Juan Camilo Mira Sánchez, Fondo Emerger (Colombia)

When power is placed in the right hands, it transforms societies that have endured wars and the resulting distrust among peers and fellow citizens. Shifting the power creates trust, networks, and alliances.

When power is exercised by collectives, it becomes a convening and inclusive form of power, one that fosters equity and equality and prioritizes life over death. Chieftains will continue to exist but they will increasingly be replaced by local leaders.

When power is in the hands of young people, it can transform their body, consumption habits, their families, and their spaces of interaction, including the school and workplace. Youth can launch movements to change political constitutions, public policies and societies. They can start the dance and change the music.

When power is in women’s hands, platforms such as Alianza Fondos del Sur are woven. When power is in women’s hands, organizations grow and multiply. When power is in the right hands, societies improve and nature is preserved.

When power is not the end but the means, societies can peacefully deal with conflict, reach agreed solutions, and change how life decisions are made.

#ShiftThePower is a process that places power in the right hands. It changes how we shift and promote power to strengthen the social-environmental movement worldwide, including in Latin America and Colombia. We, at Fondo Emerger, have put our heart and soul into efforts to help our allies be part of this process and become stronger members of networks and alliances that are being woven globally, and so that leaders — who every day courageously deal with problems and find solutions — can grow stronger and own, leverage, and multiply power.

As Manfred Max-Neef used to say, while conventional resources are depleted when used, non-conventional ones multiply to the extent to which they are used. Power is a non-conventional resource that in community hands becomes the hope that still remains in Pandora’s Box. The hope that will allow us to find a negotiated alternative to war and a sustainable path for humanity.