Katalisis: Bridging knowledge gaps

around water

Sergio LarreaWorld Neighbors-

Bolivia

Outline

I. Where we work

II. Katalysis --discovering the water that surrounds

III. OutcomesIV. Follow-up

Alejandrina, President of the Wapage Irrigation

Committee

Where we work: remote Andes

Northern and Central Ecuador

Central Highlands, Bolivia(N. Potosí)

Central HighlandsPeru (Ayacucho, Apurimac)

Landscape: semi-arid highlands

North Potosí, Bolivia

Katalysis: discovering the water that

surrounds

Calculating the value of water that goes unharvested on our farms

Katalysis:the learning-action

process…• Endogenous design

• Heterogeneity of local experience

• Group-based discovery-based learning and action

Guided encounters

Farmer-to-farmer cross-vists

Guided encounters (cont.)

Community weather stations

Long-term rainfall trends

Learning through technology

Recycled plastics for holding tanks

Lollipop sticks as drip jets

Learning through technology (cont.)

My family’s transformation…

Concerted action

Mink’a: a collective work party in N. Ecuador

Concerted action (cont.)

Strategic planning with local promoters from N. Potosí

“Con agua y mierda no hay cultivo que se pierda….”

-- motto of the Granjeros Orgánicos

Katalysis: employing biology

•Water•Pasture improvement•Manure•Crops, food, and diversification…

Creating an oasis in the desert

Vitalio’s farm in San Pedro, Potosí

Creating an oasis in the desert:

Case of Alfonso and Olga Juma

Alfonso tells his story

Going to scale

Plugging in to regional movements and networks

Sergio LarreaNational RepresentativeWorld Neighbors-Bolivia(slarrea@wnandes.org)

Thank you!

Theory behind Katalysis:people-centered development

Technology-centered development

People-centered development

Source of change

Exogenous Endogenous

Knowledge Expert -- specialized and standardized

Lay -- general and diverse

View of local actors

Passive -- in need of assistance

Active -- capable of solving problems

Preoccupation

Adoption -- What people don’t do; how to get them to act differently.

Concerted action -- What people do and why; work together to solve a common problem.

Strengths and weaknesses of local technical knowledge

Gritty

• varietal resistance to disease

• market variability

• animal-weather relationships

• lunar stages and water

• global climate change

Deep

• phenology of food crops

• lifecycle of bees

• reproduction of cattle

• draught tolerance of crops

• local weather patterns

Empty

• parasitoids and entomopathogens

• disease cycles

• N-fixation

• soil microbes

• ocean temperatures

Thin

• resistance to disease

• predator insects (wasps)

• soil arthropods

• soil erosion

• draught on non-food crops

(-) Perceived

importance (+)

(perceived

relevance)

(-) Ease of observation (+)(influenced by size, time, and scale)

(based on Bentley, 1989)

A classification of rural technical

knowledge

Gritty

• many categories

• diverse taxonomies

• organisms named at family level

• folks stories

Deep

• many categories

• complex taxonomy

• organisms named at species level

• positivistic explanations

Empty

• no categories

• no taxonomies

• organisms without names

• no explanations

Thin

• few to many categories

• few taxonomies

• organisms with and without names

• few explanations

(-) Perceived

importance (+)

(perceived

relevance)

(-) Ease of observation (+)(influenced by size, time, and scale)

Scientists learn from

farmers

Farmers learn from

scientists