This country was the arena for the Social Solidarity Economy last October and November. First, and within the framework of the international ECOOVIDA meeting and the COP16 on Biodiversity, both held in Cali at the end of October 2024, the entire RIPESS Intercontinental secretariat went to Colombia to develop a strong international advocacy work accompanying RIPESS LAC partners, who had already started their trip in Bogotá.

At the end of these meetings, the intercontinental communication coordinator, Andrea Echeverría, remained in the country to continue accompanying processes in Colombia at the invitation of REAS Euskadi, coordinator of the Red Comparte project:

An international community made up of 17 social centres in Latin America and Europe (Euskadi) that accompanies economic-productive initiatives based on the principles of the social and solidarity economy in contexts of exclusion. It is committed to building economic alternatives in impoverished rural and peri-urban contexts in 11 Latin American countries to promote alternatives that contribute to social and environmental justice.

Strengthening transformative communication

From 29 September to 2 October 2024, the COMPARTE Network Meeting was held in Pasto, Colombia. RIPESS Intercontinental had the opportunity to share key knowledge on transformative communication, a contribution enriched by the lessons learned at the ComunESS conferences, organised by REAS and hosted this year by REAS Euskadi. The ComunESS conferences, held every two years in Spain, this year at the beginning of October in Bilbao, are part of the Elkarlanean ekonomia eraldatzeko / Intercooperar para transformar la economía project, promoted by the REAS Euskadi and COMPARTE networks, with the support of the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation. This project seeks to boost inter-organisational collaboration to promote the values of the Solidarity Economy in different territories.

During the meeting in Pasto with the COMPARTE network, the participating organisations from Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia (also including organisations from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay who were not present) carried out a collective analysis of the progress and challenges of the Solidarity Economy Centres (CES) and Social Markets (MES) in the participating territories. This activity underlined the importance of sharing successful practices and building joint strategies to strengthen solidarity economic circuits. RIPESS Intercontinental highlighted the crucial role of communication as a transformative tool to make initiatives visible and encourage the active participation of communities.

These initiatives not only seek to boost local economies, but also to strengthen the ties of cooperation between organisations in the region, promoting an economy that prioritises collective well-being, good living and the principles of the SSE. To this end, the entities that make up the network not only benefit from sharing these tools, but also have to be part of a school of non-formal education in which they are trained in these practices and what the SSE means.

Experiences in the field

We also participated in field visits where indigenous women in rural areas are developing projects both in ecological agriculture and in the restoration and safeguarding of seeds, gastronomic culture and landscape. We had the honour of visiting the Isla de la Corota Natural Park in La Cocha Lagoon, the largest lagoon in Colombia, which also serves as a natural border between the Andes and the Amazon, a privileged environment where various responsible tourism initiatives are being carried out by communities that have suffered first-hand from the armed conflicts in the area, in the process of transformation. Finally, the Suyusama Foundation, wonderful host of the meeting, invited us to the Agroecological Fair of the Enjambre Network, a project that in Nariño joins the Comparte Network, strengthening ties and energising all the initiatives visited (and more) that exist in the area under the umbrella of the SSE.

The participation of RIPESS in events such as ComunESS and the COMPARTE Network meeting reaffirms the commitment of our network to strengthening the solidarity economy at a global level, particularly in Latin America, where inter-cooperation has become an essential tool to face the economic and social challenges of the region.

Photographs by Andrea Echeverría and Álvaro Idárraga, Executive Secretary of the Comparte Network.