COLOMBIA
(Back Home) previous
continue (page
19 of 33)
ICDP started activities in Colombia in 1996. Up
to 2002 training visits and field support, at different intervals,
was given to NGOs working with poor communities in different parts
of the country, such as Cali, Armenia, Bogota, Bucaramanga.
In the period
between 1998 and 2002, ICDP paid regular visits to the Luis Amigo
university (FUNLAM) in Medellin, supporting the work of a team of
ICDP trained professionals who integrated ICDP in the curriculum
of students; each year students apply ICDP in practice by working
with caregivers and children linked to local social services, as
part of their graduation thesis. ICDP is still in touch with the
developments at FUNLAM.
In the autumn
of 2001, Nicoletta Armstrong, one of the founders of ICDP, presented
the methodology to UNICEF, and soon after an agreement was signed
with the UNICEF representative Manuel Manrique for cooperation on
a pilot project during 2004 in 5 provinces of Colombia; in Quindio,
Cauca, Nariño, Santander and Distrito capital.
UNICEF selected 150 experienced community workers
to participate in the ICDP training workshops held in 6 cities,
Pasto, Popayan, Bogota, Calarca, Cucuta and Bucaramanga, in order
for them to spread the ICDP programme to the nearby communities.
The 150 persons who were trained as ICDP facilitators were recruited
from 2 organizations: ICBF (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar,
the Colombian network of social services) and Conferencia Episcopal
(Catholic church network).
This training programme took place from June to
December 2002, and during this time ICDP reached 26 towns in Colombia.
The project had planned to reach 6000 families but in practice it
reached 3 times more, largely due to the enthusiasm of the trained
facilitators and promoters, over 1000 persons in total. The ICDP
programme reached 20.011 families and 62.783 children benefited
from the program. At the evaluation meeting after the work had finished,
the facilitators made the following recommendations to UNICEF and
ICDP:
"We wish to continue working with ICDP as the
program produced positive changes for families, children and young
people in their communities. Its principles need to be spread to
all levels such as preschool, school and university; to government
officials, policy makers and local NGOs. ICDP can serve both in
the area of prevention and rehabilitation and should be inserted
in the government network ICBF but taking care not to lose the essential
quality of the program: love and empathy."
UNICEF Colombia, under the leadership of Manuel
Manrique decided to promote actively ICDP and for that purpose they
sponsored the making of a professional video about ICDP, by interviewing
those who received the programme in Colombia.
ICDP Colombia was legally registered in May 2003
and in the same year it became an allied partner of UNICEF Colombia:
ICDP Colombia
During the year 2003 there were refresher workshops
for the trained facilitators and promoters. The same year UNICEF
sponsored the printing of ICDP training materials including 2 videos;
this ICDP pack was specifically adapted by ICDP for large scale
implementation.
During 2003 - 2004 ICDP established cooperation with the University
of Antioquia. A group of students was trained as ICDP facilitators
and they spread the ICDP programme to 8 cities in the region of
Antioquia, reaching 1200 displaced families. This project was both
a psycho-social intervention programme and a research study.
previous
continue (page
19 of 33)
|
