I. Coexistence and Respect for Difference

BASIC CITY DATA

• Population size: 8,181,047 

• Population growth rate (%): 0.92 

• Surface area (sq.km): 1,587.00

• Population density (people/sq.km): 4,914.00

• GDP per capita (USD): 15,891.00

• GINI index: 0.52
  

• Main source of prosperity: Exploitation of mines and quarries; Manufacturing industry; Supply of electricity, gas and water; Building; Commerce, Repair, Restaurants and Hotels; Transportation, Storage and Communications; Financial Establishments, Insurance, Real Estate Activities and Business Services; Social, community and personal services activities

ABSTRACT

Aware of the vulnerability of LGBTI rights and considering that the base of the Social Rule of Law in Colombia is the consecration of real and effective equality, the District Administration,  as an expression of the public power's design to eliminate or reduce the inequality conditions and marginalization of people or social groups and achieve living conditions in accordance with the dignity of the human being, initiates the formulation and implementation of Public Policy to give full guarantee of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.

In the framework of the “Public policy to guarantee the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgendered and Intersexual (LGBTI) persons”, Bogotá ensures social justice and guarantees a comprehensive attention to LGBTI persons. These actions are focused on the guarantee and protection of the same rights as those of heterosexual persons, and on the other hand, on the cultural change that is necessary to accept and respect LGBTI persons in the society.

Therefore, the local institutions are working together to implement innovative actions for guaranteeing a comprehensive attention to LGBTI persons.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This initiative is in line with a set of policy frameworks.

Locally

• Agreement 371 of 2009 where Bogota Council agreed the guidelines of the Public Policy.

• Decree 062 of 2014: where LGBTI Public Policy is adopted- District Development Plans.

• Baseline of public policy 2010

• Baseline measurement 2015

• Balances and perspectives 2008 and 2011

• Balances and perspectives 2012 and 2015- Public Policy Bulletins

• Conceptual Guideline Document of LGBTI Public Policy

• The Colombian Political Constitution is its preamble and it is included on Articles 1, 2, 5 and 13.

Internationally

• Articles 7 and 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.

• Articles II and XVII of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man

• Articles 1, 2, 26 and 29 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

• The 1st, 2nd and 3rd articles of the"Protocol of San Salvador”

• Articles 10, 11, 12, 52 and 53 of the Andean Charter for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights.

ORIGINS

The human rights situation of people belonging to the LGBTI sectors in Colombia has been generating concern both nationally and internationally since the eighties. In 2014, and according to the baseline of the public policy for the full guarantee of the rights of the LGBTI sectors of Bogotá, carried out by the city’s Planning Department, it was identified that 69.4% of the people of the surveyed LGBTI sectors expressed that they have been discriminated or that their rights have been violated for any reason.  This is equivalent to 28.7 percentage points below the 2010 baseline, in which 98.1% of the people surveyed said they had been discriminated or that their rights were violated.

The 2014 assessment indicated that the percentages of discrimination by sector are distributed as follows: lesbians of 62.6%, gay men of 70.5%, bisexual men of 44.9% and bisexual women of 67.1%. However, it is worth noting that it is the transgender people, women and men, who have the highest percentages ofdiscrimination: 92.9% and 88.8%, respectively.

The 2014 assessment indicated that the percentages of discrimination by sector are distributed as follows: lesbians of 62.6%, gay men of 70.5%, bisexual men of 44.9% and bisexual women of 67.1%. However, it is worth noting that it is the transgender people, women and men, who have the highest percentages ofdiscrimination: 92.9% and 88.8%, respectively.

Regarding the social representations that the citizens of Bogotá have about the people associated with LGBTI sectors, in 2014, 14.1% of the respondents considered that these people were a risk to the community, 5.7 percentage points below the baseline of 2010, in which 19.8% of the citizens of Bogotá perceived people in the LGBT sectors as a risk to society. Those who answered that people from the LGBT sectors can be a risk to society were asked if they had ever spoken with an LGBT person. In this way, it was obtained that only 43% of the people surveyed had done so. This leads to the conclusion that risk representation is not based on direct contact with people from the LGBT sectors, but on prejudices.

