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1980-1990: Consolidation, Legal Recognition, and Program
Expansion
This
decade witnessed the consolidation of the results of
FUNDAEC’s initial work. The period also marked
the beginning of the expansion of its programs through
other development organizations in Colombia. Legal recognition
was won for its first educational program—though
not without a struggle, as the Colombian legislation
was characterized in those years by a marked rigidity:
even though the official evaluators considered the program
to be innovative and interesting, they found it difficult
to place within the existing legal framework. It was
eventually approved as an effective and valid alternative
for secondary school education. Thus was born the Sistema
de Aprendizaje Tutorial, SAT (“Tutorial Learning
System”). During this period, texts were written
for the programs three levels, Promoter, Practitioner,
and “Bachiller”.
FUNDAEC’s
reputation grew along with the numbers of its
students. Simultaneous to the development of the
didactic texts, the lines of investigation-action
were further propelled and expanded. Progress
was made in the search for alternative systems
of production, and more than 20 sub-systems were
designed using plots of a number of small-scale
farmers. Subsequently, some of these same farmers
converted parts of their land into community experimental
learning stations. This experience assisted in
the system’s expansion throughout the local
communities and the region.
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Corn and Bean Subsystem |
Inspired
by the results in the Norte del Cauca region, other
NGOs, working in neighboring regions and departments,
showed interest in adopting FUNDAEC’s programs.
A number of the early graduates were hired by these
same organizations, which helped in the formation of
cordial inter-institutional, collaborative relations.
The resultant transition, from an organization restricted
to a specific geographical region, to one that advised
others, brought new challenges and responsibilities
to FUNDAEC, which were to become the objects of investigation-action-learning
of the institution.
Midway
through the decade new laws were passed which gave municipalities
increased autonomy to manage their own affairs and financial
resources, an occurrence that came to mark a signal
moment in the SAT program’s expansion.
Entrance to the Centro
Universitario de Bienestar Rural, Perico Negro, Cauca
In
order to meet the demands of expansion, FUNDAEC created
the Centro Universitario de Bienestar Rural, CUBR (“University
Center for Rural Well-being”), and promoted the
development of new institutions. Soon after, other organizations
that identified in many ways with FUNDAEC joined the
ranks of collaborative institutions working together
to help rural regions reach real development. This opened
the way for the subsequent creation of an institutional
network that would work within the framework of the
University for Integral Development, and helped strengthen
various cooperative relationships.
During
this same time period, so as to deal with the new and
mounting challenges, FUNDAEC began the first phase of
construction and landscaping of the CUBR’s buildings
and grounds in the village of Perico Negro. The location
was of easy access for both students and professors,
as it is only two kilometers away from the central town
of the municipality of Puerto Tejada, Cauca.
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