Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This essay describes the implementation and execution of the project "Cuéntame," an intervention to provide psychological care for frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic in Ecuador. The main objectives of the project are to reduce the gap in access services for frontline personnel, to offer mental health care through remote psychological assistance, and finally to mitigate the negative short- and long-term psychological effects in this population group. The main barriers and potential solutions are discussed within the context of the project"™s execution. Finally, the conclusion addresses the relevance and impact of the project in relation to the development of future similar mental health initiatives and presents testimonies of some of the parties involved in the implementation and execution of this project.

The planned and systematic practice of physical exercise and sports in addiction rehabilitation centers is deficient. The objective of this study is to reveal the intention of patients in addiction rehabilitation centers towards the planned and systematic practice of physical exercise and sports as a key factor. Sixty people between the ages of 17 and 72 years, with a mean of 34 years and a standard deviation of 14, from two important rehabilitation centers in the province of Azuay participated in the study. A questionnaire object of study previously validated by specialists in the area was applied. The results show that the majority (85%) of the patients of these addiction rehabilitation centers intend to practice physical exercise in a planned and systematic way two to four days a week due to the benefits that this practice has in their rehabilitation process. Furthermore, 98.3% of the surveyed population agrees that this type of practice contributes to the use of their free time as a way of living together within a society without using drugs. It is concluded that the planned and systematic practice of physical exercise and sports for people in the process of addiction rehabilitation is essential for the proper use of free time and mainly as an alternative to inhibit anxiety due to the absence of psychotropic drugs since physical exercise generates chemical substances such as dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, which produce similar sensations that people in the process of drug use rehabilitation need to feel.

The parish of Pacto is considered Ecuador"™s capital of panela. Pacto"™s population depends economically on livestock and agriculture, especially sugar cane cultivation. The production of panela from sugarcane juice is the main product of the parish, and a large part of its production is consumed in the country and is also exported to Colombia, France, Italy, and Spain. The production process benefits the population economically; however, some of its actions have an impact on the environment. This sector has technological problems that directly damage the production process, profitability, and economic sustainability. The main environmental problems are related to the impact on surface water and groundwater, terrestrial flora and fauna, and workers' health. The main positive impact is the generation of employment for the sector's population. The need for the population to be able to use their natural resources in a sustainable manner makes knowing the impacts generated by their activities a priority. In this work, the main environmental impacts of panela production were identified, and measures are proposed as part of an environmental management plan to reduce those impacts.

Service-Learning (SL) is an experiential learning methodology that is applied in multiple fields, one of them being the Ceramics Workshop to which this article refers. The Ceramics Workshop arises as a form of artistic expression of the community of Guayama Grande in the Andean páramo of Chugchilán in Cotopaxi. Here, for two and a half years "”before and during the COVID-19 pandemic"”students, teachers and the community have put into practice a methodology based on recovering their memory and revitalizing their language, both of which are fundamental in building their world, with ceramics as the mechanism of interpretation of that world, which has been in "oblivion" for years. The Workshop becomes a vehicle for exchange and mutual learning. This has allowed the emergence of a community image sculptor who, putting into practice the acquired knowledge and the concept of ayni, Andean reciprocity, has been able to share the art of ceramics with other communes and places, promoting well-being (SDG3) and quality education (SDG4).

Urban green areas can host important biodiversity and maintain natural resources and environmental services. In an increasingly urbanized world, these areas play fundamental roles in mitigating the negative impacts of urban growth and climate change and are essential for a healthy environment. A key aspect to promote the development of harmonious and lasting relationships between humans and nature in urban areas is the generation of processes that call for the reflection, reconstruction and resignification of the interactions between people and green areas and that encourage the construction of knowledge and experiences. Citizen science is an excellent strategy to promote the involvement of people in nature activities and has been used around the world as an effective tool in environmental education, with better results than traditional tools. The purpose of this article is to present activities that have been promoted by the outreach project "Celebrating Urban Nature," with the aim of promoting links between people living in urban areas and biodiversity, through the synergy between citizen science and education. In particular, we highlight two case studies carried out in schools in Quito, the first focused on the integration of citizen science and the Sustainable Development Goals and the second on the creation of learning spaces through the "Jardines Silvestres'' program.