According to the District Development Plan "Bogota Mejor para Todos", by 2020 the LGBTI Public Policy will contribute to two city objectives:

• Decrease by 18% discrimination perception, violence and social exclusion of people in the LGBTI sectors, which restrict them form the fully exercising of their rights.

• Decrease by 5% the number of people that consider LGBTI people as a risk to the society. 

During 2007, within the framework of the construction of this public policy, there was the intervention of the social movement of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgens of Bogotá. The above,through their active participation in focus groups and the realization of a citizen consultation that included representatives from different sectors of the local Administration and the private sector. These exercises served as the basis for formulating policy guidelines and contributed to the development of different participation processes and initiatives in favor of the LGBTI community. An example of this is the creation of the first community center for the care for LGBTI people , to provide them psychological and legal support.

Likewise, within the framework of the construction of this policy, there are spaces for articulation with other actors of the District, such as:

The Inter-sectorial Table of Sexual Diversity:with the participation of 15 district sectors, through which actions of coordination, execution and monitoring of Public Policy are carried out.

The LGBT Advisory Board:This body is made up of 8 district sectors; 4 LGBTI people (with a representative for each of the 4 social sectors); 4 representatives of LGBTI persons who are experts in matters related to the defense of fundamental rights such as: access to health, education, work, life and security, and the right to participation and culture; and a representative of the Universities based in Bogota.This space analyzes the main problems for the recognition, restoration and guarantee of the rights of LGBTI people in the city and makes recommendations in this regard, together with the Administration.

Tables and local advisory councils:These tables are held locally. Representatives of the LGBTIorganizations, the local mayor's office, the International Relations Office and the Institute of Participation and Community Action of Bogota, participate in these spaces. Its objective is to generate projects aimed to enhance the quality of life of the LGBTI population in the city.

In financial terms, the policy has its own budget that comes from public funding.During the period from 2008 to 2016, 22 billion COP were allocated for the execution of activities that contributed to its successful development. Over time, this budget has increased since the topic has become a priority for the Districts Development Plans.

On the other hand, regarding technical resources, the Sexual Diversity Office of the Secretary of Planning is the agency in charge of leading the design and coordination of the public policy. It has a team of professionals and administrative personnel that has increased over time as new tasks, responsibilities and challenges appear. However, the policy involves the cooperation of 15 district’s sectors that coordinate their actions trough an Action Plan, in order to do so; some of the agencies have a special team or even an agency such as the Sexual Diversity Office, the Deputy Office of LGBTI Issues and the Women and Gender Management.

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS 

The public policy is considered as evolutionary because one of the lessons learned was the importance of involving since the beginning of the formulation process the different LGBTI sectors in the construction of the Policy’s Action Plan in order to nourish and assure their needs are materialized in it through the promotion of spaces, workshops and other participatory exercises. The implementation of this kind of participatory strategies have increased along with the execution of the policy creating more dialogue spaces with the community at a local and cross-sectorial level.

On the other hand, at the beginning, the policy’s action plan was oriented towards the guarantee of rights and diminishes the perception of discrimination, violence and social exclusion towards the LGBTI people in Bogota. However, we can know say that the actions established in the action plan have been evolving in the meantime that goals associated with a rights and cross-sectorial approach have been included and were not contemplated in the formulation process, allowing a more inclusive and integral perspective to the people of the LGBTI sectors. For 2017 - 2020 the action plan integrates: 60 actions, 227 goals and accountability indicators of the 15 district’s sectors.

Another aspect to consider the policy as evolutionary is its institutional structure through the creation of agencies who have developed specific actions framed in the LGBTI public policy as the Sexual Diversity Office of the Secretary of Planning (Decree 256 of 2007), the Women and Gender Management of the Institute of Participation and Community Action (Agreement 257 of 2006), the Deputy Office of LGBT Affairs of the Secretary of Social Integration (Decree 149 of 2014), which reaffirm the strengthening of the installed capacity of the Public policy. 

