UC-IUC 2022 (Phase 1) - Institutional University Cooperation with Universidad Católica Boliviana "San Pablo" (UCB)

BO2022IUC034A105 01/09/2022 - 31/08/2027 This project aims to enhance the four regional campuses (Cochabamba, La Paz, Santa Cruz and Tarija) of the Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) into research and teaching institutions that are specialized in conducting Transdisciplinary Community-Based Research (TCBR) to increase the resilience of rural and peri-urban communities in dealing with the socio-ecological challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, migration and urbanization. Last decennia, Bolivia faced rapid economic, legal, social, climate and environmental changes, having an impact on the availability to natural resources, agricultural production, food sustainability and social development and safety. Those changes have put rural and peri-urban communities in vulnerable circumstances all over the country, diminishing and threatening the quality of life for its families and members, especially for women, children, and adolescents. The project focuses on reducing this socio-ecological vulnerability by supporting communities to generate knowledge, know-how and practical tools to respond, adapt and anticipate the problems accompanying the socio-ecological changes, and creating inclusive and sustainable solutions. The contribution to increasing community resilience will be realized through the creation of Transdisciplinary Learning Communities (TLCs) in the regions of the four UCB campuses. This transformation of the regional UCB campuses in higher education institutions for community development research is based on two main strategies: (1) Improving and expanding research and teaching capacity within the disciplines that are related to the socio-ecological challenges; and (2) Integrating and transforming this research and teaching into an academic TCBR team, with the aim to develop Transdisciplinary Learning Communities (TLCs) in rural and peri-rural regions. The first strategy has mainly been realised by the subprojects throughout the first phase. The second strategy has been outlined on the project level supported by the transversal subproject. This strategy integrated and transformed the strengthening of research capacity into interdisciplinary academic HUBs, as research network spaces to create and facilitate TCB research at each of the four regional UCB campuses. The objective of the second phase is to further develop and consolidate the TCBR methodology by conducting research through the creation of TLCs in several local communities at the different UCB campuses.