Plan Colombia Annual Progress Report 2010

A YEAR IN

COLOMBIA 2010

SUMMARY REPORT

A dance is held as part of the Young Peace Builders project in San Juan de la Costa

3

GOOD REASONS

OUR PRIORITIES

why Plan works in Colombia

in Colombia

• Seven out of ten children are physically or emotionally abused, and sexual abuse is increasingly common

• Helping children to get a good basic education • Enabling young people to develop their potential and take part in decisions that affect their lives

• Conflict between the government and militias has left up to four million people displaced, half of them children

• Supporting families, communities and the government to protect children’s rights

• In rural areas, over half the population do not have sanitation facilities, and a quarter do not have clean drinking water

• Raising awareness of children’s rights locally and nationally and influencing public policy to guarantee these rights

‘We had faith that the traders were responsible people and that everything would be all right’

ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES

BARB GRENADA

A meeting is held during the construction of a community bank in Sincelejo

Cartagena

Columbia Facts

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climate is primarily determined by its proximity to the equator, with tropical and isothermal climates predominating.

Colombia is also affected by the El Niño and La Niña phenomena.

Economy: Colombia has experienced accelerating growth between 2002 and 2007, with expansion above 7% in 2007, chiefly due to advancements in domestic security, rising commodity prices, and President Uribe’s

‘pro market’ economic policies. Colombia’s sustained growth helped reduce poverty by 20 per cent and cut unemployment by 25 per cent since 2002.

Investor-friendly reforms to Colombia’s hydrocarbon sector and the US–Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement COLOMBIA (CTPA) negotiations have attracted record levels of foreign investment. Inequality, underemployment, and narcotics trafficking remain significant challengesto the economy.

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Capital: Bogotá Population: 45.6 million Languages: Spanish Climate: The Colombian

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Focus on:

supporting communities; protecting children’s rights In Colombia, Plan is helping to make children’s rights – to education, healthcare and security – a reality. We support community groups to run children’s projects, and encourage local government to prioritise children’s issues and protect them from violence. We also support families to bring up children without physical punishment,

and encourage respect, tolerance, and equal rights for boys and girls.

Helping families increase their incomes is crucial to improving their children’s living conditions, so we provide business skills training and savings and loans schemes such as community banking.

A birthing demonstration given by a midwife in Choco

Case study:

The Bigger Picture

banks for the community Plan helps children, families and communities to help themselves. We understand the importance of helping poor communities to prosper through their own efforts, and the way prosperity can benefit their children’s long-term wellbeing.

Through community banking, Plan has helped 1500 families in the northern city of Sincelejo to increase their incomes, improve their living conditions and family relationships and strengthen their businesses. The lives of three people: Gala, Camila and Alano, bear witness to this. They are the prominent members of three of the 107 community banks operating today.

The first step Plan sets up community banks with local partner Fundación Mundo Mujer. The banks make loans to help their members set up and develop small businesses. Everyone underwrites each other’s loans and they are encouraged to save.

Fifty-year-old Alano has four children. He sells vegetables, and is a member of the Banca Comunal La Estrella. ‘When we started it was complicated, but we succeeded.’

‘We had faith that [local] traders were responsible people and that everything would be all right,’ he adds.

Gala is 40 and has five children and two grandchildren. Her family was against her joining the community bank, fearing that it was a risk, but she insisted. Today, she is the president of the Banca Corpomujer Comunal.

Camila is a 45-year-old mother of seven. For nine years, she has sold fruit on the same stretch of pavement in the city centre. She is a member of Banca Comunal Ideal.

‘I learned to calculate, manage my accounting and deal with my business decreasing or growing’ Produced for Colombia by Plan International Australia.

Making a life plan As with all Plan projects, this project has a concrete impact on children’s wellbeing. Plan supports each family to deal with poor hygiene, inadequate nutrition and overcrowding. As members of a community bank, families put together a life plan with a list of improvements.

The life plan goes beyond living conditions.

Each family is supported by a social worker who helps them to improve their family relationships and discipline their children without violence. Difficult issues like domestic violence and child sexual abuse are addressed.

Children benefit from improved hygiene, nutrition and living conditions. Gala says: ‘I boil our drinking water, cover the water tanks, and keep the kitchen clean.’ Many families address overcrowding by buying a hammock or dividing rooms. Parents make fresh, nutritious meals. But what children enjoy most is that their parents play with them, realising this is an important way to improve family relationships.

Running a better business Plan also provides business management training, working with the Sincelejo Chamber of Commerce and Sena, a government education service. Camila found this helpful: ‘Before, I didn’t know how to manage my money. I learned to calculate, manage my accounting and deal with my business decreasing or growing.’

Impressive results Camila has rebuilt a wall in her house, and paid off her debts to the local moneylender.

Gala started a second business renting out mobile phones. Alano wanted a ‘small street supermarket’, and his dream has come true.

Today he walks the streets with his cart, selling vegetables, sugar and rice and making a 30 per cent profit on everything.

Gala, Camila and Alano are all proud of what they have achieved through their hard work.

Thanks to this project, families can provide a better life for their children, improving their financial security and living conditions and, most importantly, their family relationships.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy reasons

Plan is working with children, families and communities to find sustainable solutions to the challenges in Colombia. We have only given you a small insight into Plan’s work in Colombia with this report but over the past year we also: • Improved displaced children’s nutrition by distributing 7505 food rations, trained 3430 people in nutrition, and ran eight community dining rooms • Carried out 100 education quality improvement projects, using creative, innovative ideas to improve teaching and learning for 1000 children • Our campaign highlighting violence against women, using art, film, education and public debate, had an overwhelming response.

Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these results. With the resources provided by sponsors, Plan expertise and the collaboration of communities and local partners we are making a big difference to the lives of people in Colombia.

Thank you for your involvement!

To learn more about Plan’s work in Colombia visit plan.org.au/ourwork/southernamerica/colombia

‘Colombia is a country of contrasts. On the one hand, it has great social dynamics and is rich in natural resources. On the other, it has been trapped by armed conflict for decades and its level of inequality is the third highest in the Americas’ – Gabriela Bucher, Plan’s Country Director in Colombia