The origins of FUNDAEC date back to the early 1970s, when a group of professionals from a variety of disciplines, concerned about the negative impacts of the development processes set in motion after WWII, outlined in their frequent deliberations what eventually became a model for the integral development of rural areas, rooted in a meaningful participation of its inhabitants. The group was led by Farzam Arbab, a renowned physicist who had arrived as a visiting professor to the Universidad del Valle in 1970.