Current Programs

TwoWings supports impactful projects that empower local populations.

Previous Programs

Programs

In 1974, the Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science (FUNDAEC), was established as a Colombian NGO by the efforts of Dr. Farzam Arbab and associates from the University del Valle in Cali. For over four decades, FUNDAEC focused on knowledge improvement in fields such as education, agriculture, local economy, etc. The organization combines traditional wisdom of local people with modern science to conduct research, provide training, and promote its "transforming environment" programs. FUNDAEC mainly targets young people and empowers them with leadership skills, environmental awareness, and literacy to improve social, cultural, and economic conditions of their local communities. The ultimate goal of these educational and training programs is to impact the lives of the regional population positively. Additionally, FUNDAEC is working with the TwoWings Foundation to support these development programs. The details are as follows:

FUNDAEC

FUNDAEC focuses on knowledge improvement in education, agriculture, local economy, etc.

Abstract&nbsp;This&nbsp;note will&nbsp;discuss the need to support&nbsp;FUNDAEC&nbsp;programs in Colombia. For this purpose, it will briefly look into the situation of Colombia and the available opportunities for progress. FUNDAEC Foundation has years of experiences in developing&nbsp;education&nbsp;programs and&nbsp;also experiences&nbsp;in the field of planting trees and contribution&nbsp;to the betterment of the Colombians’ lives and sustainable development of their communities. To multiply the number of people involved and serve more population, additional financial resources are required.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Current&nbsp;Situation&nbsp;in Colombia&nbsp;Colombia with about 50 million population, is endowed with rich natural resources such as petroleum, coal, gold, coffee and a fertile soil (<a href="https://www.azomining.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=72" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1</a>).&nbsp;It is the second most biodiverse country in the world with 52% of its territory&nbsp;covered by forests&nbsp;(<a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/colombias-forests-lurch-between-deforestation-and-the-hope-for-a-sustainable-future/#:~:text=High-altitude%20Andean%20forests%2C%20low,home%20to%2058%2C312%20known%20species." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2</a>).&nbsp;It is a regret that despite all these potentials, Colombia loses more than 2,000 km2 of its forests annually to deforestation&nbsp;(<a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/20colombia.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">3</a>). Besides, 4.5&nbsp;million&nbsp;Colombians are severely food insecure (<a href="https://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/168689" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">4</a>). The combination of these two factors, create a vicious cycle&nbsp;in&nbsp;which&nbsp;deforestation triggers climate change which in turn declines&nbsp;the food production of existing farmlands and finally forces farmers to cut more trees (<a href="https://sites.psu.edu/foodsustainability/2018/03/19/deforestation-and-food/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">5</a>).&nbsp;&nbsp;Program Objectives&nbsp;Sustainable development programs that focus on participation of local communities in Colombia, have been successful in environmental protection and reduction of hunger crisis.&nbsp;FUNDAEC has developed the SAT program which&nbsp;has&nbsp;educated practical services to communities in Colombia and enabled&nbsp;them to improve their well-being and financial resources.&nbsp;FUNDAEC’s “Planting Tree” program is focused on reforestation&nbsp;(agroforestry)&nbsp;and&nbsp;food sovereignty within the country. Local farmers are motivated to participate in the program to socially respond&nbsp;to environment, enhance productivity and food security, increase income, strengthen the bonds in community (especially by exchanging crops and ideas), and get support with saplings, seed banks, labors, fertilizer and nurseries.&nbsp;To facilitate the process,&nbsp;TwoWings&nbsp;will financially support the tree planting and local food production program to multiply the number of trees and plots planted. The aim is&nbsp;specifically&nbsp;to increase the number of small projects - not their sizes - to avoid mono-cultures that have multiple disadvantages for&nbsp;the&nbsp;environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;Urban Gardening and&nbsp;Agroforestry&nbsp;in&nbsp;Colombia&nbsp;The program&nbsp;includes two parts: Urban Gardening and Small Agroforestry. In urban gardening, people use public spaces or their balconies, yards, or mini-farms to produce diverse crops to meet the needs of themselves and the local population, and sell or exchange them with others. The&nbsp;TwoWings&nbsp;Fund for Agroforestry will support the purchase of seeds and supply fertilizers and pest controls to help with growth and maintenance of the seedlings&nbsp;in Colombia.&nbsp;Likewise,&nbsp;the&nbsp;small agroforestry program&nbsp;in Colombia&nbsp;includes providing saplings of regional fruit and&nbsp;non-fruit&nbsp;trees&nbsp;for&nbsp;food and income generation purposes and also preserving the natural environment. In addition, the participants are educated&nbsp;on&nbsp;how to plant saplings and care for the trees within their house gardens or mini-farms.&nbsp;Workshops for the knowledge and skills&nbsp;of&nbsp;growing crops and trees are offered&nbsp;also to&nbsp;families. In addition, their precious experiences are shared with others in workshops and discussion groups.&nbsp;&nbsp;Colombia&nbsp;Can Have&nbsp;a&nbsp;More Promising Future&nbsp;Due to the fertile soil and encouraging results achieved through this program, expanding the number of urban gardens and small agroforests seem highly attainable. By donating €30&nbsp;per tree, anyone can join us in making a&nbsp;positive change&nbsp;in Colombia&nbsp;because the “Planting Trees” program provides&nbsp;not only&nbsp;food security, financial support and several job opportunities, but&nbsp;it&nbsp;also helps solving environmental challenges and protecting natural resources of the region.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.” Jim FowlerThis note was prepared by&nbsp;a protagonist&nbsp;team of&nbsp;TwoWings&nbsp;Foundation for agroforestry supporting the prosperity of communities in November 2021.

