Investigación-acción, Desarrollo Local e Interculturalidad. Experiencia en Ups-Ecuador (1997-2021)

The paper "Action Research, Local Development, and Interculturality: Reflections on an Experience at UPS (1997- 2021)" analyzes a training and university engagement project run by the Salesian Polytechnic University (Ecuador) with rural, urban, and particularly indigenous community organizations from different regions of the country for more than two decades. Using participatory action research methodology, the text explores how intercultural local development processes were built, integrating ancestral knowledge with academic scholarship. It details achievements in intercultural education, food sovereignty, and organizational strengthening, as well as tensions between Western paradigms and indigenous worldviews. With 24 years of systematization, it offers key lessons on the co-construction of knowledge, the decolonization of academia, and the role of universities in transformative community processes.