Public policies toward sustainable communities: the last chance

The capitalist economic model is unsustainable because far from producing an increase in the well-being of the population, it has intensified environmental and social problems. The 2008 Constitution of Ecuador includes some approaches when claiming the "sumak kawsay" or "good living", which grants rights to nature and considers a form of social and solidarity economy. Some of the approaches of groups that demand social change are accepted, which would improve government management in the design, implementation, and evaluation stages of public policies. Regarding the implementation stage, the scope is to analyze and present a proposal for public environmental, health, and education policies, which would allow us to overcome the crisis. Finally, it seeks to contribute to the discussion around post-development, that is, the viability of sustainable communities that allow supporting the theory of local development and specifically the “sumak kawsay” or “good living” adopted by Ecuador.