A guide for Interdisciplinary Service Learning

We need a modern, diverse and more empathetic institutional framework. And of course, the new neighbors must be aware of the needs of the territories before cutting ribbons. If the work of growing and developing is done alone, everything is more difficult, more complex and slower. Networking with others, even if they are different from us, is fundamental. Putting common problems on the diversity table is a good sign of progress. We must generate this capacity and make it a virtuous action. Working from a “divine trinity”, state, represented in the municipality, private enterprise and territory, is without any doubt one of the best options to continue growing, from the effective and affective, in the design of a fair, honest and more loving life for all.

What remains to be done? Without any doubt, the training of leaders is essential for continuing with the progress we have achieved, we need a well-managed knowledge base that allows us to debate, generate, co-create, and contribute from the strongest demands to the most affective proposals. We must be at the level of the social and political circumstances; we must be a proactive contribution but without losing our critical vision of the society we have built.

Note from the editorial team: Municipalities are in charge of the local administration of each commune or grouping of communes (or territories) determined by law. They are “autonomous corporations under public law, with legal personality and their own patrimony, whose purpose is to satisfy the needs of the local community and to ensure its participation in the economic, social and cultural progress of the local community and ensure its participation in the economic, social and cultural progress of the respective communes” (Law no. 18.695, 2006: 1). The Neighborhood Councils are “community organizations of a territorial nature, representative of the people residing in the same neighborhood unit and whose purpose is to promote the development of the community, defend the interests and watch over the rights of the neighbors and collaborate with the authorities of the State and the municipalities” (Decree, 58, 1997: 1).