Ecuadorian Government Research Articles

Factores determinantes en la implementación del Plan Plurinacional para combatir el racismo en Ecuador: Eje Justicia y Legislación, 2009-2017

Mediante Decreto Ejecutivo No. 60, el Gobierno ecuatoriano aprobó el Plan Plurinacional, con el objetivo de eliminar la discriminación racial y la exclusión étnica y cultural y promover una ciudadanía plural, intercultural e inclusiva de los pueblos y nacionalidades históricamente discriminados. Uno de sus ejes de acción es la justicia y la legislación. En este contexto, el presente artículo analiza la fase de implementación de este eje e identifica aquellos factores (institucionales, políticos, económicos, sociales e ideológicos) que han incidido en su ejecución. Luego del levantamiento de información en varias instituciones que se encontraban a cargo de este plan se detectó que algunas de estas no disponían de datos cuantitativos ni resultados de gestión que permitieran evaluar la ejecución o cumplimiento de las acciones planteadas. Pese a haber transcurrido más de una década desde su promulgación, aún existen acciones que no se han ejecutado ni se ha realizado un seguimiento de su cumplimiento por parte de las entidades gestoras.

Gabriel García Moreno: cómo un mensaje instaura un proceso educativo

Ensayar perspectivas distintas de interpretación a fuentes históricas para luego confrontarlas con las modalidades educativas actuales y continuar pensando filosóficamente nuestro presente son las pretensiones de este escrito que, específicamente explora la pertinencia de la hermenéutica del Mensaje del presidente de la República al congreso constitucional de 1875 desde la noción de relación educativa, inscribiendo dicha tarea en los intersticios disciplinares de la Filosofía de la Educación, la Pedagogía y la Historia. El resultado de la investigación identifica ciertos roles: Gabriel García Moreno se constituye en docente, los senadores y diputados en sus interlocutores y la situación del estado ecuatoriano en el último periodo presidencial garciano representa el conocimiento que debe enseñarse y aprenderse.

Efecto péndulo y los negocios comerciales de Tul´can e Ipiales: Un comparativo

Este trabajo es parte del proyecto de investigación denominado “Desarrollo fronterizo Ecuador – Colombia: Provincia del Carchi – Departamento de Nariño; periodo de análisis 2017- 2019”, el propósito de esta investigación fue responder las siguientes interrogantes ¿Cómo se relaciona el efecto péndulo del tipo de cambio en el desarrollo empresarial comercial de la frontera en estudio? Y ¿Cuáles han sido los efectos de la política comercial adoptada por el gobierno ecuatoriano en el sector comercial de la frontera? La investigación fue de carácter descriptivo, con un enfoque cuantitativo, no experimental, con una muestra de 160 participantes de Tulcán e Ipiales. Los principales resultados indicaron que el 61,3% no percibe efectos negativos o directamente relacionados con el efecto péndulo cambiario y un 70,6% consideró que las políticas de gobierno presentan efectos casi nulos. Los comerciantes de Ipiales se destacan por la buena atención, mientras los negocios de Tulcán consideran como elemento diferencial a la confiabilidad.

Financial and Real Effects of Government Monitoring: Evidence From Commercial Bank Loans

I use a 2009 redesign of the Ecuadorian government's corporate tax auditing to document that tax enforcement affects firms' cost of capital and real decisions in settings where agency frictions constrain lending. Firms included in a group that was disproportionately monitored, i.e., audited annually by the Ecuadorian tax authority, accessed significantly cheaper new bank debt despite paying more taxes. Additionally, monitored firms increased their investments in human and physical capital. I use a regression discontinuity design to control for selection bias in their decision about which firms to monitor. Finally, I provide evidence that tax enforcement reduces agency frictions between the firm and its lenders, which is reflected in the lower interest rate on new debt. The implications are that (1) credible tax enforcement by the government can play a corporate governance role, and, (2) tax enforcement is an effective and fiscally positive way to stimulate firm investment where agency frictions constrain lending.

