Mayors commit to strengthening the education of the indigenous people of Risaralda

Mayors commit to strengthening the education of the indigenous people of Risaralda

• Government and mayors agree on educational provision for indigenous communities in Risaralda.

Pereira, May 22, 2024. The mayors, the Regional Indigenous Council of Risaralda (CRIR) and the Government of Risaralda met at a dialogue table to follow up on the commitments made in 2023, focused on the provision of educational furniture for indigenous communities.

The meeting sought to consolidate the economic contributions of the mayors of Marseille, Apía, Balboa, Belén de Umbría, Guética, Santuario, Mistrató and Pueblo Rico, municipalities that must have the necessary resources due to the high educational coverage in indigenous communities.

“Today we held the Monitoring Table of the Minga commitments, of educational furniture. The Government of Risaralda had a commitment to acquire furniture worth $1000 million; $600 million corresponded directly to the Government and $400 million to the different mayors’ offices. “Today we have reached agreements on how the municipalities are going to commit to providing educational institutions,” expressed Dora Ligia Agudelo, Secretary of Education of Risaralda.

Ferney Castro Colorado, mayor of Guatica, detailed the next steps:

“The commitment we finally reached today is that each mayor is going to send a letter saying how much the contribution that the municipal administration will make will be to provide furniture for the different indigenous schools. Then the Certificate of Budget Availability (CDP) will be sent to verify that the resources are available. On June 21 we will meet again in the Governor’s office.”

Marco Fidel Guasavare, senior advisor of the Regional Indigenous Council of Risaralda (CRIR), thanked the mayors for their continued commitment: “First, I want to thank the mayors who have always been in this space that has been created to achieve commitments.”

The dialogue table represents a significant advance in inter-institutional collaboration to improve educational quality in the indigenous communities of Risaralda, ensuring that the commitments made are translated into concrete actions and tangible benefits.