A new development paradigm or business as usual? Exploring the relationship between the political subject and social change

This chapter examines an evolving framework for development that has emerged in recent decades within an expanding global network of non-governmental organisations. The evolving framework began to emerge in Colombia after 1974 with the founding of la Fundacion para la Aplicacion y Ensenanzas de las Ciencias (the Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences, or FUNDAEC), a non-profit organisation focused on rural development. FUNDAEC understood that many of the Earth's inhabitants recognise a spiritual dimension to human existence and experience religion as a primary source of meaning and motivation. The chapter provides a brief overview of an emerging discourse on development. This discourse is emerging from the grounded experiences of peoples across the planet who are working together in increasingly sophisticated and organically connected ways through a systematic process of learning and capacity building based on a shared framework of assumptions, concepts and principles.