Grant from U.S. Embassy Bogota’s Public Diplomacy Section: Promoting Colombia’s Ethnic Peace Accord through Documentary Film Training

The Public Diplomacy Section at U.S. Embassy Bogota (PDS Bogota) seeks an implementing partner with experience in documentary film to train young people interested in filmmaking and/or digital storytelling in La Guajira, Choco, and Cauca/Nariño, with the ultimate goal that participants work with implementing partner to produce a documentary film about the importance of the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 Peace Accord in Colombia. Proposals should cover a period of 12-18 months, starting from the time the funding is disbursed.

Priority Region: This program is designed to engage young filmmakers in the following regions:

·      La Guajira

·      Choco

·      Cauca or Nariño

Program Objectives:

In October 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez at a ceremony in which the United States became the first International Accompanier to the Ethnic Chapter of Colombia’s 2016 Peace Accord. Over five decades, 38 percent of Afro-Colombians and 27 percent of Indigenous people registered as victims of Colombia’s conflict. By 2017, nearly a million had been forcibly displaced. The Ethnic Chapter sets out a vision for an inclusive peace that addresses the history of inequity and ensures the rights of Afro-Colombians and Indigenous people.

In the United States’ role as international accompanier, PDS Bogota seeks to implement a grant to promote documentary filmmaking to showcase the importance of the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 Peace Accord—especially for Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Colombian communities across Colombia. We seek proposals in which the implementing partner leads filmmaking workshops, combining theory and practical sessions, and ensures high-quality interviews and b-roll for the films in three locations: in Choco, in La Guajira, and in Cauca or Nariño. Each session will train pairs of young citizens interested in filmmaking (18-35 years old) in audiovisual capacities and storytelling. These teams will then conduct interviews in their home communities and share that footage with the grantee. The grantee will choose a select group of trainees to travel to continue their training on editing and postproduction skills in a central location. In conversation with the Embassy and the communities and guaranteeing their vision is reflected, the grantee will edit the footage together to create a final documentary film to screen in at least three theaters in Choco, La Guajira, and Cauca/Nariño. The United States’ role as the first international accompanier to the Ethnic Chapter should be covered in the documentary.

In addition to building the participant’s filmmaking skills, the goal of this grant is to raise overall awareness of the significance of the Ethnic Chapter, reflect ethnic communities’ relationship with the Ethnic Chapter and the Peace Accord, and track Colombia’s progress in implementing the chapter. Therefore, the grantee should be knowledgeable of the Peace Accord and the Ethnic Chapter and ensure participants’ deep understanding of the subject as part of the workshops.

See the Related Documents tab of this Notice for full program information and application instructions. Applicants must contact U.S. Embassy Bogota’s Public Diplomacy Section for specific application instructions, forms, and deadlines.