Rosa's Story - Coady International Institute - St. Francis Xavier ...

time) fell to USD 7/barrel.
Perhaps sensing disaster,
wealthy individuals began
moving their money out of
the country. In a two-week
period in 1999 more than
USD 1.5 billion was withdrawn
from the financial
system. Several banks
collapsed, hundreds of
thousands of Ecuadorians
lost their savings and inflation
soared. In an effort to
combat this crisis, Ecuador
adopted the US dollar as
its currency. Dollarization
stabilized the currency but
had many negative impacts
on Ecuador’s domestic
economy and the lives of
its people. The cost of
labour in Ecuador rose
relative to Peru and
Columbia and, as a result,
many of Ecuador’s manufacturers
moved their operations
outside the country
or went bankrupt.
These factors led to a mass
out-migration of
Ecuadorians, which began
during the economic crisis,
and has continued to be a
major issue. Particularly
hard hit are the rural areas,
where some towns have
seen most of their men
that gripped Ecuador starting in early 2000 (see
Figure 3). In response to growing debt and rapid
inflation, the government took the drastic measure
of adopting the US dollar as the national currency.
Dollarization increased Jambi Kiwa’s costs,
particularly for fresh plants and labour. In late
2001, association members were asked to pay
dues and contribute labour at the factory in order
to keep the business viable. As a result, some
members left the organization but the committed
ones remained. Rosa describes the struggle to
maintain a clear vision among members:
I can recall a situation when a group of producers
came and wanted to become members of Jambi
Kiwa. They wanted to know what the profitability
was going to be each month. I said, “Our benefits
are not just economic and financial – they are
about learning, training, improving the biodiversity
of the community and having a better diet.” That
is the challenge – finding people [who] are willing
to be part of this vision (personal communication,
October 14).
Despite financial constraints, committed members
continued to emerge and Jambi Kiwa was
able to grow. With growth, however, came a need
to restructure the production process. A factory
manager and two factory staff were hired. At the
same time, a young industrial engineer, Inti
Macias, was hired to offer support to the new factory
manager. She improved the efficiency of the
production process by developing job descriptions
and adjusting the layout of the factory. As
well, a bookkeeper assumed much of the day-today
accounting required by CIDA for the
CSI/CECI project. Wiliber Ibarra, a Jambi Kiwa
producer, began training under the CECI cooperants
to become the director of marketing for
Jambi Kiwa. To increase potential markets for
Jambi Kiwa products, producers also needed
14