the boys have lost their love for land: reparation programs for colombia's displaced population

Marcin Sliwa

The boys have lost their love for land: Reparation programs for Colombias displaced population

Masters Thesis in Urban Ecological Planning

Trondheim, Norway May 2015

Supervisors:

Professor David Sanderson Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Ph.D. Henrik Wiig Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art Department of Urban Design and Planning

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Abstract Over 5.7 million people were displaced in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, the majority of them from rural to urban areas. After 2010, the government initiated two large-scale reparation programs for displaced population: Land Restitution and Free Housing. The first initiative aims to restore the rights of victims to the dispossessed properties and encourages their return to the countryside. The intent of the second program is to provide free houses in cities where they settled after the displacement. This thesis examines how those two programs affect the livelihoods of the displaced households in Northern Colombia, one of the most affected regions by the conflict.

The empirical data and observations indicate that in the short term the Free Housing program has had a positive impact on the beneficiary households as it allows affected people to sustain and advance the livelihoods they developed in the city after displacement. On the other hand, Land Restitution fails to preserve or improve the current livelihood situation of the displaced households, as return to the depopulated rural areas and the reestablishment of agricultural activities for many is not seen as an attractive and economically viable alternative. This is especially true for the younger members of the displaced households, who, as one informant said, have lost their love for land.

Key words: Livelihood, Housing, Land Restitution, Reparation, Social policy, Latin America, Colombia

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Resumen en espaol Ms de 5.7 millones de personas fueron vctimas de desplazamiento forzado en el marco del conflicto armado interno en Colombia, la mayora de ellos de zonas rurales a urbanas. Despus de 2010, el gobierno implement dos programas para la reparacin a las vctimas del conflicto armado: Restitucin de Tierras y Viviendas Gratis. La primera iniciativa tiene por objeto la restitucin de los derechos de las propiedades despojadas a las victimas e incentiva su retorno al campo. La intencin del segundo programa es proporcionar a las vctimas viviendas gratuitas en las ciudades receptoras, donde se establecieron despus del desplazamiento. Esta tesis examina como esos dos programas impactan los medios de vida de la poblacin vctima asentada en el norte de Colombia, una de las regiones ms afectadas por el conflicto.

Los datos empricos y observaciones indican que en el corto plazo, el programa de Viviendas Gratis ha tenido un impacto positivo a los hogares beneficiarios, porque les permite sostener y elevar los medios de vida que han desarrollado despus del desplazamiento en la ciudad. Por otro lado, la Restitucin de Tierras no ha logrado preservar o mejorar la situacin actual de sustento, porque en general, el retorno a las zonas rurales despobladas y el restablecimiento de actividades agrcolas no es considerado por la poblacin como una alternativa atractiva y econmicamente viable. Eso es especialmente cierto en el caso de los miembros ms jvenes de los hogares desplazados, quienes, de acuerdo con un informante, "perdieron el amor a la tierra."

Palabras clave: Sustento, Vivienda, Restitucin de Tierras, Reparacin, Poltica social, Amrica Latina, Colombia

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Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ........................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ viii Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................. ix 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Significance of the Study ............................................................................... 2 1.2. Research Question ........................................................................................ 3 1.3. Outline ........................................................................................................... 4

2. Context ................................................................................................................ 7 2.1. The Colombian conflict and forced displacement .......................................... 7 2.2. IDP livelihoods and urban poverty ............................................................... 10 2.3. The transition to peace ................................................................................ 11 2.4. Post-conflict reparation programs ................................................................ 12 2.5. Motivations and challenges of carrying out a comparative study ................. 15

3. Research Methods ............................................................................................ 18 3.1. Preliminary work .......................................................................................... 19 3.2. Fieldwork ..................................................................................................... 20 3.3. Data analysis ............................................................................................... 27 3.4. Research limitations .................................................................................... 28

4. Literature Review and Theory ......................................................................... 30 4.1. Knowledge gaps .......................................................................................... 30 4.2. Migration, urbanization, and return .............................................................. 31 4.3. Social networks ........................................................................................... 34 4.4. Government interventions ........................................................................... 35

5. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................... 42

6. Comparison of the two programs: scope and scale ..................................... 45 7. Case Presentation El Carmen de Bolvar .................................................... 52

7.1. The municipality of El Carmen de Bolvar .................................................... 52 7.2. Reparation initiatives in El Salado ............................................................... 58 7.3. The process of Land Restitution .................................................................. 59

