REDCAPA set up in Argentina
REDCAPA was originally set up as a network of Latin American and Caribbean universities in 1987 from a base in Argentina. Its full name was ‘Red de Instituciones vinculadas a la Capacitación en Economia y Políticas Agrícolas en América Latina y el Caribe’. The universities originally cooperated in the preparation and execution of FAO supported courses for staff of ministries and organizations involved in agriculture and rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The secretariat of REDCAPA was based in Buenos Aires.
REDCAPA very active from Rio de Janeiro
In 1994, the secretariat moved to Rio de Janeiro where it was accommodated by the Postgraduate Course on Rural Development (CPDA) of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). REDCAPA was registered that year as an independent association (Associação REDCAPA) with an independent Board of Directors and International Secretariat. REDCAPA became also totally independent financially earning its income by providing distance education services on the internet. While the content of courses and tutors were provided by member universities of the network, the Secretariat in Rio de Janeiro provided the platform for these courses, published them, announced them to some 50,000 followers and performed all administrative functions. Thousands of students followed well over a hundred mostly postgraduate courses from 1996 onwards.
A South American Doctorate founded and supported
In the first decennium of this century, REDCAPA helped to found the Doctorate on the Sustainable Economics of Natural Resources for the Andean Region at the National Agricultural University ‘La Molina’ of Lima, Peru (http://www.lamolina.edu.pe/dr/economia/ see also video http://www.lamolina.edu.pe/dr/economia/index.php/alianzas/).
The Foundation added
In order to support REDCAPA from Holland and also execute grass root level development projects in other regions of the World, the Foundation REDCAPA (Stichting REDCAPA Internationaal) was set up in the Netherlands in 2004. As many universities had gained the capacity to execute distance education on the internet, the role of the REDCAPA Secretariat declined in that respect in 2010.
The Board of Directors continues to meet and the network is now (December 2019) starting to focus again on ecological projects.