TİKA Supported the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Local People in Colombia

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), in cooperation with the Colombian Ministry of Culture, provided equipment to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) to create an audio and video archive in order to preserve and make visible the cultural, linguistic and traditional heritage of the locals.

As part of the Program for the Protection of Indigenous Cultures and Support for the Economic and Social Development of Indigenous People in South America, TIKA provided equipment that will enable 21 different indigenous peoples in Colombia to preserve their languages, experiences, lifestyles, cultures and crafts and transfer them to future generations.

The Ministry of Culture of Colombia and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) are working together to strengthen the technical infrastructure of these schools and establishing schools of communication education in order to archive the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples. Within this scope, the organization prepares videos, radio programs and photo exhibitions about the lifestyles, problems and cultures of 21 different indigenous groups.

Thanks to the technical equipment for audio-visual production such as camera, recording device and microphone provided under the project carried out by TİKA, it is aimed to improve the visibility of the oral and folkloric traditions of the locals and the communication in the Amazonas, Antioquia, Atlántico, Caquetá, Casanare, César, Chocó, Córdoba, Guajira departments of the country, and to improve the audio-visual production processes of schools.

Under the project, various training sessions are planned to be organized by public institutions such as the Colombian Ministry of Culture, Colombian Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies and SENA (National Training Service) in order to use the provided equipment and develop visual products.

Natalia Sefair, Head of the International Relations Unit of the Ministry of Culture, made a statement about the support given; “The cooperation provided by TİKA will enable different indigenous communities of Colombia to encounter cultural globalization. They will be able to use the media effectively to produce their own audiovisual content and to make their culture, language and traditions visible. It is very important that our Ministry of Culture's Public Communications Policy for Local People be implemented in a broader framework. We would like to thank the Turkish government once again for all the efforts made to finish this project successfully, and we see that these collaborations have contributed greatly to strengthening bilateral relations around culture and the creative economy.”

Mokaná Malambo Dario Miranda, Communications Coordinator in the Atlántico Department, said: “We want to thank you for this equipment you have given our people today. The support provided doesn't only cover the means of producing audiovisual content, but also the tools that make visible what defines us. We have a history, but the way to make it visible all over the world is through media productions. We no longer have excuses, we have the necessary equipment, we will bring our story and the way we tell our stories to a very large audience”.

Colombia has a wide ethnic diversity of indigenous, Afro and other peoples with special protection status, with indigenous people making up about 4.4% of the country's population.