“KUYANA ” Community Centred Knowledge

Puerto Quito is a town and rutal parish located in the northwest of Pichincha province in Ecuador. It is placed on the border of a biodiverse area so-called "Andean Choco". In 2018, this privileged area was declared as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. This region has an important function in capturing the evaporation from the Pacific Ocean and producing a significant amount of water for human consumption and productive use to local and nearby residents (MCAE, 2021). Each hectare of forest is capable to absorb 250 tons of carbon renewing the air we breathe (MAE, 2018).

There are about 20.445 residents in Puerto Quito. Young people aged 5 to 25 years old are 45% of the global population. Moreover, the municipality has 83 “recintos[3]” throughout the rural area (GADMPQ 2015:15).

Ecuador is facing socio-economic conditions of important dimensions. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the trend of economic growth from past years. In June 2021, the poverty rate line was 32.2%, which represents an increase of 6.7 points to June 2019. Extreme poverty, at the national line, was 9.5% in June 2019, in June 2012 is 14.7%. Regarding extreme poverty by income, at the rural level, there was an increase of 17.9% in June 2019 to 28.0% in June 2021 (ENEMDU, 2021:5-6). This situation particularly affects women, girls, and teenagers. Puerto Quito’s poverty index is above the average in Ecuador (88.3%) (CIDAP, 2007:59).

At present time, intensive agriculture is the primary subsistence activity of Puerto Quito´s population. Because of this vocation, the agricultural expansion frontier generates a growing loss of forest.

In Puerto Quito doesn’t exist Universities. For this reason, a minor percentage of young people are forced to migrate to the urban area for studies porpoises and in some cases, this decision is taken for an indefinite period (GADMPQ, 2015:15). Due to low-income rural households, many young people don’t have the opportunity to access high education which forces them to work in agricultural activities as a daily labor in large farms in the sector. In contrast, young women are household labor or have early marriages.

The educational system in Puerto Quito doesn’t encourage innovative solutions to young people to provide them alternatives beyond the predominant extractive agriculture model. This activity degrades the natural resources causing serious side effects on people’s health and influencing the biodiverse ecosystems.

The varying influence of these factors leads to several exclusion of young people in the rural area of Puerto Quito. 

In this context, it´s necessary to promote non-formal education projects based on the reality of Puerto Quito. “Kuyana” is a Community Centred Knowledge that aims to develop methodologies related to Popular Education 

(Latin American critical pedagogy which studies oppressive aspects about empowering people to fight against inequalities) 

Popular education’s intention is to engage symbolic spaces, local culture legacies, diversity, and life experience to promote the potential of each human being based on different commitments assumed in the community (Brito, 2008:34).

The “Kuyana” - Community Centred Knowledge involves the enhancement of popular and community knowledge, which is not recognized and integrated into the education system. This project is based on a research/practice approach in open dialogue with alternative, critical, sustainable pedagogies that contribute to the local process. In this sense, popular education methodologies strengthen an education point of view committed to transforming the conditions that generate exclusion, based on community resources and knowledge.

This project is based on a highly participatory critical pedagogy in which young people identify the resources of their area and with the support of social specialists, design a sustainable project based on local resources and skills. This community workplace promotes young participation by developing horizontal and multidimensional knowledge linked to good practices and local knowledge to propose sustainable and viable alternatives for its inhabitants.

The gender approach in this project involves a critical analysis of the social processes in which subjects become sexually generically differentiated, in contexts of structural inequalities between men and women and those who do not identify with the sex-gender binary within the heterosexual matrix. One of the aims of the gender perspective is to contribute to a new social configuration based on the re-meaning of history and society that breaks patriarchal matrices (Quintana,2009)

20 young people and women from Recinto "San Carlos de Nuevo Ecuador" 

who don’t have the opportunity to access high education which forces them to work in intensive agricultural activities as a daily labor in large farms: or young women who are forced to be household labor or have early marriages

We are a team of independent researchers in social sciences involved in non-formal education practices who promote pedagogies not considered informal education. We seek to promote place-based education, in a community context, that recovers the oral memory of inhabitants in dialogue with different kinds of ecological and sustainable pedagogies. 

This methodology involves a permanent investigating, participating, and contributing process that contributes to social impact.

We believe that efforts made in terms of alternative pedagogies should value community contributions, provide timely responses, and contribute to local processes.

Our purpose is to promote alternative pedagogies as a model of education based on local realities to promote lasting solutions to young people currently experiencing exclusion

First, it takes place a call group of young people and women who will participate in the “Kuyana" Community Centred Knowledge. Once the group is established, a training process begins with participatory research techniques to obtain relevant information about resources, memories, and local knowledge. Through these investigations, young people will design a collective impact empowerment project. 

Once main local resources have been identified by the group, it will be designed collective products/services that promote the protection of biodiversity and local cultural heritage.

Kuyanas purpose is create and develop popular education methodologies meant for young people could generate community projects based on a harmonious relationship with the community and its environment.  This project will allow young people from Puerto Quito to develop community services and products for the benefit of their locality

The “Kuyana” - Community Centred Knowledge involves the enhancement of popular and community knowledge, which is not recognized and integrated into the education system. This project is based on a research/practice approach in open dialogue with alternative, critical, sustainable pedagogies that contribute to the local process. 