In the creation and implementation of services and guides aimed at providing LGBTI people a more comprehensive attention and care, within the framework of the public policy, through different initiatives, such as: 

• A local strategy for the city.

• Comprehensive care guides for victims of school harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

• Differential attention to lesbian, bisexual and transgender women.

• Access to justice through the Houses of Equality of Opportunities for Women.

• Two Community Centers located in Teusaquillo and the Martires.

• Refugee House for the integral attention to victims of violence of the LGBTI sectors, (unique in Colombia and in Latin America).

• Community dining room that serves people from the LGBTI sectors in food insecurity conditions. 

• Unit Against Discrimination, whose purpose is to advise and legally accompany cases of discrimination; 

Strategies:

• The cultural change strategy "In Bogota it can be"which aims to foster a culture of respect and non-discrimination on sexual orientation or gender identity by transforming meanings and cultural representations that affect the exercise of the LGBTI people rights and the development of a civic culture in Bogota. The main activity of the strategy is the Week for Equality in its 7th version (carried out since 2011) has positively impacted more than 100,000 people, with messages of equality, respect and non-discrimination towards LGBTI people.

• The district strategy "Inclusive Work Environments"has been implemented through the generation of an installed capacity in the different institutions of the district in order to sustain the policy over time. The design of specific guides and services for the LGBTI population and the training and sensibilization of public servants on workplace harassment. This strategy included the application in 2017 of a survey of work environment with 25 questions addressed to public servants of 14 secretaries of the District to measure levels of discrimination against LGBTI persons in their entities, obtaining a response from 6,300 servers.

The challenges the implementation of the policy has faced are the following:

• The lack of coordination and dialogue with conservative and opposition groups of the policy in order to build respect for difference. Approach has been sought with these groups through the participation and dialogue in common spaces to present actions in the frame of the policy.

• The lack of a national LGBTI policy and coordination mechanisms between the national and local levels. Currently, Bogota as pioneer in the formulation and implementation of the LGBTI District Public Policy has advised and participated in working groups with national entities to achieve guidelines for a national policy.

• The lack of understanding and ownership of the issue by public servants. This has been overcome through the Inclusive Work Environmentstrategy which in 2018 trained 892 people in the public, private and/or mixed sectors in a differential approach based on sexual orientation and gender identities and generated strategic alliances with the private sector for the labor inclusion of LGBTI people

• The scarce inclusion of protocols and differentiating policies in the information systems of national entities, for which the Secretary of Planning is working with the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) for the inclusion of questions with a differential approach in different surveys.

DESIRED CHANGE OR OUTCOME

The implementation of this public policy has reduced the indicator associated with the violation of LGBTI people rights from 98% to 69%. Likewise, the negative perception of citizenship against LGBTI people, was reduced by 5 percentage points, from 19% to 14%.

The construction of the baseline of the LGBT policy in 2010 was oriented to assess the following: 

1. The social representations that the citizenship and the public servants have about the people of the LGBTI sectors;

2. The capacity and institutional supply of the Local Administration for the implementation of the LGBTI public policy; and

3. The actual situation of the LGBTI people’s rights. 

With the baseline of this policy, the city sought to establish a starting point to generate, through strategic processes, some actions that would allow:

1. An institutional strengthening that would increase the capacity of action and response of the institutions of the District against the violation of rights of LGBTI people; 

2. The change of meanings and cultural representations that affect the exercise of the rights of LGBTI people; and

3. The development of a citizen culture that respects diversity, in terms of sexual orientation and gender identity.On the other hand, the follow-up to the action plan of public policy is carried out through the LGBTI Public Policy Observatory.

The above, through the SIPA Virtual Follow-up Module, implemented since 2012, which yields a qualitative and quantitative measurement, with an annual periodicity.

