Project description

Title: Strengthening women’s rights to prevent violence
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Colombia
Lead executing agency: Agencia Presidencial para la Acción Social y la Cooperación Internacional
Overall term: 2010 to 2012

Context

There are between three to four million internally displaced Colombians as a result of conflicts within the country. Half of this group are women, many of them single mothers who are responsible for maintaining their whole family without having completed their school education. In this difficult situation they are at particular risk of becoming victims of physical, sexual and domestic violence. Women who actively campaign for their rights and the rights of other displaced persons are especially threatened and are frequently forced to give up this work.

In April 2008, the Colombian constitutional court issued a decree calling for, inter alia, the planning and implementation of thirteen state programmes. The programmes, tackling issues such as Participation of Displaced Women and Prevention of Violence against Women’s Rights Activists, are designed to take into account the needs of internally displaced women and to implement this in the various regions by means of appropriate policies. Nevertheless, regional implementation of these national programmes remains below its potential.

Objective

The Colombian national programme Promotion of the Participation of Displaced Women and Prevention of Violence against Women’s Rights Activists is implemented in an exemplary manner and promotes the successful implementation of further programmes at regional level.

Approach

The project supports state institutions in planning, coordinating and implementing national programmes to promote the rights of displaced women. At the same time, the project also helps civil society, especially displaced women and their networks, to play a role in shaping these programmes.  These activities are mutually complementary. The project mainly works in cooperation with the responsible state institutions as well as with displaced women and their organisations in the cities Bogotá and Cartagena.