Agroforestry, Food Sovereignty & Reforestation

Agroforestry program focuses on sustainable food production, employment, and education in Colombia to improve people’s living conditions and economy.

Colombia

July to December 2021This project began in January 2021, in the commune 20 of the city of Cali, Colombia with the purpose of strengthening small vegetable garden initiatives for 100 families to overcome negative impact of the economic recession during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was linked to programs offered by the Créalo Foundation, a local organization that works in partnership with FUNDAEC.&nbsp;&nbsp;Project Objectives&nbsp;<ol><li>Providing financial support to 100 small productive initiatives with seed funds and basic infrastructure to develop and apply food marketing and exchange models.&nbsp;</li><li>Designing four training workshops on the following topics and offering them to 100 participants:&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Introductory concepts: Food security and sovereignty, health and nutrition, leadership&nbsp;</li><li>Organic fertilizers&nbsp;</li><li>Small-scale production&nbsp;</li><li>Marketing&nbsp;</li><li>Strengthening the infrastructure of Créalo in the Siloé neighborhood to provide 1,500 packages of basic food products to lactating and pregnant mothers, 30,000 lunch rations to 150 families and building a terrace that can house a nursery for distributing seedlings among the productive initiatives.&nbsp;</li></ol>Learnings and Challenges&nbsp;The systematization of the experience which began during the project to record learnings and challenges of the process itself generated many new things to learn itself.&nbsp;&nbsp;Challenges&nbsp;<ul><li>Lack of electronic devices for people to connect to the training offered.&nbsp;</li><li>Little knowledge of virtual platforms by the project beneficiaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Social unrest as a result of the national strike since April of 2021.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Lack of spaces of common interest in the neighborhood.&nbsp;</li></ul>Learnings about the progress of the project&nbsp;<ul><li>The need to carry out the training workshops in person and face-to-face for small groups of people (between 5 and 10 per session) to reach more people.&nbsp;</li><li>The importance of families' awareness about food production in their homes after the social unrest due to the national strike since April of 2021.&nbsp;</li><li>&nbsp;Identifying which foods are most consumed in homes (tomatoes, coriander, chilis and aromatic herbs), and which foods grow best in the community.&nbsp;</li><li>The necessity of a community fund to support initiatives contributing to neighborhood development.&nbsp;</li></ul> January to June 2021Building Culture&nbsp;Everyone can contribute to strengthen local food systems&nbsp;In&nbsp;Siloé, the neighborhood of Cali in Colombia, which has a highly defenseless society and economy, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are devastating and fatal. Additionally, the inhabitants experience national strikes resulting in challenges such as insecurity, violence, and social instability. However, many people, local organizations, and companies are joining together to improve the living conditions of these people.&nbsp;FUNDAEC, in collaboration with the&nbsp;Creálo&nbsp;Foundation, trains promoters of community well-being despite the difficulties. They help to distribute groceries to&nbsp;people&nbsp;in the neighborhood who are unable to work and support their families. Mayor's Office and the Archdiocese of Cali supported&nbsp;the&nbsp;foundations to continue providing food for families, so they distribute buckets with seedlings to families that intend to produce food in their own&nbsp;homes.&nbsp;The most important aim of the learning and development programs is to create independent people who can build their community on their own. The inhabitants are trained by FUNDAEC programs to be responsible for their lives. They will be encouraged to plant beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, carrots, paprika, corn, broccoli, and herbs such as basil, coriander, oregano, lippia alba, lemon balm, mint, and parsley to improve their lives.&nbsp;Program Objectives and Challenges&nbsp;&nbsp;The program has three objectives as well as some challenges to tackle, but the&nbsp;encouraging&nbsp;acceptance by the community members motivated them to train more people.&nbsp;“The First Objective&nbsp;is providing financial support to small productive initiatives with seed funds and basic infrastructure,&nbsp;to&nbsp;develop&nbsp;and&nbsp;apply food marketing, and exchange models. The main activities focus on identification of families that would participate in the process, delivery of supplies to the families for establishing productive initiatives, follow-up of each productive initiative, and the establishment of spaces for evaluation and consultation on the project.”&nbsp;“The Second Objective&nbsp;is to organize training workshops on the topics of food security and sovereignty, health and nutrition, organic fertilizers, small-scale production, and marketing.” The workshops are often online but due to the difficulties of internet connections or technological device accessibilities, sometimes small groups were invited to&nbsp;gather in person and&nbsp;express their experiences and progress.&nbsp;“The Third Objective&nbsp;is strengthening&nbsp;Créalo's&nbsp;infrastructure to provide packages of basic food products to nursing and pregnant mothers, and constructing terraces&nbsp;to shelter plant nurseries&nbsp;to distribute seedlings to the productive initiatives.”&nbsp;Just as any other significant program, this&nbsp;program also has its challenges and shortcomings.&nbsp;For example, although families gain adequate knowledge, they have limited or no planting areas which&nbsp;is&nbsp;resolved&nbsp;by financial support and delivery of already planted containers. This solution in turn extends&nbsp;the diversity of the plants grown by each family. Moreover, social disturbances, lack of electronic devices&nbsp;and&nbsp;online platform&nbsp;experiences, and problems with internet connectivity were and are still major&nbsp;hindering factors that need permanent solutions.&nbsp;The results are found in adjustments to the initiative and with the financial support of the&nbsp;TwoWings&nbsp;Foundation, the program&nbsp;has&nbsp;developed.&nbsp;TwoWings&nbsp;owes contributors and donors&nbsp;who&nbsp;support programs&nbsp;as this&nbsp;has allowed continuity of learning and training in an urban neighborhood&nbsp;such as&nbsp;Siloé.&nbsp;

