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Good practice Imported

Centro de Relevo — Colombia's National Sign-Language Relay Service

Colombia · Bogotá · See the Colombia profile · See the Bogotá profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 23% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

MinTIC and deaf-led NGO FENASCOL run a free, 24/7 sign-language relay service — phone, video call and WhatsApp — connecting Colombia's Deaf community to hearing callers and public services; it handled 516,523 relayed calls in one year and won two Zero Project awards.

516,523
Calls relayed in one reported year
>60,000
Individuals served over 15 years
~6 million
Communications facilitated over 15 years
Centro de Relevo — Colombia's National Sign-Language Relay Service

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC), with FENASCOL (National Federation of the Deaf of Colombia)
Period
2001–ongoing
Keywords
sign language interpretation, telecommunications relay, deaf accessibility, assistive technology, government-funded public service

Context

Centro de Relevo began as a FENASCOL service in 2001 and was expanded into a nationwide government-backed platform around 2009 in partnership with MinTIC, providing free real-time Colombian Sign Language interpretation and relay.

Activities

The service operates 24 hours a day across phone, video call and WhatsApp video channels, letting Deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens make and receive calls to hearing people, businesses and government offices.

Results

MinTIC reported 516,523 relayed calls in a single reported year; FENASCOL reports over 60,000 individuals served and approximately 6 million communications facilitated over 15 years. The programme won a 2016 WSIS Prize and Zero Project awards in 2018 and 2021.

Conclusions

MinTIC and FENASCOL use different periods and methodologies, so the single-year and multi-year figures should be read as complementary evidence of sustained, large-scale use rather than a single reconciled metric.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC), FENASCOL (National Federation of the Deaf of Colombia)

Conditions for success

  • 24/7 multi-channel service (phone, video, WhatsApp)
  • deaf-led NGO partnership with government backing

Common failure modes

  • MinTIC and FENASCOL cumulative figures use different periods/methodologies, complicating a single reconciled metric

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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