Impacto de COVID-19 en la investigación de la Biodiversidad en Ecuador

INTRODUCCIÓN. El Ecuador es uno de los países más biodiversos del mundo por lo que el estudio de su diversidad es de prioridad mundial. El 16 de marzo de 2020 el gobierno ecuatoriano decretó el estado de excepción, restricción de movilidad, suspensión de la jornada laboral y cierre de fronteras en el territorio nacional como medidas de protección y mitigación ante la declaratoria de pandemia por la enfermedad del COVID-19. La toma de estas resoluciones tuvo un efecto directo en el desarrollo y avance de estudios de la biodiversidad en el país. OBJETIVO. Esta investigación busca evaluar los efectos de las medidas para enfrentar el COVID-19 en el desarrollo de investigaciones relacionadas a la biodiversidad del Ecuador. MÉTODO. Se empleó metodología cuantitativa. Se realizó un cuestionario de 14 preguntas a 130 investigadores dentro de este campo de estudio. El cuestionario fue anónimo y difundido por email y redes sociales. RESULTADOS. Hasta el momento de publicación, los investigadores se encuentran realizando en su mayoría actividades científicas, tales como escritura (56%) y análisis de datos (61%). Sin embargo, proyectan una reducción de presupuestos (55%) y producción científica (46%). Si analizamos la producción científica esperada por género, las mujeres esperan publicar menos (58%) que los hombres (36%) Hasta un 25% de los investigadores han considerado cesar las actividades de su proyecto de investigación antes de su culminación y esta tendencia es mayor en el caso de estudiantes de posgrado (52%). DISCUSIÓN Y CONCLUSIONES. Nuestra encuesta identifica un ambiente de incertidumbre entre los investigadores, en el que se espera una reducción en la producción científica, que posiblemente afecte en mayor medida a mujeres y a estudiantes.

Ecuador: Into the abyss thanks to the structural adjustment policies of the Extended Fund Agreement with the IMF

This paper analyses the scope, origins, justification, and commitments of the extended fund arrangement (EFA) signed by the Ecuadorian government and the IMF in March 2019. This agreement, which represents a little more than a third of Argentina’ Stand-By Agreement, promotes Central Bank independence, austerity, as well as structural adjustment policies, but its basic’ diagnosis omits external sector problems. This paper presents the implications and contradictions of the agreement to promote structural changes in the real sector and how these foster policies that protect the interests of bondholders and bankers.

Detection of Terrain Deformations Using InSAR Techniques in Relation to Results on Terrain Subsidence (Ciudad de Zaruma, Ecuador)

In Zaruma city, located in the El Oro province, Ecuador, gold mines have been exploited since before the colonial period. According to the chroniclers of that time, 2700 tons of gold were sent to Spain. This exploitation continued in the colonial, republican, and current periods. The legalized mining operation, with foreign companies such as South Development Company (SADCO) and national companies such as the Associated Industrial Mining Company (CIMA), exploited the mines legally until they dissolved and gave rise to small associations, artisanal mining, and, with them, illegal mining. Illegal underground mining is generated without order and technical direction, and cuts mineralized veins in andesitic rocks, volcanic breccia, tuffs and dacitic porphyry that have been intensely weatherized from surface to more than 80 meters depth. These rocks have become totally altered soils and saprolites, which have caused the destabilization of the mining galleries and the superficial collapse of the topographic relief. The illegal miners, called "Sableros", after a period of exploitation at one site, when the gold grade decreased, abandon these illegal mines to begin other mining work at other sites near mineralized veins or near legalized mining galleries in operation. Due to this anthropic activity of illegal exploitation through the mining galleries and “piques” that remain under the colonial center of the city, sinkings have occurred in various sectors detected and reported in various technical reports since 1995. The Ecuadorian Government has been unable to control these illegal mining activities. The indicators of initial subsidence of the terrain are small movements that accumulate over a time and that can be detected with InSAR technology in large areas, improving the traditional detection performed with geodetic instrumentation such as total stations and geodetic marks. Recent subsidence at Fe y Alegría-La Immaculada School, the city’s hospital and Gonzalo Pizarro Street, indicates that there is active subsidence in these and other sectors of the city. The dynamic triggers that have possibly accelerated the rate of subsidence and landslides on the slopes are earthquakes (5 to 6 Mw) and heavy rains in deforested areas. Although several sinks and active subsidence caused by underground mining were detected in these sectors and in other sectors in previous decades, which were detailed in various reports of geological hazards prepared by specialized institutions, underground mining has continued under the colonial city center. In view of the existing risk, this article presents a forecasting methodology for the constant monitoring of long-term soil subsidence, especially in the center of the colonial city, which is a national cultural heritage and candidate for the cultural heritage of humanity. This is a proposal for the use of synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) for the subsidence analysis of topographic relief in the colonial area of the city of Zaruma by illegal mining galleries.

