The EU Trust Fund: Pushing for a liberal architecture or local empowerment in Colombia?

The armed conflict in Colombia is no longer a national issue. International actors have participated in projects to bring peace to the affected territories. One of them has been the European Union and the multi-donor fund, called the European Trust Fund for Colombia. The fund supports the implementation of the peace agreement signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) in 2016. Funded projects include engagement in social dialogue and with communities; public-private partnerships to maximize peace dividends; targeted investment to achieve a social protection floor; and most recently, an emphasis on green jobs to reduce environmental impact. The fund was born with two main priorities: rural development (Point 1) and the reincorporation of ex-combatants (Point 3) in PDET-prioritized territories. Victims and ex-combatants are involved in the projects. The Fund currently includes contributions from 21 member states and has a budget of 127 million euros. It implies a development architecture that influences, directs and conditions investment. A preliminary review of the literature, allows positioning it in a theoretical model of hybrid peace, with an emphasis on "local ownership". However, complaints from local actors indicate a possible centralisation in regional agencies that does not involve the grassroots community. Therefore, we seek to identify whether it is presented as a 'renewed' agenda in discourse, but in practice perpetuates the liberal peace model under a curtain of state-building. However, when the government in power hinders, slows down or fails to comply with the agreement, international actors are called upon to exert political pressure. In this case, the Fund can also be used as a soft power tool to influence the implementation of the agreement through international diplomacy. Consequently, this paper aims to answer, first, what is the model of peace that the architecture of the Fund expresses?, Second, has the Fund been a tool of diplomatic pressure to accelerate so-called "Peace with legality" of the current government? To answer these questions, we will use qualitative approach based on two phases of data collection. The first phase consisted of a documentary review of the agencies and actors in charge of the administration of the EU Trust Fund for Colombia, a secondary source research. Secondly, the documentary work it will contrast by a fieldwork phase where, through interviews, we will gain access to the narratives of the local population involved in the projects. The observation window covers the period from the signing of the final peace agreement in 2016 until 2021.