Diagnóstico y priorización de las problemáticas sociales de la ciudad de Buenaventura bajo una óptica multicriterio y mapa cognitivo

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss the main socio-economic issues that currently affect the city of Buenaventura in Valle, Colombia. The idea is not only to provide an alternative perspective that would allow us to appreciate a little better the city’s critical situation, but also to shed light onto how different managerial tools could be used to help us deal with such complexity. For example, by identifying the main drivers of the situation and suggesting ways forward to prioritize those issues in order to intervene and improve them in the future. The reading aims to target educational institutions (basic, middle and higher), as well as social and cultural organizations, which are the ease of providing development through knowledge. Likewise, this can serve as a source of reference for youth and leaders of the Pacific who wish to provide alternatives in search of a different and inclusive Buenaventura. The document is organized as follows: first, I undertake a literature review of the concepts of poverty and vulnerability in order to inform a subsequent diagnosis of the current socio-economic situation in Buenaventura. For this purpose, I use secondary data that is collected through various governmental and non-governmental sources. This will be the input for a Multicriteria model, which seeks to prioritize Buenaventura´s communities and their problems. Then, an approach based on Cognitive Mapping is employed in order to model in a holistic fashion the overall situation in Buenaventura. The idea is to enable the reader to see a rich picture of the situation and how all the variables and factors discussed in this dissertation affect and interact with each other. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are shared. The main findings highlight the areas of the city that have higher shortcomings and need a more prompt intervention. In addition, the cognitive mapping approach will suggest and sketch the systemic nature of the problem and the solutions suggested.