The Interledger Community 🌱: Kelly Villa

Open Payments Developer Awareness Sprint: Building Local Developer Capacity in Barranquilla, Colombia

Kelly Villa — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 19:26:36 +0000

Brief Project Description

The Open Payments Developer Awareness Sprint, led by CaribeDev Foundation in Barranquilla, Colombia, introduced local developers and technology students to Interledger and Open Payments through hands-on workshops, a mini hackathon, and personalized technical training. The project combined foundational learning with practical implementation, helping participants explore wallet integration, payment flows, and the Interledger Open Payments SDK. Across three activities, the project recorded 49 attendance instances. The initiative aimed to strengthen local developer capacity and expand awareness of open, interoperable payment technologies.

Progress Report:

Project Update

During the funded period, CaribeDev Foundation implemented three activities designed to build practical knowledge of Interledger and Open Payments among developers and technology students in Barranquilla, Colombia.

The project began with an introductory workshop on July 25, 2026, followed by a mini hackathon on August 1, 2026. The final activity, an intensive technical workshop, took place on September 21, 2026, after being rescheduled from September 19 due to a weather-related power outage at the venue.

Across the three activities, the project recorded 49 attendance instances: 22 at the introductory workshop, 20 at the mini hackathon, and 7 at the final intensive workshop. These figures represent attendance across activities, not necessarily unique individuals.

The project progressed from foundational concepts and guided exercises to practical implementation challenges and personalized technical reinforcement. The final workshop revisited topics from the mini hackathon, giving participants additional time to work through technical questions and strengthen their understanding.

One key lesson was the importance of adapting delivery to local circumstances and allowing time for hands-on guidance. Although the final activity had lower attendance than the earlier sessions, its smaller format enabled more personalized support.

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

The project primarily served developers, programmers, technology students, and other members of the local technology community in Barranquilla and the Colombian Caribbean.

By offering free learning opportunities, the initiative reduced financial barriers to accessing technical education and created opportunities for participants to explore payment technologies through practical activities rather than theory alone.

Participants were introduced to Interledger and Open Payments concepts, including wallet-to-wallet payment flows and the use of the Interledger Open Payments SDK. The mini hackathon provided an opportunity to apply this knowledge through implementation and integration challenges.

The project supports the Interledger Foundation’s mission by increasing awareness of open payment technologies and building developer capacity to understand and experiment with interoperable payment systems.

The activities were open and free to participants. While the project sought to broaden access to technical learning, it did not collect sufficient demographic data to quantify participation by specific marginalized groups. CaribeDev remains committed to promoting inclusive access to technology education across the Colombian Caribbean.

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

Objective 1: Introduce developers to Interledger and Open Payments

Activity 1 — Introduction to Interledger and Open Payments

Date: July 25, 2026

Attendance: 22 participants

The introductory workshop presented the fundamentals of Interledger and Open Payments and included a guided technical session. Participants explored the Interledger Open Payments SDK and key components of a wallet-to-wallet payment flow, including webhooks, Incoming Payments, Quotes, Interactions, and Outgoing Payments.

The session established the foundational knowledge needed for the subsequent practical activities.

Supporting documentation: (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1B5FqWNxzlFyh-auZNvY2AYAQ5Prx2d9R?usp=drive_link)

Objective 2: Encourage practical implementation through collaborative development

Activity 2 — Mini Hackathon: Implementation and Integration of the Interledger Wallet

Date: August 1, 2026

Attendance: 20 participants

The mini hackathon challenged participants to apply their knowledge by working on the implementation and integration of an Interledger wallet. The activity emphasized practical problem-solving and experimentation with Open Payments.

Prizes were awarded to recognize the teams’ work, encouraging participants to engage with the technology through a hands-on development challenge.

Supporting documentation: (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T8QR3123wOqCxYznqTgrFkU4QKiYKGiI?usp=drive_link)

Objective 3: Reinforce technical knowledge and support continued learning

Activity 3 — Intensive Open Payments Technical Workshop

Date: September 21, 2026

Attendance: 7 participants

The final workshop revisited the technical topics covered during the mini hackathon in an intensive, personalized format. Led by Joel Rodríguez, the session gave participants additional time to review implementation concepts, address technical questions, and strengthen their understanding of the topics.

The activity was rescheduled from September 19 to September 21 because of a weather-related power outage at the venue.

Supporting documentation: (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ljNLQLVWpbGWtwSMy7ZLZhNNYUMnA0ut?usp=drive_link)

Each individual event report includes photographs and additional evidence of implementation.

Communications and Marketing

CaribeDev communicated the initiative through its community channels and event promotion activities to reach developers and technology students in Barranquilla and the surrounding region.

The project also shared its outcomes with the Interledger community through a public project update, documenting the activities, participation, lessons learned, and future direction.

