Alejandro served as the Executive Director of El Derecho a No Obedecer, a social advocacy platform empowering young people, until mid-2022 when he transitioned to a position on the board.
El Derecho a No Obedecer has developed a number of social campaigns, including on the plight of Venezuelan refugees in Colombia, and raising awareness of air quality issues while empowering young people in Latin America to advocate for cleaner, healthier air.
AstraZeneca’s support via the Young Health Programme allowed Alejandro and his colleague, Fernanda Bedoya Horta, to improve and expand their work on the intersection of air quality and health in three Colombian cities by co-financing their grassroots team. This team has been instrumental in facilitating connections between communities in vulnerable areas with healthcare professionals and public health centres. AstraZeneca’s support also helped the team bring the Nuevos Aires School to new parts of Colombia, with increased engagement amongst students living in cities where poor air quality is a growing concern. The Nuevos Aires School programme successfully strengthened the capacity of these young students to conceptualise the challenges of and solutions to poor air quality, and advocate for improvement in their localities. Finally, AstraZeneca’s support has been instrumental in preparing the next generation of air quality activists in Colombia.
El Derecho a No Obedecer’s air quality activism and outreach successfully strengthened the capacities of 291 young leaders from public schools and universities in Bogotá, Cúcata, Cali, and Medellin. The project developed and organised a gamified approach to facilitate student learning on air quality, climate justice, the health effects of pollution, and the sources and types of pollutants. The final workshop included instruction on air quality measurement sensors, with a low-cost sensor installed in each school. As a result of this intervention, the students are able to design new advocacy processes to change health policies and priorities in their schools and communities.
Finally, El Derecho a No Obedecer organised a virtual webinar to create a national network of young leaders from public schools and healthcare professionals to advocate for clean air. The webinar included a lecture by a medical expert on public health and air quality, after which representatives from each school shared their experiences and learnings from the project. A total of 101 healthcare professionals participated in the project’s activities.
