Colombia: first graduation from the Citizenship School

As part of the promotion in Colombia of the "Leadership for Transformation" component of the CAF Governance Program, the graduation ceremony of the "Citizenship School: a new culture for democratic transformation" diploma course was held in Bogota on October 21. The ceremony was presided by Elvira Lupo, CAF Governance Director; María Margarita Zuleta, director of the Presidential Program against Corruption; and Guido Echeverry, director of the Advanced School of Public Administration.

Lupo said that the Corporation defined governance "as the integrated action that makes the demands of a society compatible with the capacity and commitment of leaders to address them." She added that the CAF, as financial institution committed to the sustainable development and integration of its shareholder countries "clearly understands that governance is a fundamental element for achieving high quality economic growth that creates competitive jobs, and benefits the majority of citizens in a framework of social sustainability."

The "Leadership for Transformation" component, which the CAF Governance Program is offering in the five Andean countries, aims to identify potential leaders in the region and prepare the ground for a new style of leadership, enriching their value system and providing tools for them to assume the responsibilities of future leadership with an ethical and deep civic-democratic sense.

The Citizenship School is part of this component, as well as an educational proposal for the whole country, especially the conflict zones. Its methodological concept develops the principle of "hands on" learning using the real economic, cultural and political conditions of the communities as subject of study and analysis.

Geographical coverage and profile of participants

To participate in the ceremony and receive their diplomas, 466 leaders from distant communities around the country traveled to Bogota. All of them have been through the training process coordinated by the Advanced School of Public Administration (ESAP), given from 12 centers selected according to ESAP's installed capacity. The centers are Riohacha (Guajira), Valledupar (Cesar), El Banco and Fundación (Magdalena), Magangué (Bolívar), Ocaña (Norte de Santander), Aguachica (Cesar), Barrancabermeja (Santander), Medellín (Antioquia), Villanueva (Casanare), Popayán (Cauca) and Neiva (Huila). To attend the courses, participants traveled on weekends to the training centers closest to their municipalities.

The course covered 145 municipalities in 15 departments (provinces). According to ESAP, 37% of the leaders trained are women and 63% men with an average age of 34. The participants have widely different education levels: 30% are professional, 35% completed secondary studies, 15% began secondary school but dropped out, 15% have only primary education, and 5% no formal studies.

By origin, the leaders range from members of local governments (mayors, councilors, government teams) to representatives of a varied group of organizations and social sectors: youth groups, women´s associations, indigenous communities, environmental organizations, community action groups, cultural leaders, merchants, peasants, fishermen´s associations, independent workers, associations of the handicapped, etc.

The training given by the Citizenship School is divided into 12 modules covering the following subjects: leadership; planning and citizen participation; accompaniment and social control; values and citizens rights; project identification and formulation; strengthening of community organizations; public management; analysis of reality and regional context (sectoral analysis); decentralization, land management and regionalization; human rights; civil society and the private sector.