Manufacturing agroecology

lessons from social development projects

Abstract

Agroecology appears as the main alternative to think of new more diversified and sustainable production systems that respect natural resources. Starting from experiences of community processes of social development in rural areas, privileging collective reflection on ways of doing things and identifying those shortcomings, we reflect here on co-innovation as a methodology for manufacturing agroecology. The working with communities is full of opportunities and difficulties, they are processes of progress and setbacks. It is the look at this complexity that can enable reflection on practices and learning, and generate better tools, which tend to promote substantive changes in living conditions. The work carried out results in slogans for each methodological moment of a rural social development project, in an agroecological key and from the concrete practice of social actors and technicians. Thus, another of the main findings of the work carried out is the need to conceive the processes of rural social development in a cyclical way, where reflection on the practices and systematization of what has been done are fundamental as nutrition and learning that turns back to the communities in future development projects.