Giulia Rucireta from ILS LEDA has just finished a mission in La Unión (El Salvador) within the framework of the INNOVATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT FOR A GREEN ECONOMY project, funded by the European Union.

The project, led by the Local Economic Development Agency of the Department of La Unión (ADEL La Unión), aims to implement innovative and sustainable technologies in the value chains of vegetables, fruits and beekeeping that allow sustainable growth for the benefit of 250 MSMEs and producers from the departments of La Unión and San Miguel.

The mission has been carried out from the 14th to the 25th of June this year with the aim of starting the process of formulating strategies for competitive and sustainable development of the beekeeping, horticulture and banana value chains.

Within this framework, the ILS LEDA RESCO method has been applied to evaluate in a participatory manner the factors of competitiveness, inclusiveness, global sustainability and resilience of these value chains, their strengths, needs and obstacles to their full valorization.
To this end, the evaluation was carried out through focus groups, which involved 68 representatives of the productive sector, public administrations and service providers, thus composed:

• Horticulture value chain: 28 participants, of which 17 representatives of the productive sector, 9 representatives of the public sector (3 local administrations and 6 public service providers), 1 private service organization, 1 Civil Society Organization
• Beekeeping value chain: 21 participants, of which 14 representatives of the productive sector, 5 organizations that provide private services, 1 representative of the public sector (local administration), 1 Civil Society Organization.
• Banana value chain: 19 participants, of the appropriate 16 representatives of the productive sector, 2 representatives of a service provider organization, 1 representative of the public sector (local administration).

The next step will be the analysis of the information resulted from the RESCO method, the formulation by ILS LEDA of the strategic lines to better develop the potential of the value chains and suggest the project's priorities for action, to finally discuss and validate these lines by the same focus groups, during a future mission.

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