| dc.description.abstract | In general, with some exceptions, non-formal education has remained unexplored in research concerning education for peacebuilding. In an attempt to fill this gap, this master thesis explores the role than non-formal education programs may have for peacebuilding in conflict-affected societies. In particular it engages with the case of Medellin, Colombia through three non-educational programs belonging to underprivileged and conflict-affected environments: a hip-hop group, a social organization and a library-park. With the purpose of understanding the role of non-formal education for peacebuilding, the study focuses on analyzing the perceptions of members and facilitators about the programs. Thus it is motivated by a general research question: What is the role of the non-formal education programs for peacebuilding in Medellin? and two specific research questions: How do members perceive the role of the non-formal education programs?, and How do facilitators perceive the role of the non-formal education programs? For answering the research questions, first the notion of non-formal education for peacebuilding is defined by an in-depth deconstruction of the term. Then the study gives the contextual background of the city of Medellin where a six-week-length fieldwork was carried out. For the data collection, there are in total 31 people interviewed, a focus group and 10 participant observations. Different conceptual categories are issued from the data analysis of the findings: Consciousness raising, The making of political subjects, Community organization, Dialogue, Social transformation, Social inclusion, A life project, and Appropriation of the public space. Such conceptual categories are analyzed from the lenses of a comprehensive analytical framework based on Freire’s model of critical consciousness and on Smith’s framework for education for peacebuilding. The key points that emerged from the interpretation of findings indicate that non-formal education programs may be a powerful platform for peacebuilding in conflict affected-societies as non-formal initiatives hold the potential to arise self-consciousness and collective consciousness, namely the notion of community organization for social transformation, to foster dialogue and life projects through implicit elements for peacebuilding such as community cohesion, consensus-building, dialogue, appreciation of the otherness, social inclusion, decision-making and critical thinking. Key words: non-formal education, education for peacebuilding, consciousness raising, Medellin, Colombia | eng |