(Valle del Colca Arequipa; Espinar, Cusco) Volvimos después de una semana intensa, de viajes y aprendizaje, de contacto directo con los pobladores de Chivay y Sibayo en el Valle del Colca, en Arequipa y Espinar, en el Cusco, en la “Ruta de Aprendizaje Innovaciones del FIDA para el desarrollo rural y la eliminación de la pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe. El Caso de Perú” donde tuvimos la oportunidad de reunirnos con técnicos de primer nivel provenientes de Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Europa y también de los lejanos Malawi y Ruanda (África), para conocer, in situ, importantes experiencias de pobladores rurales que intentan sacarle la vuelta a la pobreza.

Saturday, 23 January 2010. The final day to wrap it all up. We spend the full and only day in the hotel basement, a kind of behaviour that has probably not yet been seen in Cusco, the tourism capital of Peru. Maria is back with us, having overcome the altitude sickness.

The first session, a left-over from yesterday, draws conclusions from the rural financial services in the project. The overall feeling is that the savings-based approach is very sound and sustainable, and that the combination of savings with micro-insurance, especially life insurance, is very powerful in assisting the rural poor to acquire assets while making sure no calamity throws them back to square one. It was suggested to limit the savings subsidies in time, and to include an insurance package in the savings products similarly to the credit products.