The Laboratory for Community Ideation: From Words to Action (Laboratorio de Ideación Comunitaria
¡del Dicho al Hecho!) is a project designed to promote and consolidate ideas or initiatives of leaders seeking to make a social impact in their communities. Through training models and seed capital, their ideas may evolve into tangible, viable projects which can become reality. Currently, the program is implemented in the municipalities of Candelaria and JamundÃ.
During the idea materialization process, program participants took part in an Inspiration Tour, which sent participants from Candelaria y Jamundà to visit social initiatives that had won the Civic Prize for a Better City in Cali y Yumbo. The Tour’s objective was to show social leader’s examples of positive change, beginning in Yumbo, where they visited two outstanding projects: Off-Road and Trails, (Trocha y Ruta), which uses mountain biking as a developmental process for children and youth, and Protectors of My Territory (Protectores de Mi Territorio), a project committed to recovery of public space and environmental protection.
The Tour continued in Cali, with a visit to the Calima Trail Mother Garden (Huerta Madre Sendero Calima), which promotes food security and sustainability through urban agriculture and environmental preservation. The tour ended with Candy Hell Women’s Collective (Colectivo Femenino Candy Hell), an organization that empowers female skateboarders in an activity traditionally dominated by men. During each of these visits, Tour participants could hear first-hand stories and understand the process of strengthening projects, which has allowed the initiatives to contribute to community social development.
The Inspiration Tour showed the leaders examples of resilience and community work, while offering them the tools and motivation to replicate similar models in their own communities. This enrichment experience offered a clear vision of how collective action and focus on the common good can transform reality and generate a positive local impact.