The end of the last millennium spelt disaster for Colombia. The US State Department had ‘decertified’ the Latin American country for its failure to act on promised counternarcotics action, resulting in economic sanctions.
That was only part of a sorry situation that beset Pedro Medina, a businessman, who was heading operations for McDonald’s in Colombia.
Foreign reserves and investments had plunged, unemployment was at a high and there were reported to have been 2,000 suicides in 1999, with 80 per cent of all kidnappings worldwide occurring in Colombia. With shattered dreams, around 4,00,000 people were said to have migrated, and the country was staring at a situation where 60 per cent lived in poverty. To top it all, the head of the guerrilla group FARC Tirofijo had ditched the then Colombian President Pastrana in the middle of peace talks in 1999.
Yet, Mr. Medina went on to sow the seeds of what would become a nationwide movement of change for the country.
Mr. Medina shared the incredible story of this transformation of his country with Puducherians and visitors at a talk held at Maison Perumal recently, ‘Changing the Mind of a Nation.’
Mr. Medina was taking classes at a university in Bogotá D.C. in 1999 when he realised very few students wanted to stay back given the bleak prospects of the country. It spurred him to create a talk in collaboration with his students titled ‘Porque Creer en Colombia’ (Why one should believe in Colombia) which soon caught the attention of the country.
He gave the talk several times and his team trained others to give the talk as well. According to him, 7,00,000 Colombians and foreigners in 163 cities and 33 countries had seen the initial and subsequent versions of the original talk. It also led to the Yo Creo en Colombia (I believe in Colombia) Foundation, a non-governmental organisation active across the country, with a strong workforce.
“We have developed a winning attitude. We have started doing well in sports too,” he said, about the effects the foundation has had on the country. The project had also drawn from Mr. Medina’s fellowship at Harvard University where he researched methodologies to build social capital in Colombia. The project was centred on building collective self-esteem, social capital and marketing the positive image of the country.
“We built stories around the advantages that Colombia had, like its renowned coffee, its geographical location and biodiversity, its resources like flowers, emeralds and water,” he said. The project won praise from local and international media, and world leaders and organisations.
From being mentioned among places to avoid by travellers in the early 2000’s, Colombia was among 10 coolest places to visit in 2015 by the Forbes magazine.
There are some lessons for India in Colombia’s experience, feels Mr. Medina. For achieving cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat mission, Indians can see how the multiplier effect can be applied to good use.
