The Bogota Chamber of Commerce today recognized 25 students of the Hermes Program for their contributions to conflict resolution in the school environment. The recognition took place within the framework of one of the 110 mediation workshops held during the year, which on this occasion took place at the Alfonso López Pumarejo District School, located in the district of Kennedy.

The recognized students are part of the Youth Network of Mediators, which currently has the participation of more than 3,800 young people who promote peaceful coexistence in 328 educational institutions (IED) in Bogota and the region.

Through the program, students are trained to solve conflicts in educational institutions using conflict resolution mechanisms, which include strategies to prevent bullying and cyberbullying, which according to studies conducted by the entity, prevent about 70% of cases of bullying. Nicolás Uribe Rueda, president of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce stated that "The Hermes program allows us to bring all the knowledge of conflict resolution of the Arbitration and Conciliation Center to educational institutions, especially public ones, to achieve peaceful coexistence of students and prevent Bullying and Cyberbullying. With this program, we work with students, teachers, directors and family members of students, achieving a real and effective intervention in more than 200 thousand cases, to date".

The CCB's Hermes program is a pioneer in the field of school mediation. It was born in 2001 and since then it has become a national and international reference in conflict management in school scenarios, with recognition by ECLAC as the best innovative experience in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hermes is present in 328 educational institutions in Bogota and the Region, and in 2021 achieved the training and certification of 3,609 actors as school mediators between teachers and students, and 136 interventions in school conflict type I through the figure of mediation in the school environment.

This initiative involves students in a proactive and participatory process that leads them to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner, leaving aside physical and verbal aggressions, to prevent the escalation of the conflict, which in most cases becomes bullying.

The Youth Network The Youth Mediators Network is composed of all the young mediators of the Hermes program in Bogota and the municipalities of Cundinamarca as well as Tumaco and Buenaventura. As part of its tools to promote dialogue within educational institutions, students, teachers and parents, the CCB recently launched the first Comprehensive Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention Kit, which provides first aid with educational and didactic material to identify, prevent and deal with cases of bullying. The kit can be consulted at https://bibliotecadigital.ccb.org.co/handle/11520/27715 and since its launch has registered more than 476 downloads.