Los Proyectos de La Gamba: Gender Issues in Rural Sustainable Development Projects in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica

Abstract

In 1992 at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), Costa Rica pledged to make a political commitment to incorporate the sustainability of the environment into the socioeconomic development of the country. Costa Rica and various governments and non-governmental organizations at UNCED, agreed to use the document, Agenda 21, to design sustainable development programs. My field research in the community of La Gamba, Costa Rica, examines two smallscale rural sustainable development projects in a campesino community. The first project promotes the sustainability of an endangered animal called the Tepezcuintle, which the community uses as a potential source of income and protein. The second project involves a medicinal plant garden that provides the community with medicines, soaps, and shampoos. I utilize an analytical framework that examines the extent to which the projects are achieving sustainability according to the guidelines suggested in Agenda 21 for sustainable development programs. In addition, I examine the extent of women's participation in these projects based on the mandates pertaining to gender equality stated in Agenda 21. Moreover, my thesis explicates what the rural participants think about their projects, how they view sustainable development programs, and what suggestions they have for improving their projects.