To design and launch a just transition initiative in the upper Cauca River Valley

Arturo Escobar, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a prominent critic of globalization and an advocate for a holistic approach to achieving sustainability, economic justice, and self-determination. Born and raised in Colombia, Escobar has focused on implementing this “just transition” approach in the region around the city of Cali. He and his collaborators have nurtured a network of diverse civil society organizations that represent the multiple communities, interests, ecosystems, and economies in the region. They recognize that achieving a just transition will require identifying, fostering, and knitting together a range of alternative strategies to address the complex challenges the region faces. Building on a planning grant from the Ford Foundation, this next phase of the initiative will support research, micro-grants to pilot local experiments in three different locations, and continued development of the network of collaborators.