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.
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.
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.
