Cooperative Leadership in the Digital Age: The Case of the Universidad FUNDEPOS de Costa Rica

Authors

  • Gloriana Rodríguez Alvarez Gloriana Rodríguez Álvarez is a Lecturer in Leadership, Development, Peace, and Security Education. She holds a PhD in Latin American Studies and a PhD in Leadership with reference to Security and Development from King’s College London.
  • Ennio Rodríguez Céspedes

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47697/lds.39390004

Keywords:

Cooperative Leadership, Digital education justice, Social Inclusion, Participatory pedagogy, Latin America

Abstract

The case of FUNDEPOS Alma Mater, Costa Rica’s only cooperative-owned university, reveals both the transformative potential and challenges of digital education. To this end, this article examines the institution’s shift to fully online delivery during COVID-19, which expanded enrolment from rural areas.  Drawing on faculty interviews, the study shows that educators are reshaping digital classrooms through methods grounded in empathy, co-construction, and real-world relevance. Grounded in decolonial and cooperative education frameworks, the study finds that online programmes, when aligned with participatory pedagogy, can democratise access and cultivate collective leadership. However, challenges persist, including digital infrastructure gaps, uneven participation, and emotional fatigue. Hence, FUNDEPOS represents an evolving experiment in digital education justice. By anchoring its work in cooperative values and developing context-specific alternatives, the university dares to ask not just who accesses education, but what kind of future it can build.

Author Biographies

Gloriana Rodríguez Alvarez, Gloriana Rodríguez Álvarez is a Lecturer in Leadership, Development, Peace, and Security Education. She holds a PhD in Latin American Studies and a PhD in Leadership with reference to Security and Development from King’s College London.

Gloriana Rodríguez Álvarez is a Lecturer in Leadership, Development, Peace, and Security Education. She holds a PhD in Latin American Studies and a PhD in Leadership with reference to Security and Development from King’s College London. She is a researcher-practitioner working at the intersection of gender, human rights, and security governance in Central America. Her projects have included interviewing incarcerated individuals to develop public policy recommendations with Costa Rica’s Office of Public Counsel and Guatemala’s Ombudsman. Working within legislative and civil society contexts, her research focuses on translating grounded evidence into institutional change.

Additionally, she has directed fieldwork investigations throughout Latin America, focusing on the vindication of Indigenous rights in contexts of legal pluralism. She also regularly engages in public-facing scholarship on prisons, Indigenous rights, and feminist leadership. Across her research and teaching, she is committed to ensuring that knowledge production affirms human dignity and interconnectedness

Ennio Rodríguez Céspedes

Ennio Rodríguez Céspedes is an economist and educator. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex (1984), Bachelor’s (1974), Licenciatura (1976) at the University of Costa Rica. He has taught economic statistical analysis, Latin American development thinking, development economics, international trade, microeconomics, and macroeconomics.

From 2023 to 2025, he served as Vice-Chancellor at the Universidad FUNDEPOS de Costa Rica, where he championed cooperative values and innovation-driven higher education. His leadership strengthened academic quality, expanded regional partnerships, and advanced education models rooted in solidarity and sustainable development. This commitment to cooperative principles builds on a career dedicated to equitable growth and institutional transformation across Latin America. He previously served as President of the Colegio de Ciencias Económicas de Costa Rica and CEO of Coopesa R.L., the world’s only worker-owned cooperative in the aviation MRO sector. He also held senior roles at the Inter-American Development Bank as Principal Economist and Principal Regional Advisor, and at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

LDS-Vol-11-No-1-2026

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Published

2026-11-09

How to Cite

Alvarez, G. R., & Céspedes, E. R. (2026). Cooperative Leadership in the Digital Age: The Case of the Universidad FUNDEPOS de Costa Rica. Leadership and Developing Societies, 11(1), 40–58. https://doi.org/10.47697/lds.39390004

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026)

Section

RESEARCH ARTICLES