Assistance for "Support for Internally Displaced Persons Communities in Colombia"

May 24, 2004

On May 24 (Monday), the Government of Japan and the United Nations (UN) decided to extend assistance of a total of 1,100,550 US dollars through the Trust Fund for Human Security for the programme "Support for Internally Displaced Persons Communities in Colombia" to be implemented by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

This programme aims to provide assistance to the internally displaced persons in Colombia who had been forced to flee their places of residence due to the longstanding conflict through establishing 56 IDP associations in four regions and introducing activities to stabilize the lives of IDPs. The activities included in this programme are as follows:

(1)	Material and Technical Support for IDP Associations
	Provide office equipment and technical support for setting up IDP associations;
(2)	Training and Workshops for IDP Associations
	Organizing campaigns and training workshops in order to meet the needs of IDPs such as legal aid, income generation and leadership training;
(3)	Regional IDP Conferences
	Arranging four regional conferences to review national IDP legislation and policies and make recommendations to public authorities;
(4)	Support for Crop Production in IDP Communities
	Distributing seed and farming tools to schools and selected families in IDP communities in remote areas;
(5)	Implementation and Support for Productive Projects
	Establishing start-up funds granted to 56 IDP groups provided for innovative income generating initiatives; Provide training for business and administrative management; Distributing loans through local financial agencies towards 180 local groups or 600 families.

This project is expected to alleviate various difficulties that confront the IDPs by implementing activities through the local IDP associations.

(Note)
Japan established the Trust Fund for Human Security in the United Nations Secretariat in March 1999, with total contributions of 25.9 billion yen (approximately US$ 227 million) up to the present. The Trust Fund has assisted numerous projects of UN agencies that address various threats to human life, livelihood and dignity, from the perspective of Human Security.

(END)

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