The peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC in 2012 brought with it the promise of more peaceful living conditions and new opportunities to participate in democratic processes. However, such opportunities are not evenly distributed. To help address this, Caritas implemented the project ‘Reinforcement of Democratic Processes with Gender and Differential Approaches in Vulnerable Populations in Chocó, Columbia’ between October 2015 and July 2017. ECOPER has presented its final evaluation report on the project. The evaluation methodology was constructed around a participatory approach, which involved the conducting of focus groups and semi-structured interviews with project beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
The project aimed to support indigenous communities and communities of people of African descent as members of these communities are at greater risk of social marginalisation and are more likely to be excluded from decision making processes. The main activities were workshops and training sessions on inclusion, attended by members of the beneficiary communities and their representatives. Project deliverables included reports on the humanitarian situation in the areas concerned and local government action plans featuring proposals for inclusion.