Colectivo de Mujeres Pazificas de Cali.

The ‘Colectivo de Mujeres Pazificas’ is a women’s peace network established in 2000 in Calí, one of the most violent cities of Colombia. The organisation’s goal is to become an alternative solution to the great social, economic and political differences in Colombia from a gender perspective. Even though women are much more affected than men by all types of aggression in the Colombian conflict, they are under-represented in the political decision-making and have traditionally been excluded in the negotiation processes.

The organisation works to reinforce the structural changes necessary to secure the rights of women and provide an alternative to war and violence in Colombia. This includes establishing communication with women participating in the guerrilla groups (while the talks in 2000) in order to make them aware of gender issues; the promotion of peaceful non-violent solutions to social problems; developing and implementing public relations and communication strategies to pressure the Colombian Government and the other armed actors to take women’s issues into consideration; and the mobilisation of communities to raise awareness of the obstacles to peace.

Escuela de Mujeres Pazíficas

This project aims at empowering and educating women in Cali and the surrounding villages in non-violence resistance. ‘Escuela’ (‘School’) encourages women from all backgrounds and all walks of life to come together to learn, share and spread the message of non-violence throughout their own communities. The school also urges women to participate in civil society.

Through education, women are supported, encouraged and empowered to believe in – and create – a better future and an alternative to violence and fear. In 2009, 35 women – all from very deprived backgrounds – graduated from the programme. As part of their end of course project, students developed a map which displayed the main areas of violence for women in the city of Calí.