Moving Beyond Armed ActorsThe Challenges for Civil Society in Colombia

Jorge Hernán Cárdenas

February 20-21, 2004

Some Initial questions…?

1. Can you create or can you manufacture social

capital?,

2. What's the role of the philanthropic and more general

the third sector in manufacturing social capital?

Corona Foundation

Mission Statement

Institutional building for equality

The Corona Foundation contributes to the construction

of a more prosperous Colombia, through promoting institutional building in education, health,

entrepreneurial development, and local and community

development.

It generates, disseminates and applies knowledge to:

– Design and implementation of policies

– Improvement of organizational effectiveness

– Promotion of structured, deliberate and active citizenship participation

Corona Foundation’s Work Strategies

• Develop models that can be applied to organizations

and social collectives such as schools, hospitals,

micro business and community organizations

• Develop specialized sartorial knowledge and

promote debate in order to ensure improvements in

the design and formulation of public policy

• Promote citizen’s participation that favors solution to

communities problems, allows local government

control and bring citizens closer to government

Foundation's Role in the Construction of

Social Capital

Social capital building requires:

• A process of cultural transformation, which implies:

– Modification and sharing of values, perceptions,

practices, agreements

– Subordinate one’s interests on behalf of the group’s

interests

• This leads to:

– Strong civil organizations

– Civil engagement and citizenship cohesion

– Strong Institutions used to regulate relationships

– Strong & trustworthy relations between citizens and

public sector

– Built upon community's capacities

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Project Example # 1

1. ¿Bogotá Cómo Vamos?• Generation of information and continuous reporting on the

quality of life in Colombia’s capital

• Follow up to local administration’s public action's

• 240 variables have been measured

• Seminars and public opinion polls

• Public advocacy

• Partners with:

– Bogotá's Chamber of Commerce (Entrepreneurs)

– El Tiempo (Media)

– Corona Foundation (Third sector)

• Will be replicated in other cities (Cali, Medellín)

“Bogotá Cómo Vamos? Sectors that are being

evaluated

Education

Health

Citizen’s Safety

Transport Mobility

Economic Development

Environment

Housing & Services

Urban Development

Public Policy

Citizens Responsibility

Youth

www.eltiempo.com.co/bogotacomovamos

¿Bogotá Cómo Vamos? Key Performance

Indicators in Education

Example # 2

2. ¿Concejo Cómo Vamos?

• Continuous tracking of Bogotá's City Council

• Focus on assessment and accountability of its

members:

– Attendance and duration of attendance of Council’s

Members

– Preparation of proposals made by Council’s members

• Statistics and data sent to various media (newspapers,

radio, TV)

• Work on the construction of a democratic culture in

Bogotá

www.eltiempo.com.co/concejocomovamos

Advances in attendance to Bogota’s City

Council?

Duration of attendance

Continuity of assistance during sessions

Example # 3 , 4

3. Premio Cívico por una Bogotá Mejor

• Identification and dissemination of community initiatives

based upon organizations that enhance citizen’s quality of

life

4. Programa Nacional de Alianzas (alliance award):

• Identification of successful experiences of alliances among

public and private sector with community organizations

• Promotion of alliances as key means for social

intervention

• Project supported by World Bank

• Six year project: 50 alliances fully documented and 15

awarded www.fundacioncorona.org.co/programaalianzas/index.htm

Awarded Alliances 1999-2003

• Asamblea Municipal Constituyente y Administración Municipal

de Tarso “Unidos por el desarrollo y la paz.” (2002)

• Comité interinstitucional: alianza para la reconstrucción integral

de Granada, Antioquia (2002)

• Desarrollo Rural supralocal en San Pedro, Sucre y Córdoba

Bolivar (2002)

• El Consejo de Conciliación y Desarrollo Social y la Fundación

Rioclaro en el municipio de San Luis, Departamento de

Antioquia (2000)

• Proyecto Nueva Villa Nueva en Santander(2000)

