We understand our work to be based on educational projects which will involve collaboration among groups working for the same goals. We are looking for people who want to work together to build a deeper sense of community that includes people of all social backgrounds, but with a focus on those most left out of educational opportunities as they currently exist.
The Education Collaborative grew out of meetings in El Sindicato Centro Culural Comunitario about the problem of water in our region and began with collaborations between organizations such as Caminos de Agua, Via Organica, Somos Semillas, El Charco del Ingenio, the Center for Global Justice and other organizations. We are a diverse and bi-lingual group that feels the need for re-imagining San Miguel and for creating a community of learners that sees Life as being the center of all human activity.
We have been inspired by transformative educational projects such as the UniTierras (Universities of the Earth) that exist in various parts of Mexico—Chiapas, Oaxaca and Puebla—as well as in other countries and by CASA Mexico and the emerging Network for Educación para la Vida y la Paz. These projects, which take a variety of forms, have in common that they are are oriented to holistic forms of education that help people build better relations between each other and nature. They embrace social and environmental values that can be found is a variety of projects like Buen Vivir, Solidarity Economy, the Commons, Transition Towns, and so on.
Our shared efforts are directed towards a world that would be healthy, equitable and participatory in a sustainable environment for all. We want to see the end of poverty, to see the end of economic and social inequalities and to change the narrative from the present one of scarcity and oppression to one of abundance and liberation for all.