Posted: November 16, 2011
by Rebecca Kullman

Although Colombia’s internal armed conflict began half a century ago, considerable progress has been made in recent years towards restoring stability. However, the country continues to be beleaguered by human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, insecurity and criminality, internal displacement, and violent land disputes.
 
The Colombian government’s Center for Coordination of Integrated Action (CCAI) reached out to USIP in 2009 for expertise in interagency coordination and conflict-management training. CCAI aims to reestablish legitimate governance and to foster development, democracy, and social well-being in areas that Colombian authorities have liberated from guerrillas, paramilitaries, or drug lords.
 
Jacqueline Wilson, Rebecca Kullman, and Jeff Helsing of USIP’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding led a working session for CCAI in Santa Marta, Colombia, on interagency coordination, consensus building, and conflict resolution in late July 2009. This one-day program was designed for Colombian officials who would be working with communities in formerly rebel-held areas to develop programs of reconstruction and reintegration into Colombian society.
 
USIP’s contribution complemented the U.S. government’s support of the CCAI model for integrated collaboration between security and development sectors. The CCAI program and the workshop were supported by the U.S. Embassy, USAID, and SOUTHCOM.
 
The program was part of a broader three-day workshop that included a speech by then-president Alvaro Uribe. CCAI program analyst Jessica Bryant said that the USIP workshop “was truly valuable for all participants. . . . The working groups provided a space for the application of new frameworks for analysis and, from the conversations I heard during these sessions, allowed participants to think about very familiar problems in new and interesting ways.”

Explore Further

• Countries and Regions: Colombia
• Women as Peacebuilders: A Regional Case Study on Colombia
• Developing a Model for Documenting Missing Persons and Clandestine Cemetaries in Colombia