Life Stories-2

Creating conditions for
better participation
She has been producing coffee for 20 years and 16 in
the base Cooperative Ramon Sevilla, in the municipality
of Dipilto, land of coffee, plantain and corn, in New
Segovia, Nicaragua. Alexa Marin is 42 years old; she is the
mother of two teenagers and also a delegate of her
cooperative in Prodecoop, a second level organization
member of Cooperatives Without Borders which
involves 38 base cooperatives integrated by 2,300 small
producers, where 30% are women.
Alexa is convinced that there aren´t more women in
cooperatives, not because they do not want to, or do
not have the necessary leadership, but because there
are still not enough adequate conditions for a bigger
participation in the organizations.
Sometimes I test myself and say, if I have training at 8
o’clock in the morning. I think twice about going,
because that means I need to wake up while it is still
dark to cook, push the kids to get ready, I am going to be
tired by the time I get there, and after that I have to
come back and continue working. So it is easier not to
go, but not because I do not want to, rather because
they do not adjust trainings to the pace we have.
The life of a female farmer is different, maybe even
harder than that of a man, and when it comes to
participating in the organization the difference is as
clear as day.
I think that we all contribute, but women more so,
because we wake up very early to feed the ones who go
to work at the parcel, we take care of the children. Aside
from collecting coffee, the women work in the quality
selection process of the grain, then drying the coffee, or
checking if the coffee is at its best to take it out, it is a big
contribution and it she is the last one going to bed but
the first who wakes up.
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photo: natalia lópez