The UDA asks
Introduction
The UDA asks is a Linking project of the University of Azuay that was born as a result of a question and a need:
How do we contribute to the democratic processes and in the election of the new mayor or mayoress of the city?
And the need to offer useful content and with an academic analysis that encourages exercising the right to vote in an informed and responsible manner.
We believe that the academy has an important role in the construction of democratic processes. The University of Azuay works permanently on it, it is, in fact, our daily work. We are a university that houses and generates knowledge that contributes to the formation of an informed, equitable and participatory society and city.
With this question and need, we gestate The UDA asks, a project that talks with the eight candidates and the candidate for mayor of Cuenca. In this project you will find in-depth interviews with student concerns and analysis by researchers dedicated to generating and sustaining these processes of change.
The UDA asks it also became a learning space for students from the School of Communication and Design, who questioned and analyzed the work plans of the mayoral candidates. For weeks they prepared and expressed their doubts, which are also those of hundreds of university students, professors, collaborators and, of course, Cuencanos.
We bet on this proposal because we believe that the academy can provide answers and technical proposals. Because an egalitarian city cannot be built without the contribution of the academy, and the academy cannot ignore the current context.
We invite you to watch the interviews, analyze the content and, above all, to follow the conversation in the classroom and outside of it.
Analysis of the informative content of the
interviews
Within the La UDA Pregunta project, which sought to know the proposals of all the candidates and the candidate for mayor of Cuenca for the Ecuador 2023 sectional elections, the analysis of the official work plans presented to the National Electoral Council was completed, as well as as well as the interviews carried out with the students and academic researchers of the University of Azuay.
Below is the analysis by theme of the interviews conducted during the month of December 2022.
The themes exposed have been defined according to a criterion of relevance and social interest prioritized by the team of teachers of this project. The highlighted ideas have been obtained from the interviews carried out in La UDA Pregunta.
Theme: Security
In all the interviews carried out, the candidates presented their comments, concerns and promises to address security in Cuenca, a topic of great interest among candidates and voters, especially when the latest figures from the Cuenca Citizen Security Observatory show that the crimes with the greatest increase during 2022 were violent deaths, intrafamily violence and home robberies
Given these figures, the candidates have shown their foundations and promises.
Theme: Education
In education, the main topic addressed during the 9 interviews was the link between municipal management and the university, academy and research. The proposals collected by each of the candidacies are displayed in the following table.
Theme: Environment/Water/Mining
Cuenca has been characterized by its drinking water management plans, as well as its environmental protection and water recharge zones. Below is a detail of the positions and proposals of the candidates for mayor of Cuenca regarding the environmental issue.
Theme: Culture
Cuenca is shown at the national level as a city with great cultural richness, however, what do the mayoral candidates propose to turn culture into the fourth pillar of sustainable development in the canton?
These were his proposals to strengthen cultural management, according to the table that we can visualize.
Theme: Mobility
When we talk about mobility, the integration of the transport system is always a topic of discussion and a multi-year offer, which remains unfulfilled.
In this electoral campaign, this desired integration has also become the campaign offer of the nine mayoral candidates.
Theme: Gender
The gender approach makes it possible to build a fairer city and society and, above all, guarantee compliance with women's human rights.
The proposals shared by the candidates during the interviews can be seen in the following table.
Note: Click on the button 
and will show the content of the candidate's theme.
Work plans
- Verónica Abad- Friend Movement, Independent Mobilizing Action, List 16
- Omar Álvarez - Alianza Renace - Pse, List 107-17
- Paul Carrasco - Alianza Azuay Ya, List 1-33-4-21
- Adrián Castro Alliance Let's do it with Shungo, List 20-18
- Mario Castro - Alianza Contigo Advances Cuenca and El Azuay, List 104-8-3
- Jaime Moreno Alianza Azuay First List 82-62
- Roque Ordóñez - Citizen Revolution Political Movement, List 5
- Pedro Palacios New Generation Movement Lista100
- Cristian Zamora - Alliance Dare Together for Change, List 12-35
Analysis of work plans
themes of interest
methodological note
These are the proposals that are found in the goals, strategies or concrete actions raised in the work plans of the candidates on the topics of interest
The topics were selected according to relevance criteria, considering topics that are not usually covered in the media, and were defined by the team of teachers for this project.
Theme: Children and adolescents (NNA)
Building a city for the future involves integrating the children and adolescents who will live in it. Having their participation is important in the design of sustainable communities.
This is what the work plans of the candidates say about children and adolescents.
Theme: Youth
Adolescents have become the focus group of candidates in these sectional elections. Well, they will have a greater number of voters than in previous years. But, what do the candidates for mayor of Cuenca propose regarding youth? We can visualize in the following table.
Theme: Women or gender violence
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is the fifth goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but it is one of the essential foundations for building a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world, says the UN.
These are the proposals of the candidates and candidate to meet this objective.
Theme: Migration
In recent years, Cuenca has received hundreds of migrants, who have opted for this city to live. This is what the candidates propose to guarantee the rights of migrants and their integration, we can see in the following table.
Theme: Climate Change
Climate change does not stop. It is affecting lives, especially the most vulnerable people, and alters the economy of the countries.
These are the proposals of the candidates to address the issue.
Note: Click on the button and will show the content of the candidate's theme.
Analysis of the work plans on the topics
Safety and Environment
Methodological note:
These are the proposals that are found in the goals, strategies or concrete actions raised in the work plans of the candidates on the topics of interest.
The plans must include objectives, strategies, concrete actions, indicators. But not all follow that scheme.
Security was chosen because it is the topic that has generated the most interest among citizens in the last year, not only in Cuenca but also at the national level.
And environment, because it is a subject that generates great interest in Cuenca and is at the center of the debate. An example of this is the popular consultation that was held in 2020 on mining activity.
Theme: Security
Security is one of the collective rights that voters demand that rulers defend and protect. Given this, implementing comprehensive and solid strategies, given the increase in insecurity, has become an urgent need.
This is what the work plans of the candidates for mayor of Cuenca say on the subject.
Theme: Environment
The protection of ecosystems depends, mainly, on the political will and capacity to implement a relationship of respect between people and nature. This is also one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda:
Sustainably manage forests, fight desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.
What do the candidates and the candidate for mayor propose to protect and care for the ecosystems of the canton?
Note: Click on the button and will show the content of the candidate's theme.
Commitments
Word clouds
Find out the words that the candidates repeated most frequently in the LaUDApregunta interviews
methodological note
Word frequency analysis carried out with the ATLAS.ti software, based on the transcripts of the LaUDAPregunta interviews.
Photo Gallery
Team
team of teachers
Karla Crespo Jiménez, Project Director
Jackeline Beltrán, Questionnaire Questions and Data Verification
Lorena Chérrez, Communication and Public Relations
Ximena Guerrero, Content analysis and data verification
Gustavo Pacheco, Pre-production, production and post-production
Julio Peñaherrera, Pre-production, production and post-production
Students
Interviewers: Paula Abril, Doménica Robles, María Gabriela Calderón, María Emilia Abad, Ismael Flores, Ariel González, Luis Monsalve, Juan Fernando Reinoso
Content analysis and data verification: Mayra Guamán
Design: Sebastián Rodas, Paúl Fajardo, Juan Cordova
Technical support: Vinicio Yunga
