The second phase of the project that is helping internally
displaced families become self-sufficient through the creation of
income-generating initiatives received USD 73.7 million.

IOM and Colombia's Presidential Agency for Social Action and
International Cooperation – Acción Social – this
week signed a USD 73.7 million cooperation agreement to carry out
these projects.

Acción Social will provide USD 63.3 million in funding,
and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
through IOM, is providing USD10.4 million. The first phase which
began in June 2007, received USD 60 million from Acción
Social and USD 15 million from USAID.

The second phase will directly benefit some 30,000 internally
displaced families and will provide psychosocial support,
counselling and support in the formulation of their long-term goals
and plans to enter the labour market, or to develop small business
plans. They will also receive administrative and technical
training, along with loans to start their micro-enterprises, as
well as training in the initial investment and post-investment
phases.

In 2007 more than 19,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs)
received training in small enterprises and income-generation. The
project invested USD 7 million in providing emergency humanitarian
assistance to 17,600 others. An additional USD 800,000 was invested
in buying and distributing food and personal hygiene kits.

In order to qualify for the programme, the families have to be
registered as internally displaced with the National Registry of
Displaced Population (RUPD by its Spanish acronym) and must not
have received previous financial support from Acción Social
for income-generating projects.

According to the official RUPD, there are 2,119,079 internally
displaced persons in Colombia. Through this initiative,
Acción Social is fulfilling its commitment to the displaced,
as stipulated in Law 387 of 1997 and Constitutional Court Ruling
025 of 2004.

For further information, please contact:

Jorge Andres Gallo

IOM Colombia

Tel: + 5715946410 ext 142

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@oim.org.co">jgallo@oim.org.co