Local community support

Local community support

Community relations are a key part of ALMA’s presence in Chile. This is so important to ALMA that it invited representatives from the Atacameño community to celebrate a ritual with Mother Earth (“Pachamama”) in the Chajnantor Plateau prior to the launch of the observatory, and again once construction kicked off on the residency that houses observatory staff. Communication channels with neighboring communities are always open and these communities are invited to visit the site on a regular basis.

ALMA has kept close relations with the local communities of Atacama and has been supporting them in different projects through the years by means of grant funds. In this photo, a group of children from Toconao prepare for a traditional presentation/ceremony. Credit: R. Bennett – ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)
ALMA has kept close relations with the local communities of Atacama and has been supporting them in different projects through the years by means of grant funds. In this photo, a group of children from Toconao prepare for a traditional presentation/ceremony. Credit: R. Bennett – ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)
San Pedro de Atacama during the national holidays in Chile. © Carlos Padilla
San Pedro de Atacama during the national holidays in Chile.
Credit: C. Padilla - ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)

1) ALMA Antofagasta Region Fund

Since 2004, ALMA contributes to the development of the Region of Antofagasta, where the observatory is located, through the ALMA Antofagasta Region Fund. This fund promotes productive, social and economic development in the San Pedro de Atacama community. This competitive fund has helped to kick-start many local initiatives, such as community tourism projects, water channeling, construction of community facilities and equipment, and water heating through the use of solar panels, among many others. In 2023, ALMA contributed approximately USD 390,075 to this fund, allocating close to USD 6,296,880 to date.

Download information (PDF):

Information leaflet (in Spanish) so that the communities, associations and organizations of the Area of ​​Indigenous Development of Atacama la Grande, know about the ALMA - II Region Fund: its different types of use, who can apply and how to do it.
Information leaflet (in Spanish) so that the communities, associations and organizations of the Area of ​​Indigenous Development of Atacama la Grande, know about the ALMA - II Region Fund: its different types of use, who can apply and how to do it.
Atacameño Communities Supported by ALMA
Video-summary of some selected projects funded by ALMA: A relaxation room, a tourist map, a gym, training courses in archaeoastronomy; an equipped first aid room and dental health services without having to move from town to town. (Valle Arcoíris; Alto Jama; CESFAM San Pedro de Atacama; Talabre; Cúcuter; Machuca; Paso Jama)

2) Local work in education

In the area of education, ALMA voluntarily supports a program to improve education in science in the Toconao public school, which has been expanded to include other local communities in the district of San Pedro de Atacama. ALMA has provided training, selected and funded teachers, and built infrastructure to allow these programs to take root. It also provides hands-on material and periodic feedback on program implementation through education specialists. The program has helped to raise test scores for Toconao students in national standardized tests, and has enabled this school to be selected as one of the top 100 leading schools in Chile.

ALMA has kept close relations with the local communities of Atacama and has been specifically helping the Toconao E-21 Public School with Science and English Language grants. In this photo, students from the Toconao E-21 Public School during a science fair organized by ALMA. Credit: R. Bennett – ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)
ALMA has kept close relations with the local communities of Atacama and has been specifically helping the Toconao E-21 Public School with Science and English Language grants. In this photo, students from the Toconao E-21 Public School during a science fair organized by ALMA. Credit: R. Bennett – ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)

ALMA has invested over one million dollars since 2009 in this program, and it has been so well received by teachers, parents and local authorities that it is currently being replicated in other schools in the district through science networks.

3) Cultural environment

In partnership with the Museum of San Pedro and local researchers, the observatory has been involved in the preservation of the Atacameño cultural heritage and its vision of the Cosmos through an ethno-astronomy project entitled “The Universe of our Elders”.

Estancia that belonged to ancient transhumant shepherds. © Carlos Padilla
Estancia that belonged to ancient transhumant shepherds.
Credit: C. Padilla - ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)

Later, in 2017 and 2018, a multidisciplinary team made up of archaeologists, historians and documentalists from the Chilean Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, supported by ALMA astronomers, and an Atacameño researcher ascertained the existence of astronomic structures in the Atacama Desert, bordering the Inca Trail.

"Saywas", a collaborative project in conjunction with the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art to decipher archaeological mysteries of the Incas. In the photograph, ALMA astronomers Juan Cortés and Sergio Martin in the field with researchers from the Museum. © Ralph Bennett - ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)
"Saywas", a collaborative project in conjunction with the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art to decipher archaeological mysteries of the Incas. In the photograph, ALMA astronomers Juan Cortés and Sergio Martin in the field with researchers from the Museum.
Credit: R. Bennett – ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)

These stone structures known as saywas identify and predict equinoxes, solstices and other astronomic events through the shadow they project on the ground during sunrise.

ALMA has also taken measures to preserve the existing cultural legacy in the territories it occupies, preserving the homes owned by past nomadic mountain herders, known as “estancias” or ranches, which have been converted into museums established in memoriam of their original inhabitants to preserve their customs.

Finally, to ensure that the new generations do not lose touch with their ancestral myths about the Universe, ALMA supported Liceo Likan Antai’s Academy of Astronomy in San Pedro de Atacama in making a video about the “Yakana” or the llama constellation.