Social Control and the Gang: Lessons from the Legalization of Street Gangs in Ecuador

In 2008, the Ecuadorian Government launched a policy to increase public safety as part of its “Citizens’ Revolution” (La Revolucion Ciudadana). An innovative aspect of this policy was the legalization of the country’s largest street gangs. During the years 2016–2017, we conducted ethnographic research with these groups focusing on the impact of legalization as a form of social inclusion. We were guided by two research questions: (1) What changed between these groups and society? and (2) What changed within these groups? We completed field observations and sixty qualitative interviews with group members, as well as multiple formal and informal interviews with government advisors, police leaders and state actors related to the initiative. Our data show that the commitment to social citizenship had a major impact on gang-related violence and was a factor in reducing the nation’s homicide rate. The study provides an example of social control where the state is committed to polices of social inclusion while rejecting the dominant model of gang repression and social exclusion practiced throughout the Americas.

Políticas educativas y Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC): una mirada al Ecuador.

El presente artículo forma parte de un trabajo de investigación que requirió del análisis previo del marco legal de la política educativa para una propuesta de formación docente en competencia digital. No se trata en ningún momento de analizar exhaustivamente todo el marco legal relativo al tema, sino de poner de manifiesto la relevancia que tiene, para el gobierno ecuatoriano, la inclusión de las TIC en todos los ámbitos, y por lo tanto, la necesidad de la formación de todos sus ciudadanos en este sentido, particularmente de los docentes que es nuestro colectivo destinatario.

La formación de docentes a partir de la Revolución Alfarista

It is a study on public policies and actions developed by the different Ecuadorian governments on the subject related to teacher training. It begins with the creation of the teacher training institutions, then analyzes the contribution of the German pedagogical missions, studies the creation of the rural teacher training institutions, the transformation of these institutions and the suppression of them. Simultaneously, the contribution of universities in the training of educators is studied and the current issue of the teaching issue is finalized.

Quality management of electricity service with photovoltaic generation distributed in rural area

The need to search for new energy models that are integrally sustainable for the present and the future, especially photovoltaic solar energy that would contribute to a radical change in Manabí Ecuador where populations are living in rural areas away from the electricity grid, which causes impacts negative economic and in some rural electrification projects, and low quality have oriented national policies towards the search for the best alternatives, such as renewable sources, that is, the efficient use of resources and the increase in reliability, coverage, and quality in the electrical supply that Manabí has. Emphasizing "good living" as an objective of the Ecuadorian government, meeting its needs for the development of its agricultural, artisanal, commercial and industrial activities. Thus, avoiding that due to lack or poor quality of energy that prevents them from being able to carry out an activity typical of the countryside or rural areas, these people migrate to the cantonal headwaters, further thickening the cords of misery. The work presents an analysis on the quality of the electric service in isolated areas of the Chone municipality, proposing solutions that can improve the quality of the service, through sustainable energy planning using indigenous resources from the territory.

Perspective from Ecuador, the Second Country with More Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in South America: A Review.

To face the pandemic outbreak of a novel coronavirus many countries developed a series of containment methods; however, developing countries in South America had reacted apathetically to this worldwide concern. Ecuador's response to the novel virus Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) started on February 26, 2020, one month after the outbreak began in China. As of today, the countries with more confirmed cases in South America are Brazil and Ecuador. Although Brazil has two times the number of cases than Ecuador (Brazil: 700 cases per 100000 people vs. Ecuador: 400 cases per 100000), the huge population difference between the two countries raises concerns about the public health policies implemented by the Ecuadorian government. Even though there is no cure for COVID-19, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are promising alternatives. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has shown that there is room for improvement in the healthcare systems worldwide and the disastrous results on the fragile often unprepared are those systems in developing countries.

