Methodology to Support Participative Decision-Making with Vulnerable Communities. Case Study: Engineers Without Borders Colombia/Ingenieros Sin Fronteras Colombia—ISFCOL

The decision-making process to select the best alternative for solving a social problem in a project, which involves vulnerable communities, must be carried out in a structured way. It is important to take into consideration the preferences and perceptions of all the beneficiaries and stakeholders with their many different competences and interests as this may increase the probability of successful solutions. Thus, this paper answers the following question: How to design a methodology that incorporates different points of view in order to reach solutions with vulnerable communities? Starting from this question, this paper presents a decision-making model for social systems incorporating conventional decision-making methodologies such as the Analytic hierarchy process to systemic methodologies like syntegration through the Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate project framework (CDIO). It also presents a case study developed by the organization Ingenieros Sin Fronteras Colombia (ISFCOL) -Engineers without Borders Colombia- where this model has been applied for solving problems related to the contamination of water sources in vulnerable communities.