This first encounter of Andean women was held in the town of Yanahuanca, in the Daniel Alcides Carrión Province of the Pasco Region, as part of the Pasco Umbrella Project, in coordination with the Regional Federation of Native and Small Farm Communities of Pasco. The participants were from various small farm communities in the Daniel A. Carrión province and the provinces of Oxapampa and Pasco. Women leaders from the regions of Huancavelica and Junín also attended.

The goal of the event was to address the issues of gender and family, Andean duality, food sovereignty and political advocacy as a way of reinforcing women’s participation and decision-making power in their homes and communities and at other levels, to build more just societies able to respond to local conditions and needs.

The issue of food sovereignty was also addressed as a way of encouraging participants to conserve and preserve the diversity of local crops and strengthening local and regional markets, contributing to a healthier, more diversified diet for farm families.