Juliana Uribe Villegas

Juliana strengthens democracy and peace in Colombia by empowering citizens, especially marginalized groups like rural youth, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous communities, to engage in civic activities. She develops leadership skills, combines civic participation with technology, and connects citizens with decision-makers. Her efforts include citizen mobilization campaigns and creating permanent civic structures in conflict areas. Her technological platform facilitates communication and advocacy with local and national governments, supporting ongoing peace-building efforts.

Guerrilla warfare, drug trafficking, and government neglect have led to significant inequalities in the poorest communities in Colombia, as well as lack of access to education and internal migration within the country. Many have been forced out of their territories due to armed conflict, due to the risk of being recruited by armed groups or being affected by the overall violence caused by drug cartels. The signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016 led to the demobilization of most of the conflict groups; however, the referendum brought with it greater polarization between those who agreed with the conditions of the Peace Agreement and those who did not. Unfortunately, in recent years the guerrillas have re-emerged.

In this context of years of conflict that suppressed civic participation followed by a fragile negotiated peace, Juliana is nurturing a new civic mindset and infrastructure for Colombia rooted in an empowered, mobilized, and connected citizenry building a joint strategy for sustained peace. She does this by using technology to connect disparate groups and foster the co-creation of civic solutions, training young people as leaders of civic engagement to equip them with knowledge resources, transforming them into change agents, and helping people understand what the peace process means from the perspective of each community’s own needs.

Juliana is promoting systemic change through citizen participation and institutionalized collaborative work. This latter aspect is not a very common element within the vision of citizen participation programs, as many organizations dedicated to this topic only gather people for a common cause. What makes Juliana’s method interesting is the work done after citizens mobilize, where collaborative change projects are generated from the most excluded communities with a sustainability vision that allows them to later become institutionalized, forming themselves into collectives and even organizations that possess the political strength and legitimacy to sit down with the public sector and generate, promote, and negotiate public policies.

Under this perspective, Juliana reaches rural, remote areas and displacement zones. Juliana’s work is based on the view that the groups in the poorest communities must see beyond violence to seek peace. Peace, for her, entails tackling the issues that make these communities vulnerable and susceptible to joining the conflict. For example, the lack of education and, consequently, work opportunities lead to young people being prone to join conflict groups.

Peace is reached through everyone being able to use their democratic rights, and it entails involving those who are affected the most by the conflict. Using the platform “El Avispero,” Juliana and her team are helping displaced communities affected by the conflict to connect, align, and organize to design their collective projects tackling topics related to their needs and present them to policymakers, positioning them in the decision-making spaces and generating pressure in favor of lasting peace.

Juliana recruits local youth with leadership potential to guide them towards the democratic process and non-violence, identifying them through allied organizations and other leaders and activists in the territory using the snowball methodology, through interviews with key actors and leaders who have previously been identified or are part of the Mobilizatorio network of actors and through convenings.

Juliana lays the groundwork for a democratic culture by establishing institutions that support sustainable collective and civic organization over time. She has spearheaded a movement encompassing 150,000 civil society actors, leaders, foundations, civic organizations, cooperators, individual donors from the “El Avispero” network. This network seeks to connect citizens with national issues (Colombia), and to articulate different organizations and people to work collaboratively and promote social mobilization. As a result, they co-created citizen actions. El Avispero is a platform for exchange and construction of collective impact for the community of activists in Colombia. Creating groups and networks on different topics for constant interaction between organizations and citizens, this promotes citizen participation and social innovation through peace building and the empowerment of social leaders and youth leadership in the territory.

This network has become a benchmark for citizen participation in Latin America for other leader groups serving as a key source of knowledge and information. Through continuous experimentation and effective knowledge management, Juliana has developed a robust technological infrastructure for citizen engagement and social mobilization. Her efforts have mobilized 1,600 foundations, civic organizations, cooperation agencies, and individual donors, with over 80 media outlets in Latin America and Africa providing ongoing coverage of this work.

Colombia has a long history of illegal actors interfering in the internal democratic process, manifesting coercive forms of voter induction, affecting free speech, organization, association, and the correctness and transparency of democratic processes falling into manipulation and fraud in the electoral procedures for example. This is demonstrated through the constant practice of intimidation, coercion, and physical disappearance of many activists and leaders of popular sectors, placing Colombia among the most dangerous countries in the world for the exercise of citizen activism.

