Colombian Cacao Organizations Work and Learn Together to Strengthen the Industry

The 811 Colombian Law created agricultural value chain organizations and federations. This same law established the necessity of Competitivity Agreements for all value chains through the dialogue and contribution of all parties involved in each industry. Because of USAID’s Producers to Markets Alliance Program (PMA) cacao assistance record and its good relations with all parties involved, The National Cacao Council (CNC) –the government’s advisory body on cacao and chocolate- requested the program´s facilitation of an open dialogue and conciliation space to update this agreement.

Having worked with all of the organizations and institutions that make up the cacao and chocolate industry, PMA understood the diverse range of missions and visions each one represented and their sometimes conflicting views on different matters. This was the major challenge the program faced. To circumvent this constraint, and produce a document that could encapsulate all of the experience and knowledge each institution and organization had, PMA resorted to the CLA approach.

The program engaged a neutral and experienced facilitator to create trust among participants and proceeded to a structured dialogue to share ideas and technical-based evidence, reflect on them, and understand each other’s needs. Through adaptive management, participants built networks and relationships and compromised to get to common ground and a common vision for the industry. Finally, they produced a document that rested on five pillars to guide all parties toward a sustainable cacao and chocolate value chain.