The Vicos Project

Lori Cheeseman

Vicos

HUB 601a Organizational Behavior

January 7, 2016

Dr. Jerry Glover

National University

Vicos

     The Cornell-Peru Project took place between 1952 and 1966 during which “. . . significant changes in land ownership and labor developed” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 3).

     The Vicos Project was seen as an important illustration of improvement to the “. . . economic and social conditions in Vicos through the promotion of democracy and modernization” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 4). The historical name for the development paradigm was called the “Green Revolution” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 4). The Vicos Project was seen as an important illustration of community change in the history of social science interventions and transformations because at that time in history, “[t]he goal of the project was to bring the indigenous population into the 20th century and integrate them into the market economy and Peruvian society” (Cornell University, n.d. p. 1). The Vicos Project was part of a much larger endeavor by the “. . . Cornell University Program on Culture and Applied Social Sciences” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 1).

     Because of the Vicos Project there was a “. . . negative effect on the biodiversity of the region because of the project promoted mono-cropping of ‘improved’ varieties of potatoes for the commercial market in Lima with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 5).

     Because “Vicos is not a homogeneous community: there are differences in Vicosinos’ socioeconomic statuses with land holdings varying widely in size and wealthier families possessing more animals” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 2). The Vicos Project is an example of how “power” (Lines, 2007, p. 144) can create inequality. The article states that Cornell’s programs “. . . focused on male heads of households who were politically connected, excluding women and the very poor” (Cornell University, n.d., p. 6). This was a lesson learned for the researchers.