As a factor of success of the policy, there is need to consider the development of concerted actions and the involvement of the people and organizations of the LGBT sectors, in order to identify the rights of the people of these social sectors, including relevant aspects of the key actors for its implementation.

The formulation and implementation of the policy is transversal to all the entities at the local level. Although the Director of Sexual Diversity is on charge of the technical secretariat and it´s follow-up, the different sectors of the district have generated actions to contribute the policy to face the needs of the LGBTI population, evidencing an effective action of the politics’ action plan of politics.

LEARNING ASPECTS

The Directorate of Sexual Diversity, as technical secretariat of public policy, has provided accompaniment and support to formulate politics at national and local level to the  for the Ministry of the Interior and to other regions such as Cundinamarca Government (including Chia, Zipaquira and Madrid). Also, the Directorate of Sexual Diversity has worked with Tolima and Huila government to build a baseline for a multipurpose survey at the departmental level.

Moreover, the Directorate of Sexual Diversity has participated in different international spaces in Spain, Mexico and Argentina, which have allowed highlighting the development and implementation of the policy and its elements and exchange experiences with leading cities in social inclusion.

During the years 2015 and 2017, our work and participation through the framework events such as “Equality Week”, gave the opportunity to exchange experiences with South Africa, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Madrid, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires. While keeping this action and international cooperation Bogota is sure other cities can learn from this initiative to create a positive global impact on this matter.

RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

II. Urban Transformations for Inclusion

BASIC CITY DATA

• Population size: 8,181,047 

• Population growth rate (%): 0.92 

• Surface area (sq.km): 1,587.00

• Population density (people/sq.km): 4,914.00

• GDP per capita (USD): 15,891.00

• GINI index: 0.52
  

• Main source of prosperity: Exploitation of mines and quarries; Manufacturing industry; Supply of electricity, gas and water; Building; Commerce, Repair, Restaurants and Hotels; Transportation, Storage and Communications; Financial Establishments, Insurance, Real Estate Activities and Business Services; Social, community and personal services activities

ABSTRACT

Urban Transformations for Inclusion is a public initiative that intends to improve human capacities and strengthen the social fabric of communities through improving public space in Bogota´s informal settlements. The strategy creates an inclusive environment among key stakeholders, such as the local government, academia, grassroots organizations and the third sector, based on a participatory approach, in which communities play a central role. This way, another essential goal is to bridge the gap between the formal and informal city through an inclusive exchange between different city dwellers. Currently, the city is developing two strategies: HABITARTE and HABITANDO. The main objective of HABITARTE is to promote the creation of trust through the enhancement of places for solidarity and social integration. With HABITANDO, HABITARTE intends to create an appropriation process of these public spaces through training inhabitants in social leadership and projects with an emphasis on culture and art. This way, HABITANDO follows HABITARTE, with the objective of first, entering a neighborhood through social activation processes, and furthermore, strengthening local leadership initiatives in a more appropriate social environment. Within the Urban Transformations for Inclusion strategy set, it is important to mention that all interventions promote urban art, through muralism in underused public space, based on art and painting.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Habitarteis a strategy developed by Bogota´s Habitat Department, within the framework of the Urban Strategies for Inclusion Program - TUPI. These are part of the Desmarginalization initiative, a key component of the Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program. Habitarte is part of the Urban Democracy Pillar of the current District Development Plan and its objective is to contribute responsively to the current challenges of informal settlements, proposed in the 2016 Global Urban Agenda, such as public space improvement and social inclusion.

ORIGINS

According to 2016 Global Urban Agenda, poverty, inequality and environmental deterioration, are issues that when concentrated in informal settlements, can become key obstacles for urban development. Although the different informal settlements of Bogotá have their own character due to the particularities of population and background, these conflicts are present in all of them. Spatial deterioration is recurrent. Nevertheless, deeper issues such as the phenomena of violence associated with armed conflict and organized crime in most of these territories generates social dynamics of constant fear. This is critical, considering that slum dwellers are the 27.3% of Bogota´s population and occupy near 20% of the urban area.

