Program Details: 
Helping Survivors of Conflict

Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps has had a presence in Colombia since 2006. We work primarily in collaboration with local partners that target communities affected by the country's long-running armed conflict. Our programs consist of both emergency assistance and socio-economic integration initiatives to improve the lives of displaced and vulnerable people.

Mercy Corps' programs cover 22 departments across the country and include the urban centers of Bogota, the Caribbean coastal areas of Cartagena and Barranquilla, and the southern department of Nariño. In these areas, we are helping local organizations enable displaced families to establish themselves, achieve stable livelihoods and lives with dignity outside the armed conflict.

Helping Displaced People: A Community Integration Approach
Armed conflict in Colombia has forced more than 4 million people to flee their homes. Mercy Corps is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to displaced families from Colombia's Atlantic Coast and Southwestern Pacific region, most of whom are female, under 18, and of mestizo, indigenous or Afro-Colombian heritage.

The agency is bringing together community members and government officials to respond to and prevent gender-based violence. We are also providing youth with tools to develop healthy relationships and life plans and protecting women and girls through community-based vigilance and intervention.

Part of this initiative is to enhance vulnerable women's and girls' access to services and protection provided by the government. We are increasing the capacity of service providers and protection agencies, including police, healthcare workers, and social workers, to respond to gender-based violence.

Our community approach to helping displaced people is bringing support to 400 women, 450 civil servants, and at least 1,000 children and adolescents.

Emergency Humanitarian Assistance
Mercy Corps is providing emergency humanitarian assistance in the form of food, kitchen, bedroom and hygiene kits, rent subsidies and access to psycho-social, medical and other services provided by local institutions. We are helping to alleviate the extreme hardship of 400 newly displaced and vulnerable families who are living in severely impoverished communities in two areas of the Southwestern Department of Nariño.

Civic Engagement for Vulnerable and Displaced
Mercy Corps is helping vulnerable and displaced people in Colombia participate in the local urban planning process to fulfill their rights and gain access to services. This process also strengthens the legitimacy of local governments and links vulnerable communities to local civic processes for their benefit.

Activities involve citizen participatory planning and the development of mechanisms for peaceful conflict resolution. We are educating citizens about environmental issues and fostering their participation in community-based environmental planning initiatives. In the process Mercy Corps and its partners are empowering marginalized groups — including women, children, youth, the elderly, people with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS and minorities such as Afro-Colombians and indigenous families.

Education to End Exploitive Child Labor
Mercy Corps is helping to eradicate the worst forms of child labor and exploitation in Colombia by implementing youth activities and establishing cooperative relationships on this issue among the government, non-government organizations (NGOs), and the private sector.

We are collaborating with a number of agencies — including the Ministry of Social Protection, the Ministry of Education, the Inter-institutional Committee against Trafficking in Persons, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, the National Police, and the Alliance for Childhood — to disseminate information and involve the business community in the elimination of child labor.

The project concentrates its efforts on the children of internally displaced and vulnerable populations, where child labor is more prevalent and available services are few. Youth are involved in constructive recreational, personal and social-development activities through after-school programs.

Help for Survivors of Landmines
Mercy Corps is partnering with the Colombian Campaign Against Landmines, the Office of the Vice Presidency, the International Committee of the Red Cross and agencies possessing technical expertise to assist landmine survivors.

The project will reach up to 60,890 people, focusing on those with disabilities throughout the country, of which 600 are landmine survivors in the six departments most affected by landmines.

We are working to formulate public policy that improves services and support to landmine survivors. The project will expand the availability of emergency and rehabilitation services, building two new rehabilitation centers and increasing access to technological advances in prosthetic and orthotic devices for survivors.

We also are developing income-generation opportunities that will help landmine survivors become socially and economically reintegrated into their communities and to overcome stigma and discrimination caused by their disability.