Report 4 Executive Summary: State of Implementation of the Colombian Final Accord-Toward Territorial Transformation

Three years after the signing of the final peace accord between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP or FARC, in Spanish), the implementation process has come to a crucial point of transformation. The armed conflict with the former guerrilla group has ended, and the new institutional framework to execute the measures of the Agreement has been established. The process is entering a new territorial phase in which it is necessary to expand upon on previous achievements and transform the areas most affected by violence, a great challenge for building a stable and lasting peace. Priorities include reducing socioeconomic gaps between rural and urban areas, ensuring the long-term reincorporation of ex-combatants, guaranteeing the rights of victims, and advancing cross-cutting measures regarding ethnicity and gender. The report presents qualitative analyses focused on the cross-cutting approaches and each of the six points of the agreement, all with a territorial lens. One of the promises of the final peace accord is to transform the conditions that generated and fueled the armed conflict, including the notion that the State lacks legitimacy. The active and effective participation in the implementation of the agreement by civil society and communities affected by violence is central to increasing public confidence in the process and strengthening the legitimacy of the State.