2023 Grants
FOC awarded five grants, totaling $9,615 USD to inspiring Colombian community-based groups in 2023. Congratulations to our grant competition winners! Learn more about each winner and their projects below.
Repurpose-IT.ORG
This grant involved training teachers in technology in rural Wounaan (indigenous group) communities
Guardabosques de la Sierra
With FOC grant funds, the association of small cacao farmers in the Sierra Nevada built a composter in order to produce organic fertilizer for their farms.
PROEDUPAZ
PROEDUPAZ
PROEDUPAZ used FOC grant funds to teach disadvantaged rural farmers new sustainable agricultural practices.
Tierra Grata
This FOC grant enabled the installation of 10 community bathrooms in 5 rural communities in Magdalena. This project also involved menstrual and public health education for an estimated 360 adolescent women and girls.
Jaguars Volleyball Club
The FOC grant has provided sports and work out equipment, and team uniforms for intramural volleyball teams in order to promote inclusion healthy living and teamwork among men and women in Polonuevo, Atlántico.
2022 Grants
FOC awarded five grants, totaling $7,500 USD to inspiring Colombian community-based groups in 2022. Congratulations to our grant competition winners! Learn more about each winner and their projects below.
Fun Tayrona
FOC funds supported ongoing training of indigenous Wiwa women learning their ancestral practice of harvesting dye for use in mochila textiles. This provides the women with a sustainable way to earn income.
The Stories of Love Movement
Thus far, four workshops have been given to community leaders and children. They are also organizing the first conference that will focus on keeping their communities clean. They are also piloting a program in a community where a motocarro will go door-to-door once a week to collect recycling.
Las Fuertes
Provided menstrual education for girls and adolescents (ages 9 to 13) in a remote island. Adult women and mothers of the adolescents also participated in the educational activities. They’ve been able to develop professional materials to use in their curriculum because of the support from FOC.
Instituto Educativa Plastic Free
Eugenia Morelo, an English teacher at a public school in Cartagena, completed the PLASTIC FREE project by teaching the students environmental education through interactive workshops. A water filter was installed at the school’s drinking fountains and reusable water bottles were distributed to students.
Fundación Rehabilitando Corazones
Promoted the rehabilitation and social reintegration of adults through teaching organic and sustainable agriculture skills at a farm.
2021 Grants
Last year, Friends of Colombia launched an innovative Small Grant Program to fund community projects in Colombia. We invited RPCVs, former counterparts, and grassroots organizations to apply for grants to fund their projects. In 2021, FOC awarded grants to seven winners of this competition: totaling $10,250. Here are the project descriptions for our 2021 grantees:
PROEDUPAZ
PROEDUPAZ used FOC grant funds to provide an initial supply of hens, chicken feed, and other materials to families of children and adults with disabilities — a severely underserved population.
Jaguars Volleyball Club – Salud y Vida Polonuevo
The FOC grant has provided sports and work out equipment, and team uniforms for intramural volleyball teams in order to promote inclusion healthy living and teamwork among men and women in Polonuevo, Atlántico.
Fundación Koinonia
Fundación Koinonia used FOC grant funds to create a mobile library that moves between three of the poorest neighborhoods in Cartagena where it offers children the opportunity to improve their reading and writing skills outside of school.
Tierra Grata
Tierra Grata used FOC grant funds to install ecologically friendly, solar-powered lights in rural communities on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of Colombia.
Guardabosques de la Sierra
With FOC grant funds, the association of small cacao farmers in the Sierra Nevada expanded the capacity of its cacao bean dryer and upgraded its storage facility, as well as developed an income-generating tourist experience.
Los Otros Yumbeños
Los Otros Yumbeños is a project that increases environmental awareness and knowledge about local birds and plants in the municipality of Yumbo. FOC funded the creation of an audiovisual micro-documentary about the diverse species of bird in the region.
Colombia GLOW
GLOW used FOC's 2021 grant funds to continue their young women’s empowerment programs remotely through a podcast and magazine.
2020 Grants
In 2020, FOC awarded grants to the first recipients of our small grants. These four grants totaled $4,305. These funds came at a time of critical need, when Colombian communities suffered devastating effects of the global pandemic. Here are the project descriptions for our first grantees:
Fundación Para La Integración Social y El Desarrollo (FISDE)
FISDE, a foundation that works on social integration and tourism development, used its FOC grant to train and equip the informal guides in Luruaco, Altántico.
Pre-ICFES By Radio
With its FOC grant, Pre-ICFES By Radio purchased a multifunction printer and spiral binding machine to print and distribute learning resources for a national standardized test to accompany each set of lessons delivered by radio to rural indigenous communities in La Guajira.
Colombia GLOW
GLOW used FOC's 2020 grant funds to continue their young women’s empowerment programs remotely across ten different towns in Colombia's Caribbean Coast.
Tierra Grata
This FOC grant enabled the purchase and installation of 20-liter gravity water filters in 25 households. It also allowed Tierra Grata to improve the hygienic sanitation facility in the town’s community center through the additional purchase and installation of a water collection tank and portable sink.