The Tejedoras de Vida Alliance of Putumayo is a historic platform of women who, for over two decades, have defended life in a territory marked by war, extractivism, State neglect, and multiple forms of violence against bodies and land. We were born from pain, but also from the collective conviction that peace is not an abstract ideal- it is a daily practice sustained by organization, voice, and the strength of women. We are memory. We are resistance. We are seeds. We are a river that does not stop. Throughout 20 years, we have woven a living network present across all municipalities of Putumayo, made up of associations, women leaders, guardians of ancestral knowledge, rural and urban women, youth, campesinas, and Indigenous women who have transformed fear into leadership. Our journey is nourished by the history of thousands of women who have carried the weight of armed conflict on their bodies, yet hold the power that sustains life, community, land, and rivers. Our work is guided by four strategic axes which define our political, social, organizational, and territorial action. Each one is a thread strengthening the collective fabric and projecting a future built on justice, care, autonomy, and the defense of our Amazonian territory. 1. Defense of Human Rights and Protection for Women From the beginning, the defense of Human Rights has been a core principle. We accompany women leaders at risk, promote collective protection strategies, and demand real State responses to the threats faced by defenders of life and territory. We have built community protection protocols, self-care routes, legal training, and advocacy mechanisms that ensure women not only survive- they continue leading without being silenced. No peace process is possible if the women sustaining life remain in danger. We work for a Putumayo where defending rights does not cost lives, where protection is not a privilege but a guarantee. 2. Political Participation and Territorial Peacebuilding Our second axis is guided by the conviction that women must not only be heard, but have power to decide. We train women leaders, promote representation in decision-making spaces, support oversight and public participation, and strengthen political advocacy with a feminist and territorial approach. The Alliance has built bridges between women and institutions, ensuring their voices reach councils, mayorships, departmental governments, development plans, peace agreement implementation spaces, and legislative scenarios. We have accompanied local peace agendas, supported community participation in post-conflict processes, and demanded that peace implementation incorporate the voice of Amazonian women- peace with social, environmental, and economic justice. Our political statement is clear: without women in power, there is no real democracy. 3. Economic Autonomy and Economies for Life We believe that without economic autonomy, there is no full freedom. We strengthen women-led productive initiatives, promote solidarity-based and sustainable economies, and provide technical, organizational, and financial training for women to build dignified livelihoods outside systems that reproduce violence and inequality. Our vision of economy comes from the territory: cacao, crafts, diverse agriculture, ancestral medicine, non-timber forest products, community tourism, and networks of fair trade. We speak not of growth for accumulation- we speak of dignified survival, sovereignty, sustainability, and economies that do not destroy the jungle, but heal it. 4. Defense of Territory, Water, and the Amazon Putumayo is forest, water, spirit, memory, and future. Our fourth axis responds to climate urgency and ongoing threats to rivers, forests, soils, and life itself. In response, our environmental organizational body was born: Guardianas del Agua, a network of women who defend rivers, protect water sources, monitor environmental impacts, and demand ecological justice. From an eco-feminist perspective, we affirm that peace is impossible in a devastated territory. The life of the river is the life of women. We advocate for just energy transitions, Amazon protection, sustainable economies, and community-based territorial governance. To defend territory is to defend the future. Tejedoras de Vida has not only accompanied processes- it has transformed them. We have built memory around armed conflict, articulated territorial networks, led campaigns against gender-based violence, influenced public policy, and positioned the Amazon as a political subject demanding protection. Twenty years later, we remain standing because women of Putumayo continue weaving hope even through grief. We are a network that does not break. A house built by many hands. A collective voice that refuses to disappear. Our story is long, but it is just beginning. The territory still needs defense. The rainforest still calls. Peace is still being built. We will keep weaving. We will keep defending. We will keep living. Because in Putumayo life always returns. And we will make it flourish.

Asociacion de Mujeres Alianza Tejedoras de Vida

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