Researchers and communities explore in co-creation laboratories for public peace policy

Abstract

What have been the socio-cultural processes that can be recognized as generators of regulation ways and peaceful transformation of conflicts in Caldas, Colombia? What lessons can be learned for the design and formulation of public peace policy? The generation of guidelines for local peace is a need in Colombia, after the agreements signing with the FARC guerrilla. The research project Co-creation for peace in Caldas works with the concept of imperfect peace, and the methodology of co-creation laboratories with the leaders of three municipalities: Anserma, Aguadas, and Pensilvania to generate not only proposals for territorial peace but also artistic examples that allow the reflection of the community in a more accessible way. The process has led us to the recognition of local experiences that manage conflicts, generate new processes of knowledge production that are made from horizontal participation among researchers and communities, to exchange knowledge with leaders in the municipalities and to understand the processes of violence and peace in the department of Caldas, Colombia. This article reveals the process that has taken place with researchers and communities and examines the case of the municipality of Pensilvania with the first laboratory of context.