Social and Solidarity Economy in Ecuador: Fostering an Alternative Development Model?

Abstract

The social and solidarity economy (SSE) has gained worldwide attention over the last decade. It represents a host of diverse economic activities which take different forms in each country, but which share solidarity values that are alternatives to mainstream market economic logics. In Ecuador, the SSE acquired legal status in the 2008 Constitution that aimed to foster an alternative development model based on the Buen Vivir (BV) paradigm. However, despite a broad new regulatory framework for the SSE, the implementation of specific policies faces significant challenges. This article, based on fieldwork and interviews with many stakeholders, critically analyzes the transformative scope of the policies of the main newly created institution (IEPS—Instituto de Economía Popular y Solidaria). We discuss policy challenges focusing on trade-offs for small rural producers due to their dependent market integration and overall flaws in fulfilling SSE solidarity values.

Contributions of Subjective Well-Being and Good Living to the Contemporary Development of the Notion of Sustainable Human Development

“…A relevant example of how the notion of human development can be enriched occurred in the Montecristi-Ecuador Constituent Assembly, and one of the core points of the debate was when the development of the prevailing regime was questioned (Montecristi, C. A. Ecuador Republic Constitution, 2008), a discussion enriched with diverse and plural proposals that contained elements raised inside and even outside Ecuador [10][11][12]. There, especially from the perspective of epistemologies marginalized by history, from indigenous peoples and nationalities, the notion of Good Living or sumak kawsay (in kichwa) was raised as an opportunity to build another society based on the coexistence of citizens in diversity and harmony with nature and on the recognition of the various cultural values existing in the country and in the world [13][14][15].…”

“…In the second half of the 20th century, the emergence of the fundamental problem of socio-environmental sustainability opened up a discursive space composed of multiple critical responses [12,16]. Despite this proliferation of discourse at the normative level, its implementation has not led to necessary and sufficient changes on an individual and collective scale.…”

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

“…In the analysis of this problem, [56] proposed an involution in relation to the development of associativity in the country, referring in particular to the implementation of projects that derive from policy action. They described the example of FARPSE, whose origin is recent (2018); this program limits its scope to a few provinces and also depends on external funding from the Agricultural Development Fund (FIFA).…”

Family farmers' strategies to develop autonomy through agroecological and solidarity economy practices: The case of BioVida in the Ecuadorian Andes

“…We consider this contribution from the SSE to be relevant because during the last decade, attention to SSE approaches and initiatives has grown both in Ecuador (Coraggio, 2011, 2014; Villalba‐Eguiluz et al, 2020) and worldwide (OECD, 2021; UNRISD, 2016; UN Inter‐Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy, 2014). The SSE is seen as an approach with potential in various arenas to face the tendencies of capitalism that create poverty, inequality, lack of justice and ecological unsustainability, and, of course, in the rural and agrarian arenas as well.…”