USAID Funding and Development Strategy in Colombia
O
PEN
G
OVERNMENT
A
NALYSIS
OF
U.S. F
UNDING
TO
C
OLOMBIA
Draft (1/22/2024)
Comments Welcome
E-mail: jh1227a@american.edu
Open government & USAID funding in Colombia
•
Open government is key to informing locally-led development
•
USAID has pledged to increase both the proportion of direct funding to national
organizations and to include more “locally-led” input
•
This pilot open government exercise:
•
Connects the dots across different public U.S. government data sources to
a
nalyze sectoral
prioritie
s and localization patterns of bilateral aid
•
Uses independent sectoral criteria to organize official U.S. government data
to make U.S. funding trends more visible to non-specialists
•
Reviews
public USAID project information through an open government lens
to take stock of accessibility
Context: Publicly available U.S. foreign assistance data is incomplete for FY2020-23
•
U.S. bilateral aid is still key.
The U.S. is Colombia’s leading bilateral donor, providing more funding than
the next four donors combined (the most recent available data is from 2019). Yet priorities have changed
significantly since Plan Colombia
•
WOLA finds
the focus of U.S. funding
shifted to peace and development following Colombia’s 2016
Accord.
The
military & law enforcement share
of total bilateral aid requested by the President to Congress
fell from 76% in 2008 to 49% in 2023
•
The amount of U.S. humanitarian aid has grown significantly.
In the most recent year
ForeignAssistance.gov lists data as fully reported (2022), humanitarian aid was 33% ofof Colombia’s FY2021
total. A clearer picture of sectoral trends requires rethinking official categories (e.g., “peace and security”)
•
Lack of public disclosure of U.S. military aid prevents a comprehensive overview of U.S. aid trends.
The U.S. government has not published complete military aid data since FY2019
•
Department of Defense FY2020-23 data are listed as ”partial agency”
•
State Department data provide limited information on funding priorities for counter-narcotics projects
Source
: Isacson, Adam, U.S. Aid to Colombia. Washington Office on Latin
America, April 4, 2023,
https://colombiapeace.org/u-s-aid-to-colombia/
Estimates include funding from the Department of Defense and the Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Source
:
ForeignAssistance.gov
(“Disbursements” – Colombia; accessed Oct. 26, 2023).
https://www.foreignassistance.gov/data?country=Colombia&fiscal_year=2020&transaction_type_name=obligations#tab-query
.
*Note
: FY2021 has two disbursements labeled “Military” that are managed by State and implemented by the Department of Defense. FY2019 is the most recent year listing complete Defense funding.
*Note
: This analysis uses independent criteria, informed by the official US Category and Sector, to differentiate sectoral spending and make relative weights more visible to non-specialists. For example, "Peace and Security" was
disaggregated into peace and security. ‘Peace' includes explicit peace-related education projects, land and environment projects in conflict-affected areas aiming at fostering peace, and demining projects, among others.
See
“Methods Annex II: ARC Category Coding”.
Percentage is displayed if an agency’s category funding equals 5% or greater.
Spotlight: Where "peace” and “security" overlap – U.S.
government funding of demining in Colombia
The official U.S.
C
ategory Name ”Peace and Security" combines very different priorities, complicating the identification of the U.S. contribution to Peace Accord
implementation. Yet, the U.S. State Department's contribution to demining is an example of where peace, security, and humanitarian priorities overlap.
Source
:
ForeignAssistance.gov
(“Disbursements” – Colombia; accessed May 31, 2023).
https://www.foreignassistance.gov/data?country=Colombia&fiscal_year=2020&transaction_type_name=obligations#tab-query
.
*Note
: FY2021 is the most recent year ForeignAssistance.gov provides complete data reporting for non-military agencies in Colombia.
†Term:
The
Managing Agency
is
“
The agency which actually obligates and disburses the U.S. foreign assistance, either directly or via an implementing partner entity. The implementing agency for a foreign assistance activity
may or may not differ from the appropriated (funding) agency.”
Background: USAID Colombia Development Strategy (2020-2025)
•
In July 2020, USAID Colombia
published a detailed 5-year strategy
accounting for the 2016
Peace Accord, along with other new opportunities and challenges
•
The strategy is easily searchable on the USAID Colombia website and listed on multiple
pages
•
The strategy details 3 development objectives and 1 special objective, with the goal of
fostering, “A more stable, peaceful, and prosperous Colombia through inclusive
governance and equitable growth”:
•
Development Objective 1: A more cohesive and inclusive society resilient to conflict
•
Development Objective 2: Strengthened governance to meet citizen needs and increase
citizen confidence in the state
•
Development Objective 3: Promote equitable and environmentally sustainable economic
growth
•
Special Objective: Stability in areas impacted by migration from Venezuela
Finding: USAID peace-related funding increased incrementally after the Peace Accord
•
Average annual USAID funding
of peace-related projects increased after 2015.
Between
2013-2015, annual USAID project funding for peace-related activities averaged $100m,
between 2016-2022 that number increased to $135.8m
•
Anti-corruption and good governance reform represent 4% of the total USAID
Colombia budget between 2012-2022,
averaging $1.6m between 2018-2020 and reaching
over $17m in 2022
•
Humanitarian aid grew rapidly in response to Venezuelan migration
(reaching 45% of
USAID Colombia’s 2021 & 2022 funding, mostly through the UN’s World Food
P
rogramme)
•
Independent coding offers insight into projects with multiple objectives.
Colombian
peace-related funding often intersects with other goals, including humanitarian aid, land
rights, and environmental conservation
Source
:
ForeignAssistance.gov
(“Disbursements” – Colombia; accessed January 11, 2024).
*Note
: ARC analyzed and coded USAID projects into 7 groupings based on ”Activity Descriptions” provided by ForeignAssistance.gov. For this chart, coding was predicated on an assessment of the funding’s main objective. On
the following slide, funding considered to have two primary objectives are listed.
For more detailed information on the coding process, see “Methods Annex III: ARC Objectives Coding”.
Percentage is displayed if annual objective
funding equals 10% or greater.
Source
:
ForeignAssistance.gov
(“Disbursements” – Colombia; accessed January 11, 2024).
*Note
: ARC analyzed and coded USAID projects into 16 groupings based on ”Activity Descriptions” provided by ForeignAssistance.gov.
For more detailed information on the coding process, see “Methods Annex III: ARC Objectives
Coding”.
Percentage is displayed if annual objective funding equals 10% or greater.
Finding: USAID funding is up, while localization and transparency lag
•
Applying an open government lens sheds light on USAID’s localization process
•
Less than half of all USAID Colombia project fact sheets contain project budget information
or identify the implementing partner
•
Localized funding is far behind the 25% goal.
