Our continuous collaboration with associations of campesinos (rural farmers) and ex-combatants in highly complex territories, has shown us the need to generate stronger connections between the various commercial and social enterprises that coexist in these areas. Faced with the complexity of conflicts, we seek more comprehensive solutions with greater territorial coverage to make viable work, commercialization and development alternatives outside of violent scenarios.
This is how the Peace Networks were born, collaborative scenarios with a territorial scope where campesinos producers, ex-combatants, associations of women ex-coca growers and rural entrepreneurs come together to co-create conflict transformation strategies in their territories, increasing productivity of their agricultural projects and establishing marketing channels with different scopes.
The territorial approach of the networks seeks to generate a synergy between the different initiatives and capacities that coexist in the same area. This search for meeting points, added to the strategies of solidarity economies, extend the scope of the Peace Networks beyond each organization or enterprise, contributing to the construction of bonds of trust and solidarity in extensive territories that have suffered decades of armed conflict.
Two elements are common to the Peace Networks: a culture of environmental conservation and the empowerment of women. To this end, they integrate the work of associations with an agricultural vocation in which low-impact projects on ecosystems and environmentally sustainable practices are strengthened. In each process, women play a fundamental role in bringing together the communities that decide to join, standing out in leadership positions, mediation, and designing productive proposals.
