The rooster crows at 5 a.m. and Lucelys’ day begins. With a cup of coffee in one hand and her cellphone in the other, she checks WhatsApp on her phone before making breakfast for her family or coordinating with workers on her farm.
Over the past year, her early mornings have revolved around producing natural inputs for soil health, pest control, and fertilizing that are applied on the farm. She’s also teaming up with other women in her producer organization, the Association of Women Germinating and Rescuing Peace (Asomujereslapaz), to build up coffee nurseries that supply members with healthy seedlings. Lucelys’ daily dedication echoes the collective drive of other women in Asomujereslapaz. This group of 13 women farmers in the state of Huila, Colombia, discovered that the pursuit of knowledge was a key tool for their development.
“I couldn’t afford to waste time. While I had been offered in-person courses in Neiva, the state capital, the round-trip journey from the farm took more than three hours. Learning through WhatsApp allowed me to remain on the farm and keep up with my tasks at the same time”
Lucelys Vargas
In 2024, Lucelys and Asomujereslapaz participated in the EnCadena strategy, a programme led by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism through Colombia Productiva. EnCadena helps producers become more profitable, competitive suppliers by supporting their integration into value chains with the private and public sectors.
Solidaridad and the Universidad de los Andes were implementing partners for the strategy and provided training to over 200 people and 120 farms across several value chains, working with companies like Takami, Comestibles Ricos, and OCATI, and associations, such as Asomujereslapaz, Asproagricol, Asoproason, and CaféUvaruva.
Given the challenges with access to quality education in many rural areas, participants received training on regenerative agriculture and bio-input production via Campus MAS. This platform provides training modules through a variety of accessible learning environments, including mobile classrooms and educational WhatsApp chats.
“The Campus MAS chatbot kept me engaged because it always challenged me. It would share images, audio, or videos, and then I would have to answer questions. If I didn’t get it right, it made me repeat the content, and I could only advance once I had the correct answer”
Lucelys Vargas
A Strategic Partnership for Quality Rural Education
The collaboration between Solidaridad and the Universidad de los Andes School of Management began in 2021, with the mission of transforming education in Colombian agriculture. The main objective was to address the barriers small-scale agricultural producers face in accessing quality education, including:
- Long distances between rural and urban areas.
- Limited transportation options for rural families.
- Lack of technology adapted to their pace of life.
- Scarcity of up-to-date teaching resources and specific educational materials
The initial project in 2021 focused on promoting regenerative agriculture, circular practices, good manufacturing practices, and commercial linkages. It benefited nearly 440 families, including 60 young people, and led to 90 youth-led ventures in the state of Meta with support from Ecopetrol. Over the course of that year, a curriculum was structured and integrated into Solidaridad’s Agrolearning tool, eventually becoming the Campus MAS platform.
“At the heart of the partnership is building the capacities of farmers. Our work is easier because we, at the Universidad de los Andes and Solidaridad, speak the same language when it comes to rural realities. This shared understanding allows us to combine our efforts to optimize our methodologies and training, enabling us to reach more agricultural producers”
Bart van Hoof, Academic Director of the Program at the School of Management at Universidad de los Andes.
Following that programme, the partnership evolved in 2023 with the INCAS Bono project, funded by the German cooperation agency GIZ. This initiative strengthened the skills of more than 1,200 people in regenerative agriculture and bio-input production and supported the installation of more than 170 bio-factories on farms.
The EnCadena strategy built on the learnings and educational infrastructure of these programmes to reach more farmers. In fact, the feedback from farmers and organizations like Asomujereslapaz, led to an inter-institutional cooperation agreement between Solidaridad and the university expanding the scope and ensuring the future of both initiatives.
“As an association, we’re applying what we learned from EnCadena about bio-inputs to our coffee nurseries. This way, we’re not only improving the quality of our products, but we’re also making our business more profitable“
Lucelys Vargas
The Future: Quality Education Applied to the Workforce
In July 2025, the partnership created a new pathway for producers, students and rural entrepreneurs to earn a certificate for specific capabilities and skills learned: The Micro-credential in Structuring Sustainable Agribusiness Models (MAS). The certificate recognizes participants’ learnings on creating business plans that incorporate regenerative agriculture practices, quality standards, and other services like agritourism.
“The partnership between Solidaridad and Universidad de los Andes adds significant value by driving a higher quality of education for rural sectors. This micro-credential strengthens our jointly developed educational programs and responds to the communities’ need for flexibility and a focused methodological approach.”
Mauricio García, Leader of Educational Solutions at Solidaridad.
This competency-based technical and vocational pathway is being developed through a technical and technological education project at Universidad de los Andes. This certificate, which requires 144 hours (44 synchronous and 96 asynchronous via Solidaridad platforms), is a component of that pathway.
García also added that the certificate is a first step toward an increasingly relevant formal education roadmap. The university and Solidaridad have been working toward this goal for several years with the aim of making job, entrepreneurship and sustainability opportunities more accessible for rural communities.
The journey of Solidaridad’s partnership with Universidad de los Andes demonstrates the firm conviction that every practical skill acquired by farmers plays a crucial role in advancing regenerative agriculture across Colombia. Over time, these individual efforts accumulate, contributing to broader rural development and helping to build a more resilient and inclusive agricultural sector.