CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

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Community Development and Social Equity in Cuba: Achievements and Perspectives i Maria del Carmen Zabala Arguelles The purpose of this work is to present the experiences and perspectives of Cuba regarding community development and the promotion of social equity at the local/community level. First, we present the trends that have characterized community development in Cuba throughout the last few decades; then we touch on those related to theoretical and methodological references that support these practices, and we end with some experiences related to community development: Comprehensive Neighborhood Transformation Workshops, the Havana Historian's Office and experiences by the Cuban Program of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences ii . Brief Notes on Community Development in Cuba Communities have had an important role, both as a support system and a leader in executing several different programs, campaigns, mobilizations, and social tasks in Cuba since the Revolution triumphed in 1959. Starting with the economic crisis triggered in the nineties, the importance of this scenario has been rescaled, as a result of the limitations to main resources when solving problems and of the increase in population and activities that take place in that area; two important events took place that are consistent with this reality: the creation of Popular Councils (1992), local government bodies that coordinate and integrate community actions and organizations, and the establishment of the Departmental Group for Cuban Community Work (1996), whose aim was to strengthen collaboration between community organizations and entities. From then until now, community development in Cuba has been characterized by its revitalization, diversity and wealth of experiences according to its purposes and methods, the plurality of players and social structures involved in them, and the coexistence of tendencies that reveal different levels of social participation, all within a scenario of increasing social complexity. But the crisis and economic reform that took place in the nineties also had damaging effects on Cuban society, among them the decay of quality of life of the population, the increase of several different social problems, processes of socioeconomic restratification and the reemergence of social inequality, which are all clearly reflected in the communities. At the start of this century, a broad array of social programs were launched with strategic aims at social development--in the fields of health, food, education, culture, employment and social security, and their goal was to deal directly and personally with problems that had gotten worse throughout the most serious years of the economic crisis. In this sense, new players emerged onto the community scene: emerging teachers, art instructors, social workers, municipal university campuses, among others, which articulated to a lessor or greater extent the experiences with community development that existed previously. The most recent moment, which is referred to as the “process of updating the Cuban economic model,” has focused its interest also on the local-community level. In the Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, sanctioned in 2011, the need to strengthen local participatory management in the territories stands out as a way to solve different problems in the country, and to ratify the principle of equity as an essential pillar of the Cuban social model; this implies that a focus on equity must be included in the agendas of local development.
Although vast experience is gained from community development and current policies are now favoring decentralization processes more, there are still tendencies that limit community development, including the disconnect between social and institutional programs developed simultaneously in communities, poor coordination among players due to the prevalence of a sectoral focus, the persistence of a centralist and top-down culture, the limited systematization and evaluation of community development experiences; in addition to the lack of focus on equity in local development agendas. At the same time, Cuba possesses many strengths to boost community work: the basis of the Cuban social project--among them, equity and social justice; the social participation of the people; the human capital created throughout several decades; the existing social capital in communities made up of social organizations, different institutions, local governments, municipal universities, among others; government support in the activities and needs of the territories; the existing cultural identity and traditions in these areas; and the solidarity that as an ethical and practical principle sustains daily life in the communities. Using these strengths and local prospects would allow for an increase of the impact capability of the community in reducing existing social concerns. Theoretical-Methodological Models There are many theoreticalmethodological models that support the practice of community development in Cuba. Among the most important are: Research- Action-Participation, Popular Education, Community Psychology, Sociocultural Animation, Strategic Community Planning, Sustainable Development and Local Community Development; paradigms focused on participation are those that undoubtedly have had the greatest impact in Cuba, which have been adopted effectively by several community projects and organizations. Popular Education accepts dialogue and participation as indispensable for the emergence of a new popular subject, highlights the learning dialogue and the value of popular knowledge, placing participation at the foundation of learning and the group as its preferential site. Among its main gnoseological principles are the social construct of knowledge and the dialectic unity between action-reflection-action. Its pedagogical principles are collective, dialogic and symmetrical learning, the value of popular knowledge, participation as the foundation for learning (the process of sharing knowledge), respect and acceptance of “other knowledge,” the group as an area for learning, education based on a critical analysis of practice (problem-posing of reality) and education as an instrument for equality, social justice and wellbeing. Among the political principles are participation and dialogue, the socialization of power, inclusion and justice, popular prominence and a culture of emancipation. iii In Cuba, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center has developed basic courses from popular educators, whose graduates make up the Network of Popular Educators, and accompanies experiences of community development in different cities throughout the country. Research-Action-Participation [Investigación – Acción – Participación] (IAP) shares the purpose of social transformation with Popular Education and is characterized by its endogenous, collective, and participative nature, and by the researcher's position as a committed participant. Countless experiences of social transformation in communities are achieved by this paradigm, and many of them have been advised by universities and municipal university centers. Overall, the contributions obtained by these theoretical-methodological models are
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REFERENCES i G. H. Golub and C. F.
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