Innovation for Development and South-South CooperationIDEASSCOLOMBIA

MALOKA THE FASCINATING ADVENTURE OF KNOWLEDGE A PLACE TO MEET SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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Introduction

For many native tribes, the Maloca is the most important house in the village, built by the shaman,medicine man or chief. They go there to gain the knowledge of the universe. Not only is it the centre of politicaldecision-making and religious activity, but it is also a place for relaxation, recreation and refuge. Thecommunity meets there and finds enrichment. Maloka with a ‘k’ is also a centre for social mobilisation andbringing people together.

In Colombia, Maloka is a nationwide programme for social improvement, which operates through a varietyof strategies involving democratised and permanent education, the attainment of knowledge, the recovery ofethical values and commitment towards Colombia. Particularly successful is the Interactive Centre, whichorganises exhibitions in an area that covers about 10,000 square metres. Additional activities are developedaround these interactive exhibitions to give extra curricula support to the teaching of science and technology,thus providing a pedagogical tool benefiting both the school community and the general public.

Maloka is a private non-profit makingorganisation, receiving contributions fromnational government bodies, the District ofBogotá, private enterprises and privateindividuals. Maloka is self-sustainable, providingits own activities, its own technology, and runthrough public and privates institutions.

The project was the result of an initiative by theColombian Association for the Advancement ofScience (A.C.A.C.), as a strategy to make scienceand technology known to society at large andpromote a culture that is based on knowledge. Theproject aims to bring technology into people’s dailylives and the industrial system within a frameworkof sustainable development. Not only is Malokaone of the most important interactive science andtechnology centres in South America, it is also themost dynamic centre for tourist, social, cultural andeducational development in Bogotá.

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By Nohora Elizabeth Hoyos

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Maloka is first of all a place for experimentation.The Centre has 12 exhibition halls, which make upa great living museum in which people learn aboutscience and technology through touching andplaying. The Centre is also a place where childrenand adults can meet and exchange views. Thesestrategies aim to foster an analytical view ofscience through discussions involving differentsectors of society on issues of democracy,education, culture, science and technology.

Maloka’s pedagogical experience goesbeyond this varied array of exhibitions. In its fiveyears of activity, Maloka has come up withanswers to many of the problems affecting theeducation sector in the areas of science andtechnology. It has continuously offered teachertraining and updates in scientific developments; ithas given teachers a opportunity to socialise anddiscuss their concerns and educational experienceswith pedagogical experts; it has set up science andtechnology clubs that encourage children of allages to take an interest in these subjects througha philosophy of learning to learn, learning to do,and learning to undertake.

With the backing of the public institutions andprivate enterprises of the city of Bogota, Malokahas extended its commitment to marginal areas ofthe city, promoting environmental self-governanceamong local communities; it has generatedtechnological development for many public andprivate sectors in fields such as robotics and

simulators, it has been active in the communications sector; its has generated discussions about the thingsthat need doing and promoted research through special radio and television programmes. It has developed apackage of external programmes, decentralising the museum, and has been active on the local, national andinternational scenes.

Maloka’s activities have earned it international renown. Thanks to its experience and managementcapabilities, Maloka has advised on similar projects in countries such as Venezuela, Panama, Peru, Salvador,Bolivia and Mexico. Maloka is also a member of the most important international science associations andgiant screen theatre organisations such as the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC); the GiantScreen Theater Association (GSTA); the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA); the Network for thePopularisation of Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean (RED POP); and theInternational Council of Museums (ICOM).

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investment. Most exhibitions usually confinethemselves to presenting and illustrating theprinciples of science and technology.Furthermore, studies show that most visitors arewell educated. In these respects, Maloka is adifferent undertaking.

Maloka has faced and overcome the challengeof building a centre equal to other great sciencemuseums by managing its resources inconjunction with public and private bodies andenterprises whose services and products areconcerned with science and technology. Another

What problem does it solve?

