Table 7.

Sample quotes from participants from the assessment phase

Theme	Sample quotes
Lack of Opportunities	“…because here there is a lack of opportunities for the youth… many do nothing. I mean, many do not occupy their minds with anything, they do not study, they do not work, [they do] nothing at home, so there is also the risk of that, these are youths who have all the time to think about other things that they should not do.” Mother, interview, age 39 “No, here they do not even help for sports or those skills that young people have and that is what makes the lack of opportunities, that young people tend to go down other paths which are frowned upon by society, but there is nothing else to do, right? Because if you do not have time to dedicate to studying, to work, or to dedicate yourself to a sport that you like or something, then you are going to dedicate yourself only to being on the street, I say this because of my classmates at school, there were 45 of us when we graduated from high school, only 10 of us were able to access higher education, I am talking about SENA or university, and the rest dedicated themselves to wander around..” Female youth, female focus group, employee, age 21
Family Mistrust	“Aaaa yes, it is like you answer when they ask you, are you okay? and you say yes I am fine, to avoid uncomfortable answers. But that is why you repress how you feel by avoiding that or they are not the person you want to express what you feel and sometimes these things happen, it is easier to express everything you feel to the person you just meeting, to the person I am seeing their face for the first time than to your own family, to people who live with you. Because sometimes they are very intolerant, like oh you again with that thing and you and your sentimentalism.” Female youth, female focus group, unemployed, age 24 “And that’s why you also see so many cases of children already like oh, my dad isn’t paying attention, so let’s try this or do this, ehh no, but it is just that my mom isn’t there, so I’m going to go to a friend´s house, and my mother is not going to say anything. Also, if I come home, I´m going to be alone. Oooh no, but my mother rewards me for everything, so since they are so absent, the only thing they do is reward the children, that is, reward them and reward them, and that generates many difficulties even when people are young. And then they begin to see all the changes and say oh no my daughter became more rebellious. But why is the child in that? So like everything has a mechanism, everything starts happening that way, but it’s also because everything comes from a very young age.” Female youth, female focus group, student, age 18 “But it turns out that there are mothers who see a child in that situation and instead of advising them, of trying to bring them in, of having a little patience with them, we tell them to “go away!” You are useless, you do nothing. Or also cajole what they bring home, those are also mistakes of us parents for me.” Mother, interview, age 58
Behavioral Health Issues Related to Difficult Circumstances	“I feel that there is a strong lack of support for young people when you search unless you [already] have the services, it is not the norm, because what happens is that you go to them, and in the process, they tell you to fill out these forms and you make the appointment and then they make you wait and I find these cases all the time… what I feel with all those authorizations is distrust…”  Youth, mixed-gender focus group “Being young is tough because not all of us have the possibility to just study, because it’s difficult for us, sometimes we have responsibilities like contribute to the household, or work or study, or I can’t handle both things, so I say that many times young people dedicate themselves only to work and don’t have the opportunity to study because they don’t have the support of a family member, something to support them, well, now in my case, I’ve been fortunate because my siblings have always been supporting me because if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here, because I don’t have a job, I don’t have anything, and thanks to the support they give me and my family, I can study and I’m at home. I say that most young people kind of go through that, I mean they do not have the opportunity for that, I mean like work, help at home, or have problems with family so they have an emotional problems and sometimes they leave home early and do not have aspirations to study or move forward or anything because they say this was the life I was dealt and I think it is like they end up on the wrong path like in drug addiction, yes, that was my contribution” Female youth, female focus group, student, age 24
Gender-specific challenges	“Well, the truth is that as a woman you don’t feel safe anywhere. Whether I am in Bosa or Suba [two different locations in Bogota] or anywhere else, I do not feel safe. As a woman, you do not feel safe. I am a very alert person, although I am riding in Transmilenio [public transport] and there I have met girls who do not even realize that a man is doing “that” [masturbating] and I always have it in mind because I am always on the lookout…” Female youth, female focus group, student, age 21 “Yes, but relatively things have a huge impact, like when… I have to come by bus sometimes, and I had not come here to see my mom for about 20 days because I had taken the T38, a bus service, and the man leaned back behind me, and behind, and behind, and behind. I had not noticed, I arrived here, normal, and my mom said, ‘What do you have there?’ And of course… well, I had all of this full of… ” Female youth, female focus group, employee, age 25
Social and Structural Supports for Youth	“I’m sure that if you structured a project, everyone here would approve of it, right? So now you are the teachers: “Tomorrow we meet, tomorrow we are going to do such work, we are going to dig”, you set up a bunch of leather goods like making straps, and shoes, tomorrow we start the factory, you are going to work, to learn… If you have your mind busy all day, you don’t have time to think about things, right? But if you are unemployed, you think, my girlfriend left me, my mother does not love me…” Female participant, interview, community leader, security personnel, age 40 "The truth is, just as we are here, first they listen to us and then through each one’s needs, one starts looking at what program fits, just like that. For example, let’s suppose what each one likes to do. Let’s say I like cooking, doing a cooking day. Do you understand me? It is like activities to keep the young people from being so discouraged. So they’re not on the streets so they do not pick up bad habits or anything like that” Female youth, interview, street vendor, age 22