Vicky Hirst

The purpose of this study was to explore the female-led grassroots educational projects run by the ‘League of Displaced Women’ in their community on the north coast of Colombia. The women were displaced during the Colombian civil war and the study’s aim was to establish how the community’s educational projects are impacting the women’s political empowerment, both within the community and in wider Colombian society. The community is situated near the tourist town of Cartagena, in a low socio-economic area, and the study focuses on how women are attempting to use education to challenge the existing socio-economic and political barriers to their political empowerment. It analyses the women’s struggle within the conceptual framework of empowerment through education. Firstly, I consider empowerment as a broad concept, before investigating the distinctive features of women’s empowerment and questions of gender. The study also locates the women’s political empowerment within the context of the Colombian civil war and the recent peace negotiations. The women’s varying motivations for wanting to either engage in, or lead, educational projects in the community are also analysed. The methodological approach is comprised of a rigorous literature review of empowerment through education, followed by nine semi-structured interviews carried out with a range of women and girls from the community. The findings indicate that there is a strong desire among the women and the youth to engage in the educational projects, and they also have a clear understanding of the purpose behind them. However, while the female-led, grassroots educational projects are increasing women’s political empowerment within their community in various ways, they are not yet enhancing the women’s control over their wider political environment. For these existing power relations to be challenged, and ultimately overcome, wider engagement between the female-led community and local, regional and national partners must be facilitated.