As an educational organisation for thefamiliarisation of scientific and technologicalvalues, Maloka has had a great impact onColombian society. Since it first opened on 4December 1998, after 18 months constructionwork, Maloka has hosted about 6 million visitorsin its first five years of activity. These results havegiven Maloka a significant public image and it hasreceived the backing of many social sectorsconcerned with science and technology.

The world’s most important interactive centreshave benefited from a great amount of cash

Colombia is a country that invests little in science and technology, a sector that receives only 0.4 per centof the gross domestic product. This low level of investment has led to repercussions on the teaching of scienceand technology and has limited the strategies for making these subjects familiar to communities that arecurrently deprived of schooling. This situation has brought about a certain level of technological and scientificdependency. Proof of this is that Colombia has one of the lowest invention rates in the southern hemisphere,and although over the last 10 years there has been an increase in numbers of students going on to studyscience after completing basic school education, it is still lower than other Latin American countries.

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economic factor that has been fundamental in thecreation and maintenance of the centre has beenits capacity to develop and produce its owntechnology in setting up the exhibitions. Thistechnological self-sufficiency breaks the traditionalpatterns of technology transfer typical ofdeveloping countries.

Over and above the economic issues, Malokahas striven to broaden the level of representationof the country’s scientific community. In terms ofpublic relations, compared to the world’s othergreat museums, Maloka attracts visitors from all

social sectors. In fact, a great number of them arechildren from schools with low resources, who aregiven the chance to visit Maloka thanks to thework of the district education offices.

Compared to other interactive centres orinformal educational programmes for thepromotion of science and technology, Maloka iscommitted to broadening the social context. It hasdeveloped educational programmes that involveboth public institutions (ministries, districteducation and environmental offices, localauthorities, service providers) and private

enterprise (Shell, Gas Natural, and other private energy companies). Maloka is committed to extendingoperations beyond the museum in Bogota, shifting activity to areas which otherwise would not have thechance to visit the centre.

In terms of educational proposals for the community, Maloka has organised exhibitions and activities thathave travelled all over the country. Exploiting local installed capacity, as for example working with local guides,Maloka Viajera has been able to recreate centres for the familiarisation of science at the local level.

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MALOKA in practiceThe Maloka Interactive Centre is located in an important commercial and financial sector of Bogotá. Onthe ground floor, the Maloka building extends over a public square covering an area of 7,000 squaremetres, with another 10,000 square metres underground. It is located in a zone that is easily accessed frommany parts of the city.

Maloka has 12 exhibition rooms, each with a different theme, comprising the universe, water, life,biodiversity, human life, telecommunications, the petrochemical industry, the city, and a children’s area. Thedifferent exhibition rooms are made up of various interactive modules. Maloka has developed over 300modules on various themes. With its own cutting edge technology and workshops, Maloka can offer purpose-built modules for third parties based on plans developed jointly with Maloka experts.

Maloka boasts the first giant screen theatre inSouth America, which has 314 seats and the mostadvanced image and sound technology. Apartfrom providing different types of entertainment forthe general public, the films shown are also aimedat educational institutions and chosen inconjunction with teachers.

Maloka also offers the opportunity of takingthe concept of play and education to youngpeople and families of other communities with anitinerant exhibition entitled Maloka Viajera.Maloka Viajera has extended the activities of thecentre throughout the country, generatingpermanent ties with the communities visited.Maloka Viajera also has an international vision.This itinerant exhibition includes interactiverooms on mathematics, electricity, magnetismand astronomy. Maloka Viajera is designed to behighly flexible, so that it can adapt exhibitions tolocal needs and available space. It has its ownteam to set up exhibitions and educationalcoordinators that train young local people to workas guides during the visit.

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Maloka’s pedagogical model is based on three major principles: • Learning by doing, where experience, concrete action and abstract concepts go hand in hand.• Learning to learn, so that people go beyond mere content and information, and are encouraged to ask and

actively explore multiple questions. • Learning to undertake, so that what we have gained is transformed into action, change and innovation.

This pedagogical model pervades the design and implementation of all the products and services that Malokaoffers the general public.

MALOKA PROGRAMMES

School for Guides. An important example ofMaloka’s pedagogical model is the School GuideProgramme, which aims to promote the training,participation and independence of young peoplethat work as facilitators of the centre’s learningexperience. These guides are generally universitystudents that receive continuous training inMaloka and who are also given the chance topropose and design their own educationalactivities for the public.

Science and Technology Clubs. Otherexamples of how Maloka’s pedagogical proposalsare applied are the science and technology clubs,the programmes organised for teachers, andinteractive missions aimed at students. The scienceand technology clubs give children of differentages the chance to explore biology, ecology,chemistry and robotics, approaching the basicconcepts of each subject through experimentation.However, it also allows them to generateproposals that concern the problems of their ownlocal contexts. This is made possible through thebacking and guidance of researchers that assistparticipants in their scientific projects.

Maloka can provide consultancy at variouslevels: architectural and technical consultancy forthe installation of giant screen cinemas;educational consultancy for science museums orcentres, educational material, teacher training andadvice on creating similar projects both in theplanning stage and in targeting audiences.

More than just a physical or geographicallocation between two streets, Maloka is anexperience offering continuous development andenrichment, pushing Colombia to trust in itscapabilities and set itself great goals. It lives up toits name because, as its name suggests, it is aplace for everyone, no matter where they live orwho they are.

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Mediateka. Another significant service providedby the centre is the Mediateka or media library,which was built with the backing of the CultureMinistry and was designed as a centre ofdocumentation and exploration of new media,aimed at familiarising people with the languageof new communication technologies.

Exhibitions. Maloka provides added stimulus forthe centre’s exhibitions through its ‘temporadas’(seasons), involving a cross-section of the themesexplored in the exhibition rooms, such as water,human life, and the history of science amongstothers. Experts in education and science, with thebacking of exhibition guides, design multipleactivities that renew the exhibitions, turning theminto laboratories and offering regular visitors adifferent Maloka.

Conference cycles. As a meeting point for thesociety in general, Maloka offers conference cycles,where the public is offered an everyday, accessibleapproach to the issues of pure and social sciences.Similarly, the scientific, academic and industrialcommunities are given the chance to share or relayvarious topical issues of public interest.

The cultural fringe. Maloka offers classicalconcerts by national symphonic orchestras andbands, storytelling activities, puppets, and otherevents, bringing families, young people andchildren closer to the issues of science andtechnology in an informal non-conventional way.

MALOKA PEOPLE

Maloka has a staff of nearly 300, divided into 7 workgroups: research and education; development andproduction; human talent; interactive centre; external programmes; administration and finance, andmarketing. The research and development groups establish the guidelines that the other groups follow inaccomplishing the mission that Maloka has set itself.

The scientific community and a group of external advisers support the work of these seven groups. At thehead of the organisation is a general assembly, with a board of directors representing the country’s variouspublic and private sectors. They provide guidelines for the Maloka management committee.

Programming of teacher activities. Malokaoffers forums, workshops and seminars designed asacademic settings for debate and discussion ofcurrent issues with experts. Maloka also organisesTeacher Days, providing refresher courses in physics,chemistry, biology and mathematics.

Interactive missions are designed to exploreand investigate curricular subjects that thestudents are studying in class. Courses arestructured by teachers in conjunction a team ofeducational experts from Maloka.

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The following flow chart illustrates how Maloka is organised:

Community

Advisors

HumanTalent

Administration& Finance

Assembly

Board of Directors

Management

Research &Education

Marketing

Auditor

Communicationand Science

Research

Conceptualisationand Design

EnvironmentalEducation

Development &Production

Design

Production

Technological Research& Development

InteractiveCentre

InteractiveExhibitions

Movie Dome

Mediateka

ExternalProgrammes

Maloka Viajera

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Maloka’s efforts to promote science and technology throughout the country have earned it second placein a survey carried out in Colombia on the promotion of science, behind COLCIENCIAS, the state institutionresponsible for the promotion of science research. This is due in part to the contribution made by theNational Science Academy, which has given continuous advice on the generation of Maloka’s educationalproposals. Maloka has also established close ties with the nation’s universities in designing exhibitions,training exhibition guides, and developing follow-up strategies, which are taken to other areas of Bogotáand the rest of the country.

