MEDA staff member honored by the Embassy of Canada in Nicaragua for her impact on women’s lives

Above: (From left to right) Amelie Bordeleau, Head of office, The Embassy of Canada in Nicaragua and Dr. Cony Peralta, Country Director, Nicaragua, MEDA

Managua, Nicaragua – MEDA’s Nicaragua Country Director, Dr. Cony Peralta, was awarded on February 1st by the Embassy of Canada in Nicaragua with a leadership award in recognition of her commitment to achieving gender equality through the Technolinks+ project. Cony helped build broad networks and relationships with local communities, public institutions, and international and local organizations.

The award was presented by Amelie Bordeleau, Head of office, Embassy of Canada in Nicaragua, who recognized Cony’s achievements in leading the project team and the innovations through MEDA’s pilot training program “Rural Women and Entrepreneurship.” The program also recently launched the e-book “Historias de coraje para mujeres luchadoras, 50 mujeres que convirtieron la adversidad en posibilidad” [Stories of courage for powerful women: 50 women who turned adversity into possibility],” which focused on the stories of brave rural women who overcame adversity to learn entrepreneurial skills and personal development.

Above: (From left to right) MEDA’s Carlos Fernando Lopez, Technical Manager, Dr. Cony Peralta, Country Director, Nicaragua, and Jorge Luis Gonzalez, Grants Manager, Technolinks+

Since 2016, the Technolinks+ project has improved the entrepreneurial capacities of 35,000 producers, 85 agribusinesses, and cooperatives by providing them with better access to innovative, environmentally sustainable technologies using incentives, investments, and market linkages. Overall, the Technolinks+ project has supported the creation of decent work opportunities for thousands of small-scale farmers, dozens of agribusinesses and cooperatives, and facilitated strategic multisectoral partnerships among key stakeholders in the agrifood market system – contributing to a stronger enabling environment for small-scale farmers and businesses to prosper.

This event was part of the Canadian government’s International Development Week. Since 1991, the goal of International Development Week has been to raise awareness of international development work and to highlight Canadians’ essential contributions to making the world more just, stable, and peaceful.

Above: (From left to right) Amelie Bordeleau, Head of office, The Embassy of Canada in Nicaragua Fatima, a Technolinks+ client and award recipient, and Dr. Cony Peralta, Country Director, Nicaragua, MEDA

As a reflection of its commitment to fulfilling its ten-year strategic plan, MEDA’s Technolinks+ program is playing a pivotal role in enabling MEDA to create or sustain decent work for 500,000 people within agri-food market systems. MEDA’s ten-year plan is further aligned with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for SDG #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.

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  • MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates)

    MEDA is an international economic development organization that creates business solutions to poverty. We work in agri-food market systems, focusing primarily on women and youth in rural communities in the Global South. Our success is measured by income, improved processes, increased knowledge, and the creation of decent work.

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