The EU Trust Fund for Colombia: Valuable lessons for hybrid peacebuilding

Motivation The European Union (EU) Trust Fund has supported the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia. It represents innovative funding that goes beyond the classic parameters of the so‐called “liberal peace”—that is, imposing a standard formula of guaranteeing security and public order, promoting electoral processes through a party system, and fostering economic openness and free markets. Purpose We analyse the planning, financing, and operational mechanisms of the Trust Fund to identify those elements that encourage or constrain co‐operation for peacebuilding; elements able to integrate and complement the agendas, actors, and dynamics at international, national, and local levels. Methods and approach The article is based on the ongoing support of the Trust Fund for over four years, including an extensive documentary review, participation in numerous events and meetings, and making more than ten field visits to the Fund's intervention areas. More than 50 interviews were conducted with ex‐combatants, local leaders, and representatives of the EU, public institutions, and civil society organizations (CSOs). Findings The Trust Fund has tried to build peace at local and territorial levels. It has proved an assertive and pluralistic instrument, innovating in inter‐institutional co‐ordination, political dialogue, and articulation at the local level. This has not only been visible strategically, but also technically by developing innovations with a high potential for adaptation or scaling up; for example, public access to project progress indicators, the widespread use of third‐party funding to distribute resources to the weakest or most isolated CSOs, and inclusion of the territorial approach in project design and intervention logic. The Fund has been limited, however, by a context in which peacebuilding initiatives have tended to come from central government and donors, rather than from local actors. The government (of President Duque) was reluctant to implement the entirety of its commitments to peace: the EU Delegation was equally reluctant to challenge the government over this. Policy implications The experience of the EU Trust Fund in Colombia can provide valuable ideas to support peace processes elsewhere, to enrich the EU's position and approach to managing and resolving armed conflicts. New instruments, such as the “Team Europe Initiatives” or the “Neighbourhood, Development and International Co‐operation instrument – Global Europe,” focused on multi‐stakeholder co‐ordination and international partnerships, can benefit significantly from lessons learned in Colombia.