The objective of this project is to generate new institutional arrangements at the national level in a set of Latin American territories considering the visions of traditionally excluded territorial actors, whose wellbeing and development are currently affected by the persistence of socio-territorial conflicts. This initiative is realized thanks to the financial support of the Ford Foundation, in the framework of the project that “General and Core support for Institutional Strengthening for Rimisp.”

The project has promoted the grounding and strengthening of Rimisp’s thematic area of socio-territorial conflicts (CST) through the adjustment of our theoretical and methodological framework to guide action; as well as the definition of a research agenda aimed at understanding the relationship between the definition and implementation of public policies, and the existence and treatment of conflicts.

In this sense, we have implemented processes of applied research, capacity building, dialogue and advocacy in rural territories in: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in alliance with our territorial partners: PRISMA in Ahuachapán (El Salvador), CEDEPAS in Piura (Peru), CESDER in Sierra Norte (Mexico), IEI-PUJ Cali in Valle del Cauca (Colombia) and APROBASANK in Alta Verapaz (Guatemala).

Based on the identification and characterization of a CST, progress was made in the construction of differentiated routes for its understanding and treatment, recognizing the experience and nature of our partners, their level of involvement in the conflicts and the conditions of each territory. As a whole, the actions implemented from a territorial approach have contributed to:

• Strengthening the capacities of rural, peasant and indigenous communities to understand and analyze the TSAs that affect their wellbeing in their territories, with the purpose of creating strategies for their recognition and treatment.
• Coordination and strengthening of our network of partners, jointly building the appropriate strategies to achieve rapprochement with stakeholders, based on a better understanding and evidence on the conflict axes.
• Definition of various mechanisms and strategies for the treatment of TSA that link the vision of traditionally excluded stakeholders and strengthen dialogue with different levels of government (subnational and national).

In its first 3 years these processes were articulated with the development of the program Territories in Dialogue: Inclusion and Well-being. Currently, the actions are focused on the understanding and treatment of conflicts related to:

• Management of buffer zones of protected areas and sustainable management of natural resources (El Salvador).
• Community cadastre as an instrument to strengthen self-government systems (Guatemala).
• Policies for dealing with illicit crops (Andean Subregion: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).