Landmine Activities for Victims of the Conflict in Colombia

Implementing Partner: Mercy Corps

Funding Period: October 2008 - October 2011

Amount: $3,799,935

Purpose: Address the needs of victims of conflict and other people with disabilities in Colombia by supporting a) rehabilitation and socio-economic activities and b) education and training for rehabilitation professionals.

Objectives

• Expand access to rehabilitation services in rural areas
• Improve the capacity of national programs to produce and repair prosthetics, orthotics, and wheelchairs
• Develop a cadre of P&O service providers who can prescribe and fit prosthetic and orthotic devices
• Introduce P&O technologies that are appropriate to local conditions
• Provide sustainable economic opportunities to Colombians with disabilities

Historically, USAID has supported programs in Colombia that specifically address the needs of victims of landmine accidents. Those included activities to strengthen the government's landmine-related information systems and mine-awareness networks, and others to provide rehabilitiation services for people who have sustained injuries due to landmine accidents.

Although the current program will continue to address the needs of landmine services, it seeks to expand its sphere of beneficiaries to include a broader group of people with disabilities. Now, USAID is working with Mercy Corps in Colombia to ensure that rehabilitation services are available and accessible to vulnerable and internally displaced populations so they may successfully reintegrate into society. The project takes a two-pronged approach, providing direct services to those in need and building the capacity of Colombian rehabilitation professionals and institutions to provide such services.

Mercy Corps works on the ground with the Colombian government and local organizations to

• Support the government's establishment of rehabilitation centers in two hospitals in areas of Colombia that have been heavily affected by landmines: University Hospital of Narino and Maria Inmaculada Hospital in Florencia, the capital of Caqueta. The project will provide equipment and training for hospital staff; the government will fund the construction of the center. Technical oversight will be provided through cooperation with ICRC/Colombia.
• Work with local organizations to develop income-generation opportunities people with disabilties.
• Provide sixty Colombian nationals with prosthetics/orthotics training to an International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) Category II level.
• Work with Colombia's government training institute to establish an ISPO-accredited Category II school in Bogota.