Educación Popular y la salud organizativa en contextos urbanos y rurales: estudios de caso en el sur de Quito y una comunidad indígena de Antonio Ante.

Abstract

Over the past four decades, grassroots territorial organizations have experienced a significant weakening, particularly in urban settings. Within this scenario, initiatives aimed at strengthening the social fabric through organized structures, informed by the perspective of popular education, encounter multiple challenges arising from territorial contradictions as well as internal organizational tensions.

The Ecuadorian Center for Popular Education (CEEP) has accompanied organizational processes in both rural and urban areas. Based on the limitations observed in these processes, CEEP has identified the practical and theoretical need to address them in close collaboration with communities. This preliminary qualitative study, conducted through a case study approach, examined the organizational health of an Indigenous community in Imbabura and a neighborhood in southern Quito. The objective was to analyze the changes and perceptions experienced by community actors throughout their trajectories of leadership and participation in organizational processes. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with diverse community actors. One of the most salient findings indicates that, unlike Indigenous communities, precarious housing conditions in southern Quito hinder residents’ long-term settlement in a single neighborhood, which directly undermines the continuity of organizational processes.