Page 41 - Corporate Responsibility Report 2018

Building the Social Fabric Through Music
Since 2015 Gran Tierra has been financially supporting an innovative music education program focused on developing social learning and musical skills of young children, which is run by the renowned National Batuta Foundation. The program was launched over 20 years ago to address the weakening of the social and cultural fabric caused by decades of conflict, criminality and political division. These factors resulted in massive displacement of youth from their homes, intense poverty and other burdens on
young people.
Using music as a tool for social reconstruction, the Foundation encourages active participation in society while strengthening social integration and cultural diversity.
In Puerto Limón, several kilometres downriver from Gran Tierra’s operations at Costayaco and Moqueta, students up to the 9th grade from several schools gather for classes at the community center after school several times each week.
Batuta instructor Ignacio Portilla working with 8-year old Paula Andrea Oyola
“It’s very hard for children to learn music in a remote place like this. The key is the connection with the psychosocial education of the kids which emphasizes awareness, integration and values. Through music you can clearly see an emotional change in children, and we’re expecting this to have an important effect on the next generation within these communities.”
– Ignacio Portilla, Music Coordinator and Teacher, Batuta Foundation
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