Officers from the Victims Unit, the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), the Office of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and PRM implementing partners, met to discuss the achievements and challenges of care, assistance and reparation for victims.

The director of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, Anjalina Sen, Regional Coordinator of the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), and Phil Gelman, Regional Advisor of the Office of Humanitarian Assistance, among others, led the virtual session in which they committed together with the implementing partners of the projects for the care and assistance of victims in the country, to continue working together with the different strategies that guarantee the development of the public policy of victims in the territories.

“You are supremely strategic allies to continue working because the will and experience of each one is always valuable to build and we will continue to do the entire accompaniment process of being with the implementing partners on the ground, but also being in permanent contact with PRM and with the Humanitarian Assistance Office”, said Ramón Rodríguez, director of the Unit.

For her part, Anjalina Sen, Regional Coordinator of the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), agreed with the director of the Unit after stating: "Our alliances are a support network that cannot work one without the other".

Rodríguez thanked all the implementing partners that allow progress in the public policy of attention to victims in each of the components. “Well when you listen to the work that Blumont does, also the work that the Norwegian Council does in what has to do with collective reparation. What Fupad has been doing, with actions throughout the territory”, he noted.

“We have shown the community that we can be very efficient with resources when we articulate work, for example, with Save the Children in reparation and psychosocial care and with the Heartland Alliance and when you review, in all components of the public policy of Attention to victims we have the interventions of PRM and therefore, the importance of continuing to do all this work of articulation", he stressed.

Highlights

During the session, the different representatives of the implementing partners took stock of the actions developed so far based on the ongoing projects and also explained the projects that were approved by the donor for the 2021 term. Blumont emphasized the closure of the municipal governments, guaranteeing the inclusion of the public policy of victims, the certification of performance for the territorial entities, the advances in emotional initiatives, the strengthening of the municipal tables of victims to prepare their work plans and Plans of Territorial Action, among others.

The Norwegian Council highlighted its work in 12 projects with displaced and refugee populations and the development of initiatives for education, legal assistance and collective reparation. The aid provided in 20 humanitarian emergencies, the support in the psychosocial component and the proposal for all victims to be assisted in a timely manner, hopefully from the alerts, were topics highlighted by the Fupad representative.

The Heartland Alliance spokesperson, in the session drew attention that his program “Mas Resiliencia” (More Resilience), has benefited 14.712 people, including 11.000 victims, in departments such as Córdoba, Chocó, Valle, Cauca and Nariño. She also said that in mental health they have supported 14.000 people with programs and that another 887 have benefited from reproductive health issues.

The Save the Children representative emphasized that the work aims to protect the community on essential issues such as their right to education, especially minors. In times of pandemic, the delivery of 60.000 kits in humanitarian actions, ophthalmological assistance and the initiative to reinforce all prevention to avoid the recruitment of children and adolescents in the territories of its incidence such as Arauca, Guainía, Valle, Nariño and Chocó.

Present at the meeting were Anjalina Sen, PRM Regional Coordinator, and Fernando Ramírez, PRM Deputy Regional Coordinator; Office of Population, Refugees and Migration; Tim Callaghan, OFDA Representative, BHA Humanitarian Assistance Office and Phil Gelman, Regional Advisor.

Likewise, Dominika Arseniuk, NRC Country Director; Juan Pablo Franco, Country Director Blumont; Esteban Moreno, Country Director Heartland Alliance; María Paula Martínez, Country Director, Save the Children; Silvia Amaya Project Manager of FUPAD; Germán Infante and Johanna Alfonso from the International Cooperation Group of the Victims Unit.

(End/AMA/LMY)