Promoting caregiver's mental health

We promote mental health and early childhood development in families affected by armed conflict, displacement, forced migration, and other adverse environments.

Brief (Coming Soon)

What Motivates Us

Over 11 million people in Colombia have been forcibly displaced or forced to migrate from Venezuela, including over 1.5 million children aged 0-5. These traumatizing environments have a detrimental effect on the mental well-being of families and their ability to establish healthy emotional connections, threatening early childhood development.

Learn more:

What Motivates Us

Over 11 million people in Colombia have been forcibly displaced or forced to migrate from Venezuela, including over 1.5 million children aged 0-5. These traumatizing environments have a detrimental effect on the mental well-being of families and their ability to establish healthy emotional connections, threatening early childhood development.

Learn more:

Our Approach

Through a psychosocial, community-based, and group model, this program offers opportunities for introspection and tools to enhance mental health, strengthen nurturing relationships within families, and empower parenting teams. Prioritizing mental health is crucial to cultivating secure and healthy attachment relationships that enable children to thrive despite the challenging environments in which they are born and raised.

Learn more:

Our Approach

Through a psychosocial, community-based, and group model, this program offers opportunities for introspection and tools to enhance mental health, strengthen nurturing relationships within families, and empower parenting teams. Prioritizing mental health is crucial to cultivating secure and healthy attachment relationships that enable children to thrive despite the challenging environments in which they are born and raised.

Learn more:

Who We Work With

Our program is designed for parents or primary caregivers of infants between the ages of 0-5 residing in communities impacted by armed conflict, forced migration, displacement, and other challenging contexts.

Learn more:

Who We Work With

Our program is designed for parents or primary caregivers of infants between the ages of 0-5 residing in communities impacted by armed conflict, forced migration, displacement, and other challenging contexts.

Learn more:

Team

Our Team

We are an interdisciplinary team based at the Faculty of Economics of Universidad de Los Andes. We are currently present in seven Colombian departments. We are committed to contributing to social change and building a more peaceful and just society.

Management Team

Founder and Director

Andrés Moya

Executive Director

María Alejandra Palacio

Technical Director

Blasina Niño

Technical Team

Blasina NIño (Technical Director), Carlos Mario Salamanca (knowledge Management Leader), Vilma Reyes (Program Developer), Zayra Gónzalez (Northern Implementation Leader), Daniela Lombana (Northern Implementation Leader), Bealis Racine (Community Trainer)

Team from Atlántico

Yenisse Araujo (Supervisor), Carolay Escobar (Territorial Manager), Karen Marrugo, Ana Chiquillo, Cindy de la Cruz, Wendy Palencia, Arjadi Taborda, Gina Díaz, Silvia Castro

Team from Córdoba

Sandra Vertel (Supervisor), María Teresa Aguado (Territorial Manager), Edilma Franco, Loreine Álvarez, Ana Julia Pérez, Silvia Llamas, Dubis Bastidas, Daniela Murillo, Geraldine Aparicio

Team from Norte de Santander

Laura Wilches (Supervisor), María Arciniegas (Territorial Manager) Karla Gómez, Yohana Morales, Tatiana Escalante, Ana María Álvarez, Yesica Quintero, Leidy Ferrer, Dina Esperanza

Team from Antioquia

Aura Giraldo (supervisor), Alejandra Salazar (territorial manager), Jessika Vasco, Natalí Bolívar, Diana Sepúlveda, Debora Tamayo, Dayhara Londoño, Anyis Mosquera, Diana Urrego

Team from Bogotá

Jeimmy Rodríguez (supervisor), Yesica Niño (territorial manager), Grecia Ríos, Ana Sofía Fernández, Marylu Beltrán, Edimary Díaz, Andrea Bernal, Norma Constanza Villalba, Ana Milena Ojeda, Yuri Macana

Team form Valle del Cauca

María Clara Piñeros (supervisor), Alba Mayerli Ramos (territorial manager), Nini Johanna Torres, Emperatriz Ramos, Yeimy Tatiana Buritica, Linda Leidy Moya, Angie Fernanda Muñoz, Adalgisa Mosquera Mosquera, Yessica Alexandra Peña

Team from Nariño

Josefina Ortiz (supervisor), Linda Nayibe Sevillano (territorial manager), Adrian Francisca Taborda, Yolima Vallecilla, Yuli Cecilia Becerra, Carolina Hernández García, Diana Karolina Paz, Diana Marcela Núñez, Angélica Preciado, Darly Johana Cortés, Katy Isabel Zambrano

Researchers

Camila Galindo (researcher), María José Torres (associate researcher), María Fernando Piñeros (associate researcher), Andrés Moya (founder and reasearcher), Arturo Harker, Ferley Rincón (founder, researcher)

Researchers Assistants

Mariana Bonet, Isabella Caro, Sara Torres, Jerónimo Sepúlveda, Sebastián Rodríguez

Communications and Public Affairs

Camila Londoño (gestora de comunicaciones), Paola Rozo (gestora de asuntos públicos), Dania Suárez (profesional en comunicaciones), Shanny Hernández (diseñadora gráfica y audiovisual)

Administrative and logistics team

Oscar Rojas (Territorial Liaison Coordinator), Ángela Lozano (Administrative and Financial Coordinator), Erika Arias (Administrative Assistant), Erika Roso (Administrative Assistant)

Data that Matters

Impacts on participants and their children:

-46%

lower likelihood of critical anxiety symptoms

-26%

lower likelihood of critical depression symptoms

-68%

lower likelihood of critical levels in early childhood socioemotional development

Allies

Great Partnerships Great Results

Sponsor the development of the first Semillas de Apego curriculum in 2015 and the scaling pilot between 2020 and 2023 (funded by the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund).

Strategic partner in the implementation of the impact assessment in Tumaco from 2018 to 2022.

We developed our initial curriculum in collaboration with the Child Trauma Research Program at UCSF. Throughout the years, UCSF has offered guidance and technical assistance in creating our program's components and innovations.

Sponsored the adaptation pilot conducted in 2015.

Partner and program operator during our scale-up pilot.

Funder of the impact evaluation conducted in Tumaco from 2018 to 2022.

Funder of the impact evaluation conducted in Tumaco from 2018 to 2022.

In order to expand our reach and impact, we partnered with Sesame Workshop in 2023 to integrate socio-emotional learning videos from Watch, Play, Learn into the program.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is the primary funder for the scaling and impact assessment of Semillas de Apego from 2023 to 2025. Their generous funding enables us to expand the program's reach and scale it to new communities and territories.

Our program is affiliated with the Center for Economic Development Studies (CEDE), which is a consulting center for economics and research associated with the Faculty of Economics at the University of Los Andes.

Funder of the impact evaluation conducted in Tumaco from 2018 to 2022.

Sponsor of the impact assessment conducted in Tumaco between 2018 and 2022, and the scaling pilot of the program (funded by the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund).