Our Essence
CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) is an academic center for innovation and sustainable development in topics related to agriculture, management, conservation, and sustainable use of natural resources. Our area of influence, by mandate, is the Latin American and Caribbean region. However, our operations and contributions to the region and the world have a history of just over 75 years, initially as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and since 1973, as CATIE.
In our actions we combine education, research for development, and projection to promote Inclusive Green Development, to increase human well-being and reduce rural poverty.
We are leaders in the integrated management of agriculture and natural resources to address global challenges.
The three pillars that sustain us are:
Education
- We are a university, at the postgraduate level, of wide prestige and international recognition.
- We have the oldest International Postgraduate Program in Agriculture and Natural Resources in Latin America (since 1946) with more than 2,600 graduates.
- Our academic offer includes strategic course options, diplomas, specializations, academic masters, professional masters, and international doctorates in different thematic fields.
- Our students and graduates come from more than 40 countries on different continents, mainly America.
- Our faculty is made up of teachers and scientists from more than 25 countries in different regions of the world.
Research
Our Research for Development has a systemic approach. Its starting point is a holistic assessment of the problems and opportunities of rural areas with an emphasis on inclusion and gender. We maintain several specialized Research for Development lines, whose implementation and transfer of results are part of projects with systemic approaches, which contribute in an integral direction to achieve an Inclusive Green Development.
Our research and development lines of work are articulated with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and focus on the following topics:
- Agroforestry and genetic improvement of coffee and cocoa
- Environment for development
- Agrobiodiversity and Food Security
- Climate Action
- Biostatistics
- Watersheds, water security and soils
- Forests and biodiversity in productive landscapes
- Inclusion and gender
- Sustainable economy, environment and agribusiness
- Livestock and environmental management
OUTREACH
CATIE is projected to the region and beyond it, through our representations in the member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, through our strategic alliances and through our actions via the scaling and development projects that we implement. Our value offer is based on the comprehensiveness of our interventions in the formation of human capital, generation of knowledge and advocacy for the transformations that allow INCLUSIVE GREEN DEVELOPMENT.
With this vision in mind, our theory of change is reflected in various levels of impact, starting with our technological innovations and training of leaders, in our sphere of control, who accompany and influence the changes required in coordination with our local partners, in our sphere of incidence, in order to achieve the transformations required by INCLUSIVE GREEN DEVELOPMENT in our sphere of interest.
In short, our work in projection material includes the transfer of technology and knowledge, the use of digital technologies and the impact on policies at different scales, which contribute to the reduction of poverty and the economic, social and environmental development of the region.