LOPI in The Design of Community-Based Programs: A Case Study of Agroecology Promotion in Guatemala

• In Event: Ways of organizing learning in everyday settings: LOPI in Indigenous practices, values, and community collaboration

Abstract

This paper examines how Learning through Observing and Pitching In (LOPI) can inform the design of programs supporting the sustainability of Indigenous food systems. In a case study of agroecology promotion in Guatemala, LOPI played a key role in both the community-engaged design process and in the definition of program goals. Findings suggest that use of LOPI enabled an intergenerational design team to develop an expansive vision, where conviviality and ancestral knowledge were understood as central to notions of sustainability. This work suggests LOPI’s relevance to fields such as agroecology and sustainable development, which increasingly strive to bridge Western and Indigenous goals and cosmologies but often lack concrete tools and methodologies for doing so.

Author

• Michael Bakal, University of California, Santa Cruz