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Good practice Imported

Colombia's Gender Sub-Commission (Subcomisión de Género) — Embedding Women, Peace & Security in the 2016 FARC Peace Accord

Colombia · Bogotá · See the Colombia profile · See the Bogotá profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 43% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Colombia's 2016 FARC peace accord created a Gender Sub-Commission and embedded gender provisions across all six chapters — the most extensive gender approach of any peace agreement tracked globally — though monitoring finds implementation lagging well behind.

~4 %
Gender stipulations complete (2018) (2018)
22 %
Overall accord stipulations complete (2018) (2018)
~12 %
Gender stipulations complete (Nov 2021) (Nov 2021)
~30 %
Overall accord stipulations complete (Nov 2021) (Nov 2021)
Colombia's Gender Sub-Commission (Subcomisión de Género) — Embedding Women, Peace & Security in the 2016 FARC Peace Accord

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Government of Colombia (Comisión de Seguimiento, Impulso y Verificación) with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies (independent verification)
Period
2016–present
Keywords
peace & security, governance, transitional justice, gender mainstreaming

Context

In 2016 the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP signed a peace agreement that, uniquely among comparable accords, created a dedicated Gender Sub-Commission (Subcomision de Genero) during negotiations, tasked with mainstreaming a gender perspective across all six chapters. This produced 130 gender-specific stipulations spanning land reform, political participation, illicit-crop substitution, victims' reparations and security guarantees.

Activities

The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, mandated by the Colombian government and former FARC-EP to monitor implementation, has published four dedicated special reports on the gender approach (through 2024) using a standardised, stipulation-by-stipulation tracking methodology.

Results

Findings show a persistent implementation gap: by 2018 only about 4% of gender stipulations were complete versus 22% of the accord overall, and by November 2021 roughly 12% of gender stipulations were complete versus about 30% overall.

Conclusions

Kroc Institute reporting and peer-reviewed research (Policy Studies Journal, 2025) attribute the lag to limited institutional ownership of the gender approach and inadequate integration of intersectional, rural and LGBTIQ+ perspectives into implementing agencies.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Implementation costs embedded in the broader national peace accord budget; not separately disclosed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Sub-Commission active during 2016 negotiations; Kroc Institute tracking through at least 2024.
Staffing & skills
Gender Sub-Commission negotiators, Kroc Institute monitoring researchers, implementing government agencies

Conditions for success

  • a dedicated sub-commission mainstreaming gender across all six accord chapters rather than one clause
  • an independent, government-mandated monitoring body with a standardised tracking methodology

Common failure modes

  • gender stipulations persistently lag the overall accord's completion rate
  • limited institutional ownership and weak intersectional/rural/LGBTIQ+ integration into implementing agencies

Where it fits

Governance type
national peace accord institution
Scale
national
Income level
upper-middle income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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