Native potatoes are an important element of food security both as a direct food source and as a cash crop for peasant producers in the Andes of Peru. Production is basically for self-consumption and the shift to commercialization is a challenge. As a response, the Papa Andina Initiative (COGEPAN) was initiated to promote market innovation and pro-vide relative advantage to producers to respond to emerging markets. Research is limited on the integration, information and communication in relation to social relations. Old and new nonreciprocal relations and roles among stakeholders, consequences of customary practices, undermine the ability of female peasant producers. Any process requires an un-derstanding of culture, traditions and the gendered practices of agricultural production. As the research was premised on a feminist perspective, a sequential explanatory and mixed design was utilized for obtaining background and contextual data in a way that coupled collecting sex-disaggregated data with iterative planning activities readjusting the research to sharpen its focus on women. The situation of Andean peasant women within modern-day agricultural innovation systems is influenced by traditions and cus-tomary laws embedded in the specific lifeworlds of peasant communities. In COGEPAN, gender relations and roles are changing from the macro to the individual levels. Each change opens up new opportunities to shape innovation and benefit women. The partici-patory nature of market chains unfolds spaces for women to reveal leadership abilities. Gender relations and innovation have shifted in their own areas of interest or spheres. However, other gender issues are still embedded in peasant farming systems and the na-tive market chain. Results allow the researcher to recommend further policy analysis. The full range of women’s and men’s activities, resources, and benefits has to be reflected in the assessment of the innovation system and continuing activities. Gendered socio-economic factors affecting the adoption of proposed technological or institutional innova-tions need to be considered. Structural obstacles have to be addressed by implementing policies that facilitate peasant women’s advancement. The design and implementation of policy and legislation have to acknowledge that communities are not homogeneous and mechanisms have to be context-specific to achieve equitable representation of women and men. / Government of Ontario, IDRC/AUCC - LACREG, University of Guelph

The research aims at investigate the production process of the video |Mulheres Mangabeiras| (mangaba pickers women) in order to verify whether and how there was use of participatory methods. This is a qualitative and descriptive research, based on methodological procedures such as literature review and data collection through open interviews. Data analysis layed upon extracts from women speeches, which contains indicators about their involvement in ex tractive production, as well as their perceptions about public visibility and empowerment offered by the video production. The results show that mangabeiras were protagonists in a kind of participatory communication, pointing to the potential of participatory processes in audiovisual production as a reaffirmation of individual and collective identities, which also brings out critical mind, dialogue promotion and a conflict management tool. / A pesquisa tem como objeto a investigação do processo produção do vídeo "Mulheres Mangabeiras", visando verificar se e como houve emprego de métodos participativos. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de natureza descritiva, tendo como procedimentos metodológicos a revisão bibliográfica e a pesquisa de campo através de entrevistas abertas. A análise dos dados, realizada a partir de extratos de indicadores nas falas, buscou verificar o tipo de participação dessas extrativistas na produção, bem como suas percepções acerca da visibilidade pública e das ações de empoderamento proporcionadas pelo vídeo. Os resultados demonstram que as mangabeiras foram protagonistas de um tipo de comunicação participativa, apontando para as potencialidades dos processos participativos na produção audiovisual enquanto ferramenta de reafirmação de identidades individuais e coletivas, reflexão crítica, promoção de diálogo e administração de conflitos.

The research aims at investigate the production process of the video |Mulheres Mangabeiras| (mangaba pickers women) in order to verify whether and how there was use of participatory methods. This is a qualitative and descriptive research, based on methodological procedures such as literature review and data collection through open interviews. Data analysis layed upon extracts from women speeches, which contains indicators about their involvement in ex tractive production, as well as their perceptions about public visibility and empowerment offered by the video production. The results show that mangabeiras were protagonists in a kind of participatory communication, pointing to the potential of participatory processes in audiovisual production as a reaffirmation of individual and collective identities, which also brings out critical mind, dialogue promotion and a conflict management tool. / A pesquisa tem como objeto a investigação do processo produção do vídeo "Mulheres Mangabeiras", visando verificar se e como houve emprego de métodos participativos. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de natureza descritiva, tendo como procedimentos metodológicos a revisão bibliográfica e a pesquisa de campo através de entrevistas abertas. A análise dos dados, realizada a partir de extratos de indicadores nas falas, buscou verificar o tipo de participação dessas extrativistas na produção, bem como suas percepções acerca da visibilidade pública e das ações de empoderamento proporcionadas pelo vídeo. Os resultados demonstram que as mangabeiras foram protagonistas de um tipo de comunicação participativa, apontando para as potencialidades dos processos participativos na produção audiovisual enquanto ferramenta de reafirmação de identidades individuais e coletivas, reflexão crítica, promoção de diálogo e administração de conflitos.