MACRORRUEDA DE FILANTROPIA

Josipa Palac-ICDO President and Founder, and Toni Pehar-ICDO CFO and Co-founder attended bilateral meetings with the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, representatives from CoCrea and the executive director of Orquesta Filarmonica De Medellin.

As highlighted in the opening remarks by the President of Colombia Ivan Duque, Colombia is the second nation in the world with the greatest biodiversity. Therefore, the President of Colombia highlighted that its preservation is of high importance for all of us.

The first ever Macrorrueda de Filantropia in Colombia is the opportunity for establishing fruitful collaborations between different stakeholders,  communities, private and public sectors, in order to contribute to the sustainable development of Colombia.

“As an organization with projects in Colombia and Mexico, which focus on the underrepresented and marginalized communities, it is a great honor for ICDO to be able to continue its work through collaborations with different organizations and stakeholders who excel at their work.”, said ICDO President Josipa Palac.

During bilateral meetings, Josipa Palac and Toni Pehar discussed ongoing and future effort in areas of culture, sustainability, and communities empowerment with Natalia Sefair Lopez-Head of International Affairs of the Ministry of Culture, Viviana Ocampo-Strategic Advisor at CoCrea and Mariana Blandon Ruiz-Executive Director at the Orquesta Filarmonica De Medellin.

Participants highlighted the importance of intercultural cooperation between Colombian and international organizations whose vision and work focuses on the empowerment of marginalized and underrepresented communities, with special focus on indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians and others.

Head of International Affairs of the Ministry of Culture, Natalia Sefair Lopez emphasized the richness and diversity of Colombian culture thus bringing awareness to the many actions that the Ministry of Culture has taken regarding indigenous populations and communities with Afro-Colombian descent. 

“ICDO’s projects in Mexico and Colombia hold great global potential”, added Ms. Sefair.

Considering ICDO’s projects in Mexico, Colombia and the Caribbean, ICDO’s representatives highlighted the importance of organizations’s work in this region.

“ICDO has established multiple long-term and short-term projects and events, initiatives and partnerships around the world. When it comes to our projects in Colombia, Mexico and the Caribbean, ICDO’s aim is to empower marginalized indigenous societies as well as bring awareness not only at a regional level but a national level“, said ICDO CFO Toni Pehar.

Through the establishment of Development and Human Rights Hubs in Colombia in the next period, ICDO hopes to support the socio-economic development of marginalized groups. ICDO representatives emphasized the importance of cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations, which is one of the pillars of ICDO’s work. That being said, ICDO will continue to nurture already established partnerships with local communities, NGOs, government, creative sector, corporate sector and universities.

Furthermore, considering ICDO’s long-standing, fruitful collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and the Embassy of Colombia to Austria and Mr. Pehar being appointed as the Honorary Consul of Colombia to Croatia, ICDO has bright plans for further promoting Colombia’s richness in cultural and bio-diversities.

The next steps in planning joint projects and initiative will take place in Colombia where Ms. Palac and Mr. Pehar will have meetings with the representatives from the Ministry of Culture, APC, CoCrea and Orquesta Filarmonica De Medellin. 

ICDO sends heartfelt thanks to Agencia Presidencial de Cooperación Internacional de Colombia and its Director Ms. Viviana Manrique Zuluaga for the invitation, it was a privilege to participate. ICDO will continue actively contributing to the sustainable development of the country through different projects and initiatives.