This report presents the action-based research project process and outcomes of the “Leveraging Empowered Circular Communities in the Galápagos Islands” project, funded by the LDE Global program. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) Universities support initiatives that foster research co-creation between LDE institutions and scholars from the Majority-World countries in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Our project, launched in July 2023 and running through April 2025, aims to embed circular economy (CE) principles in the seafood system of Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos.

This initiative unites the Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA) of Ecuador, the Delft Centre of Entrepreneurship (DCE) at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Circular Community Foundation (CCF), the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Institute of Biology at Leiden University, and the Pelican Bay Fishing Cooperative of the Galápagos Islands.

The LDE Global fund backs initiatives to encourage inclusive research partnerships and innovative community outreach. The financial support for this particular research project has enabled multi-stakeholder workshops, fish waste assessment of several endemic species, the production of a short-documentary and reels snapshots, photos, local multi-stakeholder interviews, training and prototyping activities for fish leather, an outreach booklet, several research outcomes produced by bachelor and master students from TU Delft and Leiden universities, one fully submitted manuscript, and three in progress to be submitted by the end of 2025. By co-creating and co-developing circular and regenerative interventions with local fishers, entrepreneurs, municipal authorities, and chefs, the project aims to transform fish waste into value-added products, reduce environmental harm, and fortify economic opportunities for coastal communities on the island of Santa Cruz in the archipelago.

This chapter examines a North–South collaboration for a short-term study abroad program focused on entrepreneurship to illuminate the persistent colonial power imbalances that can emerge—even when participants seek to adopt a decolonial approach. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a six-month minor program in International Entrepreneurship & Development (IED) at a Dutch university, we analyze a specific project within this program where students from the Global North and South collaboratively developed a board game on climate awareness for adolescents in an urban periphery in South America. Despite emphasizing participatory action research, critical reflection, and peer-to-peer co-design, post-project communications in media outlets external to the program inadvertently reinforced a “white savior” narrative, erasing local collaborators’ contributions. Our reflexive analysis—grounded in decolonial pedagogies, participatory action research, and critical media literacy—reveals a gap in students’ preparation for negotiating and challenging external, often colonial, representations of their work. We highlight how frameworks of “coloniality” persist beyond the classroom, surfacing in digital platforms, news coverage, and institutional communications that frame Global North students as primary knowledge producers and problem-solvers. We argue that decolonizing entrepreneurial education demands a curriculum design that reaches beyond the classroom to include robust training in ethical reflexivity, critical media engagement, and AI literacy. Based on this reflection, we propose a set of practical recommendations—including deeper incorporation of local knowledge systems, explicit crediting of all collaborators, and institutional policies for equitable media representation—to foster more inclusive and respectful North–South educational partnerships that dismantle rather than reproduce colonial structures.