A group of persons demobilized from illegal armed groups will
receive training in the art of shoemaking as part of an IOM project
that supports the reintegration process through training, job
creation and income generation opportunities.

The Footwear School/Workshop, supported by the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), will enable 75 people
to receive training and receive job offers in footwear companies
that are supporting the IOM-managed project. 

Footwear manufacturers from the Bogota area, represented by
Ansecalz (National Leather and Footwear Association), stated in a
2008 IOM survey that there is a lack of qualified personnel and
that they would hire persons taking part in the reintegration
process who posses the skills needed in their factories.

"From this survey emerged the idea of the Footwear
School/Workshop, which is now housed in a building vacated by a
college.  The building was adapted and fully equipped with 10
machines, including stitching machines, double-needle sewing
machines, strip cutters and zig-zag machines," explains Jose Angel
Oropeza, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.

This is the second school/workshop of this type supported by IOM
in Colombia.  The first, opened in Cali in 2004, has provided
training and found employment for 1,000 internally displaced
persons and has produced 154,000 pairs of shoes per year.  The
earnings of USD 308,000 have been divided amongst the workers.

The project was developed under an agreement signed by the
Presidential High Council for Reintegration (ACR), the Bogota
Chamber of Commerce, the Mayor's Office of Bogota, IOM and
USAID.

According to Colombia's High Commissioner for Reintegration
51,000 people have demobilized from illegal armed groups, 35,000 of
them as a result of negotiations between the Colombian government
and the armed groups between 2003 and 2006.  The
demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process
includes psychosocial support, income generation projects and
occupational training to ensure that the ex-combatants will not
return to illegal activities.

In 2006, IOM began implementing its Community-Oriented
Reintegration Assistance Programme with funding from USAID. 
The programme supports the Government's Peace Process by helping
demobilized persons and their families to reintegrate into civilian
life, and victims gain access to truth, justice and
compensation.  So far, 129 projects have been approved helping
some 60,000 persons including the demobilized, their families, the
receiving communities and victims of the illegal armed groups.

For more information, please contact:

Adriana Correa Mazuera

IOM Colombia

Tel: +57 1 622 7774 ext 140

E-mail: "mailto:acorrea@iom.int">acorrea@iom.int