¿WHAT IS NUESTRO FLOW?
It is a moviment and unique project as it proposes an integrated and coherent solution to two interrelated challenges: racial discrimination and social and economic development of black communities. Unlike most projects that seek to encourage entrepreneurship and promote economic development of disadvantaged social groups, we believe that to successfully implement such projects you need to first create the conditions for them to succeed.
Therefore, since our main goal is to help Afro-Colombians overcome poverty and exclusion and ensure their effective integration into local communities, we need to start by changing the perception and imaginary local communities possess about their black comrades. We also need to build trust, knowledge and collaboration. To do that, we are committed to shine a light on the contribution of black communities to the country’s development, the richness of their culture and the need to transform our language and the way we see and relate with them.
We act as bridge connecting all actors from the public and the private sector as well as civil society and grassroots organizations interested in fighting racial discrimination by supporting our projects. Furthermore, we aim at helping social and cultural entrepreneurs advance economically by offering them tools and training to develop sustainable business that respect their knowledge, skills and cultural heritage.
OUR MISSION
Fight racial discrimination in Colombia by:
transforming the negative symbolism associated with the term “black” and raising awareness about the great contribution of black communities to the
development of the country.
Collaborating with black entrepreneurs to help them establish sustainable enterprises and promote their work nationally and internationally so that they can advance socially and economically.
OUR CORE VALUE
The following values reflect what matters to us and what inspire us to work every day. They guide our relationships with all our stakeholders and the way we manage the organization. Moreover, all our activities and projects are aimed at contributing to the promotion of these values as we firmly believe they are key to the creation of inclusive and sustainable cities.
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Equality
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Diversity
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Empathy
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Collaboration
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Solidarity
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Innovation
Last Tuesday on February 4th, 2020, our team at Nuestro Flow visited the municipality of Macaio in the department of La Guajira with the idea of providing a series of workshops to address ethnic and cultural differences as well as to discuss discriminatory stereotypes with girls and boys aged approximately between eight and ten years old. The provision of these activities was made possible thanks to the support of the United States’ government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the non-profit organization, ACDI-VOCA, which emphasizes the need for civil society’s active participation and the empowerment of Colombian communities through education.
PROJECTS
WOMEN WITH ALL THE LEtTERS
Has the objetive to stop the gender stereotypes and unconscious bias. Through workshops, meetings and conferences, using our book as a pedagogic tool, we bet to build a new narrative about gender.
CANDELARIA AND THE POWER OF differences
Candelaria was born as an answer about the necessity to reflex and think about the stereotypes and racial discriminations that we have normalice and are part of our culture.
We believe that "Empower children about then own differences are children open to value diversity".
OUR Recognitions
Despite the fact of being a young organization, the social impact of our project, has been recognized in different national and international social entrepreneurship competitions. The last recognition came from CEMEX, a Mexican Company that supports entrepreneurs with high impact projects that promote social transformation. We were among the 15 finalists, from more than 9 000 thousand applications!
International Congress « Otro Mundo (An Other World)» (2017)
In May 2017, we were invited to participate as speakers in the 3rd edition of the International Congress « Otro Mundo » , organized by the Colegiatura de Medellin (Colombia). For more information, please click here: http://congresootromundo.com/
Social Business Creation Competition (2016)
Between June and September 2016, we participated in the SBC Competition, a program created by the Canadian Business School HEC Montréal in partnership with The Grammen Creative Lab, founded by Nobel Peace Prize Muhammad Yunus.
Our project was selected among the five finalists of the second round (in the first position) with 85/100 points, because of the quality of our business idea. We received a prive of $10 0000 CAD.
Moreover, we were among the tree finalists of the whole competition, because of our degree of innovation, impact and possibility to succeed.
In July 2016, we were selected by the Jury of Unreasonable Lab Colombia, among the 12 entrepreneurs to take part in the Accelerator Program, design to run a 5-day Lab to support early-stage entrepreneurs.
Our Project in the News
Our invitation to fight racial discrimination has been shared several times during the past year by traditional and alternative media. Journalists seem to find our approach innovative and want to help us spreading the message. Here are some of the links to interviews on social media and radio (In Spanish).
Radio (links):
Radio RCN Voces RCN La W Radio
Newspaper and web (link):
"Detrás de esto están dos hermanas de Bogotá, Andrea y Mabel, preocupadas por las problemáticas que afectan a las comunidades afro. “Estamos orgullosas de nuestras raíces y de la diversidad de donde venimos, y sabemos que podemos contribuir a la igualdad”, afirman".
