Ramón Pineda

Home Community: Hato Ratón, Jädaberi, Distrito Nole Duima, Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle

Ramón Pineda is the President of the Few for Change Advisory Board. He also serves as the the president of the Consejo Municipal (similar to a city council) of the Nole Duima district, and was elected to serve as the government representative from his home corregimiento of Jädeberi (similar to a county in the US) for a five year term, 2019-2024.

Ramón explains that the goal of his work is to support the communities so that the people can develop their own sustainable agriculture projects in order to generate income to feed and educate their children. Outside of his professional work, Ramón is committed to community organizing in Hato Ratón to address identified community needs. He works to promote social organizations in his own community and those where he works; through organizing, Ramón hopes that these communities will see that the solutions they look for are actually in their own hands. He has spearheaded efforts to develop locally owned cooperatives designed to connect farmers with markets for their produce and ensure that they receive a fair price.

Ramón has volunteered with Few for Change since 2011, diligently distributing and collecting scholarship applications, collecting report cards, and organizing leadership workshops with the scholarship students from his area. In his words, “I like to work with FFC because [...] education is the base so that we can get ahead. It is the path that we must look for. By educating [ourselves] we are envisioning and working toward the future. So, with this program of change, we are supporting the students, and we are forming the people who are going to work toward the future of the Comarca. [...] If we don't do anything for them, the Comarca will continue to be the same. The educated person, the person that goes to school, sets the future. [...] For this reason [FFC] caught my attention and I have dedicated myself to working voluntarily, with all my heart, for this program.”

Hear from Ramón himself in his Faces of Few for Change video.