On Saturday, June 14th, #NextGenC actively participated in the National Learning Gathering of Vivo Mi Calle, held at the Centro Cultural de Cali. This inspiring event brought together young people, researchers, and institutional representatives with a shared goal: to reflect on and take action to strengthen youth participation in our cities.

María Fernanda Alomía, researcher from Universidad ICESI, attended on behalf of our project. Her presentation offered key insights into how youth participation and digital technologies can help transform cities into more inclusive and democratic spaces.

Youth Building Cities Through Participation

During the panel “Youth Participation and City-Making,” we shared early findings and experiences from #NextGenC’s research in Cartagena, Manizales, and Quibdó. Key contributions identified by the project include:

• Cartagena: Young people showed strong awareness of the local youth and participation office’s budget and actively monitored its execution and the quality of services provided by the local government. Based on their experience in youth councils, they also launched a sociopolitical training school to educate other young people on how these spaces work—an initiative not promoted by the local administration.
• Manizales: Under the previous mayor—who was under 29 years old—the city developed the Youth Pact, a plan with specific goals for youth development that reached an 86.2% implementation rate. However, after the change in administration, this focus has lost priority, and youth participation in local councils has fragmented.
• Quibdó: Youth in this city have shown a strong interest in updating the local public youth policy and have built meaningful partnerships with international cooperation organizations to advance this process.

These examples show that, despite structural challenges—such as budget constraints, lack of political will, and intergenerational dialogue gaps—young people are actively pushing forward processes of social impact and transformation.

The Value of Partnerships

This event also provided an opportunity to strengthen relationships and highlight the shared commitment of allies such as WRI Colombia, Universidad EAFIT, Ecorys, and the municipal governments of Cali and Palmira, all of whom expressed their willingness to support effective youth participation and leadership.

At #NextGenC, we remain committed to supporting, documenting, and advancing these processes—firm in the belief that sustainable, just, and inclusive urban governance must include youth voices at every stage of public policymaking.

Let’s keep working together for more participatory and inclusive cities!