"El Negro Está de Moda lanza la convocatoria para construir la Lista Negra de mujeres de Colombia. Esta iniciativa social busca apoyar a 20 mujeres negras emprendedoras, en un programa de formación integral que le dará sostenibilidad y robustez a los proyectos, en un período de cinco meses".
"Piénselo: ¿Qué se compra en el mercado negro? ¿Armas? ¿Drogas? Para Andrea González, líder afro, es la hora de derribar ese imaginario, pues, según ella, ser la oveja negra está bien y, aún mejor, estar dentro de la lista negra porque ‘El negro está de moda".
Copyright: http://pacifista.co/el-orgullo-de-ser-la-oveja-negra/ .
"El Negro Está de Moda es un proyecto que pretende recuperar la dignidad de los afrodescendientes y resignificar la palabra “negro” dentro del lenguaje cotidiano.
“Cuando alguien le diga que su nombre hace parte de La Lista Negra, alégrese, porque lo han reconocido por sus valiosos aportes como miembro de las comunidades negras, al desarrollo del país”. Este es uno de los mensajes que invita a ser parte de una gran iniciativa de El negro está de moda, la campaña de movilización, transformación e igualdad que visibiliza y reconoce el aporte de las comunidades negras al país. ¡Aquí te lo contamos todo!"
"Las muñecas uramberas, se llaman. Y son, como otros 17 proyectos, una de las propuestas que llegaron a El Negro Está de Moda, una iniciativa que busca recuperar la dignidad de los afrodescendientes y resignificar la palabra “negro” en el lenguaje cotidiano. Para ello, lanzaron una convocatoria llamada La Lista Negra, donde 20 líderes afrodescendientes serán seleccionadas para recibir capacitación en emprendimientos sociales".
"Expresiones como “lista negra“, “mercado negro” y sobretodo “trabajar como negro” afectaron profundamente a las hermanas Gonzalez cuando volvieron a Colombia después de vivir en el exterior, en ciudades verdaderamente multiculturales y donde de una manera u otra la diferencia se respeta. De esas interrogantes alrededor del uso del idioma y sus connotaciones racistas, nace esta idea de poner el negro de moda en todos los ámbitos de la vida y no solo en la ropa o los zapatos."
Stakeholders feedback
“I support “El negro está de moda” and its platform the Colombian “Black Market”, because it contributes to the process of social justice against segregation and discrimination affecting Afro descendants in the country. By promoting collaborative work, the project has been publishing the “Black Lists” to give visibility to black leaders and organizations living in the capital, Bogotá. This work contributes to the education of citizens about the impact of racial segregation and helps changing the stereotypes existing about black people by recognizing the richness of our culture and the different possibilities and contributions of our culture to the development of the society. We salute and strongly encourage this initiative as it will strengthen our efforts against racism and in favor of the protection of our rights”. – Javier García, afro-descendant, social activist and ambassador.
“I believe this project proposes a suitable solution to re-signify the role Afro descendants can have in the process of enhancing the social fabric of the country. This type of initiative allows us to democratize access to opportunities and create new collective spaces that value the contributions of Afro descendants, historically living in exclusion and without the chance to fully achieve social, cultural, economic and political development. Another interesting element of this project is its timing as we are about to face one of the nation’s biggest challenges, which is to re-write our history after decades of internal conflict. Therefore, this is the best opportunity to also re-write the history of black communities by recognizing its contribution to the past and future of the country we want to re-build". – Jasec Moreno, mentor, Unreasonable Colombia team.
“I believe there is a social problem and a creative and innovative business solution clearly defined and with the potential to grow and be replicated. The value proposition of the project “The Colombian Black Market” is very interesting as it uses market criteria to solve a social problem by giving visibility to the best talented black entrepreneurs and to promote their culture, products and services. I consider that the team behind the project has the experience and educational background needed to develop the idea, but moreover, the vision and determination to take it to another level by testing, experimenting, improving and working with consistency and respect for the beneficiaries and potential clients”. Camilo Vidales, advisor and founder of HEY, Entretenimiento Humanitario.
“I believe that to be able to transform our country we need to start by changing the way we think, see and relate to each other and challenge the prejudices that are installed in our brain since the beginning. This initiative demonstrates us that there are concepts we use without being conscious of the impact our words can have on the well-being and future of those surrounding us. The value of this project is that it seeks to re-define concepts we have used for centuries linked to negative meanings that are wrong and need to be changed”. – Juan Pablo Zuluaga. potential client and friend.