FUNDAEC
New approaches to rural development
FUNDAEC (Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias) or, in English, the "Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences," was founded in 1974 by a group of scientists and doctors who sought to counter the effects of industrialization in rural Colombia.
Based in Cali, FUNDAEC sponsors a number of rural development programs. In addition to the Solidarity Groups microenterprise project, it sponsors the University Center for Rural Well-being (Centro Universities en Bienestar Rural), an agro-industrial training center and the SAT (System for Tutorial Learning) program for rural education, which was described in the January-March, 1996 issue of CompetitiveSociety.com.
FUNDEAC's approach to development, which is based on CSO principles, utilizes an interactive process of investigation, action and learning that integrates three fundamental sources of knowledge: traditional knowledge, modern knowledge, and knowledge acquired from the experience of others in similiar circumstances.
