2010 MS Engineering, Technology and Policy Program
“I worked in a region of Colombia characterized by its ethnic, cultural and bio diversity, but also its high violence, displacement and poverty level. This experience compelled me to face situations and… understand that it is possible to find solutions to complex problems in a context with much inequality… that here are no insuperable obstacles, but big challenges to creativity.”
Natalia is focusing on ways that Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) can increase agricultural production and expand access to markets in Colombia. Natalia’s project, based in a region of Colombia characterized by ethnic, cultural and bio diversity—but also by violence, internal displacement and poverty—is an opportunity to address, creatively, the region’s complex problems and confront current obstacles to equality. Natalia holds an undergraduate degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and an MA in Engineering Masters in from the University of Cauca, Colombia, where she authored a thesis on developing ICT-based strategies to increase the competitiveness of small-scale agro chains. Natalia’s professional experience includes work with a digital inclusion and sustainable development project funded by European Union, as well as work on a project in Honduras focusing on community telecenters in rural zones. In addition, Natalia has been involved with several other projects such as Agroinnova, an agro business incubator in Colombia; Regional Centers for Higher Education; and an initiative called “Integral Strategy to Improve the Competitiveness of Agrochains of Small Scale Rural Producers in the Department of Cauca.”
