16 Nov An indigenous university in Mexico we support through the EPGO
In Mexico, the Ayuuk Intercultural Higher Institute is based on the concepts of
‘Aamukëj jikyäjtën’ or ‘atu´kmukëj jikyäjtën’, which in Ayuuk language means “to make life among all together”. This university center, whose work we support through the EPGO program, carries out an educational project with an intercultural approach in which the communities and indigenous people of the state of Oaxaca participate –mainly the ayuuk people- as well as the rest of the country, aimed at finding alternatives to overcome inequality and poverty.
“The link between development and culture is the only possibility that, from a collective, communitarian and solidary vision of development, each community will continue to nurture and strengthen its authentic and proper way of being indigenous”
‘Aamukëj jikyäjtën’ or ‘atu´kmukëj jikyäjtën’, which in Ayuuk language means “to make life among all together”.
Many communities in the area are experiencing a series of changes in the productive, cultural, economic, social and political spheres that are causing losses in biological-cultural diversity, social instability and food insecurity. Facing this emerging challenges, we work together with ISIA to promote sustainable development and respect for nature, and to implement management and production processes that allow people to meet their needs to achieve an adequate quality of life.
In this sense, local and community knowledge is rescued through indigenous and rural communities to create new knowledge that can be applied to the challenges and opportunities that come from current reality, both locally and regionally.
Supporting the
solidarity economy
On the one hand, we support organic production through the implementation of a ranch designed to produce a portion of the food consumed daily in the educational center. This is an integrated agro ecological production proposal that incorporates elements and techniques of the usual practices in the area, highlighting the agro ecological systems that allow for greater development of local food sovereignty.
In addition, together with a group of lemon and coffee producers, we work on the improvement of their organization, the introduction of agro ecological practices, the improvement of product quality, the establishment proper commercialization channels, etc.
And, finally, we support the establishment of relationships with other Mexican universities and companies in order to create a more efficient production system and improve the commercialization of products.
«Without a doubt, it is a proposal that combines the rescue of ancestral knowledge and forms of work with elements of social productive and commercial innovation,» says Alejandro Mendizábal, Entreculturas project technician for Mexico, «that shows that there are economically and ecologically sustainable agricultural production alternatives.»