How to forge change? - SIDOC Foundation

How to forge change?

Ana, a young member of Forjar Oportunidades, a program of the Sidoc Foundation, reflects on what the word change means to her.

Ana is a 26 year old young woman, she has many dreams but, when asked about her individual goal, she can only think collectively, her greatest desire is to have a youth house to provide second chances. Ana knows that in order to achieve these dreams many things must begin to change, both in her life and in the dynamics of the city and the region.

Ana's life, since three months ago, has begun to take turns, some unexpected and others come loaded with many illusions and with them a light of hope that makes her feel that a real change is being forged. Today, Ana is a member of the Forging Opportunities program of the Sidoc Foundation, like her 46 other people are territorial liaisons of the program and facilitate the dialogue and mediation with the 5000 young people who will benefit from the methodology. 

"Change is the opportunities that young people seek and we all need them to emerge, for example, to be able to be a professional in Colombia without so many barriers, that would be a great change". In this sentence, Ana captures what change is for her but, at the same time, her words are a compendium of what many young people conceive as its meaning and is a reflection of what they have been demanding in the National Strike demonstrations.

In Ana's words, throughout the country there has always been a culture of easy money and it is easier to access it illegally: "the 'money' is easy to get, but young people do not want that life, we are tired of it, that's why we are looking for opportunities".

She, who shares daily with the young people of the resistance points, has been able to gather some impressions and highlights the importance of initiatives such as Forging Opportunities that give relevance to the role of youth in the development of the regions: "we have never seen alliances between entrepreneurs and citizens for the good of young people as is happening today with Compromiso Valle and all its work axes. Seeing how we are integrating is very nice and is a sign of what can become a real change for our lives.

Like Ana, several young people thank the entrepreneurs and all the people behind Forjar Oportunidades, as they agree that breaking down stigmas is a first step to work collectively for a real change: "they are believing in the young people that many branded as 'vandals' at some point and that is precisely where the change begins, because of the hope and the opportunities provided".

With water in her eyes and making a great effort to keep the tears from flowing, Ana describes Forjar Oportunidades as a house full of light that illuminates a new path full of changes because, in a seemingly simple phrase, working in the program gave her back something invaluable: "with Forjar Oportunidades I dreamed again, I believed in myself again".

Lastest news

Santander de Quilichao

The intervention of the Sidoc Foundation is currently focused on strengthening the Valle del Cauca, in communes 14 and 20 of the city of Cali and in the district of Buenaventura; in the north of the department of Cauca, in Santander de Quilichao; with a view to working towards a presence in other municipalities in the south of Valle del Cauca and the Pacific Andean region.

"We believe in the power of second chances."

Inspired by the Peace and Citizen Culture program 'Gestando Oportunidades', developed during the Mayor's Office of Maurice Armitage, our founder and leader, the Sidoc Foundation decided to adapt this intervention model to provide second chances to those who have been involved in violent environments.

Peacebuilding and Violence Intervention Axis

Individual, family, community and productive component

Forging Opportunities

This initiative seeks to generate second opportunities for 200 Afro-Colombian and indigenous youths in vulnerable conditions living in Buenaventura and Santander de Quilichao (northern Cauca), with the objective of accompanying the construction of an autonomous and legal life project. This initiative recognizes the potential of the ethnic population, based on their culture and customs, as a contribution to society and business productivity. Through this project, imaginaries are mobilized and built that allow working with people immersed in contexts of violence and illegality, in order to seek for them more and better life options. The initiative is implemented by the Sidoc Foundation, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Inclusion for Peace Program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

2. Bonds for Reconciliation

Lazos para la Reconciliación is an initiative to promote territorial peace, coexistence and community cohesion in Santander de Quilichao (northern Cauca), through the strengthening of leadership skills and citizen participation, economic sustainability, reconciliation and community resilience in 80 people in the process of reincorporation, social leaders and the community in general, for the comprehensive prevention of the risks of victimization and stigmatization under a cross-cutting approach of gender equality.

Buenaventura

The intervention of the Sidoc Foundation is currently focused on strengthening the Valle del Cauca, in communes 14 and 20 of the city of Cali and in the district of Buenaventura; in the north of the department of Cauca, in Santander de Quilichao; with a view to working towards a presence in other municipalities in the south of Valle del Cauca and the Pacific Andean region.

"We believe in the power of second chances."

Inspired by the Peace and Citizen Culture program 'Gestando Oportunidades', developed during the Mayor's Office of Maurice Armitage, our founder and leader, the Sidoc Foundation decided to adapt this intervention model to provide second chances to those who have been involved in violent environments.

Peacebuilding and Violence Intervention Axis

Individual, family, community and productive component

Forging Opportunities

This initiative seeks to generate second opportunities for 200 Afro-Colombian and indigenous youths in vulnerable conditions living in Buenaventura and Santander de Quilichao (northern Cauca), with the objective of accompanying the construction of an autonomous and legal life project. This initiative recognizes the potential of the ethnic population, based on their culture and customs, as a contribution to society and business productivity. Through this project, imaginaries are mobilized and built that allow working with people immersed in contexts of violence and illegality, in order to seek for them more and better life options. The initiative is implemented by the Sidoc Foundation, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Inclusion for Peace Program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Cali

The intervention of the Sidoc Foundation is currently focused on strengthening the Valle del Cauca, in communes 14 and 20 of the city of Cali and in the district of Buenaventura; in the north of the department of Cauca, in Santander de Quilichao; with a view to working towards a presence in other municipalities in the south of Valle del Cauca and the Pacific Andean region.

