On November 1, seven days of training in leadership and institutional modernization came to a close at the Headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). During the week, the Institute’s Representatives in the member countries, regional specialists and senior staff took part not only in the training sessions, but also in discussions on IICA’s role in meeting the new challenges facing agriculture and rural life in the hemisphere.

The event, entitled Representatives’ Week 2007, began on October 25 and brought together participants from many different parts of the hemisphere. The busy agenda included discussions on the challenges facing agriculture, a talk from one of the leading authorities in the world on leadership, and a three-day course taught by faculty of a prestigious business school.

A few days earlier, the World Bank had published its World Development Report, which pointed out that after 25 years agriculture was again playing a major role, and that agriculture and small-scale producers must be placed at the center of the development agenda if poverty was to be reduced. This recognition was a confirmation of what those at the helm of organizations such as IICA have been saying for a long time: that greater attention should be given to agriculture and rural life throughout the hemisphere.

His introduction was followed by a four-hour talk by leadership guru Stephen Covey, author of the “The seven habits of highly effective people.” Next came a three-day course taught by six faculty members of the INCAE Business School.

Covey spoke at length on the qualities of modern leaders, including the ability to listen, show respect, and promote transparency and accountability and, above all, to base his/her actions on principles. He explained all seven habits, but went into greater detail on the eighth, which is to find one’s own voice and inspire others to find theirs.

In the INCAE course, participants received training in how to negotiate, analyze political risks, analyze contexts, plan, think positively and manage through leadership.

As part of the leadership-centered agenda, the Director General launched the Program Initiative for Young Leaders of Sustainable Agricultural Development of the Americas in the 21st Century. The Institute’s goal, he said, is to promote the development of young leaders with a global vision, to provide them with the opportunity to increase their understanding of global issues, and to contribute to the operation of an inter-American network of young leaders with the ability to effectively transform agriculture in the hemisphere.

On Saturday, October 27, the participants went of a coffee tour. While at Café Britt, a Costa Rican company that provides entertainment while explaining the many steps in bringing coffee from the plantation to the table, they learned about agrotourism, linkages between agriculture and “industries without chimneys,” value added and gourmet coffee.

Acknowledgements

At the conclusion of the Week, the Director General’s Awards for Excellence were handed out. These awards are given in recognition of extraordinary contributions made by individual staff members and teams of staff members in different areas of specialization throughout the hemisphere.

Brathwaite reminded the winners that “success is not necessarily arriving at the summit of a mountain as a final destination. It is continuing upward spiral of progress. It is perpetual growth and so you should continue the process of personal and professional growth.”

In his judgment, IICA has a bright future if its personnel will adopt eight basic values:

• Team Work- Open communication- Flexibility in our operations- A positive mentality of abundance- where there are opportunities for everyone. - A culture of urgency in operations- Recognition of superior performance- Ethical conduct in the performance of our duties- Respect for diversity

Important decisions The IICA hemispheric team reached three important decisions during the Week, which were summarized by the Director of Regional Operations and Integration, Mariano Olazabal:

1. Promoting a broad-based concept of agriculture and rural life through circulation of the AGRO 2003-2015 Plan and its Agro-Matrix. The agreement takes into consideration, inter alia, the advisability of using the Agro-Matrix as a framework for organizing our technical cooperation, and the challenge of articulating the Institute’s work with the Hemispheric Ministerial Agreements, in accordance with the various realities of each country.

2. Reinforcing the formulation of cooperation projects, negotiation of resources and visibility of our work. The decision calls for, among other actions, updating those IICA reference documents related to policies on and guidelines for the formulation of cooperation projects and the negotiation of external resources, and for incorporating into the new IICA Website a section containing information on projects IICA is executing at the hemispheric, regional and national levels.

3. Establishing institutional and hemispheric leadership. Leadership will be made a fundamental component of our technical cooperation activities. The hemispheric launch of the Program Initiative for Young Leaders of Sustainable Agricultural Development of the Americas in the 21st Century will be prepared. Efforts will be made to identify external and internal financial resources for the sustainability of the program for young leaders as of 2009.