Category:Book:Development Cooperation Handbook/Projects in Colombia

Colombia is a vast country in northwestern South America. The fourth largest country in South America and one of the continent's most populous nations, Colombia has substantial oil reserves and is a major producer of gold, silver, emeralds, platinum and coal. Colombia is the fourth largest economy in Latin America. However, the country's income and wealth are unevenly distributed.

Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America and the Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas. It has been ravaged by decades-long violent conflict involving outlawed armed groups, drug cartels and gross violations of human rights, although since 2002, the country has made some progress towards improving security. Colombia is very ethnically diverse, with interaction between descendants of the original native inhabitants, the Spanish colonialists, Africans brought as slaves and immigrants from Europe and the Middle East. Its territory was originally inhabited by indigenous people including the Muisca and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization. The Colombian society is a highly stratified society and the traditionally rich families of Spanish descent have benefited from this wealth to a far greater degree than the majority of the mixed-race population. With few avenues for social mobility, this provided a natural constituency for left-wing insurgents. A vast percentage of its population is poor and socially emarginated. Yet, there is a sense in Colombian society of the need to garantee the rights of all its citizen to food security, health and education.

Videos have been collected in coopeation with the Social Integration Secretariat of the Alcaldia of Bogotá.

"We are working with Armadilla , an Italian social cooperative, in a International cooperation project financed by the European Union, that has the objective to narrate the efforts being done in the world to achieve the millennium development goals. They are now here because in Colombia, particularly in Bogota', we are developing projects for the enforcements of the rights of the unprivileged, and the programs for food security. They are interested to understand how the programmes to alleviate poverty and hunger, like the community kitchens, impact on the wider social scenario. With the footage they collect they will show the reality of the work in progress for the Millennium Development Goals, not just the institutional policies, but the ground reality of the people who work and benefice from the activities."

On YouTube ⇒ Los derechos de la hospitalidad - playlist
On YouTube ⇒ Bario Raphael Ulive - playlist
On YouTube ⇒ ⇒ Jan Pablo II - playlist
On YouTube ⇒ Muisca Indigenous Heritage - playlist
On YouTube ⇒ ⇒ Desplazados - playlist
On YouTube ⇒ Alcandia of Bogota - playlist