Social innovation as a tool for social transformation of rural communities

This research exercise reflects on the connection between social appropriation of knowledge, social innovation and citizen participation, as elements of democratic social innovation; through the analysis of two initiatives created by participants of the Laboratorios Vivos de Innovacion y Cultura's training program, implemented in Clemencia and Maria la Baja (Bolivar-Colombia). Using a descriptive methodology, this research exposes the efforts of these two initiatives to ensure compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals -SDG-, emphasizing how significant is to open up channels for inclusive training, lifelong learning and the strengthening of both individual and collective capabilities, in vulnerable communities located in rural environments. This, as an alternative way to promote, from education, sustainable development, the democratization of knowledge, the valuation and appropriation of cultural heritage, the accompaniment to entrepreneurship, and the overcoming of poverty.