Strengthening Local Food Systems

People get trained to improve their living conditions, plant food and get informed on health, nutrition, production, and marketing issues.

Cali

Final Report 2021&nbsp;This project is located in the rural area of the municipality of Puerto Tejada, Cauca, Colombia, in the premises of the University Center for Rural Wellbeing. The project focused on the conversion of 2 hectares of land into productive plots, involving a variety of crops and the production of organic fertilizers in response to the adverse social and economic conditions caused by the pandemic. The project contributed to the healthy and nutritious diet of families and a food marketing network was established for 70 families.&nbsp;Project Objectives&nbsp;<ul><li>Establishment of Diversified High-Efficiency plots on 2 hectares&nbsp;</li><li>Establishing a food network for marketing organic products&nbsp;</li><li>Systematization and dissemination of knowledge generated based on experience.&nbsp;</li></ul>Achievements of Activities&nbsp;<ul><li>Identification and diversifying two hectares of land with plantain mounds, banana mounds, lemon trees, orange trees, tangerine trees, casava and pumpkin plants&nbsp;</li><li>2 compost bins were built and 92 bags of bokashi were produced as organic fertilizer to improve the soil of the two hectares of land.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Establishment of Diversified High-Efficiency plots, maintenance, and fertilizing in optimal conditions&nbsp;</li><li>Construction of structures for fertilizer production&nbsp;</li><li>Selection of species to plant in plots.&nbsp;</li><li>Identification of 70 families interested in organic products.&nbsp;</li><li>Creation of a marketing network for natural products and fruits benefits 70 regular users per month.&nbsp;</li><li>The quality of products harvested was very popular among consumers and was marketed throughout the year very well.&nbsp;</li><li>Identifying products regularly consumed in homes.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Evaluation of the marketing methods.&nbsp;</li><li>Knowledge, learning, and actions were systematized and disseminated.&nbsp;</li><li>4 workshops were held and 5 bulletins prepared for the general public had a positive influence on them and raised awareness on the dignity of farmers, food security, and strengthening the local economy through productive initiatives by families.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>Learnings&nbsp;<ul><li>Regular meetings held to plan the weekly work allowed each member to be involved and fulfill the goals. Community volunteers helped with planned tasks on community work days.&nbsp;</li><li>Weekly consultation meetings with the team helped to identify the highest priority issues.&nbsp;</li><li>Organic products were marketed to more than 70 families and 2,400 kilograms of food was produced.&nbsp;</li><li>Learning about using fertilizers such as guano and production of Bokashi. 92 bags of excellent quality Bokashi were produced.&nbsp;</li><li>Contacting El Mirador agroecological farm to learn about the different vegetable and fruit tree production processes, the importance of having space for producing organic fertilizer, the marketing methods implementation and the promotion strategies they use.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Learnings from the simple weekly cycle established in product marketing including: Supply-Demand-Harvest-Distribution, to monitor and follow up on sales.&nbsp;</li><li>Setting up a simple accounting system in Excel to consolidate financial information and ensure transparency.&nbsp;</li></ul>Challenges&nbsp;<ul><li>Bad weather and intense rainfall which affected the crops due to excess moisture; efforts have now been made to cut back tree branches to provide greater access to sunlight.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Obtaining a greater variety of agricultural products, since not all the plants adapted well to the environmental conditions.&nbsp;</li><li>Further progress is needed to identify and encourage farmers in village of Perico Negro in Puerto Tejada to join the marketing network because the participation of small producers in the village is needed to increase the diversity of products.</li></ul>

This program pursues converting 2 hectares of land into high-efficiency plots to harvest organic products and establish a food network.

