Colombia - Community at Work - Jan Pablo II

One sixth of Colombia's population lives in Bogotá. Bogota's population, of 7 million inhabitants, will continue to grow as people continue to leave rural areas in order to escape poverty and violence. And what migrants from rural areas find, in big cities like Bogota, is even more poverty and more violence. 

The Government of Bogotá is implementing a bold and courageous policy of food security: “Bogotá without hunger” and “Bogotá without indifference”. Bogotá has come to be known in all of South America as “the city of rights” where the right to food security is conceived as central to all other rights of citizens. This policy is centred around the community mess (comedores comunitarios), located in areas where most of the poor vulnerable population lives. 

In the large Municipality of Ciudad Bolivar, there is a locality named “ Juan Pablo II” which is densely populated with “desplasados” (forced emigrants). In these localities, there is typically a high percentage of poverty and high rates in juvenile crime. It is here where the work of the community mess takes on particular importance, stimulating the creation new identities around a culture of solidarity that unites youth, women and old people. 

Marisol Grenette, an active leader of Juan Pablo II is an example of a single mother who moved out of poverty. She came to the city with dreams of a better life. She works together with other women of her neighbourhood to fight poverty, supporting the most needy, vulnerable, poor and homeless; facilitating adult literacy and school education for children; raising people's awareness on hygiene and sanitation and sharing ways of improving the environment they live in. 

The Municipality of Bogotá provides resources and space to people like her that are able to manage public social services with a “rights based” approach.