Patriarchy and progressive politics: gendered resistance to mining through everyday social relations of state formation in Intag, Ecuador

Over the last decade, the Ecuadorian government, following regional trends, called for social and environmental progress through state-controlled resource extraction. Scholars have demonstrated that this neo-extractive model warranted further investigation regarding its progressive aims. Specifically, this paper examines gendered critiques of state-led extractivism linked to expanding governmental and social programs. Even as women asserted their political recognition and rights in state politics, they still confronted patriarchal relations in their everyday lives. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic research over 6 years in campesino communities of Junín and Chalguayacu Alto, I argue that women in Intag challenged patriarchal state relations of extractive capitalism. This paper offers a novel contribution to literature on neo-extractivism and gendered forms of resistance. Women held the state accountable for its promises of social welfare and infrastructural development through which it generated public support for controversial mineral projects. These symbols of state paternalism revealed expanded patriarchal structures that underpinned their daily lives, with significance for a gendered politics of resistance.

Teaching English Language in Ecuador: A Review from the Inclusive Educational Approach

The inclusive education in Ecuador presents relevant advances during the century XXI. However, the information available regarding English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching-learning process in students with Special Educational Need (SEN) suggest the revision of the government policy from the inclusive approach for contributing to the improvement of the current teaching practice. The research aims analyzing government policy for education with an emphasis on instruction of EFL in students with disabilities for the period 1912 to 2020. This work begins with the identification of the current Ecuadorian inclusive education policy, besides the revision of previous laws regarding to the instruction of English as a Foreign Language in this country. The information obtained through the documental analysis contrasts the data emerging through contextualized observation process and semi-structured interviews applied to stakeholders from two public universities located in the province of Manabi during 2019. As a result it is exposed a chronologically systematization chart regarding the evolution of Ecuadorian education policy in which is possible to identify the key inclusive education advances and setbacks in the area of EFL. The conclusions ratified the necessity to strengthen from the inclusive approach the Ecuadorian government policies for the instruction of English as a Foreign Language of learner’s with Special Educational Needs.

El teletrabajo: nueva modalidad laboral y una opción digital para las empresas y la sociedad

Las tendencias globales apuntan a la transformación de los entornos laborales, entre estas aparece una nueva modalidad laboral apoyada en las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones denominada Teletrabajo, misma que combina políticas corporativas basadas en cumplimiento de objetivos. El Gobierno del Ecuador a través del Ministerio de Telecomunicaciones y de la Sociedad de la Información ha impulsado como proyecto la implementación de Infocentros Comunitarios a nivel nacional, mismos que constituyen espacios tecnológicos de participación y desarrollo que garantizan el acceso inclusivo a las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones de las poblaciones de parroquias rurales y urbanos marginales. Estos espacios permiten ampliar los emprendimientos, donde la economía plantea el desarrollo a través de la transformación digital de las organizaciones, la evolución del comercio electrónico, el impulso de la innovación y emprendimientos de base tecnológica, que han permitido que las TIC encaminen al teletrabajo como una nueva alternativa laboral, donde las fuentes de empleo no se encuentren atadas a la presencia física del empleado, impulsando de manera incluyente el desarrollo de habilidades digitales en los usuarios a través de herramientas y aplicaciones tecnológicas que mejoren la calidad de vida del ciudadano e impulsando el desarrollo productivo de su comunidad.

A linear programming methodology for approximate dynamic programming

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and the European Union, grant DPI2016-81002-R (AEI/FEDER, UE), and the PhD grant from the Government of Ecuador (SENESCYT).

Ancestral knowledge application via “albarradas” and “tapes” in water management in Santa Elena province, Ecuador