8. Case Analysis El Carmen de Bolvar ........................................................... 63 8.1. The town ...................................................................................................... 63 8.2. The countryside ........................................................................................... 73 8.3. Summary ..................................................................................................... 82

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9. Case Presentation Barranquilla and Soledad ............................................. 85 9.1. The metropolitan area of Barranquilla and Soledad .................................... 85 9.2. The DINCS model ....................................................................................... 92 9.3. The process of Free Housing ...................................................................... 95

10. Case Analysis Barranquilla and Soledad .................................................... 98 10.1. Don Bosco IV .............................................................................................. 98 10.2. Nueva Esperanza ...................................................................................... 105 10.3. Villas de San Pablo ................................................................................... 110 10.4. Summary ................................................................................................... 116

11. Findings .......................................................................................................... 119 11.1. IDPs prefer to stay in urban areas ............................................................. 119 11.2. Bad timing of Land Restitution ................................................................... 121 11.3. Challenges of property formalization ......................................................... 121 11.4. Land Restitution can cause new conflicts and can harm rural areas ......... 122 11.5. Both reparation programs raise ethical questions ..................................... 124 11.6. Importance of social movements ............................................................... 124

12. Conclusions and Implications ....................................................................... 126 12.1. Implications for theory ............................................................................... 126 12.2. Implications for practice ............................................................................. 128

13. Epilogue .......................................................................................................... 136 13.1. Update on Land Restitution ....................................................................... 136 13.2. Update on Free Housing ........................................................................... 137 13.3. Closing remarks ........................................................................................ 139

References ............................................................................................................. 141

Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................. 147 Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................. 148 Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................. 150

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List of Figures Figure 1.1. Village man in Villas de San Pablo ........................................................................ 2 Figure 1.2. Map of the Caribbean Region of Colombia ........................................................... 5 Figure 2.1. Forced displacement in Colombia ......................................................................... 8 Figure 2.2. Density of events of displacement by department ................................................. 9 Figure 2.3. San Javier district in Medelln (Antioquia) ........................................................... 10 Figure 2.4. Displacements and declarations of persons (1985-2012) ................................... 11 Figure 2.5. Cover page of The Victims Law........................................................................... 13 Figure 2.6. Promotional sign near Las Gardenias Free Housing project ............................... 14 Figure 2.7. Construction of Las Gardenias ............................................................................ 16 Figure 3.1. A tour of El Carmen de Bolvar ............................................................................ 22 Figure 3.2. Displacement and migration patterns of the interviewed households ................. 25 Figure 4.1. Urbanization in Colombia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the World ...... 33 Figure 4.2. An informal settlement in Bogot under consolidation ........................................ 38 Figure 4.3. Demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing project in St. Louis ......................... 39 Figure 4.4. Popular District in Medelln (Antioquia) ............................................................... 40 Figure 5.1. Simplified theoretical model connecting the main themes ................................... 43 Figure 5.2. Theoretical model ................................................................................................ 43 Figure 6.1. Distribution of Free Housing projects and Land Restitution zones in 2014 ......... 47 Figure 6.2. Beneficiary households (August 2014) ................................................................ 48 Figure 6.3. Claims and applications (August 2014) ............................................................... 48 Figure 6.4. Federal government funding in USD ................................................................... 49 Figure 7.1. Map of the municipality of El Carmen de Bolvar ................................................. 53 Figure 7.2. The town of El Carmen de Bolvar and the surrounding rural areas ................... 53 Figure 7.3. Abandoned cargo airport in El Carmen de Bolvar .............................................. 55 Figure 7.4. Construction of a traditional farmhouse .............................................................. 56 Figure 7.5. Celebrations of the Virgin of Carmen .................................................................. 57 Figure 7.6. El Salado ............................................................................................................. 58 Figure 8.1. Center of El Carmen de Bolvar........................................................................... 64 Figure 8.2. The street in front of Maras house in El Carmen ............................................... 65 Figure 8.3. Marketplace in the town of El Carmen de Bolvar ............................................... 68 Figure 8.4. The street in front of Andrs shop ...................................................................... 72 Figure 8.5. Farm in Vereda El Bonito .................................................................................... 74 Figure 8.6. David showing one of the abandoned fields in El Bonito ..................................... 77 Figure 8.7. Abandoned property ............................................................................................ 77 Figure 8.8. Children of the countryside .................................................................................. 78 Figure 8.9. Access roads in rural areas ................................................................................. 79 Figure 8.10. Antonio from Vereda Carvajal ........................................................................... 81 Figure 8.11. Enriques son at their farm in Vereda La Borrachera ........................................ 81 Figure 8.12. Theoretical model for analysis of data from El Carmen de Bolvar. ..................... 83 Figure 9.1. Map of Barranquilla and Soledad ........................................................................ 86 Figure 9.2. Squatter settlement in Barranquilla ..................................................................... 86 Figure 9.3. Affluent district in the northern part of Barranquilla ............................................. 87 Figure 9.4. Satellite image of Nueva Esperanza ................................................................... 88