Another practical demonstration of the results achieved by Maloka can be seen in the high percentage ofcapital investment from business sectors such as energy, which has contributed to the design of interactiveproposals aimed at illustrating the themes of water, oil, energy and others in a more accessible, everyday way.

Results

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A symbol of confidence in the country, a dream that we may one day live in a different Kind of city, onlymakes sense if it is perceived and accepted as such. The most important indication that this is so is the greatnumber of visitors flocking to the different proposals. In the first three years of activity, the centre has hostedmore than three million people. The organisation and the image it projects have also received many awardsand public recognitions, which are a demonstration of the general impact it has had on the community.These include:

• Two architectural awards, two industrial design awards, and a national graphic design prize.

• A project designed by Maloka was selected by the Colombian Biennial of Architecture as an example ofexcellence in town planning.

• Latin-American prize for the Popularisation of Science and Technology, awarded to Maloka for itsoutstanding work at the national and regional levels in popularising and relaying the values of scienceand technology.

• Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Prize awarded by the Sociedad de Mejoras y Ornato de Santafé de Bogotá(Bogotá improvement society), as a recognition of Maloka’s important contribution to education, scienceand technology in the capital.

• A national prize for business innovation(Portafolio).

• Chosen by the DNP (National PlanningDepartment) to represent Colombia in theInternational Project Bank as a successfulnational project and model.

• Chosen by the Chamber of Commerce as asymbol of transparency, and as the venue forthe signing of a transparency pact byrepresentatives of the public and private sectors.

• Chosen as a symbol of Bogotá.

• Maloka Virtual received the Golden WebAward as one of the 100 best Web pages inthe world.

International interest

Adopting Maloka in other countries

Maloka is interested in sharing its experienceand knowledge with all national and localgovernment authorities, municipalities, chambersof commerce, civic organisations, privatebusinesses and mixed or joint enterprises in thedevelopment of interactive centres like Maloka intheir respective environments, so that everyonemay enjoy the benefits. To do this various stepshave to be taken into account.

The process begins by exploring the context inwhich a Maloka-type experience is to be built. Thisis to identify the local stakeholders who areinterested in taking part in the project: thescientific community, industry, lower and highereducational establishments. This explorationinvolves identifying, on the one hand, thestakeholders’ interests and, on the other, invitingthem to define pedagogical criteria, the themes tobe illustrated, and the type of experience they wishvisitors to experience.

Parallel to this conceptual design, establishedin conjunction with the key stakeholders,preliminary research is needed on how the generalpublic perceives science and the themes that thecentres wishes to illustrate. This step is veryimportant, since it provides the guidelines forgenerating the most appropriate educationalproposals for that context.

In this initial process, Maloka can give adviceon research by suggesting the best methodologyand generating participative instruments togather information on the interests andexpectations of the stakeholders involved.Maloka can also advise on the analysis of theinformation gathered so that, in conjunction withthe parties interested in replicating Maloka, thetype of experience being offered to visitors, theservices that are to be offered, and the centre’scommunicational criteria can be defined.

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As for more technical issues, but which also affect the pre-implementation phase, Maloka can help establishguidelines for museum design, elaborate follow-up tools to consolidate visitors’ experiences, and definecriteria for the training of personnel that is to work in the centre.

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Once the pedagogical foundations of the proposals and the design criteria have been identified, work canbegin on legal, financial and administrative questions. In these aspects, a pre-feasibility study is needed. Thisincludes an analysis of economic sustainability, so that the amount of pre-investment required for thedevelopment of the interactive centre is assessed. In addition, a detailed definition of the services that are tobe offered, costs, and an operational outline are needed to establish the centre’s financial and operationalstructure, as well as the necessary infrastructure.

At this point, Maloka can give financial advice to interested parties, help establish the operational structureof the centre, advise on human resources and define requirements.

