Income and employment for internally displaced persons and host communities

Context

For the past 50 years, armed conflict has shaped Colombia, giving rise to a complex network of economic, social, political and cultural upheavals. One devastating consequence is more than eight million internally displaced persons by the end of 2019, according to figures from Colombia’s Victim Support and Reparation Unit. The people who have been displaced individually or collectively within the country had to leave their villages and farms and sought refuge in larger communities or provincial capitals. A number of processes to demobilise armed groups have laid the foundation for internally displaced persons to return to their communities of origin.

To promote local economic development, the Colombian Government has developed funding programmes for employment projects. With the help of these programmes, new sources of income are being created in coffee and cocoa cultivation as well as in livestock breeding and milk production. Support is also provided for microenterprises in the cities.

Objective

Income and employment opportunities for internally displaced persons and host communities in the Meta and Caquetá regions have improved.

Approach

The PROINTCAME project aims to accelerate income growth and job creation by supporting producer associations and microenterprises. The participants receive training in business management, improved production methods, sales and the search for markets. If required, they are also provided with capital goods such as coffee roasting machines and sewing machines. In order to improve opportunities on the labour market, the project joins forces with national institutions to implement training programmes for internally displaced persons seeking work. These programmes also offer the participants psychosocial support. Furthermore, the project strengthens municipal employees and supports producers in applying for and implementing state funding programmes. Awareness-raising and information events involve local companies in the project activities. Based on the results of the cooperation, the project is developing a set of methods that can be used to plan and implement future activities.

Results

• To date, the project has supported 31 producer associations with more than 600 members and 380 small-scale entrepreneurs, who indirectly reached around 3,000 persons.
• The participants now run their businesses and sell their products more successfully, with the majority of the micro enterprises having increased their income by at least 15 per cent. 
• Thirty micro enterprises or producer associations received the state health certificate, which allows them to sell their products legally. 
• Thirty new individual companies were founded and128 new jobs created. 
• In the tourism sector, the project conducted a pilot project for dual education. One municipality devised a plan for tourism in order to receive state funding.
• Fifty coffee growers legalised their land titles and made a commitment to forest conservation and resource conservation. 
• To improve financial management, 20 revolving funds and 13 local savings and credit groups with ten members each were supported. 
• Fifteen medium-sized and large enterprises learned about the concerns of internally displaced persons and disadvantaged population groups.
• More than 1,000 people participated in various training measures. 
• Women accounted for between 30 and 70 per cent of the participants of the individual measures.

Latest update: October 2020