Colombia Barometer Initiative

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The Colombia Barometer Initiative unites Peace Accords Matrix methodology with contemporaneous monitoring and verification of the 2016 Colombian Accord.

The historic Colombia peace agreement signed on November 24, 2016—celebrated as a major turning point in ending the country’s 52-year armed conflict—gives the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute primary responsibility for technical verification and monitoring of implementation of the accord through the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) Barometer Initiative.

This is the first time a university-based research center has played such a direct role in supporting the implementation of a peace agreement, and the first time researchers have measured the implementation of a peace accord in real time. 

Monitoring implementation in progress creates the possibility for engagement with key decisionmakers to report progress, identify options for improvement, and address issues that need attention.

Introduction to the Barometer Initiative in Colombia

The Barometer Initiative in Colombia includes

  • 8 faculty and staff members based at Notre Dame’s Indiana campus
  • more than 30 mobile team members on the ground in Colombia to track implementation

PAM produces regular comprehensive reports on the status of implementation for all 578 stipulations in the Colombia accord. The Barometer Initiative also produces reports on transversal themes in the peace accord, including studies on the status of the gender, ethnic and territorial perspective in implementation.

The project issues periodic summary reports and briefs on the status of implementation for senior Colombian government decision makers, United Nations officials, and representatives of the United States, the European Union, and other governments and agencies supporting the peace process. Barometer staff regularly interact with top level government officials, ex-combatants, civil society leaders, and local leaders in rural territories across Colombia to discuss implementation progress.

The Barometer Initiative in Colombia has received grant awards from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, the Humanity United Foundation, the European Union, and the United Nations Multi-Party Trust Fund, as well as in-kind support from the Jubitz Foundation.