Publicación:

Solidarity Territories for Capacity Development and Collective Action from the Local

Resumen

This article explains the process of theoretical, methodological, and empirical construction of the concept of ‘solidarity territories’ as a kind of brand that identifies a series of experiences that promote local development where actors of diverse origin have been participating, in parallel, from the university, from the territories, and from the national government in Colombia. We identify the contexts, developments, and prospects that will eventually converge tothe extent that they share a common purpose: contributing to sustainable development based on integrating solidarity in the territories.Our study adopts a qualitative approach and uses the multi-case study method. The method facilitated the development of concepts based on the description, analysis, and establishment of relations between the experiences considered to enable knowledge-building regarding a topic that is still in the process of development.Solidarity territories are an example of socio-territorial innovation that supports social and environmental justice, as long as they contribute to the development of capacities for collective action at the local level from the perspective of good living.Being able to compare the experiences based on a document review and the approaches of the three researchers who were participant observers of the different research phases, a task that characterizes the process, turns out to be novel. The study is expected to serve as a reference point to continue contributing to the promotion of the solidarity culture and solidarity entrepreneurship, strengthening of public institutions, and citizen participation required to develop an ecosystem that enhances the associative solidarity model and its contributions to innovation and social transformation in the territories.