Co-sponsored by Business on the Frontlines and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Featuring Juan Fernando, Business on the Frontlines Fellow
Lunch will be provided. Register here.
Juan Fernando has dedicated his career to the development of governance networks in the field of public finance and peace. Through PASO Colombia he has been developing such networks to rehabilitate economic and social fabrics in territories most affected by organized political violence. He specializes in the creation of spaces dedicated to economic activity, problem solving, and collective action. He is an economist from the London School of Economics, with an MPhil in Social Sciences from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes de Paris, and is a public administrator and a theologian.
It is striking that, of the 297 pages of the Peace Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC, only three pages were dedicated to the problem of reincorporation of 12,500 former rebel men and women.
The Agreement defines succinctly the concept of Collective Reincorporation as a process of integration of ex-combatants and communities to the economic and social life of the country. However only very general ideas were written about this process.
This lecture will address how, in contrast with other styles of reincorporation, the collective approach evolved organically through the work and ideas that originated in organizations working in the field. The second area of contrast is the centrality of income generation and business development as an instrument to address not only economic, but also relational post-conflict challenges. This experience is very valuable and should inspire current peace negotiations and processes of reincorporation in Colombia and worldwide.