Related Organizations
Related Organizations:
- Popular Womyn's Organization (OFP)
- Peasant Association of the Cimitarra Valley (ACVC)
- “Programa” PDPMM– Program of Development and Peace of the Magdalena Medio
Popular Womyn's Organization (OFP)
Women will not give birth nor raise our sons and daughters for war
The Women Popular Organization started in 1972 to defend life and human rights by empowering women to transform their social reality and reconstruct their own social fabric and that of civil society. They seek to train and mobilize grassroots women to build projects of life while resisting all forms of violence (economic, social, cultural, civil, and political) 
Currently, there are more than 1200 women in the Middle Magdalena River Region that are part of OFP. Individuals look to the OFP as one of the possibilities to transform their reality -- a reality where the state denies a great majority of its citizens any possibility of existing with integrity (access health, food, clothes, work, education, liberty, dignity, gender equality, recreation).”
The OFP offers medical and legal attention, professional training, parenting support and other kinds of support to women and families. They also offer community kitchens that provide inexpensive yet healthy meals to the communities. The OFP has classes in leadership training for women in rural communities. They work with the women to build women’s community action groups in their villages.
The Two principles of the organization are:
Civil Society: We defend civil society as a political process that allows us to construct proposals of life for everyone, in which the rules that govern us are inspired by democratic process that are not authoritarian nor militaristic.
Autonomy: This principle is the foundation of our ethics and organization. We do not accept pressure from the state or illegal armed actors. We are not subordinate to authority. We defend our autonomy as women with rights.
For more information in Spanish, check out their website: www.ofp.org.co
Peasant Association of the Cimitarra Valley (ACVC):
The peasant farmers association of the Rio Cimitarra Valley is a non-governmental organization of peasant farmers that organizes people into community action groups, cooperatives, and committees to defend human rights and the struggle for land.
ACVC started as a result of a massive peasant mobilization in 1998, where the government signed agreements with the peasant sector of Colombia to pursue and punish paramilitary groups, military, and government agents that preformed human rights abuses by omission and or direct action. They also agreed to invest the resources to implement a development plan and to protect human rights in the region. These agreements have been systematic and intentional ignored by the government. Since 1998, over 100 community leaders have been killed and 20,000 displaced.
ACVC works to strengthen the unity and solidarity between rural organizations, communities, and student works. Furthermore, they continue to organize and resist against the social, civil, and political authoritarian development – a fascist project that continues to violently expropriate and displace thousands of Colombians.
“Programa” PDPMM– Program of Development and Peace of the Magdalena Medio
Programa started in 1995 by people of the Magdalena Medio region with the purpose of building a region that focuses on life, peace, sustainable development, and Respect for human rights. With the slogan “Life first,” program has grown to work most areas of the region. They are building this process with two fixed objectives: 1) sustainable human development, with all participating fully and fairly. 2) Construction of a civilian culture, a shared public space, where rights and obligations are guaranteed and demanded by handling diverse interests in a democratic way.”