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Figure 9.5. Housing block in a traditional suburban settlement in Soledad ........................... 89 Figure 9.6. Housing block in Nueva Esperanza ..................................................................... 89 Figure 9.7. Satellite image of Villas de San Pablo ................................................................. 90 Figure 9.8. Free Housing apartment blocks at Villas de San Pablo ...................................... 91 Figure 9.9. Houses from other subsidy programs at Villas de San Pablo ............................. 91 Figure 9.10. Playground in Villas de San Pablo .................................................................... 92 Figure 9.11. Prepaid electricity meters in Villas de San Pablo .............................................. 93 Figure 9.12. Grocery store in a ground floor apartment in Villas de San Pablo ..................... 94 Figure 9.13. New apartment in Villas de San Pablo .............................................................. 96 Figure 10.1. Don Bosco IV neighborhood in Soledad............................................................ 99 Figure 10.2. Members of ADMUNE and their associates ...................................................... 99 Figure 10.3. Sra. Claudia ..................................................................................................... 101 Figure 10.4. Claudia and Sara at the opening event of the new bakery .............................. 102 Figure 10.5. Overview of the Nueva Esperanza Free Housing project. ............................... 105 Figure 10.6. Unisex hair salon in Nueva Esperanza ............................................................ 107 Figure 10.7. Street corner near Carlos house in Nueva Esperanza ................................... 107 Figure 10.8. Empty spaces between housing blocks in Nueva Esperanza ......................... 109 Figure 10.9. Overview of the Villas de San Pablo Free Housing project ............................. 110 Figure 10.10. Housing blocks in Villas de San Pablo .......................................................... 113 Figure 10.11. Subsidized houses in Villas de San Pablo. ................................................... 115 Figure 10.12. Theoretical model for analysis of data from Barranquilla and Soledad ........... 116 Figure 11.1. Marketplace in Barranquilla. ............................................................................ 120 Figure 11.2. Villas de San Pablo ......................................................................................... 122 Figure 11.3. Vacant farm in El Carmen de Bolvar .............................................................. 123 Figure 12.1. Amended theoretical model ............................................................................. 127 Figure 12.2. Schematic illustration of the selected challenges in rural areas ...................... 130 Figure 12.3. Schematic illustration of potential responses to the challenges ...................... 130 Figure 12.4. Street in Nueva Esperanza.............................................................................. 132 Figure 12.5. Elemental affordable housing project Quinta Monroy in Iquique, Chile ........... 133 Figure 12.6. Quinta Monroy a few years after construction ................................................. 133 Figure 12.7. Siete de Abril neighborhood in the southwestern part of Barranquilla ............. 134 Figure 13.1. Las Gardenias Free Housing project in Barranquilla. ...................................... 138

List of Tables Table 3.1. Summary of informant interviews. ......................................................................... 22 Table 3.2. Summary of household interviews. ....................................................................... 24 Table 3.3. Summary of the focus group. ................................................................................ 26 Table 3.4. Summary of not classified interviews. ................................................................... 26 Table 3.5. Division of the case study analysis. ...................................................................... 28 Table 6.1. Distribution of Free Housing and Land Restitution projects by department .......... 46 Table 6.2. Scale and scope summary. ................................................................................... 51

All photographs were taken by the author, unless otherwise stated.

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Acknowledgements There are many people who contributed to my work and I would like to express my immense appreciation for their support. I am particularly thankful for the assistance given by my supervisors: David Sanderson, Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Ph.D. Henrik Wiig, Senior Researcher and Manager of the Colombia Land and Gender project at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR). I appreciate the support of Elena Archipovaite, who was the first person to tell me about this research opportunity.

I would like to give my special thanks to Jemima Garca-Godos, human geographer and Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, for her useful comments and tips. Advices given by Professor Rolee Aranya, Research Assistant Vilde Ulset and Professor Hans Skotte from the Department of Urban Design and Planning at NTNU have also been a great help in the development of my thesis. I am very thankful to my friend Lisa Choi from University of Oxford for constructive comments and for proofreading this work.

My investigation in Colombia would not be possible without the assistance of Professor Paola Garca Reyes, from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, as well as Beln Pardo, Laura Ochoa Guzman and Judith Zableh Orozco, members of the Land Observatory research project. I would also like to thank the administration of the Universidad del Norte for their hospitality and for providing access to their facilities. Furthermore, I appreciate the friendship and all the comments and ideas given by Pablo Arturo Yepes Carvajal, Assistant Professor at the Universidad del Atlntico (Barranquilla).

I would like to express my gratitude to my contacts at the Mario Santo Domingo Foundation and the Villas de San Pablo housing project, particularly Anahel Mara Hernndez Valega, Karina Garca Uribe, Ronald David Silva Manjarrs and Mariam Ajami Peralta. I am also grateful to Ella Del Castillo and Diana Carmona Nobles from the Land Restitution Unit (URT) in Barranquilla for introducing me to the local context and Sra. Xiomara for her assistance during my visits in El Carmen de Bolvar.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all the interviewees for taking their time to participate in my project, my family for their unconditional support and my fellow students of the Urban Ecological Planning Masters Programme at NTNU for all the comments and friendship.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms ADMUNE Association of Women of Nueva Esperanza

(Asociacin de Mujeres de Nueva Esperanza) CLG Colombia Land and Gender project at NIBR COP Colombian Peso

DANE National Administrative Department of Statistics (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadstica)

DINCS Integral Development of Sustainable Communities (Desarrollo Integral de Comunidades Sostenibles)

FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia)

FMSD Mario Santo Domingo Foundation (Fundacin Mario Santo Domingo)

GIS Geographic Information Systems Ha Hectares

IDP Internally Displaced Person (Desplazado Interno)

IDMC International Displacement Monitoring Centre INCODER Colombian Rural Development Institute, formely Incora

(Instituto Colombiano de Desarrollo Rural) Land

Observatory Observatory of Restitution and Regulation of Agarian Propierty Rights (Observatorio de Restitucin y Regulacin de Derechos de Propiedad Agraria)

MinAgricultura Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural)

MinVivienda Ministry of Housing, City and Territory (Ministerio de Vivienda, Ciudad y Territorio)

NIBR Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (Norsk institutt for by- og regionforskning)

SENA National Apprenticeship Service (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje)

UAF Agricultural Family Unit (Unidad Agrcola Familiar)

UEP Urban Ecological Planning UN DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

URT Land Restitution Unit (Unidad de Restitucin de Tierras)

USD United States Dollar

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1. Introduction The countryside is running out of people, without anyone working there...

I heard this statement from an administration worker at one of the new social housing projects in Barranquilla, the largest city in Northern Colombia. A vast majority of households who move into this housing project are former farming families, who lived peacefully in the countryside until they were dispossessed of their belongings and thrown out of their houses by rebels and criminal groups during the armed conflict. Millions of people fled rural areas and settled in cities. Together with them came job seekers and those who believed that there are more opportunities in urban areas. What they left behind was what appears to be a depopulated countryside.

One might ask if there is any hope for agriculture and the rural lifestyle in Colombia. Would it ever make economic sense to restore the farms? Do people still have any sentimental

attachment to the land they come from? Is it safe enough to return? Does the old community still exist?

With a lasting peace agreement on the horizon after over 50 years of civil war, the Colombian government is attempting to reestablish the pre-conflict order and ensure dignity and prosperity for its citizens. Building new homes in cities and giving them to those displaced by the armed conflict is one way of doing it, while bringing them back to their land in the countryside is another. These initiatives symbolize not only the recovery of Colombia from a very violent period in its history, but also the modernization of the country and its transformation into a new age. But what age will that be? Will that be the age of city living or the age of the countryside? Is it going to be the age of prosperity or the age of economic stagnation?