In 2022,
direct
USAID
funding to Colombian
organizations was 3.8% of annual funding, down from 10.9% in 2017
•
Total USAID funding to Colombian organizations rose sharply between 2013 & 2021
•
Public information about USAID projects is split between at least five government
sites
:
USAID’s country sites
provide descriptive project information,
ForeignAssistance.gov
provides consistent annual budget data, and
USASpending.gov
provides sub-recipient data
o
Project baseline information and evaluations are on USAID’s
Development Experience
Clearinghouse
. Some post-2016 evaluations are on
USAID’s new Evaluations Dashboard
•
USAID project data do not clearly show which funds reach government agencies
(possibly through implementing partners)
USAID localization funding goals
•
USAID set a
minimum 25% global target
for direct funding for national implementing
partners by 2025 (starting from
8.1% in 2020
)
o
Country targets differ for each USAID mission, and should be higher than 25% in countries where
local organizations have higher capacity to manage USAID projects
•
USAID’s
procurement process
has represented a huge challenge to localization goals, in
part, prompting a major new reform in Nov. 2021
•
USAID is also aiming for 50% locally-led programming by 2030, indicating
half of all
funding
will be impacted by local agenda setting, design, implementation, and
monitoring
•
Different official and non-governmental organizations use
different definitions of ‘local’
•
This study's premise is that public access to information about current allocations of
USAID project and sectoral funding is a necessary condition for informed "locally-led
development"
USAID localization: Historical funding trends
•
A low historic funding baseline indicates that
achieving 25% agency-wide direct local
funding represents an ambitious goal
•
USAID’s
June 2023 localization report
indicates
the percentage of direct local funding has
been “generally increasing” between 2018-
2022 (Page 6)
•
USAID
’s report notes data from 2012-2019 are
not directly comparable to the data from 2020
onward
•
Differences in data sources include USAID’s June
2023 report listing 4.2% agency wide direct local
funding in 2012, while a
2013 USAID report
lists
local organization funding at 7.51% in 2012 (Page
21)
Source: Moving Toward a Model of Locally Led Development, USAID, June 2023, P.6
•
To better understand USAID’s direct local funding trends, organizations such as
Publish What You Fund
–a “global
campaign for aid and development transparency”–have closely examined USAID funding and the underlying
figures used to calculate local funding percentages
USAID localization funding goals: Hitting 25%
To assess localization trends,
Publish What You Fund
(PWYF) analyzed USAID funding in 10 countries (2019-2021)
•
USAID and PWYF use different methods to calculate direct local funding assistance:
•
Using PWYF’s method, only 5.7% of USAID funds were disbursed directly to ‘local’ organizations
based in
the assistance-receiving country (vs. 11.1% according to USAID’s method)
•
The methods differ in two important ways
o
PWYF does not include branches of international entities as ‘local’ partners in the numerator
o
USAID does not include funding to multilateral, global program, UN agency, redacted, or unknown
projects in the denominator
•
Differences between these two methods results in the USAID approach finding a larger share of total direct
funding to ‘local’ partners
*
Source
: Tilley, Alex, and Elma Jenkins. “How USAID Counts ‘Local’ Will Have a Big Impact on Funding for Local Partners.” Publish What You Fund, March 2023, 13.
https://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/app/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/02/Metrics-Matter-Full-Research-Paper.pdf
.
Note
: G2G refers to government-to-government funding, namely U.S. government direct foreign assistance to Colombian government agencies
*
Findings: Localization trends in Colombia (2012-22)*
•
The share of direct funding to Colombian organizations has dropped in recent years
.
According to the USAID method,
Colombian organizations received 3.8% of all direct
funding from USAID in 2022,
a steady decline from 10.9% in 2017
•
According to the PWYF method
, USAID funding to Colombian organizations in 2021 totaled
$15.2m,
up from $2.7m in 2013
•
USAID Colombia’s top aid recipient between 2020-2022 is the UN World Food Programme
•
The top U.S.-based implementor was development firm Chemonics, receiving $114.1m total in
USAID funding between 2020-2022
•
The top Colombian direct recipient between 2020-2022 was
Consultoria para los Derechos
Humanos y el Desplazamiento, receiving $4.8m
total in USAID funding. The second highest
recipient was Bancamía,
receiving
$4.2m total in USAID funding
*Note
:
Detailed ARC methodological considerations for this analysis can be found at the end of the slide deck in “Methods Annex I: Colombia Funding
Recipient Data Analysis”
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
; *
Note
:
Public data is reported as not complete for 2021 and 2022.
†Note
:
International and Colombian organizations are scoped using the
Publish What You Fund method
.
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
; *
Note
:
Public data is reported as not complete for 2021 and 2022.
†Note
:
Colombian organizations are scoped using the
Publish What You Fund method
.
International denotes the recipient organization’s primary headquarters is not in Colombia; Colombian denotes the recipient
organization’s primary headquarters is in Colombia
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
;
https://www.usaid.gov/localization/fy-2022-localization-progress-report
.
*Note
:
Public data is reported as not complete for 2021 and 2022;
The 2021 and 2022 figures for the USAID Method are reported by USAID in the July 2023 report, “Moving Toward a Model of Locally Led Development.”
PWYF and USAID define ‘local’ organizations differently.
Local denotes the recipient organization’s primary headquarters is in the recipient country for PWYF, while USAID includes nationally incorporated branches of international entities.
PWYF Method: (Local Organizations, only within country headquarters)/(Inclusive aid types of: UN Agency+Private+ Academica+Multilateral+NGO+Redacted+Unknown)
USAID Method: (Local Organizations, inclusive of local branches of international entities)/(Inclusive aid types of Academica+NGO+Private)
Top 20 Recipients of
USAID Funding in
Colombia 2020*
Top 20 recipients account for 91% of total USAID Colombia funding in 2020
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note
:
Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Colombian
Recipients of Direct
USAID Funding 2020*
Colombian organizations received 4.2% of
total USAID Colombia funding in 2020
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note
Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Top 20 Recipients of
USAID Funding in
Colombia 2021*
Top 20 recipients account for 92% of total USAID Colombia funding in 2021
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note:
Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Colombian Recipients
of Direct USAID
Funding 2021*
Colombian-based organizations received 3.7%
of total USAID Colombia funding in 2021
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note
:
Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Top 20 Recipients of
USAID Funding in
Colombia 2022*
Top 20 recipients account for 91% of total USAID Colombia funding in 2022
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note
Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Colombian Recipients
of Direct USAID
Funding 2022*
Colombian organizations received 2.8% of total
USAID Colombia funding in 2022
Source
:
https://countrydata.iatistandard.org/#access-data-files
*
Note
: Data presented using the PWYF method
Type of Entity includes: private, academia, UN agency, NGO, Public
Sector, multilateral, global program
Findings: Open government
a
nalysis
•
ForeignAssistance.gov
and the
USAID Colombia website
provide some information
on projects and implementing partners
•
Public project data are often partial or incomplete
, requiring navigation of
different sites to form a more complete picture
•
Most USAID Colombia project fact sheets do not provide project funding
information or name the implementing partner
•
Project subaward data is available on
USASpending.gov
(though incomplete)
•
Project overhead rates are not public, and remain proprietary information
•
USAID Colombia’s program and strategy descriptions are not accompanied by
budget data that would indicate the
relative weight of priorities
U.S. foreign
a
ssistance
f
unding: Data sources
To form a more complete picture of U.S. Foreign Assistance funding for a given
project, interested parties must triangulate between:
•
USAID’s
country-specific site
for
descriptive
project information and country strategy
•
ForeignAssistance.gov
for
consistent
information on managing & funding agencies,
project contractors, total funding amounts, and sectoral distributions
o
DoD has not reported Colombia data to ForeignAssistance.gov since FY2021
•
USASpending.gov
for information on contract
sub-awards
•
USAID Evaluations Dashboard
is a recently developed interface to facilitate finding
project reports
•
USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse
is the legacy site for USAID reports
U.S. foreign
a
ssistance
f
unding: Implementing Partners
•
Official data sources do not consistently provide information on the allocation of implementing partner funds
o
Foreignassistance.gov obligation and disbursement data provide no indication of how implementing partners use funds, creating a
‘Black Box’ for how multimillion dollar contracts are spent
o
To determine
project sub-recipients
, interested parties would have to be familiar with USASpending.gov
Subawards under $25,000 and disclosures that could pose risks to local implementers are exempt from the sub-award reporting
requirements
o
Line items for projects on ForeignAssistance.gov do not always match with
IATI data
,
indicating data lags
•
Implementing partner websites sometimes offer insights about where spending is directed, but following funding
distribution remains difficult
o
World Food Programme, USAID Colombia’s top fund recipient between 2020-2022, provides a
financial overview of their 2021 spending
along with
program performance analysis
o
DAI provides the
names of local partners they work with
, but not funding information
o
ACDI/VOCA has a
webpage for their Colombia projects
, but it does not clearly provide funding information
o
Some other implementing partners are more opaque. ARD, Inc. was awarded the third highest dollar amount of USAID managed
Colombia projects, yet they do not have their own website. ARD, Inc. is a subsidiary of Tetra Tech, but the Tetra Tech website does not
provide information on their $18,000,000 contract for the
Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR ) II project (2021)
Open government
r
eview of USAID Colombia website
•
USAID Colombia provides fact sheets
on 45 different projects*
o
More than half do not list the project’s implementing partners
o
16% refer to total project funding
o
Almost all fact sheets are in Spanish and English
•
Most fact sheet portals include project contact information
•
USAID Colombia project implementors can be found by going to the USAID Colombia
homepage, selecting the drop-down menu for “Work With Us” and then clicking
“
Partnership Opportunities
”
•
The USAID Colombia page does not provide clear or consistent budget information
•
Some USAID Colombia reports can be found on USAID’s
Development Experience
Clearinghouse
or the
USAID Evaluations Dashboard
, but the USAID Colombia site does not
provide links to them
o
The “Land for Prosperity”, “Partners for Transparency”, and “Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian
Empowerment Activity” slides detail the process required for obtaining relevant project information
*Note
: Accurate as of July 11, 2023
Open government
indicators: USAID Colombia current projects
Data based on 45 projects with fact sheets available on
USAID Colombia
Sources
:
https://www.usaid.gov/colombia/newsroom/fact-sheets
;
https://www.usaid.gov/colombia/newsroom/key-documents
;
https://www.usaspending.gov
;
https://www.usaid.gov/evaluation/evaluations-usaid-dashboard
.
*The 45 project fact sheets analyzed represent all unique fact sheets on the USAID Colombia webpage on July 1, 2023
Open government indicators: Largest 20 USAID Colombia projects†
†Note:
This list is inclusive of projects with fact sheets on Colombia’s USAID.gov webpage that have publicly available budget data. The slide “Open government indicators: USAID Colombia fact sheets” reveals the finding that 22% of projects do not have searchable budget data
available on USASpending.gov
*Note:
. Obligated is defined by USASpending.gov as “The amount of money that an agency has promised to pay, usually because the agency has signed a contract, awarded a grant, or placed an order for goods or services.”
Public Project Evaluations
: Largest 20 USAID Colombia projects ending FY2012-2022*
*
Source
:
ForeignAssistance.gov
(“Disbursements” – Colombia; accessed May 31, 2023).
https://www.foreignassistance.gov/data?country=Colombia&fiscal_year=2020&transaction_type_name=obligations#tab-query
;
‘
Project Name’ uses the information from ‘Activity Name’ from ForeignAssistance.gov. Between FY2012-2022, 135 ‘project-type’ activities managed by USAID ended.
Open government
p
roject
a
nalysis: Land for Prosperity
Land for Prosperity (LfP), implemented by Tetra Tech, “foster[
s
] rural economic development” through Facilitating Land titling and
Restitution, Strengthening Local Capacities, and Promoting Public-Private Partnerships
The USAID website contains two similar fact sheets about the project, one from
2019
,
one from
2021
.
T
he 2021 fact
s
heet
portal page
lists an
implementing partner e-mail contact
The fact sheets do not provide information about total funding for the project
Tetra Tech is not listed on either fact sheet
o
Tetra Tech is listed as Land for Prosperity’s implementing partner on the “
Partnership Opportunities
” tab found on USAID Colombia’s ”Work with Us” tab
on the homepage
Selecting the
“
Tetra Tech
”
link on the USAID “Partnership Opportunities” page leads to the company’s homepage. A targeted search for the
program on the Tetra Tech website provides access to
“
Land for Prosperity, Colombia
,”
providing basic information about the program, but no
specific funding information
USAID’s search bar only produces one
Colombia hit in the top 30 results when searching for “Land for Prosperity.”
o
A targeted Google search term ["Land for Prosperity" site:https://www.usaid.gov/] provided 7 results, with 3 links leading to fact sheets, 2 leading to
the implementing partners page, and 2 leading to the “newsroom” page that did not contain further information
NORC at the University of Chicago produced a May 2022 Baseline Report for the LfP project.
However, this report is not mentioned or easily
searchable on the USAID website
Using a targeted Google search for “Land for Prosperity Colombia” yielded a
USAID LandLinks
page as the fourth hit. Clicking on this link provided
a detailed page on the project with blogs and updates about the project
T
he
“
Evaluations and Research
”
tab at the top of the LandLinks page leads to a search bar where one can enter “Land for Prosperity”
The first hit on this targeted search is a link to the summary page of the
“
Evaluation of the Land for Prosperity (LFP) Activity in Colombia:
Baseline Report
.”
This page provides a summary of the report and a link to the
Full NORC May 2022 Report
USAID Colombia does not clearly disclose the project’s total funding amount or allocation of funding, but funding data are available on USASpending.gov
Open government
p
roject
a
nalysis: Partners for Transparency
Partners for Transparency, implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), “leverage[s] local stakeholders’ expertise, engagement,
and unique positions of influence to promote a culture of transparency and accountability.”
•
Partners for Transparency is the only current USAID Colombia project with a fact sheet that specifically mentions reducing corruption. Another
DAI implemented project called
Responsive Government
, focusing on oversight and good governance, does not mention corruption or anti-
corruption
o
Despite anti-corruption being a high global priority for USAID, anti-corruption information on the USAID Colombia website is scarce
•
The USAID website contains two fact sheets for Partners for Transparency, one from
2021
and one from
2023
. The 2023 Fact Sheet
portal page
lists a partner e-mail contact
•
The fact sheets do not provide information about total funding for the project
•
DAI is not listed on either fact sheet
o
DAI is listed as Partners for Transparency’s implementing partner on the “
Partnership Opportunities
” tab found on USAID Colombia’s ”Work with
Us” tab on the homepage
Selecting the “
DAI
” link on the USAID “Partnership Opportunities” page leads to the company’s homepage. A targeted search for the program
on the DAI website provides access to “
Colombia-Partners for Transparency(PFT)
,” providing the names of Colombian implementing partners,
but no specific funding information
•
DAI is listed under both DAI/Nathan Group and Development Alternatives, Inc. on funding databases
•
Targeted Google searches for USAID Anti-corruption initiatives in Colombia produces links to quarterly DAI reports for Partners for Transparency
o
PARTNERS FOR TRANSPARENCY QUARTERLY REPORT FY2022 Q1: October 1 – December 31, 2021
o
PARTNERS FOR TRANSPARENCY QUARTERLY REPORT FY2022 Q2: January 1 – March 31, 2022
These reports were not readily accessible through the USAID Colombia site
•
Targeted Google searches for USAID Anti-corruption initiatives in Colombia also produced a 2019 USAID “
Anti-Corruption & Transparency
Consultancy Final Report
” produced by Olgoonik Technical Services LLC. This report was not readily accessible through the USAID Colombia site
USAID Colombia does not clearly disclose the project’s total funding amount or allocation of funding, but funding data are available on USASpending.gov
Open government
p
roject
a
nalysis: Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian Empowerment Activity
(IPACE,
Juntanza
Étnica
in Spanish
)
The Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian Empowerment Activity (IPACE), implemented by Agricultural Cooperative Development International
and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA), “contributes to indigenous and Afro-Colombians communities’ self-determined
development by strengthening ethnic organizations’ institutional and advocacy capacity.”
•
IPACE is scheduled to run from December 1, 2021-November 30, 2026
o
USAID estimated the IPACE project budget would total
“$50-70 million (plus an additional estimated 10-30% cost share)
”
o
USASpending.gov lists the project’s
“Total Funding” as $18.9m
, with no with no explanation for the $30m-$50m difference between the original
projected budget and publicly available funding totals for the project
o
As of July 2023
, $18.9m in project funds have been obligated and $8.8m in project funds have been disbursed
o
The project has provided $3.4m in sub-awards, with top sub-awardees Fabiola Morera Comunicaciones (Bogotá) receiving $1.4m, World Wildlife
Fund-
Colombia (Bogotá) receiving $705,000, and Terra Global (Oakland, CA) receiving $274,000
•
ACDI/VOCA has a Spanish language page for
Juntanza Étnica
on
acdivoca.org.co
, with a
second link
in a dropdown menu providing access to one
performance report on agriculture development
, and a program brochure in
English
and
Spanish
•
The USAID website contains two fact sheets for IPACE, from
2022
and from
2023
. The fact sheet
portal page
lists a partner e-mail
o
The fact sheets do not provide information about total funding for the project, but note the intent to award “over USD $20 million in sub-awards to local
organizations for capacity-building and self determined initiatives”, underscoring the discrepancy between the projected budget total and publicly
available data
•
ACDI/VOCA is not listed on the USAID fact sheet
o
ACDI/VOCA is listed as IPACE’s implementing partner on the “
Partnership Opportunities
” tab found on USAID Colombia’s ”Work with Us” tab on the
homepage
Selecting the “
ACDI/VOCA
” link on the USAID “Partnership Opportunities” page leads to the company’s Colombia homepage
•
ACDI/VOCA reports partnering with
10 local organizations
for IPACE
o
The four indigenous organizations include:
CRIC
,
CTC
,
ONIC
, &
OPIAC
o
The six Afro-Colombia organizations include:
AFRODES
,
CIMARRÓN
,
COCOMACIA
,
CONPA
,
CNOA
, &
PCN
o
IPACE has not disbursed sub-awards to any of these 10 partner organizations, according to USASpending data
USAID Colombia does not clearly disclose the project’s total funding amount or allocation of funding, but funding data are available on USASpending.gov
Open government
a
nalysis: Next
steps
•
C
onsultation and feedback from a diverse set of stakeholders
concerning next steps for this pilot, including USAID
•
Deeper dive into subcontracting data for
projects of interest to
Colombian counterparts
•
Evaluating other countries where ARC works
o
Localization data to complement PWYF’s & Oxfam’s work in 15+ countries
o
Comparison of USAID country pages through an Open Government lens
Methods Annex I: Colombia funding recipient data analysis
•
Building on the PWYF agenda, and applying their method, ARC did a deeper dive in Colombia, including:
o
Focus on change over time, naming the largest recipients, and applying an Open Gov lens to the publicly available data
•
We employed PWYF and USAID methods to distinguish
Colombian
and
International
foreign assistance recipients
o
The data represent
direct
funding assistance to recipient organizations
The data do not capture funding awarded to Colombian partners channeled through sub-awards
o
Following PWYF we do not factor ‘Public Sector’, or government to government, funding into the “localization” analysis
’Public sector funding’ to the Government of Colombia amounts to a total of $709,500 from 2020 to 2022
We code ’Redacted’ and ‘Unknown’ projects as
International
•
Data in this analysis are from the
Country Development Finance Data
site, a part of the
International Aid Transparency Initiative
(IATI)
o
IATI is a global development data repository aiming to improve funding transparency. More than 1,200 organizations have published
their development data through IATI based on an internationally agreed standard called the “IATI Standard”
•
We organize the USAID data on IATI by year and distinguished if implementing partners had
Colombian
or
International
headquarters
•
Using the coded IATI data, this open government exercise analyzes:
o
Annual funding shares to Colombian partners
o
Relative changes to the share of funding to Colombian partners over time
o
Absolute funding amount changes to different partner types over time
o
Which implementing partners win the most and highest value contracts
Methods Annex II: Sectoral coding
•
ARC developed new sectoral categories to make relative spending weights more visible and easily
understandable to non-specialists
o
These categories are based on US Category Names, which are “A framework developed to categorize U.S. government foreign assistance
reporting across agencies”
•
ARC Categories include: Humanitarian Assistance, Security: Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform,
Economic Development, Peace, Democracy, Human Rights, & Governance, Program Support, Health,
Environment, Labor Policies & Markets, and Education & Social Services
•
ARC evaluated line items for Colombia’s FY2021 disbursements to determine if the US Category name
was apt for projects, or if certain projects should be recategorized. Coding decisions included:
o
Coding all projects with the goal of creating ‘peace’ to the ARC Category “Peace”
▪
These projects typically focused on general post-conflict peacebuilding and mitigating lingering effects of the conflict, such as
demining projects
o
Coding projects relating to support and protection of direct conflict victims to “Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance”
o
Coding all Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs projects, along with projects related to policing, to “Security:
Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform”
o
Coding all Covid-related projects to “Health”
•
The ARC Categories contain three main differences from the US Category Names
o
The new “Peace” ARC Category contains many projects previously categorized under “Peace and Security,” but also contains projects
previously coded under different US Category names such as “Economic Development” and “Education and Social Services”
o
The new “Security: Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform” ARC Category contains many projects previously categorized under “Peace
and Security,” but now includes all Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs projects
o
The new “Labor Policies & Markets” ARC Category lifts up projects designed to protect workers' rights. This category was previously coded
as a US Sector Name, as a subset of the “Economic Development” category
•
For the graph, negative values for the Department of the Interior (-$224,221 in Environment) and Peace
Corps (-$6,494 in Program Support) were removed for visual presentation purposes. The category ‘Multi-
sector’ was dropped from the analysis
Methods Annex III: Objectives coding
•
ARC utilized USAID projects’ “Activity Description” to highlight project objectives, and make visible relative funding changes over time
o
Coding decisions were based on ForeignAssistance.gov official descriptions, utilizing the “Activity Description” language and details. Projects
with no “Activity Description” other than the project name were not assigned ‘objectives’ coding unless they 1) contained easily searchable
project information made available by USAID or 2) were projects with easily identifiable objectives, such as “Afro-Colombian and Indigenous
Program” or “Assistance To Demobilization And Reintegration”. All administrative, project support, monitoring and evaluation, logistics and
acquisitions
, and redacted line items were coded as “All Other Projects”
•
The eight objectives examined with the parameters used for coding, along with examples, are found on the following slide.
•
Coding process:
1.
Download full “Colombia” disbursements dataset from ForeignAssistance.gov. Data includes disbursements between FY2001-2023.
2.
Add filter and sort data by “Managing Agency” using ‘U.S. Agency for International Development’.
3.
Read “Activity Description” of all USAID projects that contain the following terms:
4.
"transpar*"; "corru*"; "overs*"; "oversee"; "rule of law"; "good governance"; "management"; "crim*"; "illeg*"; "licit"; justic*"; "account*";
"building"; "land".
5.
Provide an initial coding for each line item based on the “Activity Description” conveyance of project objectives.
6.
Read “Activity Description” of all USAID projects in “US Sector Name”: ‘Rule of Law and Human Rights’; ‘Good Governance’; ‘Conflict
Mitigation and Reconciliation’; ‘Political Competition and Consensus Building’; ‘Stabilization Operations and Security Sector Reform’.
7.
Provide an initial coding for each line item based on the “Activity Description” conveyance of project objectives.
8.
Sort USAID managed projects by “Activity Name”. Read through all “Activity Description” cells to ensure consistency and accuracy of coding.
9.
Send out projects with possible category overlap for external review on coding.
10.
Repeat steps 5) and 6) as needed to ensure consistency and accuracy across coding decisions.
Note
: Words with an * indicate the stem word was searched to examine different versions of a word, such as transpar* accounting for both ‘transparent’ and ‘transparency’
Methods Annex III: Objectives coding (cont.)
Categories include:
o
Peace.
Includes funding focused on economic, social (civil society), and/or capacity-building support for local, municipal, or national government in conflict-
affected areas. Peace-related projects can overlap with most other categories. For the more streamlined “Peace” coding schema, coding decisions were
predicated on a determination of the primary funding objective.
Example:
Reconciliation and Conflict Prevention–
The purpose of the activity is to contribute to reconciliation among victims, ex-combatants, and host
communities in four municipalities affected by conflict by strengthening attitudes and skills associated with a culture of peace and a pacific coexistence.
o
Peace & Economic Development.
Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both “Peace” and “Economic Development”. All “Peace & Economic
Development” projects are re-coded as “Peace” in the streamlined coding.
Example.
Cocoa Effect Activity
–
The goal of the activity is to strengthen the cocoa productive chain, contributing to better living conditions of producers
and their surrounding communities, in municipalities of 3 sub-regions: Urab, Bajo Cauca Antioqueo and Centro-Sur del Huila, as a foundation for the
construction of a lasting peace in Colombia.
o
Peace & Environment.
Includes funding focused on environmental conservation in conflict-affected areas.
Example:
Paramos and Forests Activity–
The purpose of the USAID Paramos and Forests Activity is to support Colombia in the implementation of its
Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses related climate change mitigation goals, while strengthening community-based sustainable development
initiatives in the context of a post peace agreement scenario.
o
Peace & Ethnic Inclusion.
Includes “Peace” funding designed to support Afro-Colombian and Indigenous populations, typically through rights protections,
economic development, and aiding in the development of greater capacity for self-governance. For streamlined coding, all “Peace & Ethnic Inclusion” funding is
re-coded as “Ethnic Inclusion”.
Example.
Foster Social and Economic Inclusion of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities–
Through this activity, USAID seeks to support the efforts
of an organization to foster social and economic inclusion of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities that have been severely affected by conflict, with
a special emphasis within that community on people with disabilities, LGBTI population, and victims of gender-based violence.
o
Peace & Good Governance.
Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both “Peace” and “Good Governance”.
Example.
Regional Governance Activity
- To enhance good governance, public financial management and service delivery in conflict-affected municipalities.
o
Peace & Humanitarian.
Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both “Peace” and “Humanitarian”.
o
Peace & Human Rights.
Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both “Peace” and “Human Rights”.
o
Peace & Lands Rights.
Includes funding formalizing land tenure and land access in conflict-affected areas.
Example.
Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR ) II–
The purpose of this Activity is to improve the conditions of conflict affected rural
households in a sustainable manner. This will be achieved by providing massive access to land titles while supporting land restitution as part of the broader
land titling.
Methods Annex III: Objectives coding (cont.)
Categories include:
o
Economic Development.
Includes funding to spur economic growth and enlarge markets.
Example.
Development Assistance–
Partnership
and co-creation modules: building effective multistakeholder partnerships and co-design/co-create shared
value (practicum and follow through included)
o
Environment.
Includes funding for environmental conservation.
Example
.
Amazonia Connect–
Amazonia connect purpose is to reduce commodity-driven deforestation (CDD) in the amazon.
o
Environment & Economic Development. Includes funding
with objectives closely aligned with both “Environment” and “Economic Development”
o
Environment & Good Governance.
Example.
Amazon Alive/Forest Management and Conservation–
In response to Colombia recent surge in deforestation and biodiversity loss, the purpose
of the amazon alive activity is to (1) improve the effectiveness of the environmental crime prevention and prosecution and (2) improve the effectiveness of
forest conservation and management. This will be an integrated activity designed to contribute to Colombian development by strengthening social
cohesion, responsive governance, and environmentally sustainable economic development.
o
Ethnic Inclusion.
In the expansive coding, this category captures projects geared toward Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities, but do not contain a
clear connection to peace-related funding.
o
Good Governance.
Includes projects designed to improve or reform state institutions, promote transparency and oversight, and implement anti-corruption
policies. Some good governance project descriptions contain language about the benefits of the reform, but coding for these projects is predicated on the core
governance objective.
Example:
Partners for Transparency–
Leverage Local Partner’S [sic] Expertise To Promote Transparency And Accountability In Colombia.
o
Human Rights.
Includes projects designed to ensure rights protections in Colombia and/or monitor the Colombian government’s compliance with international
human rights standards.
Example:
Human Rights Program II–
Advance Colombian initiatives in preventing, protecting and responding to human rights abuses.
o
Humanitarian.
Includes funding designed to respond to the needs of vulnerable people in crisis situations. Humanitarian aid is inclusive of support for
internally displaced people and refugees.
Example:
The Community Stabilization Activity–
The Community Stabilization Activity responds to the need to provide the Government of Colombia (GOC)
with technical assistance and tools to address the dire humanitarian situation created in communities affected by the sudden increase of population flows
from Venezuela.
o
All Other Funding.
This category contains administrative, indeterminate, and residual funding that does not properly fit in the above objective categories. In the
streamlined coding, “Economic Development” specific funding was re-coded in this category to make other priority issue areas more visible.
www.AccountabilityResearch.org
American University
School of International Service
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016
Email: arc@american.edu
Spotlight on the overlap of peace and security through USAID funding in Colombia, highlighting the increase in peace-related funding post-Peace Accord. The USAID Colombia Development Strategy (2020-2025) is discussed along with the challenges in localization and transparency. Publicly available data for 2021 and 2022 is reported as incomplete.
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Context: Publicly available U.S. foreign assistance data is incomplete for FY2020-23
Spotlight: Where "peace and security" overlap U.S. government funding of demining in Colombia The official U.S. Category Name Peace and Security" combines very different priorities, complicating the identification of the U.S. contribution to Peace Accord implementation. Yet, the U.S. State Department's contribution to demining is an example of where peace, security, and humanitarian priorities overlap. The agency which actually obligates and disburses the U.S. foreign assistance, either directly or via an implementing partner entity. The implementing agency for a foreign assistance activity may or may not differ from the appropriated (funding) agency.
Finding: USAID peace-related funding increased incrementally after the Peace Accord
Finding: USAID funding is up, while localization and transparency lag o
Organization's Primary Headquarters Italy United States Switzerland United States United States United States Value of Disbursements Receiving Organization (Colombia 2020) Type of Entity United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Chemonics International, Inc. International Organisation for Migration Mercy Corps ARD, Inc. Action Against Hunger Agriculture Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) Management Systems International Fintrac, Inc. USAID redacted this field in accordance with the exceptions outlined in the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016. Americares U.S. Government - U.S. Agency for International Development U.S. Government - Department of Agriculture Adventist Development and Relief Agency International United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Pan-American Health Organisation American Red Cross Caritas Colombiana International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women $68,551,621 $42,695,804 $34,965,167 $27,840,433 $19,237,856 $15,772,660 UN Agency Private UN Agency NGO Private NGO $15,657,282 United States NGO $14,602,736 $14,108,014 United States United States Private Private $7,561,100 United States Global program $5,368,803 United States NGO $5,135,756 United States Global program $4,157,407 United States Global program $3,279,272 United States NGO $2,500,000 Switzerland UN Agency $2,433,963 $2,342,688 $2,312,704 United States United States Vatican City UN Agency NGO Private $2,115,006 Switzerland NGO $1,871,885 United States UN Agency
Value of Disbursements Organization's Primary Headquarters Type of Entity Receiving Organization (Colombia 2020) Patrimonio Natural Fundaci n Luker Consultoria para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento Cooperativa Colanta Ltda Fondo para la Acci n Ambiental y la Ni ez Universidad de los Andes Bancama [sic] Jaime Arteaga & Asociados Fundaci n Barco $1,707,165 $1,259,220 Colombia Colombia NGO NGO $1,041,144 Colombia NGO $967,477 $935,104 $877,786 $876,051 $750,884 $651,384 Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Private Private Academia Private Private NGO Federaci n Nacional de Comerciantes FENALCO Seccional $625,748 Colombia Private Fundaci n Carvajal Corporacion Manos Visibles Asociaci n Probienestar de la Familia Colombiana Profamilia Fundaci n Ideas para la Paz Corporaci n Interactuar Arcangeles Centro de Estudios M dicos Interculturales Consejo Comunitario Mayor de la Asociaci n Campesina Integral Fundaci n Para El Desarrollo De Antioquia Antioquia Por Colombia Fundaci n Prolongar $601,051 $600,000 Colombia Colombia NGO NGO $512,235 Colombia Private $489,051 $415,659 $313,708 $275,000 Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Private NGO NGO NGO $120,000 Colombia NGO $94,000 Colombia NGO $88,000 Colombia Private Corporaci n Misi n de Observaci n Electoral $57,826 Colombia NGO Fundaci n Pacifista $33,873 Colombia Private
Organization's Primary Headquarters Italy United States United States United States Switzerland United States United States Value of Disbursements Receiving Organization (Colombia 2021) Type of Entity United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) ARD, Inc. Chemonics International, Inc. Mercy Corps International Organisation for Migration Management Systems International Action Against Hunger Agriculture Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) USAID redacted this field in accordance with the exceptions outlined in the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016. Fintrac, Inc. U.S. Government - U.S. Agency for International Development Development Alternatives, Inc. Americares International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Freedom House Pan-American Development Foundation Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA Somalia) Solidarites International Associaci n Nacional De Afrocolombianos Desplazados World Vision $93,583,186 $38,341,431 $35,596,368 $30,573,482 $30,433,048 $25,801,906 $22,024,372 UN Agency Private Private NGO UN Agency Private NGO $19,517,800 United States NGO Global program $18,121,005 United States $14,577,927 United States Private Global program Private NGO $9,171,589 United States $8,024,077 $7,130,660 United States United States $5,965,398 Switzerland NGO $3,886,586 $3,110,904 United States United States NGO NGO $2,880,821 United States NGO $2,871,573 France NGO $2,750,000 Colombia NGO $2,109,792 United States NGO
Value of Disbursements Organization's Primary Headquarters Type of Entity Receiving Organization (Colombia 2021) Associaci n Nacional De Afrocolombianos Desplazados (& Organizaci n Nacional Ind gena de Colombia, ONIC) $2,750,000 Colombia NGO Consultoria para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento $1,777,214 Colombia NGO Fundaci n Luker Bancama [sic] Corporaci n Manos Visibles Cooperativa Colanta Ltda Centro de Estudios M dicos Interculturales Fundaci n Carvajal Jaime Arteaga & Asociados Arcangeles Patrimonio Natural Corporaci n Interactuar Consejo Comunitario Mayor de la Asociaci n Campesina Integral $1,599,784 $1,514,990 $1,329,411 $757,859 $659,490 $639,740 $619,450 $519,702 $504,628 $477,824 Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia NGO Private NGO Private NGO NGO Private NGO NGO NGO $450,000 Colombia NGO Universidad de los Andes $399,251 Colombia Academia Federaci n Nacional de Comerciantes FENALCO Seccional $347,681 Colombia Private Fundaci n Barco $336,121 Colombia NGO Fundaci n Ideas para la Paz Asociaci n Probienestar de la Familia Colombiana Profamilia Fundaci n Pacifista Fundaci n Prolongar Fondo para la Acci n Ambiental y la Ni ez $231,043 $123,901 $92,500 $32,557 $12,300 Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Colombia Private Private Private Private Private
Organization's Primary Headquarters Value of Disbursements Receiving Organization (Colombia 2022) Type of Entity United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) $86,822,801 Italy UN Agency ARD, Inc. $42,572,421 United States Private Chemonics International, Inc. $35,838,123 United States Private Mercy Corps $31,822,301 United States NGO Action Against Hunger $24,950,168 United States NGO Agriculture Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) $17,748,901 United States NGO International Organisation for Migration $16,074,787 Switzerland UN Agency Development Alternatives, Inc. $14,971,308 United States Private Pan-American Development Foundation $12,463,198 United States NGO Management Systems International USAID redacted this field in accordance with the exceptions outlined in the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016. Fintrac, Inc. $11,361,977 United States Private Global program $10,033,246 United States $9,061,100 United States Private Partners of the Americas, Inc. $8,541,100 United States NGO U.S. Government - U.S. Agency for International Development Global program $7,385,682 United States Freedom House $5,079,815 United States NGO Americares $4,583,359 United States NGO Save the Children Federation, Inc. $3,063,172 United Kingdom NGO FHI 360 $3,027,871 United States NGO Norwegian Refugee Council $2,999,999 Norway NGO Blumont Global Development $2,633,190 United States NGO
Value of Disbursements Organization's Primary Headquarters Receiving Organization (Colombia 2022) Type of Entity Consultoria para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento $2,002,397 Colombia NGO Bancama [sic] Associaci n Nacional De Afrocolombianos Desplazados (& Organizaci n Nacional Ind gena de Colombia, ONIC) Fundaci n Luker $1,853,852 Colombia Private $1,199,997 Colombia NGO $1,083,764 Colombia NGO Cooperativa Colanta Ltda $886,630 Colombia Private Fundaci n Carvajal $613,278 Colombia NGO Corporaci n Manos Visibles $578,552 Colombia NGO Corporaci n Interactuar $571,177 Colombia NGO Fundaci n Ideas para la Paz $471,574 Colombia Private Arcangeles $407,863 Colombia NGO Centro de Estudios M dicos Interculturales $279,427 Colombia NGO Jaime Arteaga & Asociados Consejo Comunitario Mayor de la Asociaci n Campesina Integral Fundacion Barco Fundaci n Capital Fundak Sucursal Colombiana $266,281 Colombia Private $231,717 Colombia NGO $73,800 Colombia NGO $50,000 Colombia NGO
Project Name Implementing Partner Total Project Funding Obligated* as of July 12, 2023 Does the USAID fact sheet clearly identify the implementing partner? No No Does the USAID fact sheet list the total project budget? Does the USAID fact sheet portal page list an e-mail contact? Is project data searchable on USASpending using project name or implementing partner name? No Yes Does USASpending list sub-award data for the project? Does the USAID Evaluations dashboard provide project baseline, impact, or performance evaluation reports? Land for Prosperity Community Development and Licit Opportunities (CDLO) Paramos and Forests Activity Community Stabilization Activity (CSA) Responsive Governacne Resilient Communities Tetra Tech Tetra Tech $77,142,756 $71,548,083 No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Chemonics IOM DAI Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) Chemonics Management Systems International ACDI/VOCA $37,934,306 $31,174,669 $25,000,000 $21,453,386 No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No Inclusive Justice Colombia Transforma $20,368,108 $20,191,131 No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian Empowerment Activity (IPACE) Youth Resilience Weaving Lives and Hope Activity (WLH) Victims Participation And Collective Reparation Juntos Aprendemos $18,852,129 No No Yes Yes Yes No ACDI/VOCA IOM CODHES $18,419,207 $18,000,000 $16,433,207 No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Partners of the Americas Chemonics World Wildlife Fund $15,987,000 No No Yes Yes Yes No Integra Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources Activity (AIRR) Partners for Transparency Reactivation Colombia Amazon Alive Restoring Our Future Equitable Finance $15,250,000 $14,815,000 No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No DAI UNDP Chemonics IOM DAI $13,457,061 $11,800,498 $11,026,034 $8,000,000 $7,737,000 No Yes No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
Evaluation Dashboard (New) Mid-Term Evaluation USAID Clearing House (Legacy) Mid-term Report Project Name Amount Project End Date Final Baseline Report Other Final Report Baseline Report Other Evaluation Consolidation and Enhanced Livelihood Initiative (CELI) Central Region $113,450,325 4/19/17 No Yes No No Yes No No Yes Conflict Victims Program: Institutional Strengthening Activity $102,193,389 6/30/22 No No No No No No No No Colombia Emergency Food Assistance $98,500,000 12/31/21 No No No No No No No No Consolidation and Enhanced Livelihood Initiative (CELI) Northern and Southern Regions $93,568,059 10/11/17 No Yes No No No No No Yes Emergency multipurpose cash and nutrition activities in Colombia $91,103,774 12/31/22 No No No No No No No No Community Oriented Reintegration of Ex-combatants $87,308,343 12/31/15 No No No No No No No Yes Land & Rural Development Activity $76,022,585 8/17/20 No Yes No No No Yes No Yes Reconciliation Activity Producers to Market Alliance Activity (PMA) $74,774,113 $70,080,554 3/21/22 9/30/22 Yes No No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Program (ACIP) $61,207,071 10/31/16 No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Emergency program activities in Colombia. $60,269,169 11/30/22 No No No No No No No No Regional Governance Activity Humanitarian assistance $57,802,991 $56,307,166 9/30/21 Various Projects Yes No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No International Disaster Assistance for Colombia $50,000,001 8/31/20 No No No No No No No No Foster Social and Economic Inclusion of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities $50,000,001 6/30/21 Yes No No No No No No No Justice for a Sustainable Peace SWIFT IV Task Order for Colombia $45,536,987 $45,253,225 4/4/22 2/5/22 Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No Yes No OTI/Colombia task order [Colombia Transforma] $36,708,137 2/5/22 No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Program for Integrated Humanitarian Assistance Support to Internally Displaced Persons and Other Vulnerable Groups $36,521,606 3/31/12 No No No No Yes No No No Reintegration and Prevention of Recruitment program $33,913,622 2/1/20 No No No No No No No Yes
ARC developed new sectoral categories to make relative spending weights more visible and easily understandable to non-specialists o These categories are based on US Category Names, which are A framework developed to categorize U.S. government foreign assistance reporting across agencies ARC Categories include: Humanitarian Assistance, Security: Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform, Economic Development, Peace, Democracy, Human Rights, & Governance, Program Support, Health, Environment, Labor Policies & Markets, and Education & Social Services ARC evaluated line items for Colombia s FY2021 disbursements to determine if the US Category name was apt for projects, or if certain projects should be recategorized. Coding decisions included: o Coding all projects with the goal of creating peace to the ARC Category Peace These projects typically focused on general post-conflict peacebuilding and mitigating lingering effects of the conflict, such as demining projects o Coding projects relating to support and protection of direct conflict victims to Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance o Coding all Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs projects, along with projects related to policing, to Security: Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform o Coding all Covid-related projects to Health The ARC Categories contain three main differences from the US Category Names o The new Peace ARC Category contains many projects previously categorized under Peace and Security, but also contains projects previously coded under different US Category names such as Economic Development and Education and Social Services o The new Security: Counter-Narcotics & Security Sector Reform ARC Category contains many projects previously categorized under Peace and Security, but now includes all Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs projects o The new Labor Policies & Markets ARC Category lifts up projects designed to protect workers' rights. This category was previously coded as a US Sector Name, as a subset of the Economic Development category For the graph, negative values for the Department of the Interior (-$224,221 in Environment) and Peace
ARC utilized USAID projects Activity Description to highlight project objectives, and make visible relative funding changes over time o Coding decisions were based on ForeignAssistance.gov official descriptions, utilizing the Activity Description language and details. Projects with no Activity Description other than the project name were not assigned objectives coding unless they 1) contained easily searchable project information made available by USAID or 2) were projects with easily identifiable objectives, such as Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Program or Assistance To Demobilization And Reintegration . All administrative, project support, monitoring and evaluation, logistics and acquisitions, and redacted line items were coded as All Other Projects The eight objectives examined with the parameters used for coding, along with examples, are found on the following slide. Coding process: 1. Download full Colombia disbursements dataset from ForeignAssistance.gov. Data includes disbursements between FY2001-2023. 2. Add filter and sort data by Managing Agency using U.S. Agency for International Development . 3. Read Activity Description of all USAID projects that contain the following terms: 4. "transpar*"; "corru*"; "overs*"; "oversee"; "rule of law"; "good governance"; "management"; "crim*"; "illeg*"; "licit"; justic*"; "account*"; "building"; "land". 5. Provide an initial coding for each line item based on the Activity Description conveyance of project objectives. 6. Read Activity Description of all USAID projects in US Sector Name : Rule of Law and Human Rights ; Good Governance ; Conflict Mitigation and Reconciliation ; Political Competition and Consensus Building ; Stabilization Operations and Security Sector Reform . 7. Provide an initial coding for each line item based on the Activity Description conveyance of project objectives. 8. Sort USAID managed projects by Activity Name . Read through all Activity Description cells to ensure consistency and accuracy of coding. 9. Send out projects with possible category overlap for external review on coding. 10. Repeat steps 5) and 6) as needed to ensure consistency and accuracy across coding decisions. Note: Words with an * indicate the stem word was searched to examine different versions of a word, such as transpar* accounting for both transparent and transparency
Categories include: o Peace. Includes funding focused on economic, social (civil society), and/or capacity-building support for local, municipal, or national government in conflict- affected areas. Peace-related projects can overlap with most other categories. For the more streamlined Peace coding schema, coding decisions were predicated on a determination of the primary funding objective. Example: Reconciliation and Conflict Prevention The purpose of the activity is to contribute to reconciliation among victims, ex-combatants, and host communities in four municipalities affected by conflict by strengthening attitudes and skills associated with a culture of peace and a pacific coexistence. o Peace & Economic Development. Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both Peace and Economic Development . All Peace & Economic Development projects are re-coded as Peace in the streamlined coding. Example. Cocoa Effect Activity The goal of the activity is to strengthen the cocoa productive chain, contributing to better living conditions of producers and their surrounding communities, in municipalities of 3 sub-regions: Urab, Bajo Cauca Antioqueo and Centro-Sur del Huila, as a foundation for the construction of a lasting peace in Colombia. o Peace & Environment. Includes funding focused on environmental conservation in conflict-affected areas. Example: Paramos and Forests Activity The purpose of the USAID Paramos and Forests Activity is to support Colombia in the implementation of its Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses related climate change mitigation goals, while strengthening community-based sustainable development initiatives in the context of a post peace agreement scenario. o Peace & Ethnic Inclusion. Includes Peace funding designed to support Afro-Colombian and Indigenous populations, typically through rights protections, economic development, and aiding in the development of greater capacity for self-governance. For streamlined coding, all Peace & Ethnic Inclusion funding is re-coded as Ethnic Inclusion . Example. Foster Social and Economic Inclusion of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities Through this activity, USAID seeks to support the efforts of an organization to foster social and economic inclusion of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities that have been severely affected by conflict, with a special emphasis within that community on people with disabilities, LGBTI population, and victims of gender-based violence. o Peace & Good Governance. Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both Peace and Good Governance . Example. Regional Governance Activity- To enhance good governance, public financial management and service delivery in conflict-affected municipalities. o Peace & Humanitarian. Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both Peace and Humanitarian . o Peace & Human Rights. Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both Peace and Human Rights . o Peace & Lands Rights. Includes funding formalizing land tenure and land access in conflict-affected areas. Example. Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR ) II The purpose of this Activity is to improve the conditions of conflict affected rural households in a sustainable manner. This will be achieved by providing massive access to land titles while supporting land restitution as part of the broader land titling.
Categories include: o Economic Development. Includes funding to spur economic growth and enlarge markets. Example. Development Assistance Partnershipand co-creation modules: building effective multistakeholder partnerships and co-design/co-create shared value (practicum and follow through included) o Environment. Includes funding for environmental conservation. Example.Amazonia Connect Amazonia connect purpose is to reduce commodity-driven deforestation (CDD) in the amazon. o Environment & Economic Development. Includes funding with objectives closely aligned with both Environment and Economic Development o Environment & Good Governance. Example. Amazon Alive/Forest Management and Conservation In response to Colombia recent surge in deforestation and biodiversity loss, the purpose of the amazon alive activity is to (1) improve the effectiveness of the environmental crime prevention and prosecution and (2) improve the effectiveness of forest conservation and management. This will be an integrated activity designed to contribute to Colombian development by strengthening social cohesion, responsive governance, and environmentally sustainable economic development. o Ethnic Inclusion. In the expansive coding, this category captures projects geared toward Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities, but do not contain a clear connection to peace-related funding. o Good Governance. Includes projects designed to improve or reform state institutions, promote transparency and oversight, and implement anti-corruption policies. Some good governance project descriptions contain language about the benefits of the reform, but coding for these projects is predicated on the core governance objective. Example: Partners for Transparency Leverage Local Partner S [sic] Expertise To Promote Transparency And Accountability In Colombia. o Human Rights. Includes projects designed to ensure rights protections in Colombia and/or monitor the Colombian government s compliance with international human rights standards. Example: Human Rights Program II Advance Colombian initiatives in preventing, protecting and responding to human rights abuses. o Humanitarian. Includes funding designed to respond to the needs of vulnerable people in crisis situations. Humanitarian aid is inclusive of support for internally displaced people and refugees. Example: The Community Stabilization Activity The Community Stabilization Activity responds to the need to provide the Government of Colombia (GOC) with technical assistance and tools to address the dire humanitarian situation created in communities affected by the sudden increase of population flows from Venezuela. o All Other Funding. This category contains administrative, indeterminate, and residual funding that does not properly fit in the above objective categories. In the streamlined coding, Economic Development specific funding was re-coded in this category to make other priority issue areas more visible.
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