CESDER-PRODES continues the journey of rural education by reflecting on education with women and men living in rural communities and stimulating conversations with groups and organisations and allies about the education we want. At the same time, we are committed to living with dignity with the people in the region and aim to remain strong as an institution.
To this end, we have organised ourselves into four working groups:
This is made up of staff from our action centres, the Centro de Estudios Alfareros (CEA), the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Rural (CESDER) and the Campo Experimental (La Cañada), which offers the Licenciatura en Procesos Sustentables para una vida digna (Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Processes for a Dignified Life) with five specialisations now:
– Agroecology and Food Security
– Accounting and Management in Social Organisations
– Social Communication in Communities
– Social Economy and Cooperative Enterprise Management
– Pottery processes and technological innovation.
Our centres are spaces, projects and living histories where we have come together during these decades of work, generating knowledge and expertise that we now give back in the form of training curricula.
CESDER is the centre directly linked to formal education (bachelor’s and master’s degrees) to strengthen the social subjects who contribute to the care of the territory and the sustainability of the planet with their identity, culture and farmer knowledge. Its facilities are located in Rancho Capolihitic, in the municipality of Zautla.
The CEA is responsible for working in the pottery communities of the region, developing actions to promote processes of technological retrofitting of pottery kilns to save fuel, training in new designs, replacement of clay with lead-free enamel, studies and research.
The experimental field: La Cañada, located in the Apulco river basin near the municipality of Ocozingo in Zautla, is related to the work for a dignified life. This work team supports, through local actions, the initiatives and interests of organised groups in the communities of the region that seek a dignified life, especially in relation to natural resources, such as water and soil conservation, vegetable and fruit cultivation, but also in housing. This team is mainly based on the work in the experimental field “La Cañada”. The team takes into account a gender-specific and equality-oriented approach in its actions in discussions and treatment.
Around 20% of the total area of the Sierra Norte de Puebla is concessioned to different extractive industry projects, such as open-pit mining, fracking and hydroelectric plants.
CESDER promotes the recognition, appropriation and self-management of the territories by the people who live there. Our work in this area is framed within a human rights perspective.
The work we do is always in alliance with other local, national and international actors.
This work team carries out local actions to support initiatives of organised groups in the communities of the region in relation to natural resources, such as water and soil conservation, vegetable and fruit tree production.
It is made up of the administration and social linkage team.
It is responsible for the management and monitoring of projects, communication within and outside the institution, and the sale of services, through which resources are generated for the implementation of actions in the communities and the operation of the institution itself.