This article advocates the need to promote social innovation in the rural world, in a context of participation and solidarity, with the aim of guiding processes of productive diversification alongside social inclusion policies, such as the conservation, restoration and rational use of natural resources. In Latin America, the central governments have shown growing political will to apply rural development strategies that seek to “territorialize” public policies so that local governments, together with the social stakeholders, can democratically define their own management models and sustainable development priorities.