'Human Development in Chiapas' Interdisciplinary Research Programme

The general aims of the programme are:

• To generate theoretical and applied knowledge.
• To collaborate in solving major national problems.
• To establish new forms of university–society relationships.
• To develop new models that link university research, training and services that respond to society's priorities.

Through 'Strategy Workshops on Sustainable Human Development', the research, training and service activities of the programme have been defined in collaboration with social organisations and non-governmental organisations. The research lines and related work are as follows:

Area of Nutrition, Health and Living Conditions

This includes designing and putting medical attention models into operation with the participation of the community by training community health care workers, working with social health services in the field of stomatology and nutrition, and by designing health technology.

Actions carried out:

• Establishing the predominant morbidity profiles of the inhabitants in the poorest communities.
• Reporting on the nutritional state of children under five years old in indigenous communities.
• Qualifying students in the area of health as well as community health agents to perform epidemiologic checks and health and nutrition follow-ups in the indigenous population (with special emphasis on the child population), and to use health and nutrition indicators that are commonly used to evaluate these health issues.
• Designing, operating and evaluating an academic social service programme for the health related degrees that participate in the research programme.
• Collaborating with health institutions in preventative and primary health care programmes.

Area of Technology, Production and the Environment

This includes actions to promote the sustainable use of natural resources (water, forestry products – both timber and other products), improve agricultural production, including agriculture for personal consumption, commercial production and development of new technological alternatives, improve agro-ecological practices, protect wildlife and collaborate to create Sustainable Environmental Management Units.

Actions carried out:

In general, the activities carried out were aimed at promoting sustainable practices and improving self-sufficiency and the production of food for markets. Advancing in the search for productive technical alternatives was a priority.

• Collaborating with other actors who work towards the promotion of sustainable production in different regions of the state.
• Looking for new areas of action for social services in communities, organisations and cooperatives (with the participation of students from degrees such as agronomy, veterinary studies, biology, industrial and graphic design, etc.).
• Training community agro-ecology promoters.
• Analysing technical production systems and how they affect the living conditions of the population.
• Analysing, systematising and promoting agro-ecological practices (mainly, in the production of basic products and coffee). Identifying areas of intervention and collaboration in agro-ecology.
• Analysing technical production models and their results.
• Analysing the practices and ways of using the natural resources and their impact.
• Analysing the actions different actors carry out with regards to environmental issues and the implications that different social strategies have on the environment.

Area of Education, Culture and Human Rights

This includes actions to promote an intercultural dialogue.

Actions carried out:

• In 2001, a pilot programme in collaboration with the Secretariat of Public Education was initiated in the state called, in Spanish “Jugar y Vivir los Valores” (Living and Playing with Values), with the aim of working with students in primary education to deepen their knowledge of key values.

• A research project has been carried out to gain more knowledge of the values of the Tzeltal culture.

Social Strategies, Public Policies and Power Relations

This includes analysing social development strategies (in collaboration with social actors), researching into the problems related to developing strategies for human development (particularly those that express the priorities of the majority sectors in facing the processes of social, economical, political and cultural exclusion), and analysing public development policies and their implications for living conditions, production, the environment and the processes of democratisation.

Actions carried out:

• Analysis of different types of organisational processes developed by social groups for structuring a strategic perspective for the medium or long term and that involve a change in power relations.
• Analysis of the main conflicts and their possible solutions.
• Analysis of the different forms of cohesion, organisation and the drawing up of projects for local and regional actors.
• Systematisation of experiences for developing social strategies by different social actors (decision making processes, aims and priorities, socio-economic and cultural context, actions and results, organisational methods, etc.)
• Evaluation and follow-up of public policies and governmental programmes aimed at promoting sustainable human development. Consideration of aspects such as transparency, equity, sustainability, etc.
• Analysis of the platforms and methods for promoting social participation, with emphasis on the actions aimed at improving the sustainable management of natural resources, health and the quality of life of the population.