Resumen
- In June 2011, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), conducted a research aimed to determine the qualities that leaders in the rural territories of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) should possess, in order to improve the contribution of agriculture to development and rural well-being. Young leaders who had attended events organized by IICA during the period 2008-2011 participated in this research. Through the use of the software "easy survey", they were sent a surveytype instrument in which they were asked to identify the qualities that had been most useful to them in stimulating their work environment. the participants identified 24 qualities that leaders in the rural areas of LAC should have, grouped into five categories: i) personal skills, ii) communicative skills, iii) strategic skills, iv) inter-personal skills v) working skills. It is hoped that the results of this research will contribute to identify future leaders, to re-orientate the ways to strengthen leadership capabilities and to develop teaching material for use in the courses, seminars, workshops and forums that IICA carries out along with its strategic partners in its 34 member countries.