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Reporter's Notebook: Stephen Peacock

Input From Human Rights Groups Sought by USAID/Colombia for 2006-2010 Roadmap

Posted by Stephen Peacock - February 6, 2006 at 4:12 pm
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking "credible and non-partisan civil society organizations" to help it craft the future of human-rights policy in Colombia. USAID, which says it spent $34 million from 2001-2006 in support of "governmental and non-governmental human rights projects in Colombia," is hoping that funding over the next five years will be comparable. Consequently, it has issued a "sources sought" notice  to elicit additional input from global human-rights institutions on how to best put future funding to good use in Colombia.

Rather than designing and releasing a detailed roadmap for its 2006-2010 human rights program, USAID/Colombia has determined that "a final comprehensive consultation process is necessary with representatives of Colombian government, Colombian State and civil society involved in human rights work." In order to spark that discussion, the agency late last week released a document  titled Concept Paper for USAID Consultation with Colombian and International Civil Society Organizations, which also is available in Spanish, Documento de Consulta de la USAID con organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil Colombiana.    

This paper is intended to facilitate that process by providing general background information on USAID’s existing human rights program in Colombia, as well as to identify potential areas of engagement for future USAID assistance.  

USAID is hosting a series of meetings and related workshops with a wide range of governmental, state and civil society organizations to solicit input for the future program. For that purpose, USAID/Colombia looks forward to obtaining feedback from the Colombian and international community participating in this process.

Comments from interested participants must be submitted no later than 10 a.m. on March 1, 2006, and only will be accepted via e-mail (sxavier@usaid.gov or ovallejo@usaid.gov). USAID emphasized that it will not respond to submitted questions until after it releases a formal Request for Proposals.    

About Stephen Peacock

Biography
I'm a former Washington, DC, journalist (1998-2003) who most recently worked for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily (WID), investigative newsletters that cover the telecommunications, broadcast and Internet industries. Following the 9/11 attacks, my news beat expanded beyond Capitol Hill telecom/TV/IT policy and began to include technology-policy coverage at the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security. I've written over a thousand articles about government and industry affairs, and I'm pleased to say that I was the reporter who broke the story about the Total Information Awareness surveillance/data-collection initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. I've written articles for publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, Drug Enforcement Report, Corrections Journal, SoJo Mail (Sojourners), and the Tampa Tribune. I've also written a memoir about my former career as a plainclothes security officer of the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze. I look forward to contributing to the fine work being done here at NarcoSphere.

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USAID Meets With Colombian 'Civil Society' Groups

Submitted February 17, 2006 - 3:47 pm by Stephen Peacock
USAID this week released a summary of meetings that it held in late January with Colombian civil society groups. The groups generally agree that the human-rights Concept Paper "correctly identifies the most important and urgent needs and concerns of Colombian civil society," according to USAID. However, some of the participants expressed concern that the guidance document over-emphasized the role of demobilized militias at the expense of victimes of violence.

USAID Meets With U.S.-Based Civile Society Groups

Submitted March 6, 2006 - 1:54 pm by Stephen Peacock
USAID just released a document containig notes on recent meetings with potential U.S. participants in this project. It's available via this link; just scroll down to the appropriate link there.

Typos

Submitted March 8, 2006 - 11:40 am by Stephen Peacock
My apologies for the blatant typos in the above comment. The headline should read "Civil" Society, and my misspelling of the word "containing" has not gone unnoticed.

Consultas en Espanol -- Correction by USAID

Submitted March 9, 2006 - 12:04 pm by Stephen Peacock
Re: Consultas de USAID con Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil respecto del programa de C para los anos 2006-2010. Conclusiones y Recomendaciones. (Enero 26 y 27, 2006, Bogota, Colombia).

USAID originally said the document was a Q&A with U.S. civil society groups; rather, as it has clarified, it is a Spanish translation of the "conclusions and recommendations" report.

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