As a response to these issues, Habitarte is created with the purpose of strengthening human capacities, fostering the growth of community networks and expanding people’s options in their city. The objective is to create the conditions for an active citizenship to foster transformation processes at the local scale. In that sense, Habitarte creates the necessary spaces for citizen participation, where community advocacy and commitment to territorial development processes is strengthened through different interventions. These intend to have an impact, in the short term, in the quality of the public space of the city and, in the medium and long term (4 years of mayor´s period), on community relationships and in integrating the social fabric of marginalized neighbourhoods to larger city dynamics. 

Inclusion is the way an active involvement of the community is promoted across the strategies. Simultaneously, inclusiveness encourages the creation of bonds between slum dwellers, citizens and institutions of the formal city. According to this logic, universities and third sector organizations, such as the Orbis Foundation, a non-profit from the Colombian paint supplies company Pintuco, have partnered with the public sector for this project. 

During the implementation of the strategy the previous two years, this foundation allocated resources of 2,638 million COP (USD 900,000) to the initiative. In summary, the total amount allocated for the strategy between 2016 and 2017 ascends to 20,015 million COP (USD 6.9 million). The budget approved for the strategy in 2018 is 16,824 million COP (USD 5.8 million). 

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS

Habitarte is an initiative thought for experiencing the beautification of public space through art and color. Similar initiatives have been carried out in different cities around the world such as Pachuca, Mexico, where an artistic collective and the community painted 200 facades in an informal settlement. The revolutionary aspect in the case of Bogotá, has to do with the scale of the project and the huge social impact of it. Through Habitarte, around 67,000 facades have been already painted. There has been a total of 36 interventions carried out in 10 territories throughout the city, and this has benefited about 83,000 citizens. Additionally, more than 3,000 inhabitants have been simultaneously trained in different arts and crafts. It is key to mention that the local government has been held responsible and accountable for integrating the different stakeholders that have actively participated in the project. Therefore, this is also essential in the innovative extent of Habitarte as a public-led strategy.

In this sense, embellishment of public space has not necessarily been the only objective of the intervention. Beyond these physical interventions, the development of new skills in the community can create the conditions for citizens to actively participate in territorial development processes. Therefore, the project is proposed as a social inclusion strategy that is structured from an integral perspective, which serves as a gateway to the Comprehensive Neighbourhood Improvement Program. The strategy intends for citizens to have a collaborative work experience with the city administration, aiming towards more dynamic, fruitful and effective decision-making processes related to the different Neighbourhood Improvement projects. 

Finally, it is relevant to mention that a common situation in the previous phases of the interventions is the lack of trust of communities in the city´s public institutions. In this sense, strengthening trust has been necessary for transparency and a more effective citizen participation in each of the project´s phases. This has fostered a positive environment for mutual understanding among the different stakeholders and has enabled other institutions, at the city level, to act in more favorable conditions for the development of their different policies and programmes.

DESIRED CHANGE OR OUTCOME

Through tangible accomplishments of spatial renewal of neighbourhoods, the strategy intends to improve the quality of life of residents. Furthermore, increasing the capacities of citizens and contributing to existing initiatives led by local organizations is highly valued by the community, which strongly appreciates the offered opportunities that contribute to their personal projects and community goals. All these transformative processes have repurposed many public spaces, strengthening appropriation processes within the neighbourhoods, which is one of the main objectives of the Habitarte strategy.

As a mandatory previous phase to the interventions, the strategy is framed in the most deficitary areas of the city, based on ten quality of life indicators, defined by Bogota´s Habitat Department. This has led to a delimitation of specific territories that urge priorization due to their social and spatial features. The idea would be to measure the overcoming of deficits after implementation of each of the strategies. Additionally, participatory processes have been carried out in each of the project phases and this has allowed citizens to be successfully involved whilst validating the mentioned indicators. During the interventions, inhabitants feel they are active participants in these transformation processes, generating a sense of belonging and pride for streets and facades in their neighbourhoods. This way, the interventions have not only generated spatial transformations and have made possible new social scenarios of cohesion, but have also triggered political debates, as some of the decision makers have seen the positive impact of the interventions in local development processes.

The first step of the interventions is a survey, carried out in order to collect relevant information regarding population issues. The same interview is applied two more times after the intervention. The objective is to measure the true impact of the strategy in terms of quality of life improvement, with a special emphasis in perception changes that inhabitants have within their neighbourhoods and whether the transformations have had a measurable impact on the exercise of the people´s right to the city.

During the last two decades the different local governments in time have been deeply committed with the legalization processes of informal settlements, this establishes a solid legal framework for urban actions. Through innovative land and property tenure initiatives have that have improved the quality of life of the most vulnerable population of the city, Habitarte is a clear example of how progressive city administrations have made important efforts to include different actors in the planning process of the city, emphasizing in the betterment of informal settlements. 

LEARNING ASPECTS

Habitarte proposes a clear and precise methodology of action that can be replicated in other cities. The comprehensive knowledge of the neighbourhoods, in terms of capacities, needs and interests of its inhabitants is key for the success of the initiative in other contexts. Likewise, understanding the environmental conditions of the territories and their cultural, architectural and patrimonial logics and how formal and informal institutions work, is an essential requirement for the successful implementation of Habitarte. In this sense, the strategy can be carried out by different institutions that have within their objectives the improvement of informal settlements from a multidimensional perspective.

It is relevant to mention that Bogota´s Habitat Department is willing to provide guidance and advice, from a mutual learning model, to other cities interested to implement the strategy. Additionally, it is possible for us to generate the mechanisms so that these partnerships are not carried out only by the public servants; but also, by community members and other actors who have contributed to the development the strategy. Finally, it is in our interest to continue participating in spaces where the achievements of the initiative can be disseminated among possible decision makers and organized communities.

RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

• Target 3: Participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management

• Target 7: Universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, in particular of women, children older persons and persons with disabilities

• Target 8: Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas

III. www.sexperto.co: Digital Platform for Information on Reproductive Health and Access to Health Service

BASIC CITY DATA

• Population size: 8,181,047 

• Population growth rate (%): 0.92 

• Surface area (sq.km): 1,587.00

• Population density (people/sq.km): 4,914.00

• GDP per capita (USD): 15,891.00

• GINI index: 0.52
  

• Main source of prosperity: Exploitation of mines and quarries; Manufacturing industry; Supply of electricity, gas and water; Building; Commerce, Repair, Restaurants and Hotels; Transportation, Storage and Communications; Financial Establishments, Insurance, Real Estate Activities and Business Services; Social, community and personal services activities

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Sexperto.co is part of a city wide, multi-agency program that aims to prevent early maternity and paternity. This program, called Bogota's Early Parenthood Prevention Program, was implemented under the leadership of Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who made a call to action and a political commitment, during his inauguration speech, inviting all sectors of the city to help youngsters postpone motherhood or fatherhood to an age where they have consolidated a certain emotional maturity, academic standing, economic stability and, most importantly, a life plan; all of these, with the goal of ensuring that teens and young adults could reach their outmost potential.

ORIGINS 

By January 2016, one in every five teenage girls was either pregnant or was already a mother; every day in Bogota, 1 baby was born to a mother between 10 and 14 years of age; 38 babies were born to girls between 15 and 19 year of age; 78 babies were born to young women between 20 and 24 years of age; and 1 in 7 adolescent girls in Bogota was either a mother or pregnant. This resulted in astronomical school dropout rates for both boys and girls. Additionally, through a survey, the city detected a cultural reality in which 47% of youth (14 to 20 year old) said to agree with the phrase "The most appropriate education for a girl is that which prepares her for motherhood and domestic chores". Through another survey, it was found out that only 30% of teens in stable relationships use birthcontrol. Also, through visits in several sex-ed classes, it was identified that many teens were misinformed regarding sexual rights and health, including birthcontrol methods, and that their primary sources of information were non trustworthy websites, 'urban mythology' and their equally misinformed peers; this meant some of them even believed in birthcontrol methods such as 'doing squats after intercourse'. With such a scenary, the city realized there was need to intervene from multiple sectors, and in a way that was atractive and accesible to teens and young adults, from all socioeconomic sectors, which is how the Bogotá's Program for Early Parenthood Prevention was born. In this program, 8 different Secretaries participate, making it a primary example for intersectorial work. 

