What it's all about...

Hello! Erica and Casey invite you to contribute to Speaking Quito, the blog of our year in Ecuador

We have been working in social policy in the UK for a while now and feel like we need a new perspective, so we’re in Ecuador to have a look at things from a distance. We plan to be back in Yorkshire in 2010.

We’re interested in…
Different catalysts of social change. Casey is fairly argumentative so he’s interested in how we can use conflict, disagreements and struggles to facilitate change. Erica is more civilised and likes lurking in the shops and cafes of museums and the like, and is therefore interested in the role of culture in stimulating and representing change.

We’ll be thinking about…
All things cultural and conflicting (and perhaps a mixture of the two), we hope there will also be musings on: death of the old left/right divide, state intervention, a comparison between international aid & lottery funding, the public consequences of private decisions, electoral reform, confusing ends with means, the nature of greed, collective ownership & use, environmental impact, Neo liberalism, behavioural economics, representational democracy, are we primarily motivated by personal gain? Could the Third sector include profit-sharing? Identity, participation, citizenship… etc….

We’re in Ecuador because…
Their newish left wing government is mostly surrounded by governments of very different persuasions. How will the current economic situation affect regimes with vast social programmes, built largely on oil money? They will have a new constitution to give increased recognition to the rights of indigenous peoples and to build to build faith in democratic processes and to value natural resources.

If you are interested in erratic and unpredictable discussions on this kind of thing then please join the blog!

Erica's first blog

Welcome to Speaking Quito!