ACDI/VOCA’s newest project in Colombia, the Program of Alliances for Reconciliation (PAR), officially launched last week in Bogotá. The four-year USAID-funded initiative will bring together entities from the public, private, and NGO sectors to support reconciliation in Colombia.
Among those in attendance at the event were members of the ACDI/VOCA team, including PAR Chief of Party Juan Camilo Potes, as well as representatives of key allies, such as Fundación ANDI, Universidad Javeriana, Corporación Reconciliación Colombia, and Proyectos Semana.
The partners formalized their alliance at a signing ceremony at the event’s close. The launch also featured remarks from USAID/Colombia Director Peter Natiello, who described the importance of confronting the past and engaging in society-wide dialogue as a means of cultivating new narratives and changing Colombians’ perceptions, attitudes, and behavior.
Several of Colombia’s most prominent media outlets, including Semana, El Tiempo, and Caracol covered the event. PAR’s Bogotá launch paves the way for a second, regional launch, scheduled to take place this week in Florencia, Caquetá—one of the regions most heavily hit by Colombia’s conflict. There, as in each of its 20 prioritized municipalities, PAR will help develop and support a range of initiatives designed to promote truth and historical memory, dialogue, peaceful co-existence, tolerance, and trust, and, above all, to help individuals embrace their role as agents of peace.
