ABSTRACT
One of the problems for peacebuilding “outsiders” coming into an intractable conflict at the grassroots level is achieving a sufficient level of even limited legitimacy to carry out their work. This chapter looks at accompanying organizations trying to achieve legitimacy through balancing strategies of impartiality in the conflict on the one hand and solidarity with those being accompanied – and, hopefully, protected – on the other. It takes as an example of a protracted dispute over land in the case of Las Pavas in Colombia and the factors that helped and hindered both national and international actors trying to provide “protection through presence” for the local community there.
