Final Evaluation: Barequeando entre la opresión y la resistencia: Mujeres de zonas mineras en Colombia lideran estrategias para exigir una vida libre de violencias (Colombia)

Author(s)/editor(s)

María Moyano Buitrago, Emma Ávila Garavito, Cristian Castillo and Leticia Bendelac Gordon, Artival Research & Evaluation - Corporación DESH Consultores

Location: Antioquia, Colombia 

Grantee: Corporación Casa de la Mujer 

Grant period: May 2021–November 2024 

Grant amount: $812,499   

Corporación Casa de la Mujer, with the support of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, implemented the three-year pilot project “Panning for gold between oppression and resistance: Women in mining zones in Colombia lead strategies to demand a life free of violence” to strengthen civil society efforts against violence against women and girls in Antioquia in Colombia from 2021 to 2025. The project aimed to:

strengthen the political advocacy, service provision capacities and skills of local organizations; and
foster women leadership in cultural transformation through mobilization, communication and historical memory strategies.

The final evaluation found that the project achieved significant results and positively impacted women, particularly by enhancing leadership skills, raising awareness, and fostering support networks that challenge and transform gender norms in communities. However, it emphasized the need for continued capacity development and mobilization to sustain these outcomes.

Key findings:  

81% of survey respondents reported that the project had significantly strengthened their leadership and organizational skills and knowledge. 
88% and 82% of survey respondents reported that the project had promoted in the affected communities gender equality and human rights respectively.  
The intergenerational approach to historical memory activities reinforced women’s identities as agents of change and contributed to sustainability by encouraging the continued sharing and replication of experiences and lessons learned.

“The historical memory process helped a lot to experience and express a sense of safety to speak out, to feel free, to be able to express all one's feelings” – Workshop participant, El Bagre (translated from Spanish).