The Association of Organized Women of Biolley (ASOMOBI) was formed in 1997 by a group of valiant ladies from the remote community of Biolley. The Association aims to improve their families’ lives as well as those of communities in the buffer zone of La Amistad International Park. In order to achieve that, they worked to strengthen their productive and management capacities, earning a regional reputation as successful business women and providing a model for the community. Starting with 19 women, today they are 31 partners sharing the same vision and mission.
The group of women also lead a large number of projects, which support the development of Biolley village. These are ecotourism and coffee production projects. The association offers several services to visitors: lodging, meals and guided tours of amazing local attractions. It also offers the best local honey and premium coffee that the members harvest and process themselves, from roasting to coffee-beans milling and packaging.
The group of women also lead a large number of projects, which support the development of Biolley village. These are ecotourism and coffee production projects. The association offers several services to visitors: lodging, meals and guided tours of amazing local attractions. It also offers the best local honey and premium coffee that the members harvest and process themselves, from roasting to coffee-beans milling and packaging.
- http://asomobi-costarica.com/
- Costa Rica, Puntarenas, Buenos Aires, Biolley
The association provides capacity building for members to facilitate members to develop their projects, by giving them tools aimed to improve their quality of life. This entails strengthening rural community tourism, brokerage and coffee roasting, environmental and social management, and strengthen the administrative and operational capacity of the organization to ensure sustainability. The various projects developed by ASOMOBI have generated benefits to its associates and to other families in the community and surrounding villages; among which should be highlighted:
- Coffee production that promotes pollution abatement and more friendly farming practices, resulting in the regulated use of agrochemicals that benefit from using lower volumes of water. In addition to saving this vital liquid the water sources in surrounding areas are not contaminated.
- Visitors to this area have allowed community life and living condition to improve on an individual and a family basis. This visitor activity has generated new revenue for food services, internal transport, and accommodation for families and individual to sell local crafts, provide guide and porter services and rent horses. This is all in addition to cultural exchange through cultural evenings, language workshops, retreats and school visits.
- Another element of environmental improvement executed in volunteering relates to external contribution to community infrastructure and conservation of natural sites like Forest Reserve Finca Biolley, which have had some improvements thanks to volunteering support.
- The ASOMOBI project through its flagship product “Café Cerro Biolley ” is:
- Strengthening gender equity, advertised as produced by women
- Providing innovative experience to the peasant involvement and production, through the accumulation of administrative and managerial vision branches such as agribusiness and service delivery to rural tourism, which has generated a development that has altered the progressive decline maintained by the Costa Rican Agriculture in recent decades. Innovative market experiences are created, to break the vicious circle of the intermediary, which has achieved better pay for its producers and offer a product of superior quality at an affordable price.