Building Peace with Colombian Indigenous Communities

The project aims to promote the protection safety empowerment and dignity of vulnerable Indigenous communities especially women in 9 municipalities of the Departments of Nariño and Antioquia in Colombia. These municipalities have been the most affected by the armed conflict and present high rates of poverty presence of illicit economies and institutional weakness. The project supports the priorities outlined in the sections of the Colombian Peace Agreement that grant official status to Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Project activities include: (1) providing training and working group sessions to improve Indigenous community protection mechanisms which include the active participation of Indigenous women; (2) providing training and working group sessions to increase knowledge on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) within communities and work to prevent and respond to SGBV; (3) organizing activities to strengthen the knowledge of state institutions particularly the Ombudsman Office on Indigenous rights with a focus on the rights of Indigenous women including survivors of the conflict and disabled people; (4) supporting local and national advocacy for gender-responsive protection mechanisms in line with the Colombian government’s commitments in the Ethnic Chapter; and (5) strengthening the capacity of Indigenous women to participate in decision-making spaces.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access to protection mechanisms for the Indigenous communities of Antioquia and Nariño with a particular focus on women and girls; (2) improved responses to the protection needs of the Indigenous groups in Antioquia and Nariño particularly those of women and girls by Indigenous protection mechanisms and State institutions; (3) increased capacities of Indigenous women and girls to claim their rights and engage in the reduction of SGBV; and (4) increased capacities for gender-inclusive dialogue between Colombian protection stakeholders ethnic authorities and civil society at national departmental and municipal levels.