CONPEACE: From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace

International Network on Conflict and Peace in Colombia (CPRC)

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR CONFLICT AND PEACE RESEARCH ON COLOMBIA (CPRC)

1. About

The International Network for Conflict and Peace Research on Colombia (CPRC) brings together scholars, analysts and academic institutions engaged with research initiatives in the fields of conflict resolution, security, development, rule of law, peace-building and peace-making that can inform and contribute to the understanding of conflict and peace in Colombia. CPRC builds upon the expertise of existing research centres and researchers and creates an environment for peer collaboration, academic engagement and exchange of ideas between Colombian academics and international researchers.

We provide a co-ordinating network that enables those interested in these research topics to connect, collaborate, share, debate and contribute to these fields of study. By doing so we strive to bring together the knowledge and experience of a large number of academics, centres and experts to better inform policy in Colombia. The network is independent, interdisciplinary, non-profit, non-partisan and non-political and welcomes scholars, centres and analyst from a variety of backgrounds.

2. Context

The current peace process with ELN and the implementation process with FARC-EP in Colombia aim at putting to an end a 50-year-old conflict. Its main goal is to silence the weapons and generate the appropriate conditions to begin a comprehensive and fundamental peace-building phase. Peace-building initiatives at the local level have been taking place in Colombia for many decades, nevertheless the current state of affairs provides a window of opportunity to expand this to the regional and national level once a peace agreement has been signed. As it has been the case in other countries, reaching a peace agreement is only the starting point of a long road that takes the country from war to peace, where implementation challenges, political turmoil and cultural difficulties are expected. The peace-building phase in Colombia must include the complete implementation of the agreements and the recovery and stabilisation of vast parts of the country where the State has been largely absent, or only partially present.

War, peace and development in Colombia have been studied long ago before the current peace process started. Many Colombian academics and institutions have devoted immense efforts to understand and investigate the conflict and the country in all its diversity and dimensions. There are also numerous international research projects that aim at contributing to the understanding of the various layers of complexity of the Colombian armed conflict. However, at the international level, coordination between institutions and researchers with interest in Colombia has been insufficient. This gap limits the dissemination and distribution of ideas, methodologies, data and research findings that could prove to be an important input to different actors and processes related to the topics of conflict resolution, security, development, rule of law, peace-building and peace-making in Colombia.

CPRC is created upon the belief that academic research in these fields can play a key role in constructively informing Colombia’s peace-building phase.

3. Principles

4. Objectives

a. Short-term goals:

• Develop, nourish and maintain an interdisciplinary academic network of scholars, experts and institutions working on issues related to the topics of conflict resolution, security, development, rule of law, peace-building and peace-making in Colombia.
• Engage and connect with researchers, analysts and academic institutions working on the topics of conflict resolution, security, development, rule of law, peace building and peace making in Colombia.
• Encourage dialogue, debate, diffusion and academic research on issues related to the transition from war to peace in Colombia; especially on the practical means to understand, prevent, predict, transform and resolve violent conflict.
• Engage with the relevant actors in Colombia at the national, regional and local level.

b. Long-term goals:

• Inform the policy process in Colombia through sharing academic studies, empirical data, impact studies, in-depth thematic reports, policy briefings, discussion papers and similar research outputs produced outside Colombia.
• Facilitate exchange between academics and civil society groups involved in peace-building initiatives.
• Build relationships with different sectors and actors, especially with practitioners and policy makers working in the field, through knowledge exchange and sharing research findings.
• Become a key actor in the academic debate about war and peace in Colombia at the national, regional and local level in Colombia.