FUNDAEC,
Colombia
About FUNDAEC
Mona Partner Since 2020
For 50 years, the Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science (FUNDAEC) has worked to strengthen the social fabric, build the capacity of individuals at the grassroots level, including children, youth, community leaders, and especially women, and support efforts to achieve spiritual and material prosperity in communities. FUNDAEC’s learning programs aim to transform daily practices to improve the well-being of the entire population.
To date, more than 300,000 youth in Colombia and Latin America have participated in FUNDAEC’s programs, which have also been implemented in multiple countries around the world.
The Challenge
Income inequality in Colombia is among the worst in the world, and one-third of the population lives below the poverty line. Forced displacement continues to be prevalent because of violence among guerrillas, paramilitary groups, and Colombian security forces. Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations are disproportionately affected. In Cali, Tuluá, Puerto Tejada and the surrounding areas where FUNDAEC has been working, the youth population are at risk of being affected by drug trafficking, drug addiction, delinquency and other social problems.
The Solution: FUNDAEC Programs
All FUNDAEC programs are based on several guiding principles: consider people as potential resources, not as problems; develop human potential through a proper education that acknowledges and promotes goodness of character; work for a development that is not conceived as “Modernization”; engage in the search for pertinent knowledge; avoid offering “pre-packaged” solutions; and recognize the need for endogenous structures in the region that would connect it to corresponding external structures.
Solidarity Fund
In 2012, FUNDAEC established the Solidarity Fund (formerly the Supporting Community Leaders Program) to support young people aged 18 to 25 who are deeply committed to the well-being of their communities. The fund opens pathways to higher education and vocational training while fostering active engagement in community service projects that drive collective progress.
The Fund operates through three interconnected components: complementary education, offering seminars and training in areas such as regenerative agriculture, environmental stewardship, and social transformation; community service, encouraging systematic involvement in initiatives that directly benefit local communities; and financial support, providing essential resources to cover tuition, study materials, transportation, and meals so that financial barriers do not prevent motivated youth from pursuing education and service.
Transforming the Environment
This program emerged in 2021 as the local peoples and institutions gradually returned to in-person activities post-Covid and identified the need for food sovereignty as critical to strengthening the local economy and community life. As the program's strategy evolved, a related objective was added to address the deterioration of the environment on which the livelihood of the communities depends.
Leveraging tutors and youth from FUNDAEC's Preparation for Social Action (PSA) program, this initiative aims to train and mobilize students, parents, and public school teachers in agroforestry (agriculture in small farms with trees) to achieve three inter-related goals:
- Enable food security - produce diverse and adequate supply of nutritious food to meet the needs of the local population.
- Train and build capacity of participants as service-oriented change agents
- Protect and preserve the environment - plant native and almost extinct species of trees (which for decades has provided food and sustenance to the local population) on parcels of land for commercial purposes and to preserve the natural environment.
Growing Hope
Growing Hope is FUNDAEC's regenerative agriculture initiative in Northern Cauca, one of Colombia's most critical hunger hotspots where 64% of households face food insecurity and sugarcane monoculture covers nearly 90% of permanent farmland. The project blends ancestral knowledge with innovative agroecological practices to empower small farmers, home gardeners, youth, and families. Core activities include a demonstrative farm that serves as a living classroom, hands-on training programs, a network of satellite farms with continuous mentoring, school-based agricultural projects, and a Community Food System Seed Fund to support farming projects.
In 2026, FUNDAEC will launch a new pilot in Northern Cordoba to recreate Growing Hope's success on a smaller scale, training 10 farmers in regenerative agriculture and agroforestry, establishing a 1-hectare learning farm, creating 9 satellite learning farms, and providing small grants to 10 farmers to implement what they have learned. The project will also strengthen its monitoring and evaluation systems and expand its reach in Northern Cauca.
How we help
Mona Foundation has partnered with FUNDAEC since 2020, providing support for its Solidarity Fund, Preparation for Social Action program, Transforming the Environment program, and Growing Hope project.
"Planting Hope" tells the story of FUNDAEC's work in the Northern Cauca region of Colombia, from its earliest efforts in the 1970s to today. Through the voices of community members who participated from the beginning, the documentary explores how scientific knowledge, spiritual insight, and traditional wisdom come together to transform rural life and restore hope in communities across the region.
Various Programs Offered by FUNDAEC
Among the processes that have received most attention over the years, and around which a considerable amount of knowledge has been generated, is the one related to education. Much has been learned through carefully executed projects addressing education as well as other relevant fields such as agriculture, community organization and local economy. The knowledge generated from these projects has been brought together to formulate a number of education for development programs. These include:
- Preparation for Social Action program (PSA)
- Tutorial Learning System (SAT)
- Native Forest Restoration project (Bosque Nativo)
- Leadership and Community Development program
To date, more than 300,000 youth in Colombia and Latin America have participated in FUNDAEC’s programs.
2025 Achievements
Solidarity Fund
- 177 young people received scholarships to pursue professional degrees, technical certifications, and trade training — 66% are women
Transforming the Environment
- 3,059 trees planted across 155 communities, bringing the cumulative total to over 24,000 trees since 2022
- Over 1,000 people participated in 64 planting events with 97 partner institutions
Empowering Promoters of Community Well-Being of the Wayuu people in La Guajira
- 44 active participants
across
7 PSA groups
2026 Plans - $200,000
Solidarity Fund
- Continue providing scholarships for young people to pursue professional degrees, technical certifications, and vocational training
Growing Hope Regenerative Agriculture Project
- Continue teacher training, farmer training in regenerative agriculture, demonstration farms, local markets, and school gardens in Norte del Cauca
- Strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems and expand reach
Stories of Transformation
Other Mona partners you may be interested in
Badi Foundation, MACAU
Badi School, PANAMA
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