In my thesis, I am examining the two largest, presently implemented reparation programs for the displaced population. The first one is Land Restitution, which facilitates the return to rural

The boys have lost their love for land

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Figure 1.1. Village man in Villas de San Pablo, a social housing project in Barranquilla.

areas by those displaced. The second, Free Housing, provides new homes for displaced households in the cities in which they settled after the displacement. These interventions are focused on satisfying the needs for improved shelter, ensuring access to land, and promoting a sense of justice; however, what is less certain is whether those programs can help the displaced get back on their feet and lift them out of the cycle of poverty. It is important, therefore, to investigate how the Land Restitution and Free Housing processes change the livelihood situations of the displaced families.

1.1. Significance of the Study Armed conflicts played a key role in society building almost everywhere throughout the history of human civilization. Most wars damaged communities, caused migration patterns and affected the way in which the population was distributed within the country or region. They also have an enormous impact on livelihoods, especially in case of those who were forced to flee due to acts of violence. For this reason, studying the outcomes of conflicts in a society should go beyond the narrow scope of political science or related disciplines. This study approaches two post-conflict reparation programs for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)1 1 According to The Victims Law of 2011, an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in Colombia is defined

as a person who was forced to migrate within the national territory, abandoned his or her place of residence or normal economic activities, because his of her life, physical integration, security or personal liberty have been violated or were directly threatened as a result of Human Rights violations which occurred during the internal armed conflict (Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho, 2011).

Introduction

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in Colombia from the perspectives of urban and rural development and livelihood (re)generation.

Through case studies of Barranquilla, Soledad and El Carmen de Bolvar in Northern Colombia, I discuss how the two government programs affect the living standards, income- generating activities and future plans of the displaced population. Research performed at this early stage of implementation gives an opportunity to identify some weaknesses and strengths of these programs, which may lead to proposals that improve design and budget allocation considerations in the future.

The necessity for conducting a comprehensive study of government programs and public policy concerning the IDPs is of significant importance not only for Colombia itself, but for the international community in general. Conflicts that result in a large number of displaced people are currently happening in many other countries, especially in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. In fact, the current crisis in Syria is the biggest population shift since World War II. Rapid population growth, urbanization and the effects of climate change will likely harden the struggle for land and livelihoods all around the globe, which in the long term may cause further displacements.

Therefore, the results of my thesis might be relevant to the global post-conflict resolution and peacekeeping processes as well as constitute an unprecedented chance to change structures in urban areas and the countryside. There is also a clear opportunity to point out potential policy recommendations, especially in the areas of urban planning and design, land management, agrarian development, and social welfare.

1.2. Research Question The main empirical research question of this research is:

How do the Land Restitution and Free Housing programs affect the livelihoods of IDP households in the Caribbean Region of Colombia?

Breaking the research question into parts helps to clarify key terms and concepts:

To date, Land Restitution and Free Housing programs are the two most significant alternatives that the displaced households in Colombia can benefit from.

Livelihood is defined as means of supporting one's existence, esp. financially or vocationally; living (Random House, 2010).


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IDP households are those that declared displacement as a result of the armed conflict. The focus is primarily on urban IDPs, as a vast majority of them migrated to towns and cities.

In the context of my thesis, the Caribbean Region of Colombia consists of the most affected departments in Northern Colombia, including Atlntico, Magdalena, and parts of Bolvar, Cesar, and Sucre. These include my two main case study locations: The metropolitan region of Barranquilla and Soledad, and the primarily rural municipality of El Carmen de Bolvar in the Montes de Mara sub-region (Figure 1.2).

In addition to the research question, two supporting questions were developed throughout my investigation. Answering the first sub-question helps me to understand the motives of IDPs for choosing a place to stay and when applying for a particular reparation initiative:

What internal and external factors play a role, when IDP households decide to stay in the city or return to the countryside?

The second question is more relevant for the discussion of implications (Chapter 12) and the development of recommendations:

Which of the two initiatives proves to be more effective in responding to the livelihood needs and demands of the IDP households in the short and long-term?