The state of the public health system in the Galapagos Islands has been a concern for Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ in recent years. This is because the islands"™ public health system urgently needs external support in order to meet the needs presented by the population. The population has found itself in need of having to travel to the mainland to receive medical assistance from medical specialists that are not found on the islands. Since its creation in 2016, this project has sought to improve and support the public health system for the Galapagos population and avoid their need of having to travel to the mainland to receive medical assistance. To achieve this objective, the project has been divided into three areas: research, medical assistance and continuing education. During these past years, several stakeholders, principally those involved in the Master of Public Health from the university, as well as other departments, have helped in multiple ways. Various international institutions have also been involved that have helped with the project"™s continuity. Thanks to several agreements the university has made with Oskar Jandl Hospital, USFQ has had a significant impact on the Galapagos public health system. Considering the nature of this project, it seeks to contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #3: Health and Well-being.

Education is the fundamental pillar in the community and it has undergone important and mandatory changes, adapting to the new teaching-learning methodologies with accompaniment, be they synchronous and asynchronous. This article aims to communicate the activities and results of the online education intervention, using virtual environments in the Unit for Diagnosis, Psychopedagogical Research and Inclusion Support (Udipsai) with the support of the Department of Links with Society from the Catholic University of Cuenca. The objective of this research is to substantiate the importance of Teaching and describe the results based on the methodologies used plus the interviews with experts and personnel from the Udipsai center. Thus, determining the educational impact during the online intervention process through this department. The importance of socializing the results of this research is intended to make visible the positive results of online education through the use of virtual platforms.

Craftsmanship is one of the most representative expressions of the intangible heritage of Latin America and the world. However, the advancement of globalization, rise of mass industries and neglect on the part of local consumers have left artisans and their traditional activities helpless. For this reason, despite incentives and assistance, many artisans in the region are facing an imminent artisanal extinction.   This research generates a journey through the history, importance and decline of handicrafts in Latin America in order to understand the cultural and economic values of preserving them. Now that current markets are again valuing manual and personalized work, the case study of the Guano knotted rugs is used to generate three main axes"”associativity, education and connectivity"”to explain the feasibility of promoting Latin American handicrafts in the world. The confrontation of the past of craftsmanship with a better tomorrow explains how the rescue of our artisans can really contribute to us all as a society and, furthermore, push towards the fulfillment of the United Nation"™s SDG to create more sustainable communities and a better future for all.

This essay discusses the development of a language learning program for the local community on the island of San Cristóbal in the Galapagos Islands. Second and third language skills are very important to residents of the Galapagos due to the islands’ dependency on the tourism sector. In pursuit of UN Sustainable Development Goal Four, Quality Education, the Department of Foreign Languages has implemented formal English and French as a Foreign Language education programs for children, adolescents and adults on San Cristóbal. USFQ’s Language Department in the Galapagos is small, but has used bespoke course design based around communicative functions to meet the needs of different groups within the local community.      

This article presents the work carried out within the Tsantsas project: rethinking collections of Shuar objects; focusing on the joint engagement between academia, museums, public institutions and the Shuar community. Framed around three key objectives of the United Nations 2030 planning, this project initiated in 2017 and whose first phase culminated in December 2019 has managed, through interdisciplinarity y concerted work with communities, to demonstrate the importance of collaborative and inclusive work in the development of research projects. This article also seeks to address the different narratives and debates that arise around research and work with human remains in museum contexts, whether they are exhibited or not. By approaching the historical conceptions, many of them nowadays problematic, with which these human remains have been presented from ethnography, history, archaeology and biology, and therefore within their respective narratives, we also explore the consequences that such interpretations have had on the reappropriation of the heritage of ancestral communities, especially when the trade or illicit trafficking of these cultural goods has separated them from ritual contexts for their commodification and exhibition. This paper will present some of the initial findings of the project, including digital medical images, and the feasibility of DNA analysis of these remains.