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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Colombia's long-running armed conflict has forced at least 4 million people to flee from their homes, creating the largest population of internally displaced people outside Sudan. Mercy Corps has been helping displaced and vulnerable people in Colombia since 2006 by working in collaboration with local partners to provide both emergency assistance and longer-term solutions to poverty and violence.
Child Soldiers
The recruitment of children into the Colombian armed conflict is an ongoing and increasing trend; it is estimated that there are between 11,000 to 14,000 active child soldiers in the country. Poverty, lack of education, and domestic violence all make children vulnerable to the recruitment efforts of illegal armed groups.
Mercy Corps is fighting this trend with a program that helps existing child soldiers re-integrate into society, and prevents at-risk children from being recruited into armed groups. Building on Mercy Corps’ previous experience with children engaged in the worst forms of child labor, this program helps families and caregivers create a stable home environment for vulnerable children, and provides children with after-school educational activities that promote accelerated learning and improve children’s social skills and self-esteem.
Landmines
Hundreds of civilians are killed each year in Colombia by landmines; many others survive but face debilitating injuries. In partnership with the Colombian Campaign Against Landmines, the Office of the Vice Presidency and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mercy Corps is spearheading a variety of initiatives that help landmine survivors and the institutions that serve them: we’re training health care professionals in the latest emergency response and rehabilitation techniques, creating rehabilitation centers for survivors at local hospitals, and providing survivors with modern prosthetic and orthotic devices We’re also helping disabled landmine survivors re-integrate into their communities by helping them learn to overcome stigma and discrimination, and providing them with income-generation opportunities.
Internally Displaced People
Mercy Corps is providing families displaced by conflict with emergency assistance such as food, bedding, and basic hygiene and kitchen items. We’re also helping families learn to be self-sufficient by giving trainings on starting a business, basic financial education, natural resource management and handicrafts.
Land Conflict Resolution
Based on a successful program in Guatemala, Mercy Corps’ land conflict program helps indigenous families learn to peacefully resolve existing land conflicts and prevents future conflicts by formalizing land ownership. Colombian and Guatemalan staff regularly collaborate and occasionally meet in person, allowing for the transference of knowledge, experiences and lessons learned between the two countries.
Disaster Relief
The poor and displaced in Colombia suffer the most when natural disasters strike; poor communities tend to be located in areas prone to flooding, and recently, heavy rains have wiped out entire villages and neighborhoods. These disasters have resulted in the contamination of fresh water sources, damaged infrastructure, destroyed homes, and an increase in water-borne diseases amongst displaced and impoverished neighborhoods.
Mercy Corps’ disaster relief program works to help people recover from these devastating events in some of the most effected areas: Barranquilla, near the River Magdalena, Soacha, affected by landslides outside of Bogotá, Unguía, Choco, the poorest region of Colombia, and most recently, Campo de la Cruz. Our rapid response teams have set up camps for displaced families and provided them with emergency assistance kits which include food, portable water, kitchen supplies, flashlights, hygiene packets and bedding. Our relief efforts focus on the most vulnerable demographics (single mothers, children/infants, elderly, persons with disabilities and internally displaced families due to the armed conflict).
Rapid response is important but longer term support and solutions are also needed in devastated areas. Therefore, Mercy Corps mobilizes and organizes communities in disaster preparedness and risk reduction. We help local government actors facilitate long-term solutions to disaster vulnerability, including the relocation of at-risk families, and creating local and regional Committees for Disaster Preparedness and Response. We also run community building activities for children and youth traumatized by disaster.
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