WHY USAID/OTI IS IN COLOMBIA

Colombia has experienced armed conflict with insurgency groups for over 50 years. Among the root causes are state weakness and structural inequities that have created a divided nation: a modern, urban Colombia, and an impoverished, neglected, rural Colombia, where most of the conflict takes place.

In the three years following the ratification of the peace accords with Colombia’s largest guerrilla insurgency group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Government of Colombia (GOC) embarked on a peace implementation process, expected to last a generation. As the FARC demobilized and began to reintegrate into society, the GOC started enacting wide-ranging reforms related to rural development, inclusive political participation, transitional justice, and reducing illicit economies such as coca cultivation. Colombia is one of the oldest democracies in Latin America and USAID/OTI strives to help the GOC implement its peace accords with the FARC.

USAID/OTI’S ROLE IN COLOMBIA

USAID/OTI’s program, Colombia Transforma, is part of the U.S. Government’s efforts to support a sustainable and inclusive peace in Colombia. The program contributes to making peace progress irreversible by catalyzing front end elements of accord implementation, including:

• Increasing government entities’ commitment of resources for peace accord implementation; and

• Advancing bottom-up implementation of the peace accords in critical areas.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• USAID/OTI partners with national and local government and civil society actors in three departments with limited state presence: Antioquia, Norte de Santander, and Pacific Coast Nariño, to implement peace through integrated efforts that bridge the historic gap between Bogota and conflict zones.

• USAID/OTI supports small-scale infrastructure activities from  the municipal government actors, community organizations, and the Agency for Territorial Renewal, to  build relationships with long-neglected communities, provide tangible evidence of state presence, foster collaboration between actors critical to creating peace, and provide a model for how the GOC can carry out rapid response activities in the future.

• USAID/OTI supports community capacity to generate peace dividends by promoting participation and leadership at the local level, increasing mayoral engagement in rural areas, and supporting practical exchanges between agricultural producers associations, which  empowers small-scale producers to take initiatives to strengthen businesses without needing central government resources.