Bogota 2023 hosts IPC and IDB showcase on En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión

To celebrate six years of the life-changing Para sport initiative En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have created a new athlete-focused video series, funded by the Japan Special Fund for Poverty Reduction Program that will debut as part of the 2023 Youth Parapan American Games in Bogota, Colombia. A partnership between the IPC and the IDB, En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión was launched following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Since 2017 the IDB has invested EUR 1.5 million in the initiative that uses Para sport as a tool of social inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean.

En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión takes place in communities that have had high rates of poverty and where there are high percentages of people with impairments who have no access to sport. By the end of 2024 it will have supported 41 vulnerable communities in 11 countries.

Already it has benefited 1,675 local leaders and 280 coaches who have promoted access to Para sport and changed the lives of 1,600 persons with disabilities. As a direct consequence of the initiative 828 athletes in the region have been able to start careers in sport.

Three of these athletes are the subject of a new video series:

• Para swimmer Nallely Munoz Inostroza from Valparaiso, Chile. Already a national champion Nallelly joined the project two years ago and her aim is to change people’s perception towards persons with an impairment

• Para athlete Yeison Monegro from Dominican Republic. The 17-year-old sprinter is one of the most talented young athletes from Dominican Republic. He is returning from Bogata 2023 with his first international medals, bronze in the T37 100m and 200m. 

• Nelfi Guarnizo Lozano from San Vicente del Caguán, Colombia. The 14-year-old is an example of how Para sport is creating social change in vulnerable communities affected by violence and exclusion.

Nelfi’s video features her mentor Julian Acosta, who was one of the first Colombian athletes to benefit from En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión. Acosta has already gone from being a Para sport debutant in his hometown of Buenaventura in 2018 to an international athlete. After competing this week in Bogota 2023, Acosta is already focused on the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games.

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IPC President Andrew Parsons said: “En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión is achieving exactly what we hoped it would do, it’s changing perceptions of persons with disabilities in the communities in which they live. These videos are testament to the life-changing progress that is being made and, thanks to the generous investment of the Inter-American Development Bank, further proof that Change Starts With Sport. I am also proud of the fact that a third of the NPCs in the Americas have benefited from En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión and of the role that NPC Colombia is playing as a mentor and passing on their expert knowledge through the region.”

"Our goal at the IADB has been to promote adaptive sports in the region, aiming not only to improve accessibility for people with disabilities but also to shift public perception regarding their talents. We are fully committed and will tirelessly work to promote projects that encourage the active participation of individuals with disabilities in sports and society at large." Kelvin Suero, Chief of Operations, Colombia Office, Inter-American Development Bank.

To date there have been three editions of En sus marcas, listos... Inclusión. The first edition of the project in 2017 covered five countries and ten vulnerable communities in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Peru.

The second edition, financed by the Japan Special Fund for Poverty Reduction Program which is administered by the IDB, began in 2019 and expanded the activities to Argentina, Chile, and Dominican Republic, with Colombia acting as mentor country and while the IPC providing consultation to develop institutional plans that strengthen each of the participating NPCs.

In 2022 the latest edition of En Sus Marcas, Listos… Inclusión was launched and will run through to the end of 2024. It is improving access to Para sport in Guatemala, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, with Colombia again mentoring the three nations.