The Tropics Foundation supports the work of CATIE, a university and a dynamic research and technical assistance center dedicated to empowering rural men and women in the American tropics and protecting the biodiverse environments in which they live and work. CATIE is one of only a handful of regional institutions in the world combining scientific research, graduate education, and training as it rolls up its sleeves to direct hands-on projects that produce tangible results.
Rural Development That Works
In the past decade alone, more than 100,000 rural people have benefited from CATIE research and development projects in 10 countries. Currently, CATIE professors, technical staff, and graduate students are at work in more than 100 research and development projects in 17 countries. These projects are crucial to improving the quality of life for rural families and for addressing the immediate needs of the region. Read More
The days when rural development focused primarily on increases in agricultural production are gone. Today's interdisciplinary agenda has broadened to include not only productivity, but also markets, livelihoods, relationships between agricultural and forestry activities and healthy environments, government policies, gender, indigenous peoples, rural businesses, and diversification.
CATIE partners with local, regional, and national organizations to manage projects and create change. This team approach makes certain that the knowledge and experience generated through these projects continues to bear fruit long after project funding ends.
The staff is organized into strategic thematic groups that address critical areas including the following:
- climate change
- clean development mechanisms
- environmental services provided by ecosystems
- annual crops, coffee, cacao, bananas, and plantains
- environmental economics and environmental policy
- water and watershed management
- restoration of degraded land
- forests and protected areas
- clean production technologies
- value chains and competitiveness of eco-enterprises
Year-round CATIE training activities reach farm families, small businesses, nonprofit organizations, students from technical high schools, extension agents, and professionals from governmental organizations and the private sector. In 2005 alone, 500 CATIE events benefited more than 15,000 people, many of them rural farmers. Participants took part in courses, workshops, tours, field days, and demonstration programs. Read Less
Educating Future Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean
CATIE's more than 1,700 graduates represent 43 countries and are decision makers in local, national, and international institutions. They are engaged in issues of education, research and development, and science and technology. They work for public and private agencies, international organizations, and nonprofits. Three CATIE graduates serve as ministers of agriculture or environment in their home countries. Read More
The graduate program encompasses a two-year master's program and a three-year doctoral program. At the Ph.D. level, students have an opportunity to participate in a joint degree program with the University of Idaho in the United States or the University of Wales in Great Britain. They may also take courses through U.S. universities including Purdue, Yale, Cornell, Minnesota, Georgia, and at a number of well-known European universities.
More than half of CATIE students traditionally come from families with extremely limited financial resources. CATIE gives special consideration to qualified men and women from low-income rural families and indigenous groups. They are exceptional young men and women who have demonstrated their commitment, resourcefulness, and capability. These students continued beyond primary school and high school, while many of their classmates–especially in rural areas–dropped out. They went even further, obtaining college degrees against considerable odds.
Through CATIE educational programs, students form lasting relationships with fellow students from more than 20 countries, combining class work and field research that prepares them for solving real problems in a rapidly changing, global landscape. The students work alongside outstanding professors from prestigious universities in 17 countries.
A new joint Master's in International Agribusiness Management with INCAE Business School demonstrates CATIE's commitment to competitive rural businesses that support sustainable development and contribute to rural incomes. It brings the number of master's programs offered at CATIE to six, with three additional doctoral programs.
For most students, financial assistance is essential. At the master's level, CATIE has a scholarship loan program, offering some scholarships and helping potential students apply for outside funding. However, this funding is insufficient–in 2005, nearly 80 students who met all academic admission requirements could not enroll because of a lack of financial support. Read Less
