Highlights 2019
Learning from the best
OBAMA FOUNDATION
As part of former President Barack Obama’s visit to Colombia, the Obama Foundation chose 10 Colombian leaders to have a personal meeting with the former President.
We were selected as one of those 10 leaders and had the opportunity to present the work that the Internal Action Foundation does, thus opening up the possibility of mobilizing resources from international donors and making our Foundation known globally.
Internal Agency
We created and opened the first advertising agency in the world to operate inside a prison. Internal Agency is a new productive and innovating project of the Internal Action Foundation which bets on the education, training and certification in advertising for people deprived of their freedom with the support of the most important creative agencies in the country.
Our first group of advertisers deprived of their liberty in the Modelo prison in Bogotá, were certified with the Diploma in Advertising granted by the Sergio Arboleda University.
The objective of the project, which is already a successful reality, is to generate the best quality tools for the inmates, so that once they recover their freedom, they can use them in the search for a decent job or the development of their own business.
Our first campaign was for Carulla, exalting the value of the products of the countryside.
Allies:
Camilo Plazas, MullenLowe SSP3, Ogilvy, Lip, Capital Films, Google, Facebook, Fantástica, MediaCom, VMLY&R, The Juju, Leo Burnett, McCann, DDB, Makers Mode y Sergio Arboleda University.
National Scholarships
The prisons of Bogotá, Cartagena and Freedom House have been beneficiaries of the “Creating Your Future” scholarships.
This time we arrived at the Bucaramanga prison, where 33 inmates from Bucaramanga were given scholarships in different learning modules, focusing on areas of job skills strengthening, computer operation, hotel services and customer service. This initiative allows them to develop the skills necessary for good performance in the labour market, which will generate new opportunities when they serve their sentences.
Allies:
Kuepa, Fundación City, Global Fairness.
Certified Bakers
Teenagers deprived of their liberty, inmates of the Good Shepherd Prison and people who have already recovered their freedom, were trained in baking, pastry and bread making techniques. At the end of the courses they received a Certificate in Basic Baking, an acknowledgement that Mark Rausch, Levapan, will provide them with job opportunities.
Allies:
Mark Rausch, Levapan, Women’s World Corporation.
The best of marketing
We participated in the EXMA, the largest marketing event in Latin America. A great opportunity to publicize the work and impact of the Internal Action Foundation, transmitting our message of second chances to more than 7,000 spectators.
Double triumph in La Barra awards
We received two important recognitions from the accredited La Barra Gastronomical Magazine. One of them exalted the work of the Internal Action Foundation and the other one highlighted the work of
our Productive Workshop Inmate Restaurant in Cartagena’s prison, which was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the best places to visit in 2018.
Solidarity blankets
We gave the inmates 800 blankets with a very special value: it was the first work done by our clothing workshop in the Model Prison of Bogotá. Each one of these pieces incorporated and collected all the solidarity, understanding and generosity that can exist and that we should encourage, among people deprived of their freedom.
Allies:
Policía Fiscal y Aduanera, Leticia Mejía.
Certified wood sculptors
Inmates of the Modelo prison in Bogotá graduated from the wood carving course.
They were trained and mastered in this technique, as applied students of the project carried out with the Santo Domingo School of Arts and Crafts.
Police Internal Theatre
Since 2012, the Internal Action Foundation has been promoting theatre as a tool for change and reconciliation in different prisons in the country.
We presented our group of Internal Theatre of the Good Shepherd Prison in the Club of Agents of the National Police.
This presentation took place at a recognition event for more than 300 police officers of the anti-narcotics group.
Young entrepreneurs
For young adolescents deprived of their liberty, we created a program to strengthen their talents and entrepreneurial skills to encourage them to develop their ideas and to create their own micro-businesses.
They received a certification in development and promotion of productive projects and training in financial education.
We contribute to their resocialization process so that they can later become successful entrepreneurs and leaders.
Participating in art and design fairs
In September and December, the Foundation participated in Barcú and BURÓ, two of the most important art and design fairs in Colombia.
In Barcú we exhibited the photographic series Reverdecer (Greening), made up of eight large-format portraits by the artist Andrés Marti, which featured people deprived of their liberty from the Modelo and Good Shepherd prisons in Bogotá.
In addition, in BURÓ we offered different products of our brand called Libres (Free) made in prisons: hand-painted hats, T-shirts, handicrafts, among others. The money collected in both fairs was given to people deprived of their freedom and their families.
Allies:
Barcú, Buró, INPEC, Ministry of Justice
Google workshop with post-penitentiary
This alliance with Google Colombia had the objective of completing the process of attention to people who have recovered their freedom in order to train them in digital skills, as well as the use of tools that will help them in their labor reintegration.
Allies:
Freedom House and Google Colombia
We arrived to the south of Colombia
Continuing with the purpose of expanding throughout the country, this time we arrived for the first time at the Ipiales prison in Nariño. There we learned about the needs of people deprived of their liberty and worked on a dental brigade for 40 women, and donated toiletries, clothing and blankets. We also started the new project Cooking in the Patio, an event of integration and fraternity in which we shared with the inmates different local recipes advised by expert chefs in the region and to be replicated in the rest of the country.
Allies:
Satena, La W and Paula Chaves
Interns from the LGBTI community graduated in business management
For the first time in Bogotá’s Modelo prison the inmates of the LGBTI community graduated from the Diploma in Fashion and Beauty Business Management at the Sergio Arboleda University’s Entrepreneurship Centre.
For eight months, the inmates were trained in basic techniques in cosmetology, business creation and project development. The purpose of this program was to encourage them to create their own undertakings, promoting inclusion and respect for diversity.
Allies:
Sergio Arboleda University, Gisel Ruiz, El Cebollero Restaurant, INPEC, Ministry of Justice.
Cinema to prisons
During the second half of the year, in the Picota and Modelo prisons and the El Redentor juvenile detention centre, we presented different short films that encouraged the inmates to reflect on matters such as love, joy and self-control. This exhibition was held within the framework of the Countercurrent Spiritual Film Festival.
Allies:
Countercurrent Spiritual Film Festival, INPEC, Ministry of Justice
Christmas on stage
In front of an audience of more than 300 people we presented the play The Victim, based on the script of the librettist Mario Ribero and directed by Juan Alberto Galvis.
The leading characters were a theatre group made up of post-prisoners who, for a year, worked on the adaptation of this play which revolves around the question Can a person be a victim and a victimizer at the same time?
Production Rows
This Christmas we are starting our new programme for the visitors of people deprived of their liberty. Each month we will be taking activities to different prisons so that visitors – especially the children of those deprived of their liberty – will take the wait during the line as a space of love, reconciliation and joy.
Allies:
Colfrance and Éxito Foundation
Our Foundation in Spain
The Internal Action Foundation and the Colombian Consulate in Madrid donated jackets, winter hats and books to Colombian women prisoners. As a result, in partnership with the Real Madrid Foundation, new initiatives were created for crime prevention campaigns and opportunities for intervention in our prisons.
Allies:
Totto, Madrid Consulate, Real Madrid Foundation
Early Childhood Stimulation
We inaugurated the new reading room for the children living in the Good Shepherd prison and gave early stimulation guides to mothers nationwide to encourage the development through the soft and psychomotor skills for the children who are with their mothers in prison.
Allies:
Arcos Dorados Foundation, Julio Doná Academy, INPEC, Ministry of Justice
