During the Covid-19 pandemic, María José Rubio (Barranquilla, 54) and her husband, Jorge Bermúdez Sánchez, thought about combining the work of foundations and community leaders with the economic model. This is how, in these difficult times, the idea of creating Colombia Cuida a Colombia was born, a movement that seeks to alleviate the food and health problems of vulnerable populations, from children to the elderly, including migrants. The initiative, which began as a WhatsApp network, has benefited three million Colombian households since 2020.
With this experience and learning, Rubio took it upon himself to create Compromiso Bogotá, to bring together neighborhood leaders, social organizations, businesses and foundations to create opportunities for all. They were inspired by the work carried out by Compromiso Valle, an initiative created in Cali by businessmen close to Rubio. “We realized that we could approach social problems in a different way. Not from well-being, but from co-responsibility, which is what produces development,” he explains. They do this by leveraging local leadership that already exists and has a path forward, and connecting them with entrepreneurs or institutions that improve and amplify this work. . “Our theory of change is there, focused on creating networks of connection and trust, where positive references are found. That’s how we start to see cultural changes in the neighborhood,” says Rubio.
Rubio has a degree in business from the University of Los Andes and has a degree in international business from Harvard. Fifteen days after starting her first job as a stock broker, she knew it wasn’t her path. Fortunately, its goal was as clear then as it is now: to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. Comrpomiso Bogotá started with a pilot project on May 30, 2024 in Suba. They chose this location because it summarizes the city’s problems and because a very low-income community coexists there with another with very high incomes.
Progress has been faster than Rubio and his team expected. The figures for the achievements made in a year and a half are clear: 110 leaders have been trained, 150 businesses have been strengthened, 2,500 jobs have been generated and more than 5,000 people have been impacted by Suba’s leaders. Additionally, 40 local artists and athletes were supported through an alliance between Compromiso Bogotá and the Compensar family compensation fund.
The easiest way to understand what they do is to follow the experience of Estiven Silva, known as Zeta, a social leader and cultural manager who worked for over 14 years to save young people from drugs, crime and early prostitution. His tool is music. He knows how to rebuild this broken path, because he did it himself. Zeta organizes festivals, concerts, community drinks and self-managed social actions. At first, he and other local leaders were wary of Compromiso Bogotá: “We are used to politics, to those who only appear in the countryside. », account. But Rubio and his team were responsible for generating the confidence to begin rowing toward the same port.
“More than a year and a half ago, we met a group of people who had come with a different strategy. They wanted to know what we were doing in the territory, to understand our reality, they wanted to help,” remembers Zeta. For him, it was incomprehensible that these people, whose lives are resolved, want to complicate themselves and contribute to solving the problems and difficulties of the neighborhood, in exchange for nothing.
What Compromiso Bogotá did was show him that there are people like that. “They took the trouble to know the neighborhood and the base. Their fight is to convince businessmen that it is worth transforming the territory through social processes,” explains Zeta, and he concludes, in his own way, that the work of this organization is to “unite the working class with the Colombian elite.”
Rubio believes that by connecting these leaders with opportunities, without intervening resources, they can achieve their goals. “It’s a sustainable, long-term process. It’s not about executing some resources and leaving, but rather connecting them to opportunities and continuing to support them. It totally changes the imagination.”
And this is what happened to Yamile Castrillón, creator of the Zafir Foundation, which is celebrating its 13th anniversary in Suba by providing education to the children of waste pickers. Through coordination with Compromiso Bogotá, they were able to pay the rent for a larger space, allowing them to go from 40 to 120 children. For next year, this number will increase to 136 and the Ministry of Education will send six teachers to support work with out-of-school children aged 5 to 14.
The leader of Zafir is happy to help others. He does it because he has experienced many needs and would have liked to have someone to lend him a hand. Moved by the deficiencies she sees in her environment, she founded a soup kitchen for the parents of these children, in which she charges 8,000 pesos for lunch, just to cover her expenses. There, 60 people benefit from it per day, and some receive their food at their workplace, so they can eat without wasting time traveling.
Beyond results, for Rubio, the greatest success can be summed up in one word: confidence. One they earned through consistency, perseverance, sincerity, and empathy. She is also proud of the links they have forged with social leaders. The challenge now is to reproduce the model in other localities in Bogotá. “We still have a way to go, but these leaders have already changed their narrative from anger, pain, fear and desire to one of collaboration. »
Part of the change, Rubio reflects, is also seen in the culture: they know that they are not going to distribute money, but rather connect them with opportunities to generate it, to continue working for their community: “We help them understand that they are part of a system integrated by public and private, in which everyone has a specific role and where the relationship is very important. And this change brings hope.”
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