Example # 5

5. CONSORCIO para el Desarrollo Comunitario

• Corona Foundation is a member of Consorcio

• Strengthening of 4,700 organizations and 47, 000 leaders in Bogotá since 1995

• Co-Financed by Ford Foundation

Intervention strategies

• Strengthening and promotion of community organizations

• Co finance of projects

• Application, validation and development of organizational strengthening methodologies

• Concerted work with advisory NGO’s

• Systematization of experiences and methodologies

• Research and documentation of knowledge

• Development of alliances and strategic networks

www.consorcio.org.co

Example # 6, 7

6.FOCUS:

• Co-financing fund directed to urban communities

• Strengthening of community organizations

• 178 organizations, 170 leaders, 16.000 citizens

• Co-financed by IAF

7. Evaluation of citizen’s participation in Colombia

• Review of what has happened with regards to participation since 1991´s Constitution

• Research project aimed at analyzing participation in 5 municipalities

• Focus on participative planning

C. Calidad

Corona

Foundation

Entrepreneurial

Development

Corpoeducación

Education

CGH

Health

Consorcio para el Dllo. Comunitario

Community Development

Corporación Transparencia

Participation and Citizenship control

C. Excelencia en la

Justicia

Fundación

Ideas para la PAZ

Justice

Peace

Corona Foundation’s has played a role in

helping other Foundations

Potential Areas of work :(in the agenda to further explore)

1. Ensure that demobilization programs are successful:

• Design policies directed to the construction of peace

• Help to have a better government agenda

• Generate more incentives for both individual and collective

demobilization

• Develop a special program for the demobilized youth so that they

can have

• Design sustainable intervention schemes

• Work in ad campaigns and opinion polls to foster process

• Rights reestablishment

• Open spaces in public life

• Promote cultural change

2. Leave population out of the conflict:

• Promote International Humanitarian Rights

• Prevent children's recruitment

• Develop education opportunities and coverage to

confront recruitment

• Detect with gretar detail risk factors (age, family

background, victims of war, rural areas, etc):

• 209 municipalities in potential recruitment risk

• 90% recruited in rural areas

• 57% of rural teens do not go to school

• Desertion average in rural areas (before 3rd grade): 35%

• Regions with higher school desertion indices correspond to

higher recruitment areas

3. Work in truth, justice and reparation themes• Concepts of security and penal justice are closely knit

• Evaluate coverage and quality of justice

• Ensure coordination and agreements among actors

• Develop alternative justice systems (peace judges)

4. Generate new knowledge and research on international legislation:• promote schemes directed to humanization of war (International

Humanitarian Rights)

• Use if needed the International Penal Court

5. Reinforcement of incomes – “Turn off the tap” to war finance:• Guerrilla’s revenues averages US$486 million

• Paramilitary ‘s revenues averages US$286 million

6. Generate participative spaces as long as they have clear rules and effects

7. Develop understandings between local governments and the community in vulnerable municipalities

• Capacity building: 209 vulnerable municipalities with high violence

potential and low governability

• Strengthening social actors and policy makers

• Fighting against corruption

8. Support and strengthen institutions such as the police, Citizen’s defense office (Defensoría), public prosecutors office (Fiscalía)• Define clear missions and functions among institutions

• Focus on population’s problems

Areas of work

Structure of Peace Accords

Government

SocietyDemobilized

Organizations

ReconciliationRehabilitation

Political favorability

Legal Guarantees

Peace Fund (Barco’s Gov.)

Regional Development

Institutional Strengthening

ReinsertionIndividual Reinsertion

Collective Reinsertion

Restorative Justice

Cease fire

Cease of hostilities

Disarmament

Plan Colombia

(Pastrana Uribe’s

. up to 2005)

Community

The proper role of international Community?