Through the Early Parenthood Prevention program the city hopes to achive three primary goals. The first is the reduce the percantage of births in teen mothers as part of the total amount of births. That is to say, in 2014, for every 100 children born in Bogota, 17 were born to a teen mother. Today, that number has been reduced to 13. Though the goal has already been exceeded, it is in the hope to lower that number to 10. Our second goal is to increase the median age in which women have their first children from 22 to 24. Midway through the program, the median age is 23. Our final goal is to prevent pregnancies in girls under 14 at all costs.

This is centered around the fact that having sexual relations with someone under the age of 14 is technically illegal in Colombia, but not widely persecuted as such. The city hopes to achive these three goals through a strong cultural transformation campaing, through improving sex education in schools and by strengthening sexuality related healthcare. Sexperto contributes to the achievement of all three goals because it changes cultural perceptions around sexuality and sex through its open, diversity centered, social justice language. It also serves as a powerful educational tool that is currently being used in 398 public schools in Bogotá. Finally, Sexperto.co is helping us strengthen healthcare services by prompting us to open youth centered care. 

A key actor in the developement of Sexperto.co has been a local university hospital and research center called Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota. This hospital is internationally acredited through Joint Comission and is ranked as one of the top hospitals in Latin America. As part of its missionality, Fundación Santa Fe has a public health center in order to intervene positively on populational health through innovative and science based approaches. Since day one, Santa Fe has been a key ally in the development of Sexperto.co. It is through their human reproduction team and their public health center that the quality of the answers provided to children is guaranteed. Adittionally, and due in large part to its unquestioned recognition as a top tier hospital, Fundación Santa Fe has made sexperto.co a politically and socially neutral initiative. That is to say, when opposing political parties or hiper conservative groups criticising sexperto.co, there is a way to objectively defend what sexperto.co is doing using medicine and science.  

Sexperto.co was funded using public funds from the Secretary of Health's operational budget. Spefically, the initiative used funds from our social participation area. The first contract for sexperto.co was made for $23,000 USD and lasted six months. Besides that investment, there is inmense support from the other Secretaries that make up the Early Parenthood Prevention Program. For example, the Social Services Secretary has invested a significant ammount of money ($150,000 USD) in publicity campaigns for Sexperto. The Secretary of Education has supported us by implementing Sexperto.co as part of its curriculum. Finally, the Department of Parks and Recreation has given us free press in all the events it has done aimed at our target age group. For example, in all concerts of football matches, prior to the start of the event, audiences are shown comercials for sexperto.co. 

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS

Based on the definition provides, Sexperto.co would be considered a revolutionary initiative. Though there are various websites that provide information related to health, none do so in the way sexperto.co does it. For example, sexperto.co allows the user to formulate questions specifically about his or her particular situation. Most health website, like for example WebMD, provide static, prewritten articles. Some websites, like Yahoo Answers, allow user to ask questions but unlike Sexperto.co cannot guarantee the quality or precision of the answers. Aditionally, there are no websites that exlusively talk about sexual health and rights. Finally, and most innovatively, sexperto.co serves as a public health intervention that manages to channel people towards individual care. This is revolutionary because it allows for a general screening of the population based on certain behaviors or situations that the users describe through their questions and then suggests a specific channel of individual attention based on that risk. For example, if a sexperto.co user asks a question related to sexual abuse, the website channels that user to the sexal abuse hotline. If the user asks a question that centers around birthcontrol use doubts, sexperto.co prompts the user to book a health appointment through the website. In this sense, sexperto.co is an information site but most importantly, it is a risk management tool that can be widely adapted a replicated for different groups and risks. 

