In Colombia, the COVID-19 pandemic and national State of Emergency have weakened an already fragile peace process. Armed groups have increased militarization and territorial control, often playing the role of authorities enforcing social isolation. Institutions of the peace process have temporarily suspended activities. The pandemic has reactivated and uncovered multiple dynamics of the conflict and slowed implementation of the 2016 Peace Accord, particularly in regions considered key to its success.

But peace in Colombia is not a total loss under COVID-19. In fact, while posing fundamental challenges, the pandemic has also highlighted where the Colombian state must make key local investments to consolidate the very real gains that communities once ravaged by war have made over the last decade. Specifically, the state must invest in the local institutions that communities rely on to build and sustain peace, whose significance often remains hidden under more normal circumstances.