United in a single national voice, thousands of Colombians from all corners of the country gathered to participate in the dialogue strategy “Tenemos que hablar Colombia” (TQH), an initiative that gathered concerns and reflections, with a view to the 2022 electoral process.
There were more than 1,453 conversations with 5,159 people from all over the country. The presentation of results, which included findings and mandates, took place this Thursday, March 24th, at the Biblioteca Virgilio Barco in Bogota and was attended by TQH board members and presidential candidates or their representatives.
Findings and mandates here: https://bit.ly/3L7qhHu
“Conversation generates trust, sitting down to talk with different people in controlled scenarios helps to build. Colombia faces a problem of mistrust due to historical abandonment. Let us not underestimate the importance of dialogue. After the mobilizations of 2021, more than 60 dialogues achieved agreements,” said Santiago Silva, manager of Tenemos que Hablar Colombia.
This initiative is led by six universities: Industrial de Santander, Eafit, Nacional de Colombia, de Los Andes, del Valle and del Norte, together with Grupo Sura and Fundación Ideas Para la Paz.
The TQH conversations took place between August and December 2021. Nearly 12,000 people from all over the country signed up on the platform www.tenemosquehablarcolombia.co .
In the end, more than 1,400 conversations were held with approximately 5,000 people from all regions and Colombians abroad.
The dialogues took place in small groups and were accompanied by facilitators, based on three questions: what would they change in the country, what would they improve, and what would they keep?
The answers to these questions allowed us to have a vision of Colombia at scale, through an exercise in which children, young people, adults and seniors participated, and which summoned, from diversity, the voice of our country.
Our UIS spokespersons, present at the conversation
“Tenemos que Hablar Colombia is the unequivocal openness of the citizens to deepen peace. We must continue to build from the conversation, process the differences, promote from the same table to build the roadmap of the country we want. TQH should not only be a report, but a motivation for all these dialogues to be replicated in the regions,” said Victoria Nitola Fernandez, UIS student and leader of the LGTBI community.
“From the academy, as is our duty, we go out to listen to the citizens. Our motivation is to promote community participation. This is a picture of the country that we have and that was ‘taken’ by all of us. We must find solutions to these problems of the country and for this, the academy is a fundamental piece”, said Hernán Porras Díaz, UIS Rector.
“This initiative becomes a fundamental work, because it is the voice of Colombia. These 6 mandates, which were a collective effort, must be taken into account for the construction of public policies and government plans,” said Mariela Pujimuy, UIS professor and leader of the Inga community of Aponte.
This navigational chart cannot be ignored!
Full video of rectors and allies of the TQH Colombia initiative https://we.tl/t-JCoK0DXXaT
