This project supports an Inter-ethnic School for Conflict Resolution run by the Jenzera collective. The school constitutes a meeting place for leaders from different communities in Colombia to problem-solve and learn about current legislation, history, and conflict resolution. We also support agro-ecology activities in the Naya River, and have an active research and publication agenda.
We seek to support community processes so that people can freely decide on their social, political and economic lives by defending their territories, empowering their own governments and developing a self-managed economy that meets local needs and produces healthy and sufficient food.
Since 2007, Jenzera has developed curricular materials on conflict management, ethnic rights, inter-ethnic relations, and economic rights with Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and peasant leaders from various rivers in the Pacific coast. Additionally, it organizes guided visits for community leaders to other regions of Colombia that have developed effective communication, conservation or conflict-resolution strategies.
The school attempts to empower local organizations to work together to peacefully resist armed conflict, manage interethnic relations in various regions, and preserve the rights of these communities. The trainings hope to increase local negotiation capacities so that communities can confront challenges, including armed conflict and rapid economic change.
