FUNDAEC
New approaches to rural development
FUNDAEC (Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias) or, in English, the "Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences," was founded in 1974 by a group of scientists and doctors who sought to counter the effects of industrialization in rural Colombia.
Based in Cali, FUNDAEC sponsors a number of rural development programs. In addition to the Solidarity Groups microenterprise project, it sponsors the University Center for Rural Well-being (Centro Universities en Bienestar Rural), an agro-industrial training center and the SAT (System for Tutorial Learning) program for rural education, which was described in the January-March, 1996 issue of ONE COUNTRY.
FUNDEAC's approach to development, which is based on Bahá'í principles, utilizes an interactive process of investigation, action and learning that integrates three fundamental sources of knowledge: traditional knowledge, modern knowledge, and knowledge acquired from the experience of others in similiar circumstances.
