We have been working in Colombia since 2016 with our Peacebuilding After Armed Conflict programme. Since the signing of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla group, we have been advocating for the participation of women affected by the conflict in its implementation. In our Peacebuilding During Peace Negotiations programme, launched in 2025, we are also committed to ensuring that women participate in ongoing, locally rooted peace negotiations. Women and women's organisations must be equally represented at negotiations with local armed groups.
The peace agreement signed in 2016 between the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo) and the Colombian government was intended to end one of the world's longest armed conflicts after more than 50 years. Although the armed conflict with the FARC-EP has formally ended, the violence continues. Since the signing of the peace agreement, various regions of the country have been caught up in new spirals of violence and armed conflict.
The “Total Peace” (“Paz Total”) plan launched by President Gustavo Petro in 2022 aims to transform the affected areas by addressing economic, social, cultural and environmental problems. As part of its Paz Total policy, the government is implementing a new negotiation model (“nuevo modelo de negociación”). This new model does not aim for comprehensive agreements (like the one with the FARC-EP). Instead, it is based on bilateral “mesas” (negotiating tables) at which the government engages with local armed groups to reach locally rooted agreements.
Thanks to this “model of territorial tables” (“modelo de mesas territoriales”), many negotiations are taking place in Colombia (ten in January 2025). This “territorialisation of peace” means that the government has to deal with greater complexity in its peace efforts, but it also increases the potential for locally legitimised and thus more sustainable peace negotiations.
The 2016 peace agreement between the FARC-EP and the Colombian government is internationally regarded as a model for women's participation, as well as for the inclusion of marginalised population groups. It is the first peace agreement worldwide to integrate a comprehensive and systematic gender-specific approach, and one of the most progressive in terms of the rights of women and the LGBTIQ+ community.
However, increasing remilitarisation and ongoing violence are having a negative impact on the local population. Activists and women in leadership roles are increasingly becoming the targets of politically motivated murders and sexualised violence, and they keenly feel social pressure to return to traditional female roles.
The “model of territorial tables” (“modelo de mesas territoriales”), launched by the government in 2022, focuses on local negotiations with armed groups. In theory, this model offers greater opportunities for local women's organisations and peace activists to be included equally and equitably in the negotiations. With our programme, we aim to leverage this opportunity.
The government supports the participation of women in peace negotiations and published its first National Action Plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security” in 2024. The Action Plan promises equal participation of women “in all their diversity in territorial contexts” in negotiations on peace and security. This amounts to a commitment by the state to ensure the participation of women in negotiations within the framework of the Paz Total policy.
The pilot phase focuses on the formation of a political alliance of women, the “Alliance to Strengthen the Autonomy and Participation of Women Engaged in Peacebuilding in Nariño”. This political alliance, which we have initiated, brings together 20 allied actors from civil society, state institutions and international organisations. They are involved in various roles in the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Frente Comuneros del Sur, a splinter group of the Ejército Popular de Liberación (ELN) armed group, and in negotiation-related processes in the department of Nariño.
The alliance contributes to greater participation by women in and around the peace negotiations by creating safe spaces where actors can exchange ideas, learn from each other and jointly strengthen their political capacity to act. In this way, women who are involved at different levels and in diverse roles in and around the peace negotiations network with each other to exert political influence and make sustainable contributions to inclusive peace work.
As part of our localisation strategy, we opened an office in Bogotá in May 2025 under the coordination of a local director. She coordinates the pilot programme (June 2025 – July 2026) on site and implements it together with our programme partner Corporación Colectiva Cuarzo Rosa.
International support for peace in Colombia must not waver, warns human rights lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes in an interview with swissinfo. What is needed now is a peace policy that focuses on the small communities caught up in the violence. In April, we invited Luz Marina to an event in Bern.
What does a decolonised approach to peacebuilding based on feminist values look like in practice? The first step in implementing our localisation efforts was the opening of an office in Colombia on 1 May 2025.
The swissinfo podcast asks the question that drives us in our work: "Where are the voices of women in peace talks?" Deborah Schibler and Larissa Mina Lee took part in the discussion.
In Fem*Fém magazine, our colleagues Liv Halperin and Camille Bernheim write about the decisive factors for creating a peaceful society after armed conflict.