“Solidarity economy movement in Colombia. Two regional experiences promoted by popular education for integral change“.

This chapter examines the impacts of solidarity economy initiatives in the context of the historical and present-day social and political situation in Colombia. The current state of the development of the solidarity economy and its institutionalisation in Colombia remain far from a situation that could lead to regime-level changes with society-wide impacts. However, many events show how far the practices of solidarity economy have challenged, and invited the transformation of, the predominant people–state–market relationship, by adding the recognition of human–nature relationships. The chapter begins with an overview of the process of institutionalisation of the solidarity economy in Colombia as a movement for social justice and defence of life in response to the intensification of armed conflict from the 1960s up to the present day. It then goes on to describe case studies of two regional experiences of the solidarity economy movement in Colombia in geographically peripheral regions, both marked by close collaboration between highly marginalised populations living under very precarious social and economic conditions and members of the social pastoral of the Catholic Church, inspired by liberation theology. The chapter was written with a co-author, Miguel Arturo Fajardo (Professor, San Gil University, Colombia).

Miguel Arturo Fajardo Rojas and Noriko Hataya, “Solicarity economy movement in Colombia. Two regional experiences promoted by popular education for integral change”, in Ana Margarida Fernandes Esteves, Tom Henfrey, Luciane Lucas dos Santos, Leonardo Leal (eds.), Solidarity Economy: Alternative Spaces, Power and Politics, New York: Routledge, 2023 (DOI:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003306344), 141-158.