Viva Viveros! Cultivating Native Plants & Sustainable Lives

The dictionary definition of sustainability is the capacity to endure – in the face of challenges and threats. Anne Pellicciotto, Peace Corps Volunteer Mexico (2010-2012), learned the true meaning of this word though Viva Viveros!

Assigned to SEMARNAT, the Mexican federal agency for environmental protection, Anne quickly realized that the government’s investments were not paying off. Their 3-month PET (programa empleo temporal) projects paid the people of rural ejido communities a temporary subsistence wage for ecosystem services – enough to fund construction of native plant greenhouses and initial production – but not enough to endure. 

Building upon Semarnat’s ‘seed’ investments,  Anne’s goal was to grow these projects into small yet sustainable native plant business and target their products to the extensive government reforestation market. Applying her entrepreneurial and organization development experience, plus the support of USAID through a small-project assistance (SPA) grant, Anne created a collaborative program to engage the communities of the process of their own change.

 

Envisioning Sustainability – People, Planet and Profits

Focused on two remote communities, Zamachihue and Paso de Botello, both situated in the arid Zona Media of the state of San Luis Potosi, Anne’s first step with Viva Viveros was to co-create a sustainable vision – one that inspired the all-women participants to believe in themselves and the power of their collective efforts.  Drawing pictures of the past, present and future of their vivero, they began to see the virtuous cycle of benefits to them, their families and the planet.

Looking at it through the lens of the United Nations and the three pillars of sustainability, Viva Viveros had true, holistic potential:

• People – cultivate new skills, mindset, self-confidence and pride, unity of community
• Planet – cultivate native plants and trees that generate oxygen and benefit the environment
• Profits – generate profits through sale of the trees to   government and industry projects of reforestation.

Building Internal Capacity – Por, para y con la gente 

To realize the vision, the women needed training, organization and business planning and development. Thus, Anne developed a capacity-development program that included a series of eight interactive sessions over eight months of visits: 

• Session 1 - Vision of Your Sustainable Business
• Session 2 – Internal Organization and Profit-Sharing Agreement 
• Session 3 – Defining Your Bylaws 
• Session 4 – Hacienda Process for Business Registration/RFC 
• Session 5 – Bano Seco Installation & Sustainable Living Practices
• Session 6 – Marketing & Sales – Keys to Survival
• Session 7 – Status Reporting, Financial Management
• Session 8 – Reflection, Celebration, Transition to the Future

Note:  Some sessions were more scintillating than others.



Creating Identity and Professionalism

If you build it they will NOT come – especially to the remote communities where these viveros are situated. Thus, critical to the viability of these small businesses was creating an identity, and then connecting with potential clients in the reforestation sector.  The USAID funding allowed Anne and the communities work with professionals to create logos, brochures, posters and even a website – www.vivaviveros.com still under construction but soon accessible – to potential buyers and funders, with products, pricing, location and contact information.  

Another critical element in the business of sustainability was registering the business with the municipal government and, ultimately, obtaining Federal ID numbers and electronic signatures through La Hacienda (Mexico's equivalent of the IRS) - not a simple process. But without official designations, the vivero would not be permitted to sell their products to the government.    After six months of hard work internally, three visits to the capital for appointments with the SAT, plenty of patience and persistence and fees, the Zamachihue group secured with RFC and electronic signature, and JUST in time to close the deal with CONANP.

Closing the Deal
A sustainable micro-empresa, no matter how big or small, can only endure if there is income – real earned income, not handouts. Thus, after all the capacity building, planning and marketing, and cultivation, the ultimate push was for sales. The mesquite seedlings were busting out of their bags, and the rainy reforestation season was coming to a rapid close. After months of calls, meetings, presentations, emails, follow-up, follow-up and more follow-up, an environmental engineer from CONANP (the agency for the preservation of national parks and protected areas), called back, ready to sign a contract for 20,000 trees for a reforestation project in Parque Potosi. That was our whole crop! The baby trees would finally have a home – and the Mama’s of Zamachihue would finally have their windfall. 

But the deal wasn’t done until the trees were delivered and the payment was received and distributed among the women partners. Another learning opportunity, because transporting 14 tons of trees from the vivero to the community of Canada Grande on the others side of the Zona Media was no small task – it took 8 hours and 40 hands to load the first truck!  

Sustainability Starts with ME 

Though the one-year process, Anne and the women learned that sustainability starts with ME – with each individual on the team – with an attitude of patience that allows one to remain positive despite all the obstacles – combined with persistence that prompts one to push when there’s no more time for waiting. (You can spend a lifetime waiting in Mexico. In the end, the women got their check for $80,000 pesos, to be divided up among the 20 women socias, with 15 percent re-invested into the business in accordance with the internal agreement, so that Vivero Esperanza de Zamachihue will endure.

Then there was a fiesta!

Sustainability would not have been possible for these communities without the generosity of the American people through USAID.
 

The Zama Mamas ~ Before and After