USAID/OTI Colombia Field Report
December 2001
Program Description
The Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) program in Colombia has ended. OTI sought to facilitate and accelerate the peace process at the national level, and to build stability and cooperation at the community level. OTI accomplished this by opening lines of communication and fostering dialogue among the government, civil society, and neglected communities. After a FY 2001 budget of over $4 million that included non-Transition Initiative (TI) funding, the budget for FY 2002 was zeroed out as the program closed at the end of calendar year 2001.
Country Situation
2001 ended with Colombia still searching for peace in its decades-old civil war. Expectations were raised in December by Government of Colombia (GOC) negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN) that were held in Cuba. In a positive move, the ELN declared, and largely observed, a unilateral cease-fire for the December holiday season. In another encouraging sign, negotiations with Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), are slated to begin again in January.
The peace process continues slowly, much as it has throughout OTI's three-year tenure in the country. As OTI exits, however, there is less optimism about the process than in 1999. Many analysts allege that the GOC, and particularly President Pastrana, has been too generous and too accommodating toward the guerrilla movements. Others complain of GOC military complicity with right-wing paramilitary forces that in turn undermine accords before they happen. But there is general agreement that the guerrillas are not serious about peace and are merely trying to position themselves for further negotiations with the next government, or with the one after that.
There is no denying, however, that with a series of national disappointments Colombians have become more militant and less interested in negotiations. The latest disappointment came on December 18, when 12-year old Andres Felipe, the son of a police officer kidnapped by the FARC, died of cancer. A national campaign, with international support, had sought to bring the boy's father home for what would almost certainly be the boy's final Christmas. Andres Felipe's death on December 18 led even traditionally left-wing NGOs to scold the FARC for allowing "war logic" to polarize the country and drag it back down the path to conflict. Conventional wisdom in Bogotá is that either the FARC does not care about public opinion, does not care about peace, or that many of their captives, perhaps including the boy's father, have already been killed.
OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
OTI closed out and handed over many of its programs in December. All Transition Initiative (TI) funded projects are now completed, with the exception of Small Peace Grants, which will continue to implement and monitor sub-grants through September 2002. There is a small amount of reserve funds still available for emergencies that may arise in already-approved sub-grants. All other OTI projects have been successfully concluded or handed over to USAID/Colombia Mission management.
B. Grants Activity Summary
OTI had been managing a $2.5 million grant to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) providing Assistance to Ex-combatant Children. In December, this project was transferred to the USAID/Colombia Mission.
After only nine months, the project has already met its two-year goals. Those goals were to open two specialized treatment centers for ex-combatant children, to assist 200 children through regular programs, to develop a plan and the means to accommodate an additional 600 ex-combatant children who might arrive through a massive demobilization, and to improve the level of services provided to the ex-combatant children.
Instead of two new specialized treatment centers, the program has opened three. The GOC Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), whose pilot program OTI is building upon and expanding, has agreed to fully fund these new centers at the end of the grant, and the USAID centers are already fully incorporated into the ICBF network. In addition to the three new centers, the grant has also funded a reception center for newly-demobilized ex-combatant children. The program has also opened a new center for family visits, and is in the process of opening a series of half-way homes for ex-combatant children who have "graduated" from the specialized treatment centers but cannot live with their families, usually for security reasons. USAID is working with the ICBF to implement an educational center for ex-combatant children, supporting their academic, vocational and social needs after they leave the specialized centers. All these improvements have been made under the same grant funding, and will be assumed by the GOC upon completion of the USAID program.
Services provided to the children have also improved dramatically. The ICBF team has increased from two to nine people who assist the centers directly. Three NGOs have also been contracted to improve academic training at the centers and promote literacy, provide vocational training, and begin working with the children to design productive projects to assist their economic incorporation after they leave the centers. The project has also expanded into areas not contemplated in the grant, such as family reunification, vocational training, and halfway houses, all of which complement the centers' services.
The handover is complete and USAID has expressed its thanks for OTI's management of the project.
OTI's project "Strengthening Peace Through Civil Society Initiatives At The Community Level" is a $1.5 million Transition Initiative grant to the International Organization of Migration (IOM). It allows OTI to provide small peace grants (under $50,000) to local organizations that support peace, and to seek out small or local initiatives that can have national impact.
Twenty-five projects have been approved for a total of $1,177,935, leaving only a small fund to cover emergencies as OTI closes out its Colombia program. The twenty-five Small Peace Grants have already generated over 33 percent in additional counterpart funding - a figure that will probably increase over time as these grantees find continuing support from other donors.
The majority of the sub-grants that are close to completion have already found hand-off partners. The sub-grant to ProComun in support of the Municipal Guides is already receiving assistance from other donors. As reported in the OTI report of October 2001, OTI's activity with the Unidad Investigativa television series has been picked up by a commercial television station as a permanent show and will continue to cover many OTI Small Peace initiatives. The Corporacion Colombiana de Teatro has also found additional funding for new activities with African-Colombian displaced youth. The Colombia Multi-Color and COMUNATE community radio activities have been greatly strengthened, have won new awards, and are well-positioned to find additional funding when they need it. OTI's activities with Medios para la Paz are now being funded by USAID, and by EU donors who also support the Dos Mundos "Fingerprints of War" photo exhibition and lectures. OTI's activity with the Florencia Youth Clubs has also been assumed by USAID-funded grants.
This project will proceed with implementation of approved sub-grants, monitored and supervised by OTI.
OTI's other projects in Colombia - with the Salesian Missions, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Javeriana University - concluded successfully earlier in the year, as did OTI's management of USAID/Colombia's Strategic Objective Three, "Provide Social and Economic Opportunities to Vulnerable Populations, Especially Internally Displaced Persons."
C. Indicators of Success
OTI provided vital support to the USAID/Colombia Mission throughout its tenure. When OTI began operations in Colombia, the Mission was closing out. OTI gave important support to the nascent peace process with the FARC when other USAID funding was not available. As the Mission expanded in preparation for Plan Colombia funding, OTI provided essential man-power and design assistance for Mission programs. Moreover, OTI's programs provided important models for the Mission as it developed plans to provide assistance and implement small-scale development programs in "hot" zones during a civil conflict. OTI's projects with the Salesian Missions and the ICRC also provided important models for USAID's assistance to vulnerable populations and the displaced (designed by OTI). OTI's project with the Javeriana University also influenced Mission projects undertaken with the same grantee on the same theme. A number of other OTI programs were taken on completely by USAID/Colombia. For example, OTI's Small Peace Grants was adopted by the Mission as their Peace Grants project and employed the same staff, methodologies, and format.
In other cases, OTI-designed projects (particularly assistance to the displaced population) had national-level impact, for example, OTI helped the GOC to re-examine how they were providing assistance to the displaced. As a result of the successful implementation of the OTI-designed program, the GOC has made its assistance more flexible and responsive.
These impacts and successes are in addition to the direct results of the OTI projects that have generated impressive short-term successes and local impacts. OTI's efforts supported and promoted a climate of peaceful interaction whose full impact will be felt in the following years.
D. Program Appraisal
OTI has played a key role in setting the agenda for assistance to internally displaced people and former child combatants, as well as in supporting peace initiatives. OTI has broken important ground during its time in Colombia. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the unwavering support of the USAID/Colombia Mission that invited OTI in and the cooperation that ensured OTI's program complemented Mission programs. OTI is proud of the support it provided to the Mission and is highly appreciative of the support it received in return.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
OTI will continue to monitor and support Small Peace Grant implementation and use of the emergency funds. In addition, OTI will continue to monitor events in Colombia and be ready to offer technical assistance to the Mission if requested.
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