This Friday, 26 February, NIMD Colombia and Colombia’s Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) are launching their first ever School for Dialogue, Innovation and Leadership.

The School will bring together political journalists, and social, political and community leaders. Over five sessions (each lasting four hours), they will gain knowledge and skills in leadership and political innovation. They will also learn how to build shared open governance programmes.

As such, the school will equip these leaders to contribute to conflict resolution. And they will learn how to make public policy recommendations, though collaboration with citizens, the authorities and other leaders.

The first edition of the school will target the regions of La Guajira, Cesar and Córdoba, in the north of Colombia.

Protecting Leaders for an Inclusive Democracy

The new School for Dialogue, Innovation and Leadership is part of the EU-funded “Protecting Leaders for an Inclusive Democracy” programme. NIMD and MOE are implementing this programme together.

The programme is based around dialogue with political institutions, and training for political, social and community leaders. Its aim is to promote an inclusive democratic culture that rejects violence and protects the human rights of Colombia’s leaders.

Violence against leaders is a significant and rising problem in Colombia. In fact, between January 2016 and January 2020, 543 political, social and community leaders were assassinated in the country. What’s more, a recent report by NIMD Colombia and MOE showed that murders of social leaders increased by 85% during the COVID-19 crisis. This violence poses a serious threat to the country’s democracy and fragile peace.

The “Protecting Leaders for an Inclusive Democracy” programme is funded by the EU.