Popular and Solidarity Economy: Policies and Realities in the Local Context—The Case of the Agricultural Productive Associations of El Valle, Ecuador

Gliceria Gómez-Ceballos, Juan Pablo Vázquez-Loaiza, Dora Priscilla Herrera-Torres and Ana Julia Vega-Luna
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Gliceria Gómez-Ceballos: Grupo de Investigación de Gestión de las Mipymes, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010105, Ecuador
Juan Pablo Vázquez-Loaiza: Grupo de Investigación de Gestión de las Mipymes, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010105, Ecuador
Dora Priscilla Herrera-Torres: Grupo de Investigación de Gestión de las Mipymes, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010105, Ecuador
Ana Julia Vega-Luna: Grupo de Investigación de Gestión de las Mipymes, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010105, Ecuador

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-23

Abstract: The popular and solidarity economy (EPS) emerges as an alternative approach to poverty aligned with the principles of sustainable development; in this sense, some countries in the region have adopted policies for its growth and development, among them Ecuador. The experience of a rural community was shown; the objective of the study was to identify the factors that hinder the achievement of better efficiency indexes, regarding the implementation of policies at the local level, with respect to rural productive associations. The case of the agricultural productive associations located in the parish of El Valle, Cuenca, Ecuador, was studied. The type of research was mixed: quantitative to support the information extracted from the instruments applied and derive the pertinent analysis and qualitative to collect primary information from the actors involved in the study. We used the action research model through the use of surveys, interviews and focus groups. The key contribution of this work was to making visible and understanding the needs of the rural communities of the sector from their development perspectives, respecting their ancestral knowledge and articulating from the academy the private–public action for the generation of policies for governance, effective application of democracy and promotion of the technical and associative potential of the agroecological productive units. The results show regularities in terms of their socioeconomic situation, their mode of action and the impact caused on their productive dynamics by the atomized decisions of local actors in the exercise of governance. These fail to articulate the implementation of policies at the territorial level to the detriment of their effectiveness and efficiency and, therefore, do not bring about substantial changes in their levels of dependence and dynamics of productive activity—diagnostic components that will be used for the formulation of joint multilevel policies.

Keywords: agricultural productive associations; policies; sustainability; popular and solidarity economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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