In this sense, popular education methodologies strengthen an education point of view committed to transforming the conditions that generate exclusion, based on community resources and knowledge.

Number of young people actively involved in the workshops

Number of products and services designed based on research carried out by young people

Followers in the Kuyana networks

Level of interest and participation of the community

Our theoretical framework is based on popular education. This is a critical pedagogical theory that focuses on the inequities experienced by certain groups, in order to generate transformations led by the subjects themselves based on this condition.

Therefore, it is necessary to re-create ourselves as popular educators, strengthening creative solidarities, recreating methodologies for collective constructions and popular organization in diverse and multiple spaces. It is there where the current efforts of those of us who identify with Latin American education and pedagogies in times of pandemic must be linked.

This place is conceived as a core of individual and collective memories.   Focused on the importance of community for their well-being and personal growth through community knowledge development, related to environmental care and socio-economic initiatives. Aligned with resources that provide a sustainable livelihood to their populations. The "Kuyana" Community Centred Knowledge will promote research and generation of non-hierarchical horizontal knowledge. Thus, knowledge is actively built among the participation of those involved.

“Kuyana” Community Centred Knowledge is a core in which participatory research techniques are implemented with young people and women who through the guidance by an anthropologists team, draw up a map of resources, and other topics of interest identified to take advantage of this knowledge in a personal and community transformation project. The identified resources will be the main input to develop a collaborative project in harmony with nature and local cultures; considering that impact of ecosystem change has a direct impact on local livelihoods by the reasons exposed.

To sum up, through this cartography exercise, led by young people, the group will identify memories, practices, and resources of inhabitants - especially of the elderly population - of Puerto Quito linked to:

• Self-care practices. Recourses like herbal medicine, self-care practices, a sustainable lifestyle based on natural resources available in the area will be identified to learn from the experience developed by women and elderly people.
• Good environmental practices. We will explore resources historically used by local people to environmental care, with emphasis on practices led by women: best farming practices, water conservation,  initiatives to harvest rainwater, use of recycled products, and alternate energy to increase awareness of the efficient use of natural resources; and other related with ecological construction; sustainable building or green building
• Local memory linked to the territory. Participatory research involves that young people will inquire about memory and identity elements to make visible heritage to explore the relationship between territory and local memory and therefore promote social cohesion based on elderly people’s oral memory. 
• Other topics of interest identified: people´s skills, tourist places, communitarian services, etc. 

The collaborative learning-teaching process in “Kuyana” will be socialized in social networks. Thus, young people will be their spokespersons. Popular communication is essential to build confidence and develop skills that young people need to contribute to their community and consolidate a process of knowledge dissemination without intermediaries, knowledge created in the community. Social networks could make visible a local memory, and solutions promoted by young people from a community perspective. It constitutes a place of enunciation for social transformation led by their actors.

We work closely with young community leaders and women to identify initiatives of interest

"Kuyana" Community Centred Knowledge is located in recinto "San Carlos de Nuevo Ecuador", Puerto Quito Canton. Once the group has been identified, we will focus on building a trusted process between partners. In this way, they could share experiences in the community. This work is based on active listening, empathy, and respect for diversity. Based upon horizontal methodologies for building knowledge participants will be able to analyze different inequities and structural violence present in their daily lives. A creative and interactive methodology will take place to explore social and emotional skills led by an anthropologist team. In this activity, we will promote a group discussion about gender inequity in rural areas.

First, based on the popular and community education approach, the group must become aware of those conditions of inequity that they want to modify to promote the enormous potential of its area, its local resources, and the interests of the group. This activity enhances community values such as social justice, solidarity, and cooperation. We will debate different models of community engagement developed in Latin America and their approaches with the group. Once this stage is completed, participatory research activities will begin.

“Kuyana” will develop a place-based education as a learning process that emphasizes experiencing community, local culture, and resources to develop a young people agency and encourage them to contribute to social impact.

 Mapped resources and identified memories will be analyzed by the group, a process of community reflection will be developed to identify different resources and potentials from the community. “Through defending their positions, reframing ideas, listening to other viewpoints, and articulating their points, learners will gain a more complete understanding as a group than they could as individuals” (Valamis, 2022).

Through place-based experience, young people could make concrete contributions to local environmental issues and conserve local environmental quality.

 Therefore, collaborative projects will be considered, based on resources and sustainable practices identified in the cartography exercise.

Participatory research will be a permanent component in the “Kuyana” Community Centred Knowledge. Dissemination of local knowledge will be promoted at “Kuyana” in dialogue with similar pedagogies and communitarian experiences to generate opportunities for young people in the area. Thus, knowledge and permanent learning will be promulgated in a community context.

Based on the piloting experience developed in Phase 1, Phase 2 involves the creation of a Community Centred Knowledge open to the community. A series of community workshops are designed with the group to identify the most important problems and design local and sustainable proposals based on their resources. Knowledge construction is a collaborative process] which aims to break the cycle of young poverty and social exclusion.

A cycle of conferences will be open to young people and anyone interested in community strategies based on local resources. The workshops will be implemented as demonstrative workshops to learn through direct experience. These workshops will allow the generation of an economic income for the group and the inhabitants of the area.

a combination of asustained donations and grants, selling products or services, service contracts to governments, raising investment capital, and others.

We will seek cooperation of the national government, local government, and entities linked to non-formal pedagogies of education.