Community-Oriented Reintegration of Ex-Combatants - CORE

CORE works with government entities to develop tools and methodologies that support the implementation of these laws. The program's goal is to pass these instruments to the agencies after a period defined by the entities involved. The timeline for transfer depends on the project. Various contextual shifts that affect CORE have presented themselves this quarter. With respect to the peace process, on May 16th, the Government of Colombia (GOC) and the FARC announced an agreement on the problem of illegal drugs, the fourth of six points on the GOC-FARC dialogue agenda and the third to be addressed so far in the peace process. The agreement includes three sub-points: illegal crop substitution; public health programs; and the production of illegal drugs. In addition, the GOC announced that exploratory talks have been taking place with the ELN since January 2014. Until now, items in the agenda to be discussed include the victims and political participation, but other topics will be added over time. CORE is prepared to continue supporting the GOC as it reaches further agreements with the FARC and formalizes talks with the ELN. Meanwhile, presidential elections were held in May, with President Santos and candidate Oscar Zuluaga passing through to a second round of elections. With Zuluaga first threatening to suspend the peace process and then softening his position but proposing adjustments to both the talks and the judicial system, uncertainty surrounded some of CORE's programs. This has now been resolved, and CORE operations continue smoothly. The Tracking, Monitoring, and Evaluation System (SAME) team provides technical support to assess psychosocial readiness for reintegration through the IECC. This quarter, 1,995 surveys were conducted, and 55% of the participants fulfilled the requisites of the instruments required by the ACR in order to continue with the graduation process. The ACR reported 1,295 people graduating from the reintegration process in this quarter, meaning that 4,698 people have graduated from the reintegration process throughout its existence. In addition, the SIR and ISUN were used to systematize 339 monitoring visits made to business units this quarter (individual productive projects) that have received seed capital funding. Of these, 160 (47%) business units were in operation, 156 (46%) had closed, and 23 (7%) were at risk of closing. In terms of economic reintegration, implementation of the "Integrated Employment Intervention Route" continued. This methodology aims to support demobilized individuals in exploring and finding opportunities in the job market through activities such as identification of job vacancies; vocational assessment; occupational orientation; job engagement; and monitoring and support for individuals in the process of reintegration who are professionally engaged with businesses, as well as monitoring and support for the businesses themselves. This quarter, 621 businesses were made aware of the initiative, 99 businesses were engaged with the initiative, 2,015 job vacancies identified, 816 people in the process of reintegration referred to vacancies, and 326 people in the process of reintegration hired. The process of transferring the methodology to the ACR reintegration professionals continued through the joint implementation of activities and the implementation of 37 training workshops, through which 113 ACR professionals have been trained. In the realization of Intermediate Result 2: "Operational Mechanisms to Establish Definitive Legal Status of Ex-combatants," projects continue to support the various sub-units of the Justice and Peace Unit in the Attorney General's office. These activities focus on land restitution; facilitating sentencing in high-priority cases; strengthening the ACR's capacity to identify and return human remains to victims' families; complementing the construction of patterns of macro-criminality with similar investigations of macro-victimization; and strengthening regional work in the sub-units. Results this quarter included: 63 genetic profiles were registered in the CODIS software; 1,600 kits were compiled to identify and take DNA samples; 1,288 case files registered in the Sub-Unit's database were reviewed and updated; and the Universidad Externado de Colombia presented ten macro-victimization reports on individuals being processed under the Justice and Peace law, four of which were presented to the AGO. In terms of community service activities under IR 2, these activities are now implemented in 18 departments and 36 municipalities in which the ACR is present. In these areas, 156 community service projects have been implemented directly, of which 45% have been completed. The ACR has also provided training to 1,200 community service participants, and 1,200 community service participants have been certified.