A Dream called 'Siloé Visible'.

Through the building of trust, recognition and acceptance of differences, a participatory process materialized with two grassroots organizations of Comuna 20, the Nueva Luz Foundation and the La Red Cultural Center Association, for the creation of a long-term project that would turn Comuna 20, specifically Siloé, into a territory of peace.

Violence Prevention and Education for Citizenship

Individual Component:

Music and Sport for Peace

For the SIDOC Foundation, music and sports have become a tool of great value, not only for the development of musical skills in children, adolescents and young people, but also in the promotion of social, emotional and cognitive skills that have allowed the construction of life projects, the promotion of gender equality, the recognition and promotion of human rights, the recovery of the memory of the territory and youth leadership.

1. Siloé Children and Youth Symphony Orchestra:

The Siloé Children and Youth Symphony Orchestra process was born in 2008 with the objective of providing artistic spaces for children and young people of the 20th district of the city of Cali, through which processes of social inclusion and violence prevention are generated, using musical training and psychosocial support as main tools.

The children and youth symphony orchestra of Siloé has had more than 600 members throughout these 12 years and has had the support of allied institutions such as the Multipurpose Educational Institution, Faculty of Music of the University of Valle, the Bard College Conservatory of New York, the ICESI University, the Colombo American Cultural Center, the Bolivar Davivienda Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, among others, the Universidad ICESI, the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, the Bolivar Davivienda Foundation and the Colombian Ministry of Culture, among others. We have 10 graduates of the process who are currently involved in professional academic processes at the conservatory of Cali and the Universidad del Valle.

2. Drums of Siloé:

With Tambores de Siloé we have been working for more than 10 years with the objective of preventing violence through the promotion of musical culture linked to Colombian and urban rhythms, through various musical instruments and combining musical composition with children and young people from the 20th district of Cali. More than 300 people have been part of this musical training and life skills development process.

3. Soccer for Hope

Since 2011, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), FIFA Foundation and Coca Cola Foundation, the Sidoc Foundation has bet on sports as a vehicle to work on social, emotional and cognitive skills with children and youth from the 20th district, while developing community processes in the territories where this sport is practiced. Soccer becomes the excuse to work on the individual component and generate community strengthening processes.

Community strengthening component:

Transformation of public space

It is in the public space that encounters and disagreements, exclusion but also solidarity often take place. The transformation of public space, with a pedagogical balance, is a tool we use to strengthen the community fabric, regulate interactions and work on the concept of social peace. This strategy is based on the active participation of the community, the exchange of knowledge, dialogue and trust building.

1. Pintatón

With the commitment to help recover the social fabric, with a comprehensive vision in which the beautification of the physical space is used as a tool to enter the territory and enhance social processes. We painted 7,000 façades and butts white and managed to change the face of the neighborhood. Not only was there a change of perception within the neighborhood, but the city began to see Siloé in a different way.

2. Viewpoint Park 'I Love Siloé'.

Recovery of 6,400 square meters of public space, including a theater, a playground, a gymnasium, a street soccer field, a flagpole, the neighborhood landmark flag, and the creation of a social committee for its administration.

3. Center for Inclusion and Peace Building 'La Esperanza':

In the La Estrella sector in Cali's Commune 20, more than 200 children and youth and their families have access to a community dining room, systems room, community library, musical, artistic, sports, recreational and job training processes. This space serves as a hub of articulation between social services and the institutional offerings provided by the Foundation; it is also the gateway for other organizations to work in Siloé.

4. Center for Inclusion and Peace Building 'La Casa de las Vacas':

As a result of a community initiative, since 2016, La Casa de las Vacas has become the space where around 80 NNAJ from the El Mirador sector in Cali's commune 20 can have school support, internet access and promotion of art, recreation and sports. It is also a space that functions as a point of articulation of private and public social services.

Peacebuilding and Violence Intervention Axis

Commune 14

"We believe in the power of second chances."

Inspired by the Peace and Citizen Culture program 'Gestando Oportunidades', developed during the Mayor's Office of Maurice Armitage, our founder and leader, the Sidoc Foundation decided to adapt this intervention model to generate second opportunities to prevent and interrupt the dynamics of violence with migrant populations, Colombian returnees and host communities.
VALE + Plus: Inclusion and Opportunity
The project seeks to strengthen socio-emotional and productive skills in 200 migrants, Colombian returnees and host communities to generate sustainable livelihoods through psychosocial support and the generation of economic opportunities. The Vale + Más: Inclusion and Opportunities project is being developed in 11 neighborhoods in the 14th district of the city of Cali. The initiative is implemented by the Sidoc Foundation, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Emergency and Stabilization Program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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