3rd Place - Meet the Winner
Paca Villanueva is the Project Manager of the Livelihoods and Markets Programme in the Latin America Office of Practical Action, based in Peru. Her duties include designing and implementing projects related to rural and urban development, with a strong emphasis on education and training of youngsters and adults alike. She is exploring innovative approaches to help young people in rural areas to increase their chances of getting a job or starting their own business as agricultural advisors in markets with high growth potential. The knowledge and skills that these young advisors bring to large numbers of marginalised smallholder farmers have positive impacts on their productivity and ability to engage profitably with other markets actors.
In 2007 Paca completed her Ph.D. in Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal. Prior to that, she undertook a Masters in Social Anthropology, specialising in Social Management, Gender and public investment systems.