The experience of the Interdisciplinary Rural Internship Program - PIRI in the sub-basin of the Pasto River This process was carried out in two territories: La Marquesa village, Miraflores micro-watershed and San Felipe village, Mijitayo micro-watershed, with two groups of students from various careers and a support, accompaniment and coordination team. The methodology had a qualitative paradigm, type of research and participatory action; the process is framed in: i) Situational analysis, ii) Relationship with territorial entities, iii) Design of the rural development promotion process in an interdisciplinary way, and iv) Evaluation of experiences for the identification of lessons learned. In this sense, one aspect to highlight is the learning generated among the students, lines of action that achieved complex approaches to reality, the identification of some mechanisms of work with rural communities, allowing a greater degree of accompaniment from the academy in the territory . Key words: Community education, university extension, knowledge transfer, local development.