Peacebuilding in Colombia - From the Lens of Community and Policy

The authors have written about some of these findings in various channels, including a case study on the “Case of Medellin” for the “Missing Peace: Independent Progress Study on Youth, Peace, and Security”, written for the United Nations after the adoption of resolution 2250 in 2015. Most of the literature explains the condition of youth in conflict zones tend to reduce them to the victim-victimizer dichotomy. This book tells stories of youth in conflict zones, and through their life history the authors theorize about what constitutes being a youth in a conflict zone. This approach sheds light on what these youth enjoy, desire, fear, how they see the world and the future, to be able to understand peace and peacebuilding from a broader perspective. Expands the current understanding of youth by considering the condition of “youthness,” from the perspectives of youth themselves. Although the emphasis is on individual testimonies, the research gives ample opportunity to appreciate the contextual diversity in the local regional social processes beyond Colombia. There are many academic programs centering their work on this subject matter, including: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution master’s program at Columbia University; Peace and Conflict Studies master’s program at Rutgers University; Peace and Conflict Studies master’s program at University of Oslo; Peacebuilding master’s program at Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia).