Bringing democracy to life in the classroom by building teachers’ and students’ capacity to exercise more active, participatory, and informed citizenship.

Andrés Sáenz Peñas is the co-founder and executive director of CIVIX Colombia, working to strengthen democracy in Colombia by preparing youth to become active, engaged, and informed citizens. Andrés leads efforts to bring democracy to life in the classroom through experiential learning initiatives, such as voting simulations, youth leadership programs, and media literacy projects to instill democratic principles in students. Through partnerships with the Secretariats of Education, CIVIX works directly with 830 schools across 173 cities in Colombia, providing teachers with training, curriculum materials, textbooks, and virtual visual aids to implement their programs. Andrés plans to use his time in the Scholars program to prepare to scale his organization regionally and become the largest civic education organization in Latin America.

Andrés holds a master’s degree in development and governance from Duisburg-Essen University in Germany and a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from the Universidad Externado de Colombia. He participated in the U.S. Department of State’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, the Acumen Fellows Program, and Canada’s Emerging Leaders in the Americas program.