Colombia
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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Help displaced families, landmine victims, former child soldiers and other victims of Colombia’s armed conflict get the assistance and skills they need to rebuild their lives.
The context
Fighting among left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and the army has created the largest population of internally displaced people outside Sudan — at least four million and growing.
Our work
- Children & Youth: Helping newly demobilized child soldiers reintegrate into society and preventing at-risk children from being recruited into armed groups
- Emergency response: Providing families displaced by conflict and flooding with emergency assistance and income-generation skills
- Conflict & Governance: Helping communities peacefully resolve existing land conflicts and formalize land ownership
All stories about Colombia
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Colombia: Video: Kids enjoy peace for one day in Santander October 19, 2009
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Colombia: Shipping Clothing to Colombia's Landmine Victims September 15, 2009
Landmines don't choose their victims. Most people who set one off escape with their lives, but suffer permanently disabling injuries. And in Colombia's impoverished countryside — home to one of the highest concentrations of landmines in the world — survivors have few places to turn for help.
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Colombia: Tools for life July 2, 2009
As I stand over a particularly energetic fifth grade boy to keep him from kicking the girl next to him, I’m amazed: they’re actually quiet. And still — for the most part. These five minutes of stillness could be the most important gift that these kids have received all week.
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Colombia: Building children's confidence through sport June 30, 2009
I am a Material Aid Officer with Mercy Corps – which means I work with massive (truckload sized-quantities) donations of product. The donated materials my team works with run the gamut: from computers to textbooks to sports equipment to pharmaceuticals.
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Colombia: Gloria and Don Guillermo: A Way Forward March 5, 2007
Bogotá, Colombia — When the violence swept through the village of Libano in 2001, Gloria Arieza was in no shape to leave. She had a one-year-old child and a second in her belly. Still, she and her partner, Don Guillermo, had no choice but to flee.
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Colombia: Ciro: Finishing Time March 5, 2007
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Colombia: Crossing the Bridge March 5, 2007
Cartagena, Colombia — White-sand beaches and teal Caribbean waters draw thousands of sun worshippers to the nearby Islas de Rosario, but no tourists have ever stepped foot in the neighborhood locals call "Isla de Leon."
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Colombia: Starting Over March 1, 2007
Uprooted from their lands, displaced families are trying to reestablish their lives in Colombia's cities.
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Colombia: A Way Forward February 1, 2007
Cartagena, Colombia — For María Balanta, the lone banana tree on her tiny plot of land is not a reminder of a past she'd rather forget, but rather a symbol of a future she's trying to forge.
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Colombia: Room to Grow February 1, 2007
Bogotá, Colombia — Greenhouses are not a common sight in Colombia's crowded capital. But on the southern edge of town, a rocky hillside hosts a half-dozen covered gardens that are offering nourishment for both the body and soul of people like Marleny Yara.