Patrimonio biocultural y participación comunitaria en Yucatán: una propuesta para la evaluación de políticas públicas

Abstract

Through traditional productive practices, local knowledge, a belief system (praxis-corpus-cosmos), and language, components of their biocultural heritage, the Mayan-Yucatecan communities preserve a close co-evolutionary relationship with their territories. However, frequently socio-productive public policy programs provoke interruptions in the traditional management of the productive systems in rural communities. Despite having overall importance, these programs do not contemplate the impact on the biocultural heritage as an integral part of their implementation. Likewise, to strengthen community participation, it is necessary to promote and facilitate the establishment of times and spaces for dialogue that favor communication, dialogue, consensus and collective action among the main social and political actors. From a literature review, field observations, and in-depth interviews, the present work designs a proposal for a simultaneous evaluation instrument of the Family Backyard Production Program (PPSFT in Spanish), an approach that allows for the understanding of the effects of external programs on the traditional management of the communities’ productive systems, as well as the degree of community participation in the Program.