Design among students in times of COVID: Participatory interventions to support networks of care in the Amazon

In this article, we reflect on the process, results, and learnings of a participatory project that aims to develop strategies and activities through design interventions, focused on the experience of students and local resilience processes that can contribute to strengthening networks of care of Amazonian students. This, overcoming the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on higher education students’ well-being in Ecuador, particularly in the Amazon region. The project builds on students’ experiences, particularly how they change their social fabric to obtain support on issues specific to their reality and to manage how they feel while facing pressuring conditions. As part of an extended design team, we have joined efforts with tourism, biology and environment, and design students from Amazon and Sierra universities. We draw from the methodological structure of Participatory Action Research, generating themes of Critical Pedagogy and participatory experiences from the south, all of which were aligned to indigenous research methodologies. This framework guided a flexible and iterative process that created a space for students to design together in complex contexts.