Public project update:

The individual event reports provide further documentation of the activities and include photographs of the sessions. Project-related technical learning resources are also available in the Interledger Open Payments guide.

What’s Next?

CaribeDev plans to build on the knowledge and community engagement generated through this initiative by continuing to create free opportunities for developers to explore open technologies and build practical skills.

The experience highlighted the value of combining introductory learning, collaborative implementation, and personalized technical support. Future activities can build on this approach while allowing more time for participant follow-up, troubleshooting, and continued experimentation.

CaribeDev also intends to continue sharing relevant learning resources with its community and exploring opportunities to strengthen local engagement with Interledger and Open Payments.

Community Support

We welcome connections with educators, developer communities, technical mentors, and organizations interested in expanding access to open payment technologies in Latin America.

Opportunities for continued collaboration, technical mentorship, access to learning resources, and future developer-focused initiatives would help build on the foundation established through this project.

Additional Comments

CaribeDev Foundation thanks the Interledger Foundation for supporting this initiative and helping create opportunities for local developers to learn about and experiment with Open Payments.

The project reinforced the importance of making emerging payment technologies more accessible through free, practical, community-driven learning experiences.

Relevant Links/Resources

Open Payments Developer Awareness Sprint: Building Local Developer Capacity in Barranquilla, Colombia

Kelly Villa — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:19:35 +0000

Between July and September 2026, CaribeDev carried out the Open Payments Developer Awareness Sprint, an initiative supported by the Interledger Foundation through its Local Impact Mini Grant.

Our goal was to introduce developers, computer science students, and technology professionals in Barranquilla, Colombia, to the Interledger ecosystem and Open Payments through a progressive learning experience combining introductory instruction, hands-on development, mentoring, and technical reinforcement.

Rather than organizing a single awareness event, we designed three complementary activities to help participants move from understanding the fundamentals to experimenting with practical implementations.

Three activities, one learning pathway

*1. Introduction to Interledger and Open Payments — July 25, 2026
*
We welcomed 22 participants to an introductory workshop and guided technical laboratory. The session covered the fundamentals of Interledger, Open Payments, and interoperable payment technologies, establishing a foundation for the practical activities that followed.

*2. Mini Hackathon: Implementation and Integration of the Interledger Wallet — August 1, 2026
*
Our second activity brought together 20 participants for a hands-on technical experience. Participants explored implementation concepts, worked on technical solutions, and received guidance throughout the development process.

Three projects were recognized with monetary awards of COP 500,000, COP 300,000, and COP 150,000, respectively. Beyond the awards, the Mini Hackathon created space for experimentation, collaboration, and problem-solving around open payment technologies.

*3. Intensive Open Payments Technical Workshop — September 21, 2026
*
We concluded the program with an intensive four-hour technical workshop attended by seven participants. Led by technical facilitator Joel Rodríguez, the session focused on reinforcing concepts, addressing implementation questions, and providing more personalized technical guidance.

The workshop was originally scheduled for September 19 but had to be rescheduled due to adverse weather conditions and a temporary power outage at the original venue. We adapted the schedule and successfully completed the activity two days later.

What did we achieve?
**
Across the three activities, we recorded **49 participant attendances. This represents attendance instances across events, not necessarily 49 unique individuals.

The initiative delivered:

Three educational and technical activities between July and September 2026.

Introductory learning, practical development, and continued technical guidance.

A Mini Hackathon recognizing three projects through monetary awards.

Opportunities for local developers and students to explore Interledger and Open Payments through hands-on learning.

A foundation for future technical workshops and community-led exploration of open payment infrastructure.

*What did we learn?
*
One of our main takeaways was the value of a progressive learning pathway. Introducing the concepts first, providing a practical environment for experimentation, and then offering a dedicated space for technical reinforcement gave participants different ways to engage with the ecosystem.

We also learned the importance of contingency planning and flexibility when organizing in-person technical activities. Unexpected venue disruptions can affect schedules, but clear coordination and adaptability help keep community initiatives moving forward.

For CaribeDev, this project was an opportunity to connect our regional developer community with technologies that support more interoperable payment systems and to create additional entry points for learning and experimentation.

*Looking ahead
*
Completing this initiative is an important step, but we see it as a starting point rather than an endpoint. We hope to continue creating opportunities for developers in the Colombian Caribbean to explore Open Payments, collaborate on technical challenges, and build practical knowledge around open payment infrastructure.

We sincerely thank the Interledger Foundation for making this initiative possible through its Local Impact Mini Grant. We also thank our facilitators, mentors, participants, and community collaborators for contributing their time and knowledge.

We would love to hear from other community members: What approaches have worked best in your communities to help developers move from learning about Open Payments to building with it?

— CaribeDev
Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia