The rock star Shakira, through her Foundation Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet), yesterday inaugurated a new school for more than 600 students in Quibdó, the capital of Chocó, on the border with Panamá and one of the poorest Departments in Colombia.

IOM, through its USAID-funded programme, "Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons, Receptor Communities and other Vulnerable Groups", contributed to the rehabilitation and upgrade of the classrooms and the water and sanitation system of the Maria Bermanchs School and is providing education alternatives as part of its Open Doors School Strategy.

The Open Doors School Strategy, carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Education, provides internally displaced children forced to miss school or who arrive in a new place in the middle of a school year, the opportunity to continue their studies until they are able to integrate into the normal school system. The strategy also allows for schools to be kept open and in operation every day of the year so that adults can continue their education as well and as a place for the community to host cultural, sporting and entertainment events. The success of the IOM Open Doors School Strategy has been so successful that the government is using it throughout the country.

Among the facilities the 623 students at the Maria Bermanchs School will now enjoy are 14 new classrooms, a computer room with Internet facilities, a playground, a cafeteria and bathrooms.

The civil society initiative, Conexión Colombia www.conexioncolombia.com, created to establish links with Colombian expatriates wishing to contribute to the development of their country, are sponsoring the education through secondary school of 150 internally displaced children currently at the school.

The Department of Chocó is one of the poorest areas in the country with a large Afro-Colombian and indigenous population. Since 1996, Chocó has experienced escalating violence caused by the illegal armed groups and has been struggling to cope with an increasing number of internally displaced persons. The Colombia government estimates that as of December 2004, more than 50,000 internally displaced people were living in Quibdó.

The rehabilitation of the school is part of the IOM Matching Funds Strategy designed to gather support from the private sector, civil society, the international community, Colombians in the diaspora and the national and local government. Participants in this Matching Funds Strategy included Pies Descalzos Foundation; the Colombian government; the President's IT Learning Programme through the Institute for Family Welfare; the Mayor's Office of Quibdó; Movistar, a Spanish Telephone Company; IOM and USAID. The Maria Bermanchs School project received US$ 338,270 from Pies Descalzos Foundation, US$217, 074 from Movistar, US$ 43,703 from Conexión Colombia, and US$ 77,492 from IOM.

For more information contact:

IOM Colombia, Rocio Sanz, Email: rsanz@oim.org.co Tel: +57 1 622 77 74