In 2021 the program was expanded and for its eleventh edition it will hand out 300 million pesos in seed capital to 20 social initiatives in Cali and 10 in the neighboring city of Yumbo. In this way, we reaffirm our commitment to promote, make visible and strengthen the work done by community-based organizations to solve the social problems of their communities through participatory leadership.
The year closed with a good number of applicants, and with many challenges for 2022, when the institutional strengthening process and the awards ceremony will be held. Isabel Quintero, project coordinator, comments on the experience during this year:
Most significant achievements
- The Compromiso Valle project joined us to support 30 social initiatives ( the largest number awarded since the inception of this program) in Cali and Yumbo with a prize of $10 million pesos in seed in-kind capital for each one.
- We continue to count on the support of the Award’s 18 partner organizations, which contribute with cash and in-kind donations.
- We identified 96 social initiatives in an application process carried out in record time, showing that there are many people who continue to work for their communities through very interesting proposals in the areas of the arts , culture, sports and environment, among others.
Main challenges we faced in 2021
- Carrying out a version of the award with the city of Yumbo, which implied different planning strategies. For both the Alvaralice Foundation and the Smurfit Kappa Foundation, coordinating a joint version has been an opportunity to generate new conversations that take the Civic Award to another level.
The main challenges we will face in 2022
- To have a low dropout rate in the institutional strengthening process, which will begin in January and will be carried out both virtually and in the classroom. The team has prepared some innovative training sessions that will leave many lessons to be learned by the participants.
- Measuring the impact of the institutional strengthening process and the implementation phase of the projects of the participating and winning initiatives, so that by the end of 2022 noticeable changes can be identified, ensuring their sustainability over time.