Integral water management is relevant for sustainability through the criteria application of accumulation, recharge and environmental control of a watershed, enhanced by the rescue of ancestral knowledge. In the Santa Elena province (PSE), there are hundreds of structures of “albarradas” and “tapes”, built by pre-Columbian cultures as tools for water management. The aim of this paper is to present ancestral knowledge linked to groundwater by describing the use of “albarradas” and “tapes”, for the provision of water in rural communities in semi-arid areas. The methodology includes: i) generalities on the use of ancestral structures; ii) description of the “albarradas” and “tapes” in the PSE; iii) conceptual scheme of the structure of this ancestral knowledge; iv) rescue and practice for water management in semiarid areas. In the PSE there are vestiges of more than a hundred “albarradas” and “tapes” in rural areas, which reveal a history and experiences in the management and use of groundwater in these territories. The Ecuadorian government has supported the rescue of knowledge through the rehabilitation of the “albarradas”. In Manglaralto, the community itself, together with strategic allies, has been evolving and adapting this ancestral knowledge, to respond to a growing demand, and thus provide water for their own community, and they have been strengthening their productive activities such as tourism and agriculture. Nowadays, by using the “albarradas” and “tapes”, a system of planting and harvesting water has been put into practice (SyCA), and has becomes the key for water sustainability and the development of rural communities.

Políticas educativas y currículo en la emergencia sanitaria de 2020

The rush of events and the exponential growth of cases of contagion by Covid-19 in the world forced States to make decisions on the fly. From a traditional and even generic perspective, we assume that such decision-making by the government of a State is understood as public policy or at least, policy guidelines. Several of these guidelines respond to instrumental logics that are concerned with the methodologies and procedures to […] solve an emerging or present problem or conflict in society (Pulido, 2017, p. 16). Therefore, this article aims to analyze Ecuadorian educational policies and the curriculum in the framework of the health emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the methodological component, we opted for mixed approaches looking for a methodological triangulation that combined documentary analysis, cybernetnography and survey, thus resorting to quantitative methods, in the case of the survey, and qualitative methods in the case of cybernetnography, which was carried out through support virtual. Among the main results, we identify that the educational policies implemented by the Ecuadorian government did not consider the technological and connectivity accesses of teachers and students, which caused a situation of unease in these two actors of the educational system. Likewise, and from the methodological triangulation, we identify that the Covid 19 Plan was underused by teachers in their classroom activities. The final reflections invite us to ponder about the need for constant dialogue. Educational decisions on the design and development of the curriculum must always be agreed with the different actors of the educational community.

Does Test-Based Teacher Recruitment Work in the Developing World? Experimental Evidence from Ecuador

Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to pass national skill and content knowledge tests before they are allowed to participate in merit-based selection competitions for tenured positions at public schools in an attempt to raise teacher quality. We evaluate the impact of this policy using linked administrative teacher information to data from a unique experimental study where almost 15,000 kindergarten children were randomly assigned to their teachers in the 2012-2013 school year in Ecuador. We find positive and significant effects of test-screened tenured teachers of at least a 0.105 standard deviation for language and a 0.085 standard deviation for math, which persist even after controlling for teacher education, experience, cognitive ability, personality traits and classroom practices.

Calidad de los servicios sociales gerontológicos en las ciudades de Ibarra, Atuntaqui y Cotacachi – provincia de Imbabura

La calidad de los servicios sociales gerontológicos en las ciudades de Ibarra, Atuntaqui, Cotacachi – provincia de Imbabura, ha sido una preocupación frecuente de las empresas dedicadas a la prestación de servicios al adulto mayor, debido a su demanda y sumado a la falta de políticas, objetivos, estructura formal y procedimientos orientados a brindar un servicio de calidad, lo cual resulta difícil adaptarse a los cambios exigidos por sus clientes y organismos de control. Los objetivos de esta investigación son describir la situación actual de los procesos que se lleva a cabo en los centros gerontológicos de la provincia de Imbabura para la prestación de servicios de atención, rehabilitación y relajamiento, al igual que sus requisitos establecidos en las normas ISO 9001-2015 y establecer un plan de implementación de un sistema de gestión de calidad basado en la norma ISO 9001-2015. En cuanto al tipo de investigación, se utilizó el método descriptivo debido a que fue apropiado en el campo de la Dirección de Empresas y Sociología ya que permitió a los investigadores describir la situación actual y los eventos que se presentan. Con relación a los métodos de estudio aplicados fueron el analítico, sintético, hipotético y deductivo; la principal técnica aplicada fue la encuesta para la obtención de información primaria, al igual que se analizó la existencia, sugerida por la literatura, en relación a la gestión de la calidad y la satisfacción del cliente. Se estable que este trabajo de investigación contribuirá al plan nacional planteado por el Gobierno Ecuatoriano.