its beneficiaries, the SUCCESS Alliance trained Rosalia and Sil­vino Aņapa, who speak Spanish and Chapalache, to be farmer field school (FFS) facilitators in the region. Following the FFS training, the SUCCESS Alliance organized FFS trainings in the community of Loma Linda. Conducted in Chapalache, the trainings resulted in the graduation of approximately 200 cocoa producers including a large number of Chachi women, who are traditionally very active in a wide range of household income-generating activities but who almost wholly speak only Chapalache.

The women’s participation was far greater in the Chachi-led FFS sessions than it was in other trainings given only in Spanish. An average of 14 Chachi women participated per FFS, making up 56 percent of the total participation, which is well above the average of 23 percent typical of past trainings conducted in Spanish.

The feedback from the training participants was positive. One project beneficiary said, “It is the first time in our history that a project trains us in our own language. This allows women to get involved and be trained, too.”

Another participant said, “Cocoa labor involves the whole family, and it is the first time that Chachi technicians have trained us. We would like to thank the project for all the knowledge we have received.”