Historic moments in Costa Rica! with our President, Dr. Nelson I. Colón, and Prof. Hiram Williams, Director of REBIA, who led the signing of the Understanding Agreement for the Ubuntu Fund.
The Puerto Rico Community Foundation (PRCF), through its program el The Racial Equity Building Institute (REBIA), and the Afro Women's Center, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the creation, promotion and establishment of the Ubuntu Fund for Racial Justice and Reparations. This strategic initiative is part of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025-2034) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly.
The Ubuntu Fund arises from the need to address the historical structures of exclusion, dispossession and systemic racism that have affected Afro-descendant peoples and communities, resulting in socioeconomic inequality and limitations in access to fundamental rights. It recognizes the particular intersection of oppressions faced by Afro-descendant women and youth, requiring urgent and specific actions to ensure their full participation and well-being.
The main purpose of the Ubuntu Fund is to mobilize resources during an initial ten-year period through international cooperation, philanthropic donations, state contributions and social investment funds. These resources will be used to finance and support Afro-descendant community, cultural, social, academic and economic organizations. The fund will also seek to strengthen the transformative leadership of Afro-descendant women and youth, promote community financial models based on racial justice, and facilitate the exchange of experiences for the creation and management of funds with a restorative and transformative approach.
The Global Coalition Against Systemic Racism and for Reparations, through the Afro Women's Center, will lead the political, conceptual and community agenda of the Ubuntu Fund, ensuring the representation of Afro-descendant voices from the Americas and the Global South. For Dr. Colón, this agreement is one of the “programmatic axes to channel transformative actions in Puerto Rico and will be a replicable model for other regional experiences of racial justice.”
Dr. Nelson I. Colón, President of the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, and Mr. Hiram Williams, Director of REBIA, were in Costa Rica from July 5-12, 2025 to finalize this agreement and participate in various related activities.
During his visit, working sessions were held to develop the UBUNTU Fund, with the collaboration of several important people. Among them were Mr. Pastor Murillo, rapporteur of the United Nations Permanent Forum for Afrodescendants, and Mr. Harold Robinson, former regional director of the United Nations Population Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNFPA). In addition, the Ubuntu Fund was formally presented and the Letter of Understanding was signed.
About the Puerto Rico Community Foundation: The Puerto Rico Community Foundation has demonstrated a strong track record in strengthening community development, racial equity, social and economic justice in Puerto Rico, with a firm commitment to racial justice through the REBIA program.
About the Global Coalition Against Systemic Racism and for Reparations: The Global Coalition Against Systemic Racism and for Reparations is an international platform that promotes advocacy, resource mobilization and the design of strategies to eradicate systemic racism and advance an agenda of historical, economic and cultural reparations.