About this Report
This report offers international agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the media and the public an overview of the humanitarian and development assistance being provided to the people of Colombia by InterAction member agencies.
The ten member organizations in this report are conducting relief and development operations in Colombia. Various sectors are addressed in their programs, including agriculture and food security; disaster and emergency relief; economic, business development and credit; education and training; gender issues; health care; human rights, peace and conflict resolution; assistance and protection for refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs); and rural development.
The agencies in this report conduct programs in many areas of Colombia, including the Amazon Basin, Apartado, Atlantico, Barranquilla, Bogota, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Chocó, Cuaca, Envigado, Guaviare, Ibague, Malambo, Monteria, Nariño, Putomayo, Santa Marta, Santander, Saravena, Soledad, Tolima and Uraba- Pueblo Bello, among others.
Agencies have presented various objectives for their programs in Colombia. Many are working to respond to the emergency needs of the populations affected by prolonged conflict through distribution of food and nonfood aid and the provision of health care. Other organizations have objectives that focus on peace-building activities, support for IDPs, community and economic development, as well as training and education initiatives.
Several of the member agencies in this report work in coordination with local and international implementing partners or donors. International partners include ICRC, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Rotary Club, Solidarity International, UNHCR and the World Food Programme, among others. Regional and Colombian partners include the Colombian Red Cross, AECI, Direccion General para la Prevencion y Atencion de Desastres, members of the Inter-Agency Dialogue in Colombia (DIAL), the Bogotá Civil Air Patrol (PAC), the Catholic National Secretariat for Social Ministry (SNPS), several Colombian ministries and other local, national and global church organizations.
Security remains a primary concern of many agencies involved in aid operations in Colombia. Aside from rampant street crime, gang activity and violence related to narco-trafficking, sporadic and often indiscriminate violence stemming from the forty-year internal conflict compromises agency activities and limits ability to assign personnel. In recent years, the government has increased its efforts to contain insurgents, paramilitary and drug trafficking groups, forcing these groups into the country's remotest areas and limiting their geographic influence. That progress may be negated, however, by recent news of paramilitary links to the Uribe administration, national and local governments. Furthermore, the re-mobilization of previously demobilized paramilitary groups into new decentralized and increasingly violent cadres may also pose a security threat.