The innovation, as described in the question above, is being applied in tools and technology. 

The primary obstacle in the development of sexperto.co has been our limited success in working with the private health insurances. In Bogotá, 80% of the population has private health the insurance. The remaining 20% is covered by the Secretary of Health's public health insurance. Due to the characteristics of that 20% of the population (unemployment, informal labor market, extreme poverty, internally displaced population), half of the teen pregnancies are concentrated there. However, the remaining 50%, occur in girls insured by the private sector. The team is currenly working with the three largest insurance companies. Between those three companies and our public one, the initiative covers 80% of the population. The team is currently working on cooperation agreements with the private sector insurance companies and convincing them that it is in everyone interest, and especially their economic interest, to prevent dangerous, high risk, and thus expensive, pregnancies in girls, teenagers and young adults. 

DESIRED CHANGE OR OUTCOME

Outome #1: Teens and young adults have access to top quality information on sexual health and rights. We mesaure their outcome using google analytics. Through this tool, we can determine the number of visits sexperto.co receives and how many of those are made by people within our target age group. To date, we have over 790.000 visits of which 92% come from men and women between the ages of 12 a 24. 

Outcome #2: Young men and women with the highest risks of unplanned parenthood attend sexual health appointments. To date, young people using sexperto.co have booked 878 appointment in public clinics. In these free appointments, they have been garanteed the birth control method of their choosing, also free of charge. We measure this indicator through sexperto.co and the clinics's booking system. 

In every step of the design process, we used focused groups of our target age group to validate many of our assumptions and ideas with them. Aditionally to this, we had an expert on user experience in our team. He was key in determining ussability aspects and guranteeing that the page was not only technically accurate but also easy and fun to use. We also had a great design team that came up with a catchy name for the site and also with the graphic proposal. These three ingredients have been key in creating a site that is engaging and easy to use for our target audience. Aditionally, we have made a very conscious effort to use simple, young language in our responses, avoiding medical jargon at all costs. Another key factor in appealing to younger audiences has been our decision to guarantee anonimity and not use the mayor's logo or brand as part of the website design.  Finally, we have used various means of marketing to reach our target audience. One such means was through a popular soap opera directed at teens. We came to an agreement with the tv channel to write sexperto.co into the script. This helped us gain trust with our target audience and made us"cool"in their eyes.

Sexperto.co has positioned Bogotá's Early Parenthood Prevention Program in the Public Agenda. Since the site has been innovative, it has been covered in many newsites, radio programs and newspapers. This has allowed us to position the program in the minds of people. This is important because it sends a message to all citizens that we aim to live in a city were children can be children and were young people can dream of being whatever they want to be and fulfill their highest human potential, without having to worry about an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Alongside that idea, we reinforce the importance of conscious parenthood. That is to say, the notion that being a parent ought to be a decision and not a chance happening. That people should choose to have children only if that is part of their life project. This fundamentally changes cultural norms around childrearing in a city were 78% of births are not planned and 48% are not wanted. 

LEARNING ASPECTS

First, other cities can learn about the importance of keeping the public policy building processes separated from cultural or historical taboos, especially when it comes to handling subjects such as sexual and reproductive health, or teens and young adults. For this specific demographic group, it has become increasingly important to be addressed directly and clearly; what Sexperto has showed us is that teens and young adults seek for information and for spaces where they can ask what they want to know without being judged, and in a blunt and simple way. Making the public initiatives responsive to their needs and ways is a crucial factor. On the other hand, Sexperto is able to show that low cost initiatives, as long as they are constructed on the basis of the people they are addressed to, can be extremely efficient. Our city is prepared to continue taking this framework to other areas, such as mental health, evaluating their impact, and sharing all of this knowledge, experience and results with any other city or administration who might want to learn from it.

RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• Goal 1: End poverty in all of its forms 

• Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages 

• Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls