POPULAR EXTENSION IN THE FEDERAL NETWORK OF PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION: ACTIONS AIMED AT THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMUNITY OF ARTISANAL FISHERMEN/SHELLFISH GATHERERS

Abstract

Considering the social commitment of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (Ifes) to contribute to the social development of the communities present in its territory, this article aims to report the synthesis of an extension action that aimed to promote a diagnosis of the social reality and the beginning of a process of collective self-organization of artisanal fishermen/shellfish gatherers in Piúma-ES,  in the southern coastal region of Espírito Santo. The extension activities were developed with the participation of teachers, pedagogue and students of the Fisheries Engineering Course at Ifes Campus Piúma and a group of 46 artisanal fisherwomen/shellfish gatherers associated with the Z-09 Fishing Colony, in the locality. The work was supported by two congruent epistemological anchors, one theoretical and the other methodological. The theoretical anchor was referenced in the institutional guidelines of Ifes for the extension actions developed in the institution, linked to the contribution theorist of Popular Extension that is established in the act of communication, via dialogical, participatory and horizontal interaction with socially vulnerable groups (MELO NETO, 2014). The methodological anchor was established in the procedures of action research for local development, a technique of social intervention surrounding the researchers, in partnership with the actors involved in a given problematic reality (DIONNE, 2007). The analysis of results was carried out through the hermeneutic-dialectic technique understood as a research and work dynamic that integrates the analysis of structures, processes and results in social programs through the qualitative evaluation of the multiple dimensions of the reality studied (MINAYO, 2016). In summary, the extension action produced a diagnosis of the social reality of the shellfish gatherers of Piúma and its results evidenced the genesis of a process of collective self-organization as a starting point for future extension actions of the Ifes Campus Piúma with a view to the social development of this traditional community of artisanal fishing present in its territory.