1.3. Outline This thesis consists of 13 chapters. Chapter 2 introduces the historical background of the Colombian conflict, forced displacements, and the peace-making process. It also discusses the emergence of post-conflict reparation initiatives, including the Land Restitution ad Free Housing programs. Chapter 3 presents my research methodology and explains how I applied my chosen methods in the field. A critical review of related literature and a discussion of key theories are provided in Chapter 4. In this section, I also identified the gaps in knowledge and three main themes for further analysis: migration, social networks, and government interventions. Relating those three themes to the context of forced displacement in Colombia laid the foundations for the theoretical model presented in Chapter 5. This is where I also explain how this model helped me in filtering the relevant information from my empirical data. Chapter 6 presents the scale and scope of both government initiatives and compares their progress using available data at the national level.

Introduction

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Figure 1.2. Map of the Caribbean Region of Colombia and locations of case study areas.

Montes de Mara

Montes de Mara


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Chapter 7 introduces my first case study location of El Carmen de Bolivar and discusses the process of Land Restitution based on informant interviews conducted in that municipality. This is followed by an analysis of the empirical data from household interviews collected in the urban and rural areas of El Carmen in Chapter 8. Similarly, Chapter 9 presents the second case study area of Barranquilla & Soledad and the Free Housing program through the data gained from my informants, while Chapter 10 contains the analysis of household stories in three locations within the case study area: the Don Bosco IV neighborhood and two Free Housing projects: Nueva Esperanza and Villas de San Pablo. Chapter 11 discusses the main findings from my investigation with an attempt to provide an answer to the research question. Chapter 12 presents the conclusions and implications of my research. It discusses, separately, theoretical implications in which I revise the applied theoretical model, and implications on practice where I make an attempt to propose recommendations for changes in the governments approach. Finally, Chapter 13 provides an update on the progress of both initiatives and discusses some of the issues that emerged after the empirical data in the field was collected.

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2. Context In order to get a better understanding of the specific situation of IDPs in Colombia, it is important to take a closer look at the nature of problems responsible for massive displacements and introduce the context in which the two discussed reparation programs emerged.

2.1. The Colombian conflict and forced displacement Since its independence from the Spanish Kingdom in 1810, Colombias history has been characterized by a series of civil wars and political unrest that have never been fully resolved. The current ongoing conflict may not have a single point of origin, but critical to its development was the assassination of the Liberal candidate during the presidential election in 1947, Jorge Elicer Gaitn, which sparked La Violencia, a 10-year long war between the supporters of the Liberal and the Conservative parties (Serres, 2000). A ceasefire agreement was reached in 1958 but the conflict intensified again in 1964 when state forces attacked groups of rural self-defense militia influenced by left-wing ideologies. Those events led to the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Peoples Army (FARC), which is the largest communist guerrilla organization involved in the conflict.

The inability of the Colombian state to take control over the situation led to the emergence of a third actor in the conflict the paramilitary groups. Originally, the FARC and other guerrilla groups claimed to be fighting for social justice and the rights of poor peasants, while the so-called paramilitaries defended the interests of large landowners from guerrilla aggressions. Starting in the 1980s, both the guerrillas and the paramilitary groups engaged in drug production and narcotrafficking in order to secure a steady income, which was necessary to feed their military operations during what seemed to be a never-ending war (Serres, 2000). Getting access to land for those activities and expanding areas of influence were therefore key aspects in the armed conflict.


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Figure 2.1. Forced displacement in Colombia. Source: Primiciadiario.com

Land grabbing has been attributed to both the guerrillas and the paramilitary groups, all of which are accused of expropriation by force and illegal land transactions in the rural areas. There was little leniency towards the civilian population and the human rights of victims have often been violated (Amnesty International, 2009). As a result of those actions, a large part of the rural population had to flee their properties. It is estimated that there are currently up to 5.7 million IDPs in Colombia, which is the second highest number in the world after Syria2 (IDMC, 2015). On top of that, close to 400,000 victims of the conflict found refuge in other countries, especially Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama (UNHCR, 2012). Altogether, the displaced persons in Colombia account for over 12% for the countrys population, which is around 48 million.

The amount of land that was abandoned or confiscated due to the conflict is up to 10 million hectares, which accounts for 8.8% of the entire territory of Colombia (IDMC, 2010). The most affected regions include the department of Antioquia and two departments on the Caribbean coast: Bolvar and Magdalena (Figure 2.2). Of all IDPs, 63% are displaced within the same department and 32% within the same municipality (Unidad de Vctimas, 2013). 2 According to IDMC (2015), the estimated number of IDPs in Syria is at least 7.6 million people. Other

countries with a significant number of IDPs include Iraq (~