Life after fire: Collective agricultural production for reincorporation communities in the Colombian post-conflict
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Architecture and planning beyond sustainability (MPDSD), MSc
Publicerad
2023
Författare
Estrada D'amato, Laura
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
For many decades, Colombia was
only perceived by the international
community as a dangerous
country, facing a cold-blooded
war between the state and insurgent
groups. With the signature
of the Peace Agreement
in Havana this image started to
shift toward an example of transformation.
This negotiation was
only the beginning of a complex
process that has demanded
tremendous efforts from every
sector of the society. Today,
it is still relevant to re-evaluate
what does it take to actually
build a long-lasting peace:
To repair a broken society after
war it is necessary to go beyond
cease fire, it is required to holistically
understand the reasons
that provoked the conflict in the
first place, and create conditions
to avoid these circumstances to
repeat. In Colombia, social inequities
and unequal access to land
or work opportunities where
some of the main reasons that
burst the armed conflict. Hence,
they are now central points on
the peace-building agenda and
the focal point to this dissertation.
This thesis aimed to contribute
to peace from the development
of productive infrastructure
to ensure economic stability
to the demobilized ex-FARC
community in Dabeiba, who
had been developing collective
production initiatives as part of
their reincorporation plan. This
“peace signers” have established
in two separate settlements:
one for housing (Llano Grande)
and one for productive activities
(Taparales), this segregation of
uses, represents a mayor logistic
complication for the development
of their economic activity
and consequently, a threat to the
peace process, since it is hard to
ensure dignified living conditions
for the former actors of the
conflict.
The project is grounded on the
historical background of the
conflict in Colombia and the
peace agreement implementation
in Dabeiba and transcends
to an empirical, collective
knowledge-building through
field studies to better understand
the site singularities and analyse
implicated stakeholders in terms
of interests, possibilities and
limitations. This research led to
the proposal of a development
plan for the production infrastructure
in Taparales, oriented
to improve working conditions
for “agroprogreso” association
members, increase production
quality and efficiency and, ultimately
built resilience in the
farm by diversifying the income
sources and the sustainable use
of ecosystem services.