Mobile libraries for peace

CONTEXT

Since the 1960s, Colombia is facing an armed conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). At the end of 2016, after four years of negotiations, a peace agreement was finally signed.

To make it effective and to fight the inequalities that have fueled the conflict, the country must rapidly deploy important human and financial resources, new infrastructures and institutions like libraries.

ACTIONS

The Colombian government has made of culture a central element of national reconciliation. A BSF team based in Colombia was set up to support the project and the librarians responsible for the day-to-day animation of the Ideas Box.

After several months of construction, training and content selection, twenty Ideas Box, real mobile libraries for peace, are now deployed in demobilization and transition zones, available to conflict-affected communities, Ex-FARC soldiers and indigenous people.

The collaborative spaces they create are particularly important to encourage dialogue, restore trust between communities and towards the state, and thus contribute to build peace. They mark the return of the State in Communities where it has been absent the past decades.

BENEFICIAIRIES

Conflict-affected communities, Ex-FARC soldiers and indigenous people.