Publication: Colombia - Development and Peace in the Magdalena Medio Region
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2002-11
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2012-08-13
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The Program for Development and Peace in Magdalena Medio, supported by a Bank Learning and Innovation Loan, promotes a community-based participatory approach to development and peace in one of the most conflictive regions of Colombia. With a heavy emphasis on the strengthening of social capital and productive sub-projects, the Project offers important lessons on development interventions in conflict-affected regions.
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“Arboleda, Jairo; Garfield, Elsie. 2002. Colombia - Development and Peace in the Magdalena Medio Region. Social Development Notes; No. 11. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11333 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Colombia : Development and Peace in the Magdalena Medio Region(Washington, DC, 2002-07)Magdalena Medio is one of the poorest and most violent areas of Colombia and a microcosm of the actors and issues underlying Colombia's armed conflict with guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, with the army battling for control while the civilian population struggles to survive. The region contains great natural and productive wealth with unequal access. The Program for Development and Peace in Magdalena Medio (PDPMM) seeks solutions to the persistent poverty and increasing violence. Its guiding principles were the need to involve and reflect the concerns of all the region's citizens, and the belief that poverty and violence are complex, interrelated problems which must be tackled simultaneously. The Program, which began in 1995 with a diagnostic phase, embodies a long-term vision for community-led, comprehensive development of the region. It aims to increase living standards and reduce violence by creating the conditions necessary for relationships to develop among communities, NGOs, the business sector, various levels of government and, as appropriate, the armed actors. The project was one of the first Bank lending operations in a new area: peace and development. The project demonstrated that, for a participatory approach to succeed in such a complex and challenging environment, there is no substitute for a design which explicitly incorporates flexibility, close monitoring and analysis of the socio-political situation and a mechanism for feeding this back into the program.Publication Colombia : Essays on Conflict, Peace, and Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000)A purpose of this book is to present recent World Bank analytical work on the causes of violence and conflict in Colombia, highlighting pilot lending programs oriented to promote peace and development. The Bank's international experiences in post-conflict situations in different countries and their relevance for Colombia are also examined in this volume. The identification of socio-economic determinants of conflict, violence, and reforms for peace came about as a key element of the Bank's assistance strategy for Colombia, defined in conjunction with government authorities and representatives of civil society. This report is organized as follows: After the introductory chapter, Chapter 2 provides a conceptual framework for understanding a broad spectrum of political, economic, and social violence issues; identifies the role played by both the country's history and the unequal access to economic and political power in the outbreak and resilience of political violence; and examines as costs of violence the adverse impact on Colombia's physical, natural, human, and social capital. Chapter 3 analyzes the costs of achieving peace and its fiscal implications; and indicates that exclusion and inequality rather than poverty as the main determinants of violence and armed conflict. Chapter 4 reviews the Bank's experience in assisting countries that are experiencing, or have already overcome, domestic armed conflict. The authors illustrate the relevance of these cases for Colombia.Publication Assessing the Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in the Context of Instability and Informal Economies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)The implementation of effective Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes in countries emerging from violent conflict are essential for building and maintaining peace and security. In many instances the disarmament and demobilisation of former combatants was achieved, but reintegration remained a challenge, due to the long-term focus and the substantial resources that are required for such a process to be successful. 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This study relied principally on secondary data and information from existing studies, essays, and press articles produced by government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, United Nations and bilateral agencies, specialized analysts, and media. The analysis also used primary information collected for the study, including: (1) information from interviews with government and non-government sources about the current condition of individuals demobilized during the 1990s; (2) the profiles of a sample of young excombatants (18-26 years old) enrolled in the current reinsertion program in Medellin and Bogota; (3) the assessment of the demobilization and reinsertion experience of the 1990s as viewed by leaders of existing foundations from four of the demobilized groups; and (4) a special work session held with 50 representatives from diverse private-sector associations and businesses. 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The DDR of the ex-combatants is necessary to establishing peace and restoring security, which are in turn pre-conditions for sustainable growth and poverty reduction. A multi-country approach will enhance effectiveness of the international response, provide greater coherence among DDR activities, facilitate positive feedback relationships among DDR activities in the region, provide similar incentives for all parties to the conflict to pursue peaceful strategies, address the regional externalities associated with some individual programs, enhance transparency of closely related DDR activities, and facilitate knowledge-sharing and training across DDR implementers. A regional strategy also serves as a confidence-building measure. The strategy, if successfully implemented, will have a significant impact on reducing poverty by helping to consolidate peace, building confidence among governments in the region, helping to free up national resources for investment, attracting foreign capital, investing in the human capital of ex-combatants, and enhancing capacities for development at the community level.
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