The armed conflict in Colombia, which began in 1960 over land disputes, underwent a significant shift with the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016. The agreement led to the demobilization of numerous armed groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). However, guerrilla demobilization created a power vacuum that the state failed to fill, leaving communities vulnerable to new illegal groups such as the Clan del Golfo drug cartel. These groups have since seized control of drug trafficking routes and territories, leading to further displacement of the population. It is important to note that, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), between 1985 and 2018, the guerrilla conflict resulted in the deaths of 450,664 people, the recruitment of 16,238 children, the displacement of 752,964 individuals, the kidnapping of 50,770 people, and at least 4,237 massacres.

Worldwide, Colombia is the country with the most social leaders, environmental, and land defenders being murdered. According to JEP, in early 2021, Colombia registered historical figures of violence, and the armed conflict of almost six decades left more than nine million victims, including deaths, disappearances, and displaced persons. According to a study by Front Line Defenders in 2023, almost half of the world’s murders of human rights defenders were in Colombia, followed by Mexico. Also, the most recent human rights report from the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) shows that in 2022, a total of 42 Indigenous leaders were killed, and at least 453,018 Indigenous people were victims of violent actions such as confinement, forced displacement, and harassment.

The Peace Agreement, approved by Congress in 2016, promised the end of the conflict and seemed to be a lasting solution. However, as time progressed, the peace process revealed deeper underlying issues. The central problem proved to be the disconnect between decision-making spaces and the people most affected by the conflict. Centralism and a historically closed democracy have left many communities without a voice in public policies and decisions that directly impact their lives. Moreover, many of the territories that were demobilized by the guerilla, with the promise of institutionalization by the government, have been left at the mercy of new criminal groups that now control the territory. The Colombian government now faces the challenge of reviving the peace process.

The lack of citizen participation and security has weakened the peace process and hindered its effective implementation. As a result, in 2024, numerous armed groups returned and began reoccupying these territories. Moreover, the lack of citizen participation increases inequality, violence, poverty, disinformation, and corruption, among others, as evidenced by data from the World Values Survey of Colombia (EMV), which shows that 71% of Colombians are not interested in politics, and 52% of Colombians never talk about politics with their friends and family (EMV, 2020). According to Latinobarómetro.org, 79% of Colombians are dissatisfied with democracy, 53% do not usually express their opinions on the country’s problems in conversations, and 80% have institutional distrust (Latinobarómetro, 2020). The lack of quality education also limits the development of a more democratic Colombian society. According to the Ministry of National Education, only 52% of Colombians have access to higher education, and only 37.4% of students who start a program finish it. In addition, more than 230,000 public school students dropped out of their studies in 2020 due to COVID-19.

The limited capacity for collective organizations to address sensitive and urgent issues that affect Colombian society is manifested in the inability to translate discontent and mobilization into concrete actions and results that have a real impact on people’s lives. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of spaces for dialogue and participation between the State, civil society, and the private sector and by the weakness of mechanisms for control and accountability of public officials.

Juliana’s unwavering commitment to peace was evident from the outset. Her vision of peace for Colombia encompasses a comprehensive set of interconnected needs. Juliana’s perspective extends beyond the agreement of peace and incorporates the fulfillment of essential needs, such as food, education, and protection from forced recruitment by armed groups, as central to true peace. This broader understanding of peace drives Juliana’s conviction that this view should underpin the national agenda because it tackles the root causes of conflict.

During the signing of the 2016 Peace Agreement, Juliana played a pivotal role in articulating and supporting mobilized groups. A massive mobilization arose within the platform created by Juliana, “El Avispero.” For 40 days, they organized marches demanding a new agreement, forming over 300 peace camps with hundreds of people camping and pressuring the government for a new agreement. This pressure resulted in a new agreement with Congress-approved adjustments, avoiding a second referendum.

After this, Juliana systematized her methodology and identified key indicators to choose the areas that require strengthening citizen participation, such as low electoral participation and high levels of conflict. Juliana’s methodology comprises five steps: 1) Identification of key grassroots leaders, 2) Strengthening of individuals, the cause, and the collective, 3) Formation of networks with high levels of trust, 4) Creation of joint agendas, and 5) Recognition of the people who make up the network as advocacy actors. She created her foundation, “Movilizatorio”, as a laboratory for citizen participation. It hires 67 people, the majority in Colombia and Mexico, and others in Argentina, Peru and Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Gabon).

Juliana empowers citizen leadership, especially in conflict-affected rural areas, by fostering participatory mechanisms. Her approach to citizen mobilization involves training groups to spearhead collaborative change projects focusing on sustainability. Young leaders are identified and trained. They are taught about how to create digital campaigns (messages, narratives and communication products), self-care, protection and how to fight against disinformation, and encouraged to create networks among themselves, for promoting trust and collaborative work. Young leaders create joint agendas and citizen campaigns that address various causes, such as preventing recruitment by guerrillas or drug traffickers, improving the quality of education, and protecting human rights. They also use various platforms to collect data, which strengthens the capacity of communities to exert greater pressure and present their cases with greater precision. These grassroots initiatives lead to collective victories that inspire deeper commitment and, over time, drive structural changes in conflict-ridden regions. As these groups evolve into stronger organizations or networks, they gain the power to convene, the legitimacy to sustain themselves, and the capability to engage with the public sector. Through these efforts, they negotiate for improved living conditions and address conflict-related challenges, ultimately contributing to the creation of lasting peace.

Juliana works in regions such as Bogotá D.C., Antioquia and Eje Cafetero, Córdoba, Santander and Norte de Santander, Chocó, Valle del Cauca and Cauca, Quibdó, Cali, Buenaventura and Monteria. Upon arriving in these regions, young leaders are identified and trained.

In Buenaventura, for instance, Juliana cultivated a cadre of leaders who spent six years gathering data on the citizenry’s needs. Their platform (https://mareadigital.org/) has become the official repository for this information, and it is now the official app through which public officials interact with citizenry.

Juliana has implemented high-impact processes involving over 1,680 young people from various rural areas of Colombia and strengthened over 100 initiatives. She has empowered these youth with new knowledge in collaborative leadership, innovation, and product and service design to bolster their leadership capacities and impact in their communities. As an example of these initiatives in Bogotá and Cali, Juliana and her team at Movilizatorio have provided training and strengthened the skills of youth in advocacy, and citizen oversight to influence local development plans in 2024. Currently, this process has ensured that the voices of young people are heard in the peace process at various local levels, notably within Comisión Accidental de Juventudes (Youth Commission.) Here, a process of co-construction and collaboration will be initiated between the youth movement and the country’s Congress members. In addition to providing support for training, participation tools, and the creation of agendas and action plans, weekly meetings are currently held with youth in Cali and Bogotá, with the support of Juliana. Furthermore, young people are being accompanied and supported in their various interactions with the different actors involved in the co-construction processes of local development plans.

In 2020, a remarkable achievement was the signing and ratification of the Escazú Agreement in Colombia, an international agreement on climate issues. Its purpose is to safeguard the right of present and future generations to a healthy environment and sustainable development through procedural rights that include the protection of social leaders. The Escazú Agreement represents a landmark achievement as it is the first regional environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean. Movilizatorio participated in the Environmental Table convened by the Government, making visible the problem of the murders of social and environmental activists, achieving the first official pronouncement of a government on this issue, and forcing the implementation of a response plan. Additionally, they have developed a smartphone app called "Ojo a la vida" (Watch Over Life), which functions as an early warning system. This app allows networks of leaders to communicate securely and report threats, activating protection protocols based on the type of threat received. It employs both offline and online protection strategies and fosters the creation of a support network.

Juliana has co-created citizen actions with approximately 1,680 organizations and leaders, involving 150,000 actors, and has collected over 1,500 citizen proposals for the government. It is crucial to highlight what occurred during the pandemic, which demonstrates the organizational capacity, convening power, capacity building, and mobilization of Movilizatorio’s collective networks. Movilizatorio created ‘Colombia Cuida Colombia,’ project that successfully mobilized thousands of media outlets, individuals, businesses, and allies to respond in the most timely and appropriate manner possible. These efforts, which enabled the provision of healthcare through telemedicine and the distribution of 20 million kilograms of food to over 1.82 million Colombians in 158 cities and towns in less than four months during the COVID-19 crisis, were made possible thanks to a network of young people and leaders that was activated during the pandemic, mitigating its effects on vulnerable communities throughout Colombia.