Cauca

How did FUNDAEC start?Colombia is characterized by high levels of crime, poverty, rural exodus, and lack of education. The founders of FUNDAEC observed great opportunities and challenges in developing suitable education programs in Colombia. The Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science, the Spanish abbreviation FUNDAEC, was founded in 1974. It is a Colombian non-governmental organization (NGO) established by the efforts of Dr. Farzam Arbab, professors, and students from the University del Valle in Cali, to examine a different way of imparting knowledge to a group of 20 young people.For more than four decades, FUNDAEC has focused on knowledge improvement in different fields such as “education, agriculture, community organization, and the local economy.” The organization aims to work on various programs to develop the knowledge of rural population with a transfer system designed for the local conditions. It combines the knowledge of local people with the potential of modern science to conduct research, train people, and promote programs. The program is divided into two main categories, the tutorial learning system (SAT) and the university center for rural well-being (CURB). It has given skills to people and has enabled them to make a difference in their village or urban environment as “promoters of community well-being.”&nbsp;The focus of the foundation is mainly on young people who have been prepared, empowered, and supported to take part in social actions. They follow a learning system for secondary education to achieve leadership skills in community, caring for the environment, and improving literacy. The capacity has been built by its regional population to process all actions and development programs to strengthen their social, cultural, and economic life. FUNDAEC’s Structure This organization follows some principles that shape the framework of activity in FUNDAEC. For instance, they believe that every human has great potential which can be channeled toward community development by education and training. Each participant is an irreplaceable resource. There is a strong conviction about two aspects of human nature, the Material and the Spiritual dimensions.&nbsp;&nbsp;All activities are documented in assorted categories: published books and reports, theses, articles, workbooks, audiovisual productions, and study texts in different levels which are collected studies on the effects of FUNDAEC’s programs in Colombia and the world.&nbsp; Teaching and Learning Without Hierarchies &nbsp;A network of around 40,000 students assumes a decentralized education system that enables them to build local programs and structures to improve their community life. If there is a need for a school group in a locality, a person with a school-leaving certificate is first chosen; one who is willing to train a group of 10 to 25 tutors. These tutors receive training, get prepared to teach later, and create a learning atmosphere without hierarchies. The teaching material is interdisciplinary. The students can stay in their home community during the training and use their knowledge in their daily work. Also, group counseling was introduced, to integrate the experience of the village community into the program.&nbsp; Example of FUNDAEC's programs FUNDAEC was praised by Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker as one of the “best educational projects” and is a worldwide EXPO 2000 project. It is based on a positive image of man. The basic prerequisite is the conviction that man himself is the key to the way out of his hopelessness. The state-approved school education comprises three stages. The completion of the third stage is of equal rank with the Abitur.&nbsp; TwoWings team with FUNDAEC in Colombia Our colleague Anna, visited the FUNDAEC program in Colombia in the summer of 2019. She gained a lot of insights about people’s world.&nbsp;&nbsp;With enthusiasm and commitment, the participants learn to use their powers in such a way that they can lead a self-determined life. In our “<a href="https://www.twowings.com/en/einblicke/anna-erlebnisse-fundaec" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Insights</a>” you can read a comprehensive interview about Anna’s experiences. FUNDAEC Has a Future FUNDAEC has also expanded into three branches over the past 30 years. In addition to the school program, a university with a six-year course of study was established in 1990. As the third branch, FUNDAEC has established agricultural production facilities. In special courses, the population learns to produce local products and sell them on the market.&nbsp;

TwoWings’ Team Experience in FUNDAEC’s Program

Baumpflanzungsprogramm von FUNDAEC

FUNDAEC Bildung

Annas Erfahrung mit FUNDAEC   

In this program, that focuses on younger generations, teenagers receive secondary education and are taught the skills of leadership in communities, caring for the environment, and group counseling. This enables them to make a difference in their immediate village and local environment as “promoters of community well-being”.

FUNDAECColombia

Agroforestry, Food Sovereignty & Reforestation

Strengthening Local Food Systems

Strengthening Local Food Systems

TwoWings’ Team Experience in FUNDAEC’s Program

FUNDAEC
Colombia