Once this stage of the conceptual andoperational design has been concluded, work canbegin on the building phase. It is worth reiteratingthat to reproduce the Maloka experiencesuccessfully, proposals and activities for thepopularisation of science must be adapted to thecontext, social needs, and economic resources.That private enterprise, local and nationalgovernment institutions, and educationalestablishments take part in the initiative isfundamental.

In the event of interest in the construction phase,Maloka can advise on architectural design,produce new modules or replicate some of its own,and set up the modules or exhibition rooms.Maloka has technical manuals for setting up andrunning exhibitions, which can provide animportant basis for the sustainable reproduction ofthe Maloka experience, or a part of it.

In the event that those interested wish todesign their own products for the centre, Malokacan train local teams to produce, design and setup interactive exhibitions and follow up theirwork to make the initial idea a concrete reality.

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To learn more

Contacts

During the last 5 years, Maloka has producedannual reports on the advances made by thecentre. It also has institutional documents on theproducts on offer, which can be made availableto the public on request.

The Maloka Documentation Centre also has acomplete record of all the press articles that havebeen written on the centre. Copies of thisinformation are available at the addresses listed inthe following section, or you can contact:

MALOKACarrera 68D Nº 40ª-51 * Ciudad salitreBogotá ColombiaTelephone: 4272707Fax: 4272747www.maloka.org

Maloka is interested in sharing its experience and knowledge with all national and local governmentauthorities, municipalities, chambers of commerce, civic organisations, private businesses and mixed or jointenterprises in the development of interactive centres like Maloka in their respective environments, so thateveryone may enjoy the benefits.

Maloka’s external programmesCristina Colimón * Head of external programmesccolimon@maloka.org

Maloka’s educational proposalsEducación@maloka.org

The ‘Temporadas’ (seasons)Mayali Tafur * ‘Temporadas’ coordinatormtafur@maloka.org

Maloka’s work with teachers Claudia Carrillo * Coordinator of the TeacherWednesdays and Pedagogical Club Ccarrillo@maloka.org

Maloka designed educational materials Marcela Lozano * Educational Materials Coordinatormlozano@maloka.org

Mediateka (media library)Argie Rozo * Mediateka Coordinatorarozo@maloka.org

Maloka science clubs Jorge Gutiérrez * Science Club Coordinator jgutierrez@maloka.org

Interactive Centre design proposalsSigrid Falla * Head of Development andProductionsfalla@maloka.org

Production and TechnologicalDevelopment Manuel Franco Head of Productionmfranco@maloka.org

IDEASSInnovation for Development and South-South Cooperation

The IDEASS Programme – Innovation for Development and South-South Cooperation – is part of theinternational cooperation Initiative ART. IDEASS grew out of the major world summits in the 1990s and theMillennium General Assembly and it gives priority to cooperation between protagonists in the South, with thesupport of the industrialised countries.

The aim of IDEASS is to strengthen the effectiveness of local development processes through the increased useof innovations for human development. By means of south-south cooperation projects, it acts as a catalyst for thespread of social, economic and technological innovations that favour economic and social development at the locallevel. The innovations promoted may be products, technologies, or social, economic or cultural practices. For moreinformation about the IDEASS Programme, please consult the website: www.ideassonline.org.

ART - Support for territorial and thematic networks of co-operation forhuman development - is an international co-operation initiative that bringstogether programmes and activities of several United Nations Agencies. ARTpromotes a new type of multilateralism in which the United Nations systemworks with governments to promote the active participation of localcommunities and social actors from the South and the North. ART shares theobjectives of the Millennium Development Goals.

In the interested countries, ART promotes and supports national co-operation framework programmes for Governance and Local Development -ART GOLD. These Programs create an organized institutional context thatallows the various national and international actors to contribute to acountry’s human development in co-ordinated and complementary ways.Participants include donor countries, United Nations agencies, regionalgovernments, city and local governments, associations, universities, privatesector organizations and non-governmental organizations.

It is in the framework of ART GOLD Programmes where IDEASS innovationsare promoted and where cooperation projects are implemented for theirtransfer, whenever required by local actors.