Faced with plummeting coffee prices and the lingering impact of a 1999 earthquake, leading public and private institutions in Colombia's "coffee axis" -- the coffee producing region -- are coming together in an unprecedented way to find solutions to the crisis.
With the country's wrenching armed conflict adding to the malaise, the region's leaders are supporting an in-depth human development analysis, due next year, to guide policy decisions to deal with the crisis and improve people's lives.

The UNDP Centre for Human Development there, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, is supporting the initiative. More than 650,000 people live in the region, which includes the departments of Armenia, Caldas and Quindío.

Other partners in the project include the departmental and local governments, Chambers of Commerce, the Coffee Axis Reconstruction Fund, Regional Coffee Committees and the Regional Centre for Economic and Social Studies.

The partners look to the report to offer solutions for improving economic competitiveness and people's well-being. UNDP Colombia will provide technical advice from its staff of human development specialists and help distribute the report.

"The report will offer options and solutions to promote human development for people in the 'coffee axis', and this will be immensely important for a country like Colombia that is affected by a major armed conflict," said José Mariscal, director of the Manizales Human Development Centre.

The centre, located in the department of Caldas, is one of five regional centres that UNDP has created around the country. Their mission is to build strategic alliances for human development with national and international organizations.

For further information, please contact Amparo Diaz, UNDP Colombia, or Ana Gerez, UNDP Communcations Office.