In the international sphere, Juliana collaborates with women’s communities across different countries in Africa, partnering with the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities to support tribes and communities on ownership of the territory and climate-related issues, representing 35 million individuals and over a million hectares of forest. In 2021, following a campaign promoted by Movilizatorio and Indigenous leaders to position the local communities of the world’s largest forests as fundamental stakeholders in the fight against climate change and the displacement from their territories, the creation of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) was achieved. This governance structure brings together indigenous and local communities from the Amazon region, Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mesoamerica, and the Congo Basin, representing forest peoples from 24 countries that protect over 958 million hectares of tropical forests. In this way, Juliana also connects with indigenous populations across various regions and generates mechanisms for the protection of their leaders and lands. As a result, there is now a Movilizatorio team in Africa, and expansion in Chile has also been driven by Ocean Five, and they are connected with new allies willing to collaborate in both places. The Global Alliance of Territorial Communities has continued its advocacy work on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities of the 24 countries they represent through communications efforts, participation in events and decision-making conversations at regional and global levels with the support of Movilizatorio and other allies, and weekly meetings are held with the communications team of the Alliance to support its strategy.

One significant impact of Movilizatorio in Africa has been the support provided to AWFISHNET leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Gabon following group training sessions and network building. This initial outcome resulted in the creation of a declaration calling upon the AU-IBAR (African Union) to increase women’s leadership representation in response to political violence, territorial conflicts, and climate change. The African Union responded positively to this request, thereby strengthening the voices of women within decision-making spaces. This empowerment enabled them to organize and address their concerns and challenges directly. Another example comes from Chile, where Movilizatorio facilitated training sessions on digital communication for political advocacy with representatives of the Mapuche Indigenous communities. This led to the consolidation of a network of over 18 communicators and local leaders from 6 different Indigenous Coastal Marine Spaces (ECMPO) for the protection of southern Patagonia in the Los Lagos Region and to influence conversations and decisions regarding the governance of marine coastal territories." Over the past eight years, Juliana has assisted them with their campaigns and conservation strategies in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, where they are obtaining the certification to operate as a non-profit organization.

Juliana grew up in Bogotá during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, a period marked by violence and drug trafficking. Her family’s resilience in the face of adversity, especially after her great-uncle’s kidnapping and her grandfather’s role as a negotiator, profoundly influenced her outlook on life. Raised in a family of strong, avant-garde women, including a grandmother who founded an NGO for girls, Juliana was exposed early to social issues and the harsh realities faced by marginalized groups. This upbringing instilled in her a deep sense of social responsibility. Pursuing a degree in economics amidst Colombia’s armed conflict, Juliana founded the Student Political Council to promote civic participation and debate on equity, rights, and diversity. She also created an economic opinion portal to foster community among economists. At 23, after her mother suffered a debilitating stroke, Juliana took on the financial responsibility for her family, demonstrating remarkable resilience and determination.

Juliana’s relationship with social issues deepened through her professional experiences. Working at the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, she witnessed how clientelism and corruption could undermine meaningful public sector work. This disillusionment shifted her focus towards strengthening citizenship. Winning a scholarship to Harvard for a master’s in public administration, she concentrated on social entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. At Harvard, she launched a successful Scheduled Savings Plan for vulnerable youth’s education, which was later absorbed by a Colombian compensation fund. Her engagement with the civic technology ecosystem in New York further expanded her understanding of technological solutions for social movements. The announcement of the peace process with the FARC prompted her return to Colombia, where she dedicated herself to peacebuilding and developing methodologies for citizenship building, using technology to engage youth and voiceless citizens in post-conflict issues.

This decision was driven by her vision of a transformed Latin America, where young people and women lead in areas such as peace, anti-corruption, education, health, human rights, sustainability, and equality. Her journey reflects a deep commitment to social change, fueled by personal experiences and a profound understanding of her community’s challenges.