The European Union – a peacebuilding role model to build stable and lasting peace

The European Union’s experience and contribution to peace and reconciliation in Europe has given it legitimacy, trust, and recognition. The European Union capitalizes on its background, which includes more than sixty years of work, to service Colombian society.  Through the EUTF, the European Union is fostering a stable and lasting peace in Colombia. The EUTF is an international cooperation tool that provides technical assistance and methodological transfer to local actors to build their capacities and encourage sustainable territorial development.

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The EuropeanTrust Fund for Colombia as an instrument of investment and coordination for post-conflict territories

The European Union established the EUTF in Colombia with contributions from 21 member states and Chile, the first Latin American donor and member. The Fund works with Colombian institutions in the territories most affected by the armed conflict, and concentrates its efforts on early recovery and stabilization activities through the effective and coordinated awarding of grants. The EUTF supports points 1 and 3 of the Peace Agreement: Comprehensive rural reform, and reincorporation of FARC-EP ex-combatants into civilian life in the economic, social, and political spheres.

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The European Union committed to peacebuilding in Colombia

The European Union has supported peacebuilding and coexistence scenarios in Colombia for more than twenty years. Initially, it did so through the Peace Laboratories (2002-2012), which provided technical and financial support to the regions most affected by the armed conflict. The EUTF is now applying the best practices it identified from this collaboration and is promoting projects with a rural focus.  These projects contribute to Colombia’s productive and sustainable development.

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The European Union (EU) was set up after the Second World War. For more than twenty years the EU has supported Colombia in its aim to peacebuilding.

Two special programs: Peace Laboratories (2002-2012) and New Peace Territories (2012-2017), show how methodological transfers and capacity building activities could contribute to conflict-affected territories peaceful and sustainable development.

This broad experience is capitalized by the European Trust Fund for Peace in Colombia as an effective mechanism to respond to the government of Colombia’s request for assistance and channel the resources in a structured and efficient way. Furthermore, the Fund demonstrates the solidarity and political support of the EU for this important peace process and also promotes the general interests of the European Union as a whole. The EUTF is made up of the EU itself, 21 of its Member States, the United Kingdom and Chile, and all of them work towards the same goal: to promote the generation of scale economies and accomplishing this to reach the utmost impact with efficiency.

The EU has extensive experience in rural development, land restitution and local productive development, and the Fund´s objective is to support Colombia on comprehensive rural development in the territories most affected by the conflict, enhance economic and productive activities, strengthen state presence, rebuild the social fabric of communities and support the social and economic reincorporation of ex-combatants.

Strategic Pillars

The European Fund for Peace’s strategy in Colombia comprises six pillars. 31 interventions, regardless of their particular approaches, share common objectives andcontribute to generating impact in terms of social transformation.

These six pillars help analyze the Fund’s impacts and each project’s specific contribution to peace implementation and the construction of equity, equality, transformation, and coexistence in Colombia.

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Reconciliation
and conflict
de-escalation

Social and economic
reincorporation of
former combatants

Social inclusion:
youth, women and
ethnic groups

Sustainable
and inclusive
productivity

Institutionalization
and state
legitimacy

European
Union value
added

Geographic scope of the Fund

 

The European Trust Fund works throughout the Colombian territory. It prioritizes the areas most affected by the armed conflict, based on specific needs of, and paying special attention to, vulnerable, rural municipalities that require priority measures. Currently, the EUTF works in 26 departments and 181 municipalities, 81 of which are PDET municipalities (Development Programs with a Territorial Approach) and 17 correspond to Special Plans for Comprehensive Intervention in Strategic Areas of Comprehensive Intervention – Future Zones.

 

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