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Pedagogical activities for conflict resolution and symbolic rituals to empower women in their capacities to transform their territory. Photo: UNODC Colombia.
Tumaco, Nariño, Colombia: Keyla Pedraza, like hundreds of other adolescents and women in Colombia, is facing different challenges in her community, such as: risks from gangs, consumption of psychoactive substances and limited access to education. Colombia is currently going through a post-conflict phase, which has set new challenges for the country involving aspects like public order, institutional presence in remote territories and the increase in the consumption of drugs. Drugs consumption, in particular, impacts all populations equally, regardless of social, economic, educational, territorial conditions or status. People affected by the use of psychoactive substances require timely responses from institutions and society to address harm reduction strategies or other methods of treatment.
In response to this situation, UNODC Colombia’s Drug Abuse Prevention Section and the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace began a series of training sessions, in 2019, for 750 women and 750 youth leaders from 10 Colombian municipalities, based on the Life and Leadership Skills Strategy. The aim is to provide the knowledge and tools that will enable participants to deal with problems associated with drug use. UNODC’s Life and Leadership Skills Programme strengthens community leaders’ capacities, through tools and good practices for the prevention, attention and treatment of psychoactive substances, seeking to increase access to drug demand reduction programs and other related problems.
As a young community member, Keyla received training from the Life and Leadership Skills Programme and committed to pass along the obtained skills to other at-risk youth from her neighbourhood. This training allowed Keyla to improve her abilities in resolving conflicts, communicating assertively, managing her emotions and feelings, making decisions and strengthening her self-esteem. Through the programme, she also met 35 women leaders from her community. These women shared and reflected on their own personal situations to find solutions through networking and horizontal collaboration. This form of collaboration reinforces resilience, which is a key element to reach wellness an increases community capacity to resist adversity and remind open to new opportunities for change.
This UNODC initiative contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including: SDG Target 3.5 on strengthening substance abuse prevention methods and SDG Target 16.a on strengthening national institutions through capacity building to prevent violence and combat crime.