Program Design

This partnership has four broad goals:

1. Strengthen Mexico's competitiveness in the world market and advance the Common Development Agenda (CDA) by providing small agricultural producers the skills and advice they need to capture gains from NAFTA;
2. Improve the viability and competitiveness of Mexico's rural sector, helping to integrate small Mexican agricultural producers into national and global markets;
3. Build on successes in Mexico's regional development efforts, tapping sectors that have benefited from NAFTA to assist small agricultural producers become competitive;
4. Increase macroeconomic stability, equitable growth, and international trade and investment by developing new strategies to foster growth in less developed areas of Mexico.

To achieve the objectives above, ND and UG have developed a multi-faceted collaborative project of teaching, training, outreach, and research. Our proposed project has three main components, which fit together into an integrated plan that maximizes the partnership's effectiveness:

• Academic-year training of Mexican faculty in the US (training of trainers);
• New specialty offered to Mexican masters students at UG (curriculum enhancement);
• Outreach/internships by teams of US and Mexican MBA students in Mexico (linking the universities, business, and service sector in the development process for a multiplier effect).

For the program timeline, click here.