With a grant from USIP, Survivor Corps collaborated with two Colombian partner organizations—Corporación ConCiudadanía and the Fundación para la Reconciliación -- to develop a pilot program that would provide training, skills, practical experience, and psychosocial support for conflict survivors and ex-combatants

Background

A large percentage of the Colombian population has been involved in or is affected by ongoing armed conflict. Colombia has more landmine victims than any other place in the world except Afghanistan, and perpetrators and victims of violence are often forced to live side by side. Such violence has left not only physical damage, but individual psychological wounds, and tears in the social fabric.  Reconciliation between groups that have been both perpetrator and victim (and sometimes both) cannot be forced. Conflict survivors and ex-combatants alike benefit from conflict resolution skills that equip them to overcome the enmity of the past and from opportunities to work together.  Building such capacity can contribute to strengthening peaceful communities where co-existence and even reconciliation is possible.

Activities

Survivor Corps worked with Corporación Conciudadanía and the Fundación para la Reconciliación to:

  • Train a mixed group of 20 survivors and ex-combatants to become peer support workers
  • Through these 20 peer support workers, provide psychosocial support to 200 victims and ex-combatants in San Francisco de Antioquia
  • Train survivors and ex-combatants to develop the skills and sensibilities required to begin the process of rebuilding their community
  • Produce a documentary film about the work
  • Produce a research study examining the implementation of the project
  • Create a comprehensive methodology for post-trauma, reconciliation work.

PROJECT DIRECTOR: Jairo A. Arboleda, Survivor Corps, Washington, DC

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