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PADF works through nine field offices and has a total staff of 170 outstanding professionals, the vast majority of whom are Colombian. Two primary areas of focus are aid to internally displaced persons and former coca growers. We provide humanitarian assistance, job training and placement, and related services including health, education, and basic sanitation. The Foundation is proud to be one of the largest providers of assistance to Afro-Colombians. Other areas of work include protection of buffer zones around key Colombian national parks, agricultural development, and disaster preparedness and mitigation in low-income communities. PADF’s approach to sustainable economic development in Colombia actively involves the private sector. Through the creation of the Social Responsibility Network, PADF Colombia brings together national and multinational businesses, NGOs, educational institutions, and professional associations to contribute their energy and expertise toward helping the most disadvantaged people in the country.
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Assistance to Displaced Persons, Afro-Colombians and Other Vulnerable Groups
Colombia has the second-largest population of displaced persons in the world. PADF responds to this humanitarian crisis by assisting the most vulnerable groups. Funded through USAID, this program represents a partnership between PADF, the Colombian Government’s ACCION SOCIAL, local NGOs, and other government entities at all levels to reintegrate, resettle, and return displaced families and bolster local resources to address the crisis and bring attention to the situation. The program is designed to benefit, by the year 2010, over one million displaced persons, including Afro-Colombians and other vulnerable groups through programs implemented by Colombian civil society and other organizations selected through competitive bidding. To date, the program has directly benefited more than 400,000 displaced individuals and created more than 60,000 jobs.
One of the largest and most successful programs is a partnership between PADF and Asocolflores, the Flower Growers Association of Colombia. Training schools teach displaced persons important job skills to allow them to integrate into productive employment.
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Another important program assists Colombians that have been displaced across the borders of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. The displacement of Colombians in the border regions often results in elevated pressure on basic services such as water, sanitation, health, education, and basic infrastructure in the communities where they resettle. Therefore, the primary objective of the project is to strengthen the local capacity of civil society to respond to basic needs such as food security, nutrition, and temporary shelter, among others.
For more information on our efforts to aid persons displaced across Colombian borders, please see the individual country pages:
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Areas for Municipal-Level Alternative Development (ADAM)
The goal of ADAM is to reduce the negative impacts of cultivating illicit crops and improve living conditions in many regions of Colombia through sustainable agriculture and bolstering of municipal governments. The key to success in this endeavor are the linkages between government institutions, local producers, and markets. ADAM focuses on developing competitive advantages and market opportunities for producer groups and their products. We work closely with the Colombian government through its Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation (Acción Social) ensuring that ADAM complements other public sector development programs. Our primary partner in this effort is Associates in Rural Development (ARD).
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PADF works extensively throughout Colombia to restructure agricultural production where it is needed most. Coca eradication efforts in Colombia leave many farmers with an economic need they previously met through illegal production. PADF trains ex-coca farmers in the cultivation of newcrops that provide a steady income and contribute to their country in a meaningful, non-violent manner. Since 2000, the program has created more than 5,000 jobs and directly benefited 2,000 families. Primary alternative crops include cocoa, palm oil, and rubber, products which yield stable returns and have links to national and/or international markets, providing sustainable agricultural growth.
Youth for Alternative Development was a pilot project which provided job training and vocational skills for at-risk youth in marginalized areas to give them an alternative to employment in the illicit economies of Colombian armed groups. The project provided training to 805 young men and women, qualifying them to seek employment in on-going alternative development programs of nine municipalities. A post-project evaluation of the training process found that, to date, 70% of the young people trained had found employment or had developed self-employment.
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Around the buffer zones of the Alto Fragua and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta national parks in Colombia, PADF works with local communities, including indigenous people, small farmers, and their organizations to create sustainable development projects. The program aids communities to conserve natural resources and biodiversity, organize and strengthen cultural identity, and promotes the use of legal crops and other economic activities.
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Preparing for Natural Disasters
The Disaster Management Alliance is a collaboration between PADF, American Association of Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA), individual American Chambers of Commerce (AmChams) in host countries and USAID to prepare governments, communities and individuals for crises before they occur. The Disaster Management Alliance in Colombia trains volunteers in seismic awareness and preparedness and conducts simulations. The Alliance collaborates with the American Chamber of Commerce and in conjunction with the National Standards Body of Colombia (ICONTEC), has proposed legislature to make business continuity planning mandatory in order to integrate and emphasize the importance of private sector involvement in reducing community vulnerability. Through more than 100 activities with 19 companies directly benefiting 35,000 people, we help the private sector and vulnerable communities prepare for major crises.
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