Us
We are the Barichara Regenerative Foundation, a territorial foundation committed to promoting autonomous and regenerative development in our environment.
We focus on identifying and enhancing regenerative work patterns that arise through a network of ongoing local processes, organized around four thematic axes: Environmental regeneration; Regenerative education; Regenerative economy; Regenerative culture and territorial healing.
We mobilize resources and generate connections that allow us to integrate efforts that would otherwise be disconnected.
Through the Bioregional Learning Center We promote the creation of collective knowledge among local actors to design a territory that represents them.
Our origin
The Barichara Regenerative Foundation emerged from a confluence of initiatives that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, felt the need to come together, engage in dialogue, and collaborate to contribute more effectively to the well-being of the region. In 2021, at the invitation of Joseph Allen Brewer, the Advisory Council for the Barichara Regeneration Fund was created as a first prototype for participatory resource governance. In May of that year, we were invited by Evaluar and Azai Consultores to learn about and receive training on the purpose and characteristics of territorial foundations, which led to a community philanthropy event held on November 29th at the House of Culture. There, 125 people gathered under the motto "In Barichara, we all contribute," reaffirming that caring for the common good is a collective act.
Over time, these impulses took shape. Thus, on February 14, 2024, the Foundation was officially established with the commitment to continue cultivating that community spirit. Its founding members—Mariana Lisbeth Atuesta Pinzón, Margarita María Higuera Espinosa, Joseph Allen Brewer, Tannia Falconer de la Muela, José Augusto Barco Bermúdez, María Camila Encinales de Parra, Sergio Alejandro Barrera Sandoval, María Cecilia Restrepo Hernández, Manuela del Pilar Ángel González, Ivonne Ana María Valencia Gómez, Natalia María Ortiz Ochoa, and Emilce González Ruiz—took that first step. Since then, what began as a meeting has become our journey.
Bioregional Regeneration Model
Our model is based on three components: weaving a tapestry of local projects that carry out at least one territorial regeneration process; cultivating a learning ecosystem in the form of a Bioregional Learning Center; and mobilizing resources to support this work with a collaborative funding and governance ecosystem in the form of a territorial foundation.
What is a Territorial Foundation
Territorial Foundations are philanthropic organizations that manage and channel financial and non-financial resources to local organizations and initiatives operating within a territory. They strengthen the social sector and contribute to the autonomous and sustainable development of their territories through three objectives:
01
Manage and mobilize resources, prioritizing local assets, for the projects and processes of social organizations in their territory.
02
Develop individual and organizational capacities in the social sector with long-term support.
03
To coordinate the efforts of private, public and social actors in the territories, supporting the construction of shared visions for sustainable development among all relevant actors.
TerritoriA It is the support organization for the Territorial Foundations Movement in Colombia. Currently, this movement is comprised of Paisano (Bogotá), Barichara Regenerativa (Barichara), Putumayo Florece (Putumayo), TAMSA (Guasca), CreAmos (El Tambo), Sembrando Paz (Montes de María), Funimos (Medellín), Florencia, and Agua, Vida y Paz (Florencia).
Board of Directors
Core team
Milestones in our history
On February 15, the results of the EOT Barichara 2025 Citizen Forum were publicly presented, with the launch of the website www.foroeotbarichara.com and the final report to the community and local, departmental and national authorities.
Ciclo Vivo. Phase II of the Regeneration Cycle Meeting, which seeks to activate funds and alliances between 5 pilot initiatives in the territory to promote participatory governance.
On September 21, the EOT Barichara 2025 Citizen Forum brought together more than 500 people to celebrate citizen participation in the updating of the Territorial Planning Scheme.
Activities prior to the Citizen Forum for the update of the Territorial Planning Scheme. Between May and September, the voices of 892 citizens from the rural communities, neighborhoods and schools of Barichara were collected through participatory methodologies.
The Planting, first meeting of the Regeneration Cycle Weaving Links, with 29 organizations from the territory.
National FT Meeting and birth of the North Andean Bioregional Regeneration Fund.
Collaborative agreement with the Guayacanal Foundation for the installation of a geoportal with georeferenced information on the hydro-ecological situation of the territory.
National FT Meeting and birth of the North Andean Bioregional Regeneration Fund.
Novo Foundation support for eight regenerative initiatives in the territory and administrative strengthening of the Foundation.
Exchange in Barichara with the Putumayo Florece Foundation and the Sembrando Paz Organization -from Montes de María-, financed by CUSO International.
Linkage as co-founders of the North Andean Regeneration Fund
Legalization of the Barichara Regenerative Foundation.
National Meeting of Territorial Foundations in Valle del Sibundoy, Alto Putumayo: common agenda among seven territories.
Representatives from Barichara at the Shift the Power Summit in Bogotá. We joined the Community Philanthropy movement in Colombia.
Territoria and the CS Mott Foundation support the structuring and legalization of FT and regenerative processes. Meeting with FT Paisano in Barichara.
Renewal agreement with Territoria to manage the funds managed by the motor group.
Crisis and reconfiguration of the driving group and collective purposes.
Participation of members of the Foundation in the National Meeting of Territorial Foundations held in Bogotá.
Dialogues on participatory governance and fund management. Trip to Mexico with Territorial Foundations from Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia.
Co-hosts of the ReFi Barichara event.
Collaboration agreement with Territoria to support the establishment of the Territorial Foundation in Barichara.
Visit from Willem Ferwerda, founder of Commonland, inspiration for bioregional regeneration and our framework.
Meeting in Barichara with N. Deychakiwsky (Mott Foundation), A. Landa (Comunalia Mexico) and A. Baez (Territoria): learning about Territorial Foundations.
We decided to begin the process of creating a Territorial Foundation in Barichara.
Virtual fundraising Tejiendo Fondos Semilla, a giving circle for 4 projects, including Pasos del Agua.
Meeting in Ciénaga Magdalena of several groups of people interested in learning more about Territorial Foundations.
The "Weaving Seed Funds" event, where 15 initiatives inspired 125 attendees, resulted in the distribution of 1,000,000 COP in micro-donations to 8 initiatives in Barichara.
We began learning about Territorial Foundations in the Great Circuit for sustainable development in Colombia, invited by Azaí and Evaluar Consultores.
We created the Advisory Council for the Barichara Regeneration Fund.