Colombia has suffered from decades of violent conflict that is rooted in economic and political disparity and has been exacerbated by drug trafficking.  In recent years there have been noteworthy developments in Colombia’s conflict situation, including several strategic gains by the government against the largest guerrilla rebel group, the FARC.  However, the peace processes with the FARC and the second largest rebel group, the ELN, have stalled and violence continues to escalate throughout the country as demobilized paramilitary disturb local communities. 

The Colombian population is roughly 90% Catholic, and the Catholic Church has been involved in efforts to bring peace to the beleaguered country.  Catholic bishops and priests have served as principle intermediaries at both the local and national level between armed actors, and this leadership within the Catholic Church continues to implement a comprehensive peacemaking program. Catholic women and the minority Protestant communities have also been operating in the midst of some of the most conflict-ridden parts of the country in order to bring humanitarian assistance and empowerment to the displaced and victims of conflict.  These women, working through local churches, their religious orders, or faith-based organizations, often have a sophisticated understanding of conflict dynamics and have been able to create effective local programs to build pockets of peace and justice.  Despite their impressive work, Catholic and Protestant women peacemakers continue to face long-standing tensions between their communities that make effective partnership difficult.

The Religion and Peacemaking program at USIP, which seeks to support and strengthen the role of religious leaders and resources in conflicts zones in leveraging their capacity to help build peace, visited Colombia in late 2007 in order to learn more about how the Catholic and Protestant communities are working for peace.  On this visit, USIP found women leaders from both the Catholic and Protestant communities eager to build ecumenical relationships to strengthen their efforts to build peace.  Responding to this enthusiasm, in November 2008, USIP supported a joint-initiative of the Conferencia de Religiosos y Religiosas de Colombia, the organizing body of Catholic men’s and women’s religious orders, and Justapaz, a Menonite organization, to convene a four-day workshop outside of Bogota for Catholic and Protestant women peacemakers.  This workshop provided an opportunity for women doing peace work on the ground through their churches to share best practices, network, and conceive future joint-initiatives.

The workshop opened with ritual music, dancing, and shared commitments and prayers made for the blessing of the gathering and to create a shared vision and purpose for the group.  The following four days were full of presentations, small group exercises, and strategic planning.  The women from different regions in Colombia discussed the manifestations of the conflict in their local communities, activities they have undertaken to address the symptoms of conflict and to transform the root causes of the conflict.  The women discussed how they have used religious language, institution, and leadership to organize, frame, and carry-out these projects in a constructive manner, and what challenges they have faced working through their churches.  Many of the participants also took time to discuss some of the local tensions between Protestant and Catholic communities, and the means to build relationships across this line of division by encouraging collective work for a shared future of peace.  In the final day of the workshop, the participants from different regions designed locally-based ecumenical projects for peace they would undertake.  As a larger group, the women committed themselves to a national effort to build ecumenical support and action for peace.  USIP will continue to work with and support this impressive and committed group of women religious leaders as they work together to build peace.