The "Golden Talent" is an award made by Heifer Peru every two years to the participant in our projects who has made the most outstanding contribution to the development of his or her farm organization with experience, solidarity, knowledge and human qualities.
 Golden Talent 2008
Elvira Constanza Cormilluni, a 40-year-old farm woman, was born in the district of Juli, in the department of Puno. Her parents, who were also small farmers, had no formal education and lived off the land, but their agricultural production was generally insufficient to ensure the family's subsistence and access to education for their children.
Training has been important in her life. She believes that "empowerment leads to development, which means freedom and equality." She is a facilitator and a model of dedication, and with her time and expertise she makes a key contribution to the empowerment of other small farm women. Her contribution to women's development with a gender equality approach has enabled other women not only to gain greater skill with textile handcrafts, but also to bolster their self-esteem and leadership skills and develop more equitable relationships in their families and communities, and greater integration of their families. Her short-term goal is for these organizations to be able to compete in much more select markets with high-quality products and varied, creative designs using natural alpaca fiber. A longer-range goal is for them to obtain ecological certification for their products.
 Marcelino Bazán was born in the small farm community of Paccaypta, in Ollabamba, in the Apurímac region of southern Peru. He is 37 years old, and he and his wife, Visitación Quintana, have five children. In 2000, Marcelino had his first experience with a pass-on chain of goats. This sparked his interest and his conviction that working with projects aimed at helping families recover their productive capabilities, which were destroyed by the years of political violence, was a challenge that he should address with other young farmers like him. Marcelino became a charismatic leader, working with an organization of young families in 15 small farming communities in the Ollabamba micro-watershed to promote a comprehensive project aimed at helping families regain their productive capital and motivating the return of families that have migrated away from the area.
He is committed to helping community members re-establish trust and forums for dialogue and consensus building. This led him to promote the organization ASPAMOL, a multi-community committee that represents the 15 communities in the Ollabamba micro-watershed. Since its founding ASPAMOL has worked for the development of these communities with a strong sense of gender equality. The organization's goal is to establish a grain seed center in its storage center so that the producers in the micro-watershed can offer their products in local markets in a more organized manner.
Marcelino and the other members of the organization dream that the communities of Ollabamba will be able to grow, process and commercialize natural products without the use of agricultural chemicals. They have taken up this challenge by organizing agrobiodiversity fairs to highlight the diversity of food and medicinal plants, processing grain into flour to improve the families' nutrition, and making bread for school breakfast programs and for sale in the local market. Little by little, their dream is coming true.
Marcelino Bazán participated in the most recent local government elections, and while he did not receive enough support to win election, he learned valuable lessons. He spearheaded a new proposal for local rural policy and learned that organization is crucial for attaining power, that the participation of community members in politics is important for their development, and that this offers an opportunity to debate ideas, plans and government proposals for the communities and the district.
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Golden Talent 2006
 Gerardo Ventura, 62, of Puno. One of his greatest achievements is having taken the initiative to organize the Association of Camelid Producers of the district of Conduriri. His hard work and sense of responsibility won him the trust of families that needed to join together to sell their alpaca fiber on consignment, as they lacked the funds to do so on their own. This allowed them to get a better price than was offered by middlemen. This work demonstrates Gerardo's deeply humanistic nature, as he seeks the well-being and development of alpaca-herding families without neglecting the welfare of his own family. He is convinced that the families' prosperity depends on their willingness to change and on a renewed appreciation for the cultural traditions and Andean agricultural technology that have enabled alpaca-herding families to survive for generations. His vision of the future motivates him to work in coordination with the grassroots organizations that make up the association.
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Golden Talent 2004
 Albertina Rumiche received this award for her work in establishing her women's organization, "For Progress in Rinconada Llicuar, Piura." The women in this organization are now committed to their own development and have developed their skills, with Albertina as a model of leadership. Before the organization was established, Albertina encouraged women to participate. Finally 125 of them decided to form a women's organization, electing her president.
Albertina is a leader who is recognized, appreciated and loved not only by the members of her own organization, but also by those of other organizations and by local authorities. Besides serving as president of the group, she is also a livestock promoter, an activity she says has enabled her to gain a deeper understanding of local families and their needs. In 2003, she was a council member for the small farm community of San Martin in Sechura, which has 16,000 members. Taking this position meant overcoming her fears. She now says she had no reason to be afraid, as the position gave her the opportunity to work for the development of her community.
In 2004, she was invited to Heifer International's 60th anniversary celebration in Arkansas, in the United States, where she shared her experience with people from around the world.
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