Provide the needed experience and perspective in

emerging and new issues, like:

1. Models for intervening and healing the population to overcome a humanitarian crisis

2. Structure of reparations programs

3. Coming to Terms with the Past: Truth, Justice and Reconciliation models

4. How to deal with organized crime in more effective ways in the years to come

5. Strengthening the Capacity to Prevent, Resolve, and Transform internal Conflicts

6. Disarmament models

7. Respect for Human Rights and the prevalence of International Humanitarian Law

8. International Facilitation Service for Internal Conflict Resolution

9. Ways to find Sustainable peace agreements

Key Strategic Allies

• International Partners:

– Inter American Foundation - IAF

– Inter American Development Fund – IADF

– World Bank

– Ford Foundation

– Other Foundations in Colombia and abroad

Some of our Publications

www.fundacioncorona.org.co

Some Challenges I

• 4,715 demobilized covered by reinsertion processes

• Significant growth of number of demobilized individuals from guerrilla and paramilitary organizations

• 44% of demobilized between the ages of 13 and 17 years

• 92% of demobilized are men and 84% have not completed primary school

• 20% of individuals have been forcedly recruited by illegal organizations

Urgent need for work with the

demobilized

Traditional role of the third, and public

sector in manufacturing social capital?

Role of the private sector

Profit Maximizing exploiting economic opportunities for sevice

Resources

Role of the Government

The catalyst of the other sectors

“Pure Public Goods”

Regulation

Development strategy

politically motivated

Role of the Third Sector

Quasi public goods

Common ground for public and private innitiatives

Long term perspective: no major changes with government

A good niche player: very focussed, results oriented.

A good leverage for the other two

Accountability

Manufacturing social capital

1. Educate people in many ways

2. Leverage Key players

3. Increase public awareness and accountability

4. Invest in the peace process

5. Pay attention to the quality of key public policies

6. Capacity building of critical institutions

How pervasive is organized crime in

Colombia? … much more than the 15%

1. A catalyst of violence: availability of arms, tons of money, resources, military apparatus, and a training camp, and it has also destroyed the prison system

2. The more pervasive effect: it destroys the needed cohesion in the social life: less trust as a norm, new leadership could be destroyed or never formed.

3. Risk aversion in the political life that destroys the country

4. At times intimidation when not erosion of critically important public institutions like police, congress, procuraduria, even the presidency has suffered in contemporary history

5. The rule of law could not be guaranteed, so it is less observed by younger generations

6. More violent experiences at early stages in the repertoire: more perpetrators in the future.

7. Tremendous effect on values and norms

8. Violators of Human Rights at the highest scale

9. To an extent destroys the internationalization of Colombian economy: overvalued exchange rate.

Building social capital

1. Concentrate all your energies in the peace

process and hopefully find peaceful solution

2. Effective Institutions in critical areas

3. Sustained condition of trust and learning

4. Ability and commitment to assume challenges and

to work collectively

5. What are the common goals and societal needs

6. Experience in the coordination of initiatives

7. Reduce uncertainty and promote the rule of law

8. Reduce transactions costs

Back to Basics: Social Capital

“The ability to work collectively in order to achieve

common objectives, through the work of groups and

organizations” James Coleman

“The key to foster social capital resides in the political

and institutional capacity to sustain policies.” Daubon

Restorative Justice & Peace

Restorative Justice

Defined as:

“Rehabilitating perpetrators and victims, and

(re)establishing relationships on equal concern

and respect.” Llewellyn,J. quoted in, R.I., Thompson, D., Eds,: 2000,P103

• Setting up mechanisms through which reconciliation

process can be initiated:

– Identify and take steps towards harm’s reparation

– Involve stakeholders

– Transform traditional relationships within

communities and governments

• Conduct a series of workshops, forums and an

International Symposium

• Alvaralice Foundation, Corona Foundation

Restorative Justice & Peace

Some Challenges II

• Participation as a crucial element of public management

• It allows citizens to influence public policies

• Colombia has evolved as an exclusive and

unequalitarian society

• Participation efforts allow institutional capacities to

respond to social needs

• Only a few citizens know and use the participation

spaces

• There has been clear lack of continuity in the formulation

and application of participation policies since the 1991

Constitution