Development Cooperation Handbook/Stories/Villas Del Sol - Barrio Rafael Uribe Uribe

MDG1: Eradicate extreme poverty

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⇒ Colombia 2 – Production
⇒ MDG 1 - Extreme poverty
⇒ MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education

Participación y empoderamiento - Barrio Villas Del Sol - Territorio de Derechos
Villas Del Sol - Localidad Rafael Uribe Uribe, Bogotá, Colombia , May 2011
Project managed by the Social Integration Secretariat
of the Alcaldia of Bogotá

⇒ Barrio Rafael Uribe Uribe

Rafael Uribe Uribe is one of the many neighborhoods that have mushroomed on the Eastern periphery of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, a metropolis of around 8 million persons that has been expanding exponentially during the civil war, due to massive displacement of people from the poorer and more unsafe regions of Colombia.

In townships like this one, the political priority now is the reconstruction of community ties amongst the marginalized immigrants, most of them being uneducated youngsters, who too often fall victim to the vicious circle of unemployment, drug abuse and violence.

The socialization among youth is the social emergency. And here, city administration encourages the establishment of community level institutions that design and implement programmes on political participation, education and food security.

The aim of community kitchens is not just to ensure food security, but also to educate people in the fundamentals of nutrition and, along with it, to propagate health awareness, including the social and cultural determinants of healthy living.

Rolando Morales is one of the youth leaders of the community centre of Uribe Uribe. Inspite of his young age, he has a history of drug abuse and juvenile delinquency. He tells us that the major political change most needed here is the re-orientation of the young minds.

Problems are many and one cannot solve them all with few resources or, as a local proverb goes, “cover the sun with one finger”.

But responding to these very difficulties is what brings people to participate in these community centres that are now leading the institutional re-building in degraded neighborhoods of the modern South American metropolis.

Video clips

On YouTube ⇒ Barrio Rafael Uribe Uribe

On YouTube ⇒ Participación y empoderamiento - Barrio Villas Del Sol - Territorio de Derechos

Testimonials

Mercedes Del Carmen Ríos - Cuál es la participación

Mercedes Del Carmen Ríos - ¿Cuál es la inversión social

Mercedes Del Carmen Ríos - Educar a los jóvenes para que participen en la política

Brasil

Bibiana Esperanza Chiquillo, coordinator of international cooperation and public-private partnerships for the Social Integration Secretariat of the Alcaldia of Bogotá

Video clips

Testimonials

See also