TİKA Donated Equipment To José Hilario López Market Square In Buenaventura

In coordination with the Department of Social Prosperity and the Buenaventura District Mayor's Office, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TİKA delivered equipment and tools to José Hilario López Market Square located in the municipality of Buenaventura, Department of Valle del Cauca and where the main port of Colombia is located.

The support of TİKA, in addition to complementing the processes of renovation and transformation of the market place facilities, carried out by the National Government of Colombia, aims to enhance and strengthen the productive and income-generating units of the merchants who work in the square, which is considered an important reference in the socioeconomic, cultural, tourist and gastronomic area in the Colombian Pacific region, where population groups of different ethnicities converge.

In this sense, given that the Plaza 'José Hilario López' in Buenaventura is a strategic place where it encourages actions to confront poverty in the municipality, it has received resources from the National Government focused on the social transformation and its environment from the architectural dimensions , cultural, commercial and tourist. As stated by the Director of DPS, Mr. Susana Correa Director of DPS: “We hope that, through this donation, Turkish cooperation will complement the actions previously developed by the national government, and thus together we will strive to promote the overcoming of the poverty in the country ”.

The project will benefit more than 180 merchants and cooks who work within the market place, 400 merchants who carry out commercial activities with the productive units of the market place and the general community, locals and tourists, who appreciate the traditional cuisine of the region. In this way, women who have been working for years in the square, preserving the gastronomy of the region, thanked TİKA for the valuable support.

One of the 'platoneras' in the square, a Colombian term used for women who, in their trade of selling sea food, use giant plates to sell fish, was the beneficiary Mrs. Rosa Caicedo, who like her other coworkers from the Plaza, has been dedicating herself to this trade for many years, with the aim of supplying the needs of her family, pointed out that “the donation that TİKA  makes to our business is very important. Because they are implements that we need to work in the 'José Hilario López' Market Square. We thank this agency for the donations to the Plaza and that they have taken us into account as platoneras"

On the other hand, another beneficiary, Mrs. Maria Elia, apart from expressing her gratitude to the Agency, also makes a call and invites people to visit the Plaza, highlighting “we need people to come to buy seafood, so that they bring good energy to the Gallery, because for now the situation is serious and very hard. We need people to come and visit us and buy the seafood”; her opinion expresses the concern that many platoneras face in the Plaza today, due to the effects caused by Covid-19, and that they have affected sales in the Plaza; nevrtheless, she is very grateful for the donation made and sees it as an economic relief that will allow people to feel more comfortable in the new Plaza, and also, that they can receive better care.

Among the provision made by the Agency, the provision of chairs and the establishment of a roof in the food area were included, an area that will allow tourists and people from the region to sit and enjoy the typical dishes of the Colombian Pacific, as well as expressed Doña Rosa, another beneficiary of the Plaza who indicated “the gift they gave us was excellent, because we were short of chairs, it has been a great relief to serve all the customers, thanks to TİKA  for the great work that they have been doing for the class least favored "