Buenos dias a todos mis amigos. For the past two weeks I've been working with a tremendous new field partner in San Salvador, El Salvador called CONFRAS. CONFRAS (Confederation of Federations for Agrarian Reform in El Salvador in English) was founded in the 1980's during the El Salvadorean Civil War to further land reform efforts. Since then, it has grown to represent 100+ cooperatives that provide various services to over 4,000 farmers throughtout El Salvador. One cooperative with whom I've been working directly is ACAF. ACAF provides not only microcredit, but technical assistance and... Continue Reading >>
Born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, Bob has had the opportunity to call a lot of places home in the past decade - Nashville, Washington DC, New York City, Mendoza, Argentina, Lima, Peru, Chicago and most recently San Francisco. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 2006 with dual degrees in Political Science and Human & Organizational, Bob spent 3.5 years working as a data analytics consultant for FTI Consulting in Washington, DC. During this time, he acquired his first passport, an experience that would come to change his life. Passport-in-hand he spent the next year traveling and doing nonprofit work in Argentina and Peru. It was during this time that he developed a curiosity and passion for sustainable economic development, social entrepreneurship and innovative ways to reduce poverty. After rejoining the consulting world in 2012, Bob realized that his true passion and interests remained abroad in Latin America. As a member of KF22, Bob hopes to work closely with the local communities in Guatemala and El Salvador to gain a deeper understanding of entrepreneurship and how it can be used to create sustainable businesses in an effort to reduce poverty.
Fellows Blog Posts by Bob Luchsinger
Nov 22, 2013
El Salvador
Buenos dias a todos mis amigos. For the past two weeks I've been working with a tremendous new field partner in San Salvador, El Salvador called CONFRAS. CONFRAS (Confederation of Federations for Agrarian Reform in El Salvador in English) was founded in the 1980's during the El Salvadorean Civil War to further land reform efforts. Since then, it has grown to represent 100+ cooperatives that provide various services to over 4,000 farmers throughtout El Salvador. One cooperative with whom I've been working directly is ACAF. ACAF provides not only microcredit, but technical assistance and... Continue Reading >>
El Salvador
Buenos dias a todos mis amigos. For the past two weeks I've been working with a tremendous new field partner in San Salvador, El Salvador called CONFRAS. CONFRAS (Confederation of Federations for Agrarian Reform in El Salvador in English) was founded in the 1980's during the El Salvadorean Civil War to further land reform efforts. Since then, it has grown to represent 100+ cooperatives that provide various services to over 4,000 farmers throughtout El Salvador. One cooperative with whom I've been working directly is ACAF. ACAF provides not only microcredit, but technical assistance and... Continue Reading >>
Nov 17, 2013
Guatemala
Buenos dias a todos mis amigos. If you are like I was 75 days ago, you know very little about Guatemala. I'm not afraid to admit that I knew very little before my Fellowship - which both excited and horrified me. When I first learned that I was going to Guatemala I thought cool..wait...WHHHAAAATT?!!? Isn't that really, really dangerous. The short answer to this question is well...there is no short answer. Like many countries in Latin America, Guatemala does have very real problems problems with violence (mostly gang related), drug trafficking and poverty (approximatly 75% live... Continue Reading >>
Guatemala
Buenos dias a todos mis amigos. If you are like I was 75 days ago, you know very little about Guatemala. I'm not afraid to admit that I knew very little before my Fellowship - which both excited and horrified me. When I first learned that I was going to Guatemala I thought cool..wait...WHHHAAAATT?!!? Isn't that really, really dangerous. The short answer to this question is well...there is no short answer. Like many countries in Latin America, Guatemala does have very real problems problems with violence (mostly gang related), drug trafficking and poverty (approximatly 75% live... Continue Reading >>
Nov 5, 2013
Guatemala
What: Festival de Sumpango - Barriletes Gigantes (Giant Kites) Where: Sumpango, Guatemala When: November 1st - El Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) Why? Huge, ginormous, spectacular kites! As I wrote in Jeff Nelson's excellent piece Potluck Series: Holidays From Around the World, Sumpango, Guatemala celebrates "The Day of the Dead" in a truly unique fashion. Aside from honoring loved ones who have passed away by visiting the cemetary and decorating their graves, the people of Sumpango celebrate by constructing, displaying and (sometimes) flying enormous kites made of tissue paper... Continue Reading >>
Guatemala
What: Festival de Sumpango - Barriletes Gigantes (Giant Kites) Where: Sumpango, Guatemala When: November 1st - El Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) Why? Huge, ginormous, spectacular kites! As I wrote in Jeff Nelson's excellent piece Potluck Series: Holidays From Around the World, Sumpango, Guatemala celebrates "The Day of the Dead" in a truly unique fashion. Aside from honoring loved ones who have passed away by visiting the cemetary and decorating their graves, the people of Sumpango celebrate by constructing, displaying and (sometimes) flying enormous kites made of tissue paper... Continue Reading >>