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Confronted by widespread violence and inequalities, Colombia, Colombians, and the Latin American region in general require innovative projects to help build peace from a grassroots level. Beginning with youth allows future leaders to start this challenge today by creating democratic cultures of peace and cooperation within their peer groups, their families and their communities.
The project that inspired Somos CaPAZes emerged in Connecticut, USA, in 1989, from where it expanded to Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities in the early 1990s. Originally called Peace Games, its name later changed to Peace by PEACE (Playful Explorations in Active Conflict-resolution Education). Over the years, Peace by PEACE has spread to various other cities in the United States and in Canada.
Emilie Baird de Vargas, founder of Somos CaPAZes, volunteered with Peace by PEACE while studying her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, Canada. She now lives in Colombia and has translated and adapted the curriculum for Latin America. Colombia is the first country in Latin America to receive this program.
The name, Somos CaPAZes, comes from “somos capaces”, or “we are capable”. It has been misspelled on purpose, incorporating the word “PAZ” (peace), to communicate the idea that participating in this program will help us all become capable of constructing peace, in our daily lives and further afield.
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