In April 2023 , Partners of the Americas awarded five small grants to Partners Chapters and affiliate organizations across the Western Hemisphere to support innovative solutions to community-based challenges. The small grants range from USD 3,000 to USD 16,500 and support project themes that include supporting African diaspora engagement in Colombia; providing access to education and inclusion of underserved communities; and supporting the cultural and linguistic preservation of the Javaé Indigenous people in Brazil.
The Education and Culture Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by Partners of the Americas.
Above: Program implementors In El Alto, Bolivia for the project Thu’itaña Munasqui Place (A Place to Start Flying).
Projects funded through this round of the Education and Culture Program include:
Arte, Cultura y Paz para una Nueva Colombia
Art, Culture, and Peace for a New Colombia
Implementor: Fundación CINERAMA
Location: Barranquilla, Colombia
Theme: Inclusion of Underserved Communities
Art, Culture, and Peace for a New Colombia will focus on the recognition of the memory and presence of African heritage in Colombia to help raise, care, preserve, maintain, and disseminate the footprint of Africa in Barranquilla, the Caribbean region, and the country. This will be done by strengthening artistic and economic development initiatives through five shows stemming from the Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero (NARP) communities. Shows will be based on musical expressions, oral tradition, fashion, gastronomy, medicine, and traditional gardens. They will also create three opportunities for intergenerational exchange where ancestral knowledge of the NARP communities will be shared in order to promote cultural identity and rootedness.
Clubes de Lectura: Un nombre increíble
Reading Clubs: An Incredible Name
Implementor: South Carolina Chapter
Location: Tolima and Santander, Colombia
Theme: Access to Education
Reading Clubs: An Incredible Name was designed by three Colombian teachers to contribute to the education of children and youth in their native country. Its purpose is to host 18 reading clubs in rural classrooms in the departments of Tolima and Santander, so that children have access to authentic literary works which help them become effective readers and writers to expand their access to opportunities as they grow.
Books have not been a part of the monthly purchases of a Tolimense family, given their economic status. Although schools have libraries, the number of books is not enough for the number of students that need to be served. The goal is to provide four books to each student, accompanied by a teacher-led engagement with the books to support making a significant contribution to their reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing skills.
Through this project, teachers form a community of practice with each other. They will conduct reading clubs with their students using reading guides for the provided books, which include teacher instructions, supplementary materials, information about the author, vocabulary, comprehension questions, graphic organizers, and more. In turn, literacy rates will increase and more Tolimese students will have access to quality education.
Democratização do Acesso à Língua Inglesa nos Anos Iniciais para Crianças de Escolas Públicas
Democratizing Access to the English Language in the Early Years for Children in Public Schools
Implementor: PartnersCampus Gurupi – Partners Brasil
Location: Gurupi, Brazil
Theme: Access to Education
Democratizing access to the English language in the early years for children in public schools will highlight the relevance of English language teaching in early childhood to contribute to the democratization of its access as well as combat educational inequality in Brazil. This will be a pilot project to support children from public schools in the city of Gurupi in accessing the right to, and the possibilities of, communication and interaction provided by the knowledge of an additional language.
Multi(letramentos): Contribuições para o Ensino
Multi(literacies): Contributions to Teaching
Implementor: PartnersCampus Gurupi – Partners Brasil
Location: Tocantins/Aldeias Canuanã and Boa Esperança, Brazil
Theme: Inclusion of Underserved Communities
Multi(literacies): Contributions to Teaching will preserve the narratives and traditions of the Javaé Indigenous people and contribute to the visibility of the Javaé people and their culture through pedagogical teacher training and the development of educational didactic material for education. The project will support the culture of the Javaé Indigenous people and their ethnic diversities by producing didactic material with drawings and texts by Indigenous teachers written in the Iny rybè language and in Portuguese.
Thu’itaña Munasqui Place (Lugar para Empezar a Volar)
Thu’itaña Munasqui Place (A Place to Start Flying)
Implementor: Utah-La Paz Altiplano Chapter
Location: El Alto, Bolivia
Theme: Access to Education
The city of El Alto, called by some as the “Aymara capital of the world” is the city with the largest Indigenous population in Latin America. In this region there are many challenges, including poverty and child labor. There are many people who migrated from rural areas in search of better opportunities; however, many young people must work to help support their families instead of attending school.
Thu’itaña Munasqui Place (A Place to Start Flying) will provide children free access to education on values, leadership, environment, health, and nutrition, as well as activities to connect with the community.
For queries to the U.S. Department of State, reach out to ECA–Press@state.gov
