Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to address the fragmentation of social cohesion in Barrio Norte by engaging the community in a participatory mapping process that highlights barriers to safety and collaboration. The city of Colón faces persistent issues impacting community safety and cohesion. Limited trust, high levels of violence, and fragmented public spaces hinder opportunities for residents to unite around shared concerns. Through the SALIENT project’s mission—focused on preventing violence, reducing weapon circulation, and fostering peaceful coexistence— we plan to use participatory mapping and community-led approaches to identify key areas for improvement. By creating spaces for stakeholders and residents’ engagement, and by validating community insights, we aim to collaboratively prioritize resources and actionable steps that promote social cohesion and safer environments.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
The challenge of social cohesion in Barrio Norte and Colón has deep roots tied to longstanding issues of violence, poverty, and degraded infrastructure. The province of Colón, known for its rich cultural dynamics and strong territorial identity, also faces some of the highest levels of violence and socioeconomic inequality in Panama. Despite its historical and cultural significance, high unemployment rates, a strong presence of organized crime, limited access to and quality of public resources, and under-resourced public spaces contribute to fragmented community dynamics, with residents feeling disconnected from each other and from local authorities. These conditions foster a lack of trust and collaboration among residents, creating barriers to joint efforts in addressing shared concerns.
The current situation is also marked by limited interaction between community members and key stakeholders, such as municipal leaders, local organizations, private sector companies in the area, and law enforcement. This gap has contributed to an environment where issues of safety, infrastructure decay, and violence persist. A high level of violence, gang issues, and the presence of guns in schools further contribute to an unstable environment for the thousands of students who congregate in Barrio Norte daily to attend the many schools located in that area. Some of the effects of these challenges include that community safety is compromised, and the overall well-being of residents and students is affected by the daily uncertainty of violence. In addition, we have also noticed that public spaces that are often left underutilized. In this context, strengthening social cohesion by building on Colón's cultural richness and shared identity is an opportunity to create a resilient community capable of long-term, self-sustained governance.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Part of the evidence builds on our previous Action Learning Plan, where we aimed to ground a portfolio approach at a territorial level, which led us to identify Colon as city with a high potential for the task.
The urgency of addressing social cohesion Colón is confirmed by multiple official data sources highlighting high levels of poverty, violence, and social fragmentation. According to the UNDP Panama Human Development Report 2024, Colón ranks among the most vulnerable areas in the country, with significant challenges related to safety, economic opportunity, and social cohesion.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) reveals that Colón exhibits high levels of poverty, with residents lacking access to essential services, education, and stable income sources, directly impacting their quality of life and sense of security. Additionally, census data shows high youth unemployment rates and a concentration of young people affected by gang violence and limited social mobility. Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) Crime and Violence Reports further highlight high levels of crime, including elevated homicide rates, gang-related incidents, and weapon seizures, with a high concentration in the province of Colon.
Together, these data sources emphasize the importance of initiatives that aim to enable community cohesion and local governance by addressing these structural inequalities and building upon the community’s strengths.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Recent interviews with key stakeholders, including local government staff, have highlighted the pronounced territorial divisions within Barrio Norte. Officials have expressed concerns over these divisions, noting how they inhibit collaboration across different parts of the community, reinforcing the fragmentation and lack of social cohesion.
Additionally, stories of crime and gang violence continue to propagate fear within the community. Many residents share how these incidents make them feel isolated in their own neighborhood, as territorial boundaries marked by gang presence create invisible barriers that residents are reluctant to cross.
The urgency of this challenge was further stressed by a tragic event last week, when a student was fatally shot in one of the schools in Barrio Norte. This incident, although not the first fatality of this kind, has highlighted concerns about safety and the need for immediate action to foster a sense of unity and security. These signals demonstrate the need for initiatives to bridge divisions and build spaces of trust, safety, and connection within Barrio Norte.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The SALIENT initiative is a joint program between UNODC, UNFPA and UNDP, aimed at addressing violence prevention, social cohesion, and community resilience in challenging environments like Barrio Norte, Colón. Our Lab was asked to support this initiative by introducing innovative participatory methodologies, leveraging our expertise in participatory mapping and using emerging technologies such as AI to co-design public spaces. This unique skill set positions us as the best partner to co-lead this process, bringing fresh, data-driven perspectives to community engagement and territorial planning.
Our Lab’s involvement is relevant because this project provides an opportunity to test how these innovative methodologies can foster community cohesion in a highly complex social environment. Barrio Norte, with deeply rooted socio-economic challenges and structural inequalities, represents precisely the type of frontier challenge that our Lab is designed to address. By investing resources in this project, we are not only advancing the goals of the SALIENT initiative but also gaining valuable insights into how participatory, and tech-enabled approaches can bring communities together and drive positive change in contexts of deep-rooted social fragmentation.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
“Through participatory mapping in Barrio Norte, Colón, we're tackling social fragmentation & safety challenges by engaging residents in co-designing public spaces. Supported by the SALIENT initiative, we aim to build social cohesion & local governance.”
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Municipio de Colón
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
We have been collaborating closely with the Cultural Direction of the local government in Colón. They have been an indispensable partner, supporting local stakeholder outreach, coordinating Jane Walks, assisting with logistical aspects, and actively participating in every meeting, workshop, and community engagement activity through multiple staff members.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Cámara de Comercio de Colón - Chamber of Comerce
What sector does our partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The Chamber of Commerce of Colón has been instrumental during the initial phases by providing spaces for community engagement and facilitating connections with local companies, strengthening our outreach within the private sector.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Ministerio de Educación - Education Ministry
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The Ministry of Education has enabled our access to two high schools in Barrio Norte, where we are creating opportunities for students to participate in mapping and designing safe routes and public spaces.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Colón Campus
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
University students are assisting with the implementation of a survey on school climate, safety perceptions, and victimization in two high schools. We plan to continue collaborating with them in the next phase, focusing on public space interventions.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
5. Fundación Artes Escénicas Colonense Internacional (FAECI)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
We are collaborating with Meyvis, the founder of FAECI, throughout the participatory process. She has been pivotal in helping us connect with local NGOs, understand the territorial context, and we look forward to partnering with FAECI to activate public spaces during the intervention phase.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
How can participatory mapping and community-led public space design foster social cohesion in a community deeply impacted by violence and socio-economic inequality?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
We will employ participatory mapping and co-creation workshops to engage residents in identifying key areas and designing interventions, fostering local ownership and trust in addressing safety and cohesion. We will organize Jane Walks with community members and stakeholders to map the neighborhood and build from this information to identify areas of opportunity. Building on a previous experiment using UrbanistAI—an AI platform for public space design where we tested intergenerational cohesion—we plan to use this AI tool again to co-design solutions. To enhance engagement with the younger groups, we are considering using Block by Block, a gamification method that uses Minecraft to help children design public spaces, and we will incorporate tactical urbanism by implementing small-scale, temporary interventions that residents can contribute to firsthand. Together, these methods provide an integrated approach to building a local governance approach in Barrio Norte.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The new data sources we are using address several critical gaps in existing information. GIS data fills a gap in spatial analysis by highlighting areas with limited access to safe public spaces and identifying patterns related to community movement and territorial divisions. Collective imagination exercises capture unquantifiable aspects, such as residents’ hopes and ideas for their neighborhood, which are often missing from formal data sources and offer valuable information about the identity and vision of the place. By engaging local youth, we address an intergenerational gap in understanding how younger community members experience the territory, especially regarding safety and inclusion. Surveys help us quantify community perceptions on safety, cohesion, and public needs, providing structured insights into issues typically discussed informally. Issues mapping uncovers unreported challenges, such as informal “no-go” zones and areas of frequent conflict. Together, these data sources provide a deep and nuanced understanding of community dynamics, supporting our learning question by allowing us to design tailored interventions that resonate across age groups and reflect the true lived experiences of Barrio Norte.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Key potential beneficiaries and champions include local government leaders such as the Municipality of Colón, which could implement scalable policies for community engagement and public space revitalization based on our results. National education authorities, especially the Ministry of Education, could integrate insights on protocols, safe routes and school-centered public spaces to improve student safety across similar urban areas. Finally, international development agencies could leverage this work as a pilot for future projects aimed at fostering cohesion and resilience in high-risk urban communities.
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10Reduced innequalities
11Sustainable cities and communities
17Partnerships for the goals
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