Help 85+ llama farmers in Peru access fair work

* You may view the full report on the PDF document attached at the bottom of the report with full size images. 

Activities:

2-day intensive trainings for men and women llama farmers to gain necessary skills to provide a sustainable eco-friendly pack service with their llamas to tour operators in their area. 

Progress:

After a temporary gap in the workshop implementation due to the delayed rain season which lasted until the beginning of May (usually rain season lasts from mid-December until mid-March but this year there was an intense draught that delayed the cycle), we were able to restart the workshops for Andean Llama Farmers. 

This time we had a diverse group that brought together members of 3 different high-Andean communities: Maucau, Cancan and Tacllapata which have the smallest Guilds of Llama Breeders.

Workshop Outcomes so far:

• 49 llama farmers from 7 high-Andean communities trained.
• High participation and acceptance of workshop content.
• Reinforcement of Llama Pack Project values and long-term goals.
• Opportunity to discuss different challenges faced by llama farmers under current pandemic circumstances.
• Training in tourism related skills.
• Training in use of llamas for tourism.
• Training in COVID-19 prevention under the tourism guidelines.

Training of Tacllapata, Cancan and Maucau Guild Members

19-20 May 2020

The Guilds of Tacllapata and Cancan communities are the smallest Guilds due to their reduced population and such as Maucau community, they are the least integrated in the different tourism circuits of the area however, these three communities have great extensions of land ideal for llama farming and show great enthisiasm in continuing this ancestral tradition.

The Guild of Llama Breeders of Maucau community stands out for their internal organization level which is a great quality required for the success of the long-term goals of the genetic improvement program. One of the challenges they currently face is the lack of connectivity due to the lack of phone signal in their community. During the course they were able to show their organization skills which led to positive outcomes of the different tasks developed during the workshop.  

The Guild of Llama Breeders of Tacllapata community stands out for their pride in their natural resources and great pasture quality which makes them enthusiast about participating in the Llama Pack Project. Since there are few families in the area rivalry is not an issue they have to deal with, which is a positive asset for the Llama Pack Project long term goals. During the course they expressed great interest in collaborating with the other partner communities and learning how to better manage their resources for a more productive llama farming.  

The Guild of Llama Breeders of Cancan community is similar to Tacllapata in the sense that they have ideal natural resources, and this makes them proud and eager to participate in the project long term goals. However, they face rivalry issues with their neighbor community when trying to participate in different tourism initiatives. Despite this challenge, Guild members continue to be actively involved and found great value in the opportunity to interact with their other more proactive neighbors during the course.

This workshop was unique in the sense that by integrating different Guild members of smaller communities we were able to work on different team-work skills that are usually more challenging when integrating members of bigger communities. All participants found special value in this interaction opportunity and  in the COVID-19 prevention guidelines which they had not had access to in their communities and they all actively communicated their enthusiasm in working towards improving their llama breeding practices and natural resource management to be able to reproduce ideal llamas for tourism packing services. 

Thank you!

Thanks to all our donors, we continue to work on our long-term goals to improve the livelihood of high-Andean families and protect our fragile mountain ecosystems by promoting the use of llamas as a sustainable, eco-friendly pack alternative. This work allows the Llama Pack Project to stay connected with our llama farmer partners despite the current challenges presented by the global pandemic. Llama farmers are looking forward to their turn to participate on the training course!  

We will continue to update our progress on our next report. If you have not yet registered, please make sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive news on the Llama Pack Project here: https://mailchi.mp/c09d3cf9c0e0/llamapackproject

Alejandra Arias-Stella

Llama Pack Project Co-Founder

• Report #3 (PDF) (PDF)