Co-production and support
During the fieldwork of the Voices of Recovery project, various community initiatives were developed in collaboration with organisations and groups representing women, victims of the armed conflict and young people in Marquetalia (Caldas), La Montañita and Florencia (Caquetá).
The implementation of narrative and artistic methodologies was crucial to encourage active participation, express subjective experiences, and amplify the voices of participants in local and regional public spaces. Moreover, it facilitated spaces for the collective creation of audiovisual and promotional content, which was shared both in print and digital media.
Women's community initiatives
In the municipality of Marquetalia (Caldas) a community process was carried out alongside the Municipal Association of Rural, Black and Indigenous Women (ANMUCIC-MAR) and the Marquetalia Women's Platform. This initiative created spaces for collective reflection on the impacts of COVID-19 and the comprehensive recovery strategies promoted by rural women.
The participants identified the pandemic period as a time of stagnation and emotional and physical overload. They noted the increase in gender-based violence, the intensification of care duties, uncertainty about the future, and the weakening of the community organisational fabric due to isolation.
In response to these experiences, the proposal emerged to co-create a community action strategy based on the exchange of knowledge and skills among the women themselves.
Recognising their skills in crafts, embroidery, knitting, sewing and tailoring, the group decided to create a collective textile or patchwork quilt as a symbol of memory, care and collective reconstruction. This creation not only allowed them to reinterpret their experiences during the pandemic, but also to strengthen collaborative work and the sense of community among women from different parts of the municipality.
Weaving life after the pandemic
Short documentary
"Mujeres Tejedoras de Sueños" (Women Weavers of Dreams)
The video shows the process carried out by the group of women, consisting of members of ANMUCICMAR and the Marquetalia Women's Network, through the weaving of a patchwork quilt. During this process, various reflections have been made on the impacts of Covid-19 and the ways in which women have been able to accelerate their overall recovery.
The community medicinal garden of recovery
This community initiative aimed to strengthen the organisational process of the women of the National Association for the Development and Entrepreneurship of Rural Women (ASODENMUR), located in the La Estrella area, in Florencia, Caquetá.
Through the collective creation of a community medicinal garden, the recovery of traditional knowledge and care for the environment was promoted, while strengthening collaboration, active participation and cohesion among the members of the association. This space became established as a strategy for emotional, ecological and organisational recovery for rural women in the area.
Short documentary
“La huerta comunitaria de la recuperación” (The community medicinal garden of recovery)
This short documentary explores the organisational process of ASONDEMUR (National Association for the Development and Entrepreneurship of Rural Women), a collective experience that emerges in response to the multiple historical violences experienced in the territory. ASONDEMUR is shaped as a network of affective relationships, care, and sisterhood, which has allowed rural women to strengthen their leadership, build autonomy, and reconstruct the social fabric from a feminist and territorial perspective.
The video captures the spaces of encounter created throughout the collective process of making the short documentary, in which the participants shared memories, life narratives, and experiences of struggle and healing. Through participatory methodologies — such as oral storytelling, drawing, and writing — both the political dimensions of the organisation and the subjectivities that sustain it are made visible.
Community initiatives by victims of the armed conflict
Reinventing our lives
This initiative aimed to reconstruct the survival history of the community affected by the armed conflict in the municipality of Marquetalia (Caldas), through the creation of audiovisual strategies designed to highlight and strengthen organisational processes in the area.
As a result of the collaborative work, an infographic was created that captures the trajectories of struggle, resistance and organisation of the victims' associations in the municipality. This printed material was presented at three community exhibitions: the first during a session of the Municipal Board for Victims' Participation; the second at the commemorative event for the National Day of Memory and Solidarity with Victims, held on 14 April 2024 in Marquetalia; and the third at the ENTREVOCES Meeting, held in the city of Manizales.
This experience reaffirmed the value of collective memory as a tool for healing, recognition and transformative action.
Memories of survival and recovery
This initiative was developed in collaboration with the Tropical Fusion Association of the Amazon, in Florencia, Caquetá, with the aim of recovering the organisation's collective memory as a fundamental part of its healing and community strengthening processes.
Through written and audiovisual languages, narrative reconstruction exercises were promoted that reinterpret the experiences of dispossession, resistance and hope lived by its members. As a result of this process, the short film 'The Peace of the Forest' was created, a piece that captures the voices, knowledge and struggles of those who have committed to personal, family and territorial recovery from a perspective of environmental justice and dignity.
Short documentary video
"La Paz del Bosque” (“The peace of the Forest)
The short documentary “La paz del bosque” is the result of a process of research and collective creation carried out in collaboration with the organisation “Fusión Tropical de la Amazonía”. Through the life stories of Don Saúl Rivera and Doña Amparo Velasco, the work narrates the traces the armed conflict has left on their personal and community journeys, while highlighting the forms of resistance, reconstruction and dignification promoted locally.
Far from presenting the victims from a welfare perspective, the documentary highlights the organisational capacities, emotional bonds and political agency that have allowed men and women in the Amazonian region to sustain life in contexts of adversity.
Commemorative fair on 9 April:
National Day of Remembrance and Solidarity
On 9 April 2024, in the La Gloria neighbourhood of Florencia (Caquetá), a commemorative fair was held in partnership with the Foundation of Landless Peasant Women Victims of the Armed Conflict (FUMUCASTIVIC).
The initiative aimed to highlight the memory reconstruction processes carried out by women, victims and young people in the area, understood as fundamental tools for individual, family and community recovery.
The event was attended by approximately 250 people, including representatives from public institutions, victims' organisations and civil society actors. During the day, the products developed collectively within the project in Florencia and La Montañita were exhibited, and a commemorative mural was inaugurated in the La Gloria neighbourhood, as a symbolic expression of dignity, resistance and living memory.
Short documentary
"Una danza por la paz” (“A dance for peace”)
This short documentary tells the story of FUMUCASTIVIC, a foundation formed in January 2022 by landless peasant women and victims of the armed conflict, living in the La Gloria neighbourhood of Florencia, Caquetá.
Through social and community organisation, these women have begun to transform their territory and rebuild their lives. "A Dance for Peace" portrays the process through which they have redefined their neighbourhood as a space of resistance and dignity, reclaimed their collective voice, and raised their demands for a life free from violence, with social justice and opportunities for themselves and their families.
Youth community initiatives
Pandemic historians
This initiative was developed with young people from the Juan XXIII Educational Institution, in the municipality of Marquetalia (Caldas), with the aim of creating spaces where they could narrate and reflect on their experiences during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through creative and participatory activities, the students shared their experiences as rural youth, building collective memories of a period marked by lockdown, the transformation of school and family life, and the emotional challenges they faced.
As part of this initiative, an experimental short video called 'Momotus', an audiovisual narrative called 'The Diary of Tony & Luna', a mural, and several community exhibitions were created.
Experimental short video “Momotus”
This experimental short film captures and highlights the narratives of a group of young people about their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the paths of recovery they have built since then.
Just like the Momotus bird, a symbol of the territory, young people went through those times in shades of grey: isolation, uncertainty and loss marked their days. However, the video highlights how they found in music, drawing, painting and writing forms of emotional resilience and creativity, turning these artistic expressions into havens that added colour to their lives amid the crisis.
Short documentary
“El diario de Tony & Luna” (Tony & Luna's Diary)
The video was created with a group of students from Juan XXIII School in the municipality of Marquetalia-Caldas. It portrays the transformation of daily life at home, the difficulties in socialising with classmates, and the talents and hobbies the young people discovered to make their days more bearable during lockdown.