INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION STRATEGY
Executive Summary

Colombia has oriented its International Cooperation strategy towards the attainment of the necessary support to attack the elements which contribute to the continuity of violence, especially the support to the most vulnerable groups and the strengthening of the conditions which allow the economic growth and social development as a complement to the national efforts directed to the construction of social equity and sustainable human development.

The outlining of the International Cooperation Strategy from the State is framed within three concepts that guide the international management: democratic governing; shared responsibility; and international solidarity.

The things wanted are the improvement of the international cooperation the country receives, the increment of the flow of resources and the widening of the specter of the international aid received by complementing it with other forms of development aid and finance, such as commerce and fair investment. The strategy proposes to approach the coordination of donors, to harmonize the procedures and to continue developing the outlines of the Official Aid to the Development – (AOD in Spanish), as far as partners´ jobs, accountability of bills, joint supervision and evaluation, empowerment, development of abilities and certainty about keeping the rules of the game.

This strategy also considers not only the objectives from the Millenium Summit and all the posterior process of implementing and following up, but also the strategy of poverty reduction, being designed at the present moment.

Colombia, as a middle income country, considers the Official Aid to the Development fundamental in order to attain better degrees of governing and decrease the internal disparities, and given that this is an essential instrument in the overcoming of poverty and the fulfillment of the Millenium Goals, it is also necessary to intensify the coordination amongst donors.

This Strategy is an integral part of the policy for development and international insertion of the country, policy collected in the Development National Plan “Towards a Communitarian State”. This has as its main objectives Democratic Security; economic reactivation and social fairness; and a greater efficiency of the State.

At the Preparatory Meeting of the International Coordination and Cooperation Table for Colombia, held in London on July 10th, 2003, commitments were adopted by the cooperating members, tending to the revising and reorienting of the cooperation offer to Colombia. Within this context, on a first stage, the Colombian Government, after a consultation and agreement process with the cooperators, presented the six thematic areas developed in the strategy. These are:

• Forests;
• Reincorporation to civility;
• Productive and alternative development;
• Strengthening of Democracy and Human Rights;
• Regional Programs for Development and Peace; and
• Compulsory displacement and humanitarian aid.
  

Also, in a democratic exercise, the Government invited, through the Presidency of the Republic – Colombian Agency for the International Cooperation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the community and the cooperating agencies to give feedback and jointly develop these themes, creating for this purpose six working round tables, one for each area. These round tables had sittings between March and August 2004, holding more than 45 conferences (some of them at a regional level) with the participation of the National Government, bilateral donors, international organizations, regional and local people and national companies of the area.

The identified strategic lines of cooperation translate into program charts which explain the coordinated request of the Colombian State to the international cooperation, designed in such a way that they approach not only the subjects related but also those related to gender equity, population, as is the case of the youth, boys and girls, and which give an account of the matters that concern the minorities, indigenous groups and Afro-Colombian people.

Also, there has been progress in two instruments which must be pointed out within the context of the purposes of reinforcing the coordination of the supply and arrange the cooperation´s demand. These are: Information System of the Official Aid to the Development, also named “Cooperation Map” and the Access Manual to the International Cooperation.

The thematic areas established are hereby presented:

FORESTS:

This thematic area is directed towards the promoting of the forests sector as one of the pillars of the new rural development. There is special emphasis in the Sustainable Forest Management (MFS in Spanish) in the forestal ecosystems and the strengthening of the coordination and the public and private institutionalism in the subject. The main and fundamental point of the area is the aid and the consolidation of the National Plan for the Forestal Development (PNDF in Spanish) which incorporates the lineaments and actions presented in the main international agreements on forests.

REINCORPORATION TO CIVILITY:

This area takes the invitation of the Colombian Government to the International Community, to the community and the private sector to count on their determined support in the creation of conditions for peace and its sustenance. This includes, amongst others, the widening of opportunity for the citizens who return to civility and the promoting of the national reconciliation.

PRODUCTIVE AND ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT:

This area is oriented towards the strengthening of the productive capacity of the country and it has the purpose of contributing to the generation of income and employment, as a condition to overcome poverty as well as the generation of legal productive alternatives in order to surmount the production of coca and poppy cultivation.

STRENGTHENING OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS:

This area is fundamental to achieve peace, protect the population, reinforce the legitimacy of the State, achieve a sustainable human development and guarantee the efficacy of the public policies in general. Along with these purposes, there is the proposal of a set of initiatives in the areas of Human Rights, system of Justice and probity, integrity and transparency of what is public, as a complement to the considerable efforts that Colombia has been making in these subjects.

DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE REGIONAL PROGRAMS (PRDP):

This area is the result of the recognition of social processes that have taken place in the country in the area of community with the aid of Government institutions and the International help. The PRDP are part of the strategy created in the National Development Plan and are oriented towards the construction of peace from within the territory.

COMPULSORY DISPLACEMENT AND HUMANITARIAN AID:

The Humanitarian Action Plan (PAH in Spanish) pursuits the establishment of a strategy between the national and local government, some humanitarian organizations from the community, the donors and the United Nations System in order to contribute in a coordinated and effective manner to the necessary actions that take care of the displacement phenomenon.

COSTS AND FINANCING

For the development of the strategy a total amount of US$ 1.159´388.119 has been calculated, of which Colombia would contribute 47% and the international community US$620.876.178, (approximately 53%) within a period of 5 years.

Costs per area