Pedagogía en Ruralidad y Paz Creación de un programa universitario con comunidades rurales en Colombia

Abstract

Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet and is more rural than we think. Nearly 60% of the municipalities are rural territories and there is a dispersed rural, peasant, Afro-descendant and indigenous population that represents slightly more than 30% of the country's population (Machado, 2011). This population has suffered the most from the consequences of the armed conflict and faces great challenges due to inequity in access to land and the lack of opportunities to remain in their territories.
The sustainability of rural communities and their ecosystems requires the strengthening of leadership capacities and creativity in their population, especially young people, in territorial management, food sovereignty, human rights, community wellbeing and peace-building pedagogies, among others. However, there is a lack of professionalization programs in the country specifically oriented to training on issues of such complexity and in the territorial contexts of peasants and other rural dwellers, thus contributing to enable them to recognize and exercise their rights according to the UN Declaration of 2018 (UNDROP, 2022). Pedagogy in Rurality and Peace is a university training proposal of the University of Antioquia to be implemented in the territorial contexts of rural students, that is, that the knowledge, content and alternatives that are discussed and learned are relevant to the populations themselves in the environments where they live, considering in turn the exchange with similar situations and experiences that are lived in the country and the world. The formative axes of the program are guided by questions about the territories, their ecosystems and territorial governance, environmental and community health, the right to live well or live tasty and pedagogies for peace, all of this crossed by the own life stories of those who participate, the knowledge of leaders, and the dialogue with other peasant experiences of the region, the country and the world, which can enrich the personal and collective understanding of the situations that are lived and want to improve.