Resilience and Resistance: Some Reflections on Changemaking

I put together some brief reflections today for the PCDN.Global Career Campus Digest on the nationwide protests and blockade in Colombia.

I don't have any answers but sharing this post as these are some key questions and feel like the social impact industry and many sectors are punching far below where we need to be given the deep challenges facing the world.

Comments/thoughts and more questions especially welcome

Watching Colombia enter its fourth day of nationwide protests and large scale transport blockages in major cities and roads, it is a challenging time (protests are frequent in the country but this one is having a huge economic and political impact).

The government recently raised prices (only be 50 cents) on diesel but this having a huge impact as many people working in transport and trucking indicating this is the final squeeze. That with the increasing costs they cannot make ends meet and they’ve been joined in many locations by taxi and motorcycle drivers.

The economic costs are huge and also in some parts of the country food supplies aren’t being delivered and costs are raising, while in locations such as Bogota, tens of thousands have had to walk hours to/from work given the roads being blocked.

While we are in a privileged position, the main disruption so far is our son’s school is going virtual for a few days. Of course, it is also a reminder of Covid times when we had one of the world’s longest lock-downs. For many families, it’s a question of whether they’ll have enough to eat today.

What makes this even harder is that the government in power is a leftist one, which came in with bold promises, is now squeezed by budget constraints. It’s a reminder of how tough governing can be, especially when facing economic strain.

Negotiations are going on and hopefully a permanent or temporary solution will be reached (I am optimistic this will not go on too long). But this isn’t just a Colombian issue. From the political shifts in Bangladesh to anti-corruption protests in Kenya, it feels like people everywhere are pushing back against systems that aren’t working. Whether it’s inequality, governance failures, or climate challenges, the cracks are showing globally and perhaps this is likely to be the trend for the coming years.

It’s making me think about some tough questions:

- What role do we, as impact professionals, play when society is in crisis?

- Do we work within the system to fix it, protest from the outside, or try to create better policies?

- How do we juggle our everyday responsibilities with this growing urge to drive real change?

Given inequality is one of the world’s most challenging issues and becoming worse, are most of the solutions being proposed and tested at most a poor band-aid approach?

These questions feel more urgent as the world faces more crises—economic, political, environmental. The choices we make today, as individuals and communities, will shape the future.

If you want to learn more about what’s happening in Colombia, check out this article.

I don’t have lots of answers just more questions and wonder how well prepared impact professionals, governing, economic and policy institutions for the current challenges and ones coming.