Mayors and representatives of each of 12 municipalities that make up the department, met in Armenia, in order to learn about programs and projects that will affect the welfare of the victims, with the formulation of municipal development plans.

The Victims Unit, territorial Coffee Region, led the meeting with mayors and officials of different municipalities of Quindío, in order to publicize all the institutional offer that in terms of victims and vulnerable population is available to improve the quality of People in the territory.

The meeting with the leaders also participated in the Department of Social Prosperity (DPS) Quindío and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, making known all the plans and programs that aim to overcome the level of poverty in the localities.

“This is a very important meeting to be able to work in an articulated way with the municipal administrations, managing to implement policies that allow the victim population to improve their living conditions and to fulfill the projects they had after becoming victims of armed conflict”, said Laura. Moreno, territorial director of the Unit in the Coffee Axis.

The new leaders were quite optimistic and interested in joint collaboration programs, particularly emphasizing what has to do with municipal participation tables and DPS projects for the self-sustainability of the population.

Jorge Iván Osorio, mayor of Genova, said in this regard: “For us it is vital to be able to have these approaches with national entities to work together and be able to help the victim population that in Genova amounts to 1,712 people, meet services and programs is essential to guarantee their rights under Law 1448”.

In the department of Quindío, the total number of victims amounts to 42,000, 5,300 of these people have already been compensated by the State through the Unit, with an investment close to 39,000 million pesos.

“From the DPS, together with the Victims Unit and the ICBF, we are doing all the necessary exercise in order to work hand in hand with local administrations, to help many Colombians belonging to the population out of poverty vulnerable, that is why the exhibition of all this institutional offer”, commented Héctor Marín, Departmental Director of DPS Quindío.

The last day of compensation made by the Unit for Victims in Quindío was held last January, there were delivered 476 million pesos, impacting the quality of life of 90 families with priority situations of age, disability or diseases of high cost.

“All these inclusion issues are fundamental for the development of the municipalities, it is good to know the policy to make it immersed in the plans that we will formulate for the operation of our government, we will work hand in hand with the victims and without a doubt for this reason, we must articulate with the entities without neglecting other groups that require attention in our town”, concluded Luis Alberto Balcero, mayor of Calarcá.

(End/EHB/CMC/LMY)