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Key Highlights
In 2025, we strengthened nutrition, the preservation of life, and the transmission of ancestral knowledge in five communities in Vaupés—Puerto López, Santa Marta, Tucandira, Pueblo Nuevo, and Puerto Corroncho—by building and equipping intercultural kitchens designed in collaboration with the communities and integrated into their daily lives. These spaces became safe havens for women, centers for intergenerational learning, and communal food preparation sites focused on improving children’s nutrition.
The project benefited 178 families, with more than 800 people benefiting directly and 1,300 indirectly, through workshops on the making and use of traditional tools—such as sieves, baskets, and brooms—supplemented with additional support where necessary. As part of the process, young people from the communities produced five instructional videos documenting the making of these tools, as well as an educational booklet.
Empowering women leaders was a central focus: women not only expanded their knowledge of nutrition, hygiene, and care, but also managed resources, set priorities, developed indicators, and monitored the project’s progress.
Why was this necessary?
In the peri-urban indigenous communities of Mitú, in the Vaupés region, two closely related issues were identified: alarming nutritional indicators among children—such as infant mortality, diarrheal diseases, chronic malnutrition, and anemia—and the gradual erosion of ancestral knowledge related to the production and preparation of local foods and the use of traditional utensils.
Both situations share structural causes. Among them are the limited relevance of health services and nutrition education within the biocultural context; the replacement of traditional diets with ultra-processed foods; and contexts marked by gender-based violence. In this scenario, the communities, through their women leaders, proposed the participatory construction of traditional kitchens as safe spaces for collective care, intergenerational learning, and the recovery of their own food practices.
Who was involved?
The project was led by Sinergias, with primary funding from the Tamarin Foundation, and was carried out in partnership with the Association of Traditional Authorities Along the Highway (AATAC), the Cuduyarí Indigenous Union Association (ASOUDIC), the Association of Traditional Indigenous Authorities in the Area of Direct Influence of the Mitu Micro-Hydroelectric Plant (AATICAM), and the community councils of the participating communities. Contributions were also provided by the Social Pastoral, the Vaupés Governor’s Office, and the Office for Women, as well as Sinergias’ own resources. The Corazón de Ají project was key to expanding the scope and sustainability of the community process.
