Buen Vivir as an Innovative Development Model

This chapter examines the development of Indigenous Community Organisations (ICOs) in Colombia. These ICOs may be seen as a social innovation supporting a process of social change which addresses the needs of marginalized indigenous communities. It links with the ‘People Centered Social Innovation: perspectives by critically examining ‘northern’ understandings of development with Buen Vivir - a community-centric, ecologically-balanced and culturally-sensitive development model which challenges the ‘dominant’ market-based model of capitalism that has been adopted by Latin American countries post-colonialism. More specifically, this chapter examines the experiences of the transformation of indigenous peoples’ organised groups (IOGs) into indigenous community based organisations (ICOs) within the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), and linked to the Buen Vivir (BV) development model in Colombia. Although there is not yet a Colombian development model that embodies key tenets of the BV model, Morales (forthcoming) has achieved a conceptual clarification of BV, on which this chapter is based. Findings from the multiple case study showed that ICOs are transformed through a hybridisation process, influenced by their indigenous cultural practices, and shaped by SSE institutions and norms, which both provide some institutional protection, but at the same time can be a vehicle for legitimising dominant western forms (mimicry). By drawing upon insights from post-development (Buen Vivir) and postcolonial theories (Bhabha’s mimicry and hybridity), this chapter draws upon a multi-level model for understanding the development of ICOs in Colombia – where IOGs at the micro-level formalise into ICOs in the context of SSE structures and values at the meso-level, shaped by BV at the macro level. This research draws upon evidence from a multiple case study research with five organisations and five indigenous communities (Curripaco, Puinave, Yanacona, Misak and Wayuu) in three geographic regions (the Amazons, Cauca and Guajira). The methods of data collection used are secondary data sources, video focus groups and semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes.