After two months of intensive training under the Productive Environments Model, 30 people in the process of reincorporation and members of the community residing in different parts of the country graduated as technicians in “Coffee processing with emphasis on threshing, roasting and sensory analysis", knowledge that they will be able to apply to strengthen the sustainability of their productive projects.
The Government of President Iván Duque and the international community seek to promote the development of academic, labor, and psychosocial skills in people who are making progress in their return to legality and to strengthen their employability and productivity profile through the Productive Environments, a model created in 2014.
This Friday, September 17th, the closing ceremony was held with the participation of 17 people in reincorporation, one in reintegration and 13 from the community, who, accompanied by their families, received a diploma certifying them as experts in coffee roasting and cupping.
This important training program was part of Agreement 1186 of 2021, signed between the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with financial support from the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF), so that participants were able to learn, in approximately 2 months, about coffee processing.
“Peace is built from various scenarios, and the training provided by the Productive Environments program is one of the most important. In the specific case of Cauca, these two stages of training in the transformation of coffee are a very important economic effort, which allows the people in the reincorporation process to commit to a peace based on legality and entrepreneurship, with strong training processes and qualified productive skills", said Andrés Felipe Stapper Segrera, ARN's Director General.
The participants of this Environment complemented their training with the diploma course "By Sowing coffee we harvest peace", which was implemented by the Institute of Intercultural Studies of the Javeriana University of Cali, and a cupping course given by the National Learning Service (SENA).
“In Cauca we have faith in the coffee business. The productive environments are a second opportunity for us, because we can demonstrate to society and to our families that we are truly committed to the peace building", said Arlez Gutiérrez, one of the people in the process of reincorporation who participated in this training program.
This Productive Environment was developed in the department of Cauca and was implemented by Tecnicafé's Parque Tecnológico de Innovación (Technological Innovation Park) in the municipality of Cajibío, where the country's main bean producers meet to improve harvesting processes and train to give added value to Colombia's flagship product.
“A process that will benefit not only the people involved in the reincorporation process, but also their families and their territories, has come to an end. These results reinforce the commitment of ex-combatants, the National Government, international cooperation and civil society to peace building", said Ana Durán-Salvatierra, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.
Finally, psychosocial support is provided to the person in the reincorporation process, covering aspects of personal, family, work, and community performance in these training programs, in order to strengthen the social fabric with the community and contribute to reparation and non-repetition.
Interesting facts:
- 55 Productive Environments have been implemented for people seeking to reincorporate into society from 2014 to 2021, benefiting 1,882 people. The focus of these environments has been agriculture, fish farming, livestock, coffee, avocado, aloe, tourism, clothing, pig farming, yellow machinery, motorcycle mechanics, textile manufacturing and motorcycle mechanics, inter alia.
- People in the reincorporation process who are part of the Productive Environments participate in leisure and sports activities, artistic workshops, citizenship competitions and other activities that contribute in a comprehensive manner to their training and to enhancing the human approach of the Model.