The Colombian population’s displeasure with the government was expressed in loud protests. Throughout the country, people took to the streets to demand a fairer social system and to protest against the poor implementation of the peace agreement. The government’s failure to control the peace process is demonstrated by the increasing number of political assassinations, which mainly affect social activists, human rights activists and indigenous leaders.

This situation confirms the importance of Horyzon and YMCA Colombia programme: Through Paza la Paz, 1,571 young people were trained in the topics “peaceful coexistence”, “democratic participa- tion” and “entrepreneurship”. The young people come from the lowest social strata and live in slums where they are confronted with violence and crime on a daily basis.

In the area of “peaceful coexistence”, the young people are strengthened in their ability to work for peace and to act as mediators in conflicts. For example, young people from the Mojica neighbour- hood in Cali defused a territorial conflict between two criminal gangs by creating a graffiti for peace with the help of the entire neighbourhood.