Fusion Colombia : About

"Internally displaced people in Colombia are subjects of one of, if not the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere,” and yet they remain “invisible, not only internationally, but even in Bogotá.”
- Kamel Morjane, Assistant United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2004

Fusion Colombia was created by the international organization, Fusion International, as its implementing partner in Colombia in 2004.  Fusion International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington that provides technical, administrative, legal and financial support to Fusion Colombia.  Fusion’s organizational structure is designed to utilize local professionals’ knowledge and skills while ensuring accountability and sustainability via international support. 

In the past year, Fusion Colombia has implemented projects with partners such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Tejaditos Foundation, and SENA (the Colombian government’s job-training agency).  Fusion Colombia currently sits on the United Nations’ Humanitarian Committee of Southern Bogotá and Soacha, where it coordinates humanitarian and development activities with other nonprofits, local governmental agencies and the United Nations. 

The majority of Colombia’s three million internally displaced persons are poor farmers who have been forced from their homes by the right wing paramilitaries or leftist guerrilla groups that battle over Colombia’s resource-rich land. Displaced Colombians typically seek refuge from armed actors in the slums of urban centers, Bogotá being the most popular. Tragically, most displaced persons living in the cities of Colombia face dire socioeconomic conditions and discrimination in employment, housing, and social services. Considering that the majority of displaced persons in Bogotá intend to reside there on a permanent basis and approximately 80% are from rural areas with generally non-transferable job skills, there is an overwhelming need for the integration services Fusion provides.

Some alarming statistics on internal displacement in Colombia:

• Ninety-two percent of internally displaced persons in Colombia do not make enough money to meet their basic needs and 80 percent live in situations of extreme poverty. - World Food Program, 2003
• For the last six years, internal displacement in Colombia has been voted one of the top ten most underreported humanitarian crises in the world by the medical relief organization Doctors without Borders.
• In the first eight months of 2005, more than 143 youth under the age of twenty were killed by guerrillas or paramilitaries in Ciudad Bolivar, a neighborhood in Bogotá where many internally displaced persons reside.