The past few years have seen the emergence of an image of the Tropical Andean and Central American regions characterized by an emphasis on the complexity of the social formations and ecological diversity of these two regions.
This new picture, it is important to note, is being shaped in a theoretical context that favors the synergistic interaction between cognate fields in the social and natural sciences. However, achieving sustainable development in Latin America, and specifically in the Tropical Andes and Central America region (Andes+), continues to be a major challenge. Although some progress has been made towards an adequate understanding of the barriers that impede progress towards this goal, the advances have been more thematically driven than with an integrated approach; with collaborative efforts of existing networks, particularly from research and practice in mountains, focused on socio-ecological variables of sustainable development.
Overall, this context reveals the necessity of opportunities to promote collaborative arrangements, dynamize theoretical discussions, and articulate the accumulated experience of these communities of practice, to consolidate the ongoing efforts in the Andes+ region for overcoming the barriers that impede the successful implementation of sustainable development policies.
A key component of this CLOC is to promote academic collaboration between the Swiss and Andes+ CLOC partner members. In this sense, a series of virtual and non-virtual meetings will be organized by CONDESAN to a) identify and prioritize key knowledge gaps that act as bottlenecks for the formulation of effective responses to achieve sustainable development goals in the Andes+ region; b) design effective mechanisms for collaborative knowledge production and communication among key stakeholders; c) share CLOC partners’ accumulated experience in addressing the challenges of moving from knowledge generation to action; and d) articulate with other relevant sustainable development networks in the region.
An important outcome of this CLOC will be the design and implementation of a virtual platform for sustainable development information analysis and exchange. This process will begin with the assessment of the CLOC partners’ specific communication needs (such as new innovative projects, calls for papers, funding opportunities, relevant new research reports) through a survey, which will be specially designed for this purpose. After processing this information, a beta version of a web interface, which will incorporate the key elements identified in the survey, will be implemented by CONDESAN. This version, together with a content production system, will be validated with the CLOC members and adjusted with their feedback. Finally, once these components have been validated, CONDESAN will launch the final version of this platform and keep its contents up to date.
This CLOC’s proposal contemplated the implementation of several small grants to promote comparative research on the CLOC’s thematic priorities. To do that, a mechanism will be designed collaboratively to allocate these grants. After the assignation of these grants, CONDESAN will provide academic and administrative assistance to the selected scholars upon the finalization of their proposed research.
Lastly, the results of this CLOC will be shared with a broader public. To that end, CONDESAN, with the support of other CLOC partners, will design, validate and implement a communication strategy that will include the creation of a monthly newsletter that will be distributed through CONDESAN’s Infoandina, MRI’s, and other CLOC member insitutions’ social media and email lists. This newsletter will include different sections such as a) open and upcoming calls for funding proposals; b) new publications on sustainability, health and climate change; and c) reviews of the most innovative initiatives that are currently being implemented on the topics of interest of this CLOC.
This CLOC contemplates three levels of institutional involvement of its members: a) Facilitating institutions, b) Consortia for Education and Research (COFER) partner institutions, and c) invited partner institutions.
We expect to broaden the thematic and epistemological foci of this platform by engaging a diverse group of researchers from Switzerland and the Andes+ region. Initial contacts have been established with:
