New training and exchange of experiences in the Basque Country for the empowerment and economic autonomy of women from the Norte del Cauca

A new group of ten women from organisations in the Norte del Cauca region in Colombia are in the Basque Country until 28 April on a training programme with the Hegoa (UPV/EHU) and Lanki (Mondragon Unibertsitatea) Institutes.

This activity is part of a project supported by the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation that aims to develop capacities for the empowerment of women and their organisations in the Cauca Department.

This process began in 2022 with a diploma course in Santander de Quilichao (Cauca), with more than 40 women from 20 organisations. The training was given by teachers from the University of Cauca and the local partner organisations, Corporación Ensayos (a feminist NGO in Cauca) and the Institute of Intercultural Studies (IEI) of the Javeriana University in Cali.

Now the training process continues in the Basque Country with the visit of the second group, following the visit of the first group in October 2022. The training consists of classroom sessions with Hegoa and Lanki to take forward their productive proposals, and visits to Basque women’s cooperatives and organisations with productive and solidarity-based and social economy enterprises.

The women, who have made significant progress in their productive proposals with shared technical support in the Norte del Cauca region, are from indigenous organisations, cooperatives of former FARC combatants, peasants and Afro-Colombians. They are keen to learn about productive solidarity-based, feminist and food sovereignty initiatives here and, although the contexts are different, they are interested in interacting to exchange experiences and learn from each other.

Among the exchange visits, the following stand out: Sustraiak Catering (Santutxu); Emakumeen Txokoa; ADR URKOME and Elika Gunea (Azpeitia); Lakari (Zarautz); Belaze Zaporeak (Argiñeta, Elorrio); ornamental greenhouses in Meñaka, Bizkaigane livestock cooperative (Errigoiti); Maskilu Kontserbak (Zeberio); the Artea and Basoa projects, Pachamama Amalurra, ADR Añana and co-working (Kuartango). In addition, there will be a meeting with the Basque Agency for Cooperation in Gasteiz and meetings with EHNE, Etxaldeko Emakumeak and REAS Euskadi, among other organisations.