When honey helps rebuild peace: The transformative power of collective action
How a community in Montes de María, a region deeply affected by Colombia’s armed conflict, has found a path forward through collective action.
- Blog
- Sustainable agriculture
- Latin America
Colombia still carries the weight of decades of internal armed conflict, a history that has hit rural communities particularly hard. According to the Observatory of Memory and Conflict (OMC) at Colombia’s National Center for Historical Memory (CNMH), the conflict has left more than nine million victims. But beyond the numbers, its consequences can be felt in the breakdown of the social fabric: distrust among neighbors, persistent fear, loss of land, and weakened community ties. Yet amid this reality, stories of resilience have also emerged, demonstrating the transformative power of collective action.
In Montes de María, a region on Colombia’s Caribbean coast that was at the epicenter of violence during the 1990s and 2000s, farming families found a way to rebuild their lives by organizing and working together. What began as an effort to generate income became a path toward restoring trust, healing invisible wounds, and rebuilding community.
Today, through honey production, a community of beekeeping families is showing how development and reconciliation can take root within communities through collaboration and a shared determination not to repeat the past. We spoke with Karina Pérez and José Ibañez, beneficiaries of AgroRoma, one of the companies Acumen supports in Latin America, about how working collectively around honey production has helped restore pride in their territory and strengthen community ties.
These are the voices of a region that experienced armed conflict firsthand and is now being transformed day by day, through community organization.
How would you describe Montes de María to someone who has never been there?
Karina Pérez: I would describe Montes de María through its diversity. I would show them the diversity we have in our territory: bees, tropical dry forest, all the different foods we produce, the diversity of birds and plants, and the kindness of our people. Diversity and culture—that is what I would want people to know about us.
José Ibañez: Montes de María is a subregion of Colombia that has so much to offer the world. It brings together a diversity of environmental, technical, and cultural elements that people should have the opportunity to learn about.
What motivates you to continue working for your community despite the challenges?
KP: I’m motivated to keep working because of everything our territory has been through, including the conflict, but also because of diversity and people’s determination to keep moving forward. I am motivated by promoting the participation of both women and men and seeing our territory move forward, leaving the conflict behind and working toward a better future. We don’t want to be known as victims, but as people who work for our territory.
JI: What motivates me, despite so many challenges, is knowing that from whatever position we are in, we can make an important and meaningful contribution to changing the course of Colombia’s history. If we are not able to contribute what we know and what we have learned to overcome the situation we have lived through, we will keep repeating the past.
What do you think is the relationship between economic development and peacebuilding?
KP: The relationship between economic development and peacebuilding is rooted in the trust we build within our territory. Because we work in local groups, we get to know each other better—to understand where others come from and how they are doing. It helps us become more connected within the association and across the territory.
JI: Economic development and peacebuilding are deeply interconnected because progress in one depends on progress in the other. If you don’t build relationships and trust in the territory, it is very difficult to build peace. There will always be barriers between the people who need to come together and discuss the deeper issues that must be addressed to create change in their communities.
What role do women, young people, and community leaders play in AgroRoma?
KP: Women’s role in AgroRoma is about participation, not only in leadership but also in marketing and selling our products. AgroRoma gives us the confidence to go out and share our products with others. The organization has helped us build the confidence to step outside our homes and participate. Being able to share our products also gives us the freedom to be leaders. It is not only men who can represent AgroRoma; as women, we can also share our territory and what it has to offer.
JI: The role of women and young people is extremely important because the idea is for the next generation to sustain these processes. The only way to keep the process alive is to pass what we are doing on to future generations.
“To me, working collectively means a great deal because collective work creates inclusion and participation and gives context and continuity to the work we do.”
José Ibañez, AgroRoma farmer
What have you learned from working collectively in a region with a history of conflict?
KP: One of the things I have learned is that this work has given me the opportunity to meet different people, to understand what is in their hearts, to hear their stories, and to learn how they have managed to build what they have today.
JI: Working collectively has been extremely important because it gives us a way to restore the social fabric that was once broken. The only way to build trust and work toward the future is by looking at every aspect of how we lived together yesterday, how we live together today, and how we want to live together tomorrow.
What legacy would you like to leave for future generations?
KP: The legacy I would like to leave my children is for them to know and love the countryside, to care for it, and to always be people who defend rural communities, support the association, and share AgroRoma’s story with others.
JI: Leaving a legacy for future generations is fundamental to anyone who supports communities. If you don’t leave a legacy, the history dies, the processes die, and the feelings and sensitivity behind them disappear, as do support and coexistence. All of these things would disappear if we had nothing to leave behind. That legacy makes it possible to live and continue building healthy and productive spaces like the ones we have created today and that future generations will continue to build.
Collective action that changes lives
AgroRoma’s story is a powerful example of what can happen when communities choose to organize and work together. The honey they produce is much more than a product: it reflects restored trust, collective effort, and the conviction that a different future is possible, even when the past has tested a community’s hope.
This process has also involved strengthening the association’s capabilities. Its members received training on foundational gender concepts and inclusion strategies for the different groups that make up AgroRoma. They then adapted and shared these lessons with other members of the association, taking into account their specific needs and realities. This transfer of knowledge has been key to building a more inclusive organization, strengthening relationships among its members, and supporting its continued growth.
Investing in these processes means investing in the resilience of an entire country. It means recognizing that lasting change takes root in local communities—in places that once experienced conflict and are now choosing to come together and move forward.
At Acumen, we support communities like these, where families are demonstrating, one by one, that collective action is one of the most powerful tools for rebuilding the social fabric and creating a future rooted in dignity.
More from our Knowledge Hub
Cuando la miel construye paz: el poder transformador de la asociatividad
Cómo una comunidad en Montes de María, una zona altamente afectada por el conflicto en Colombia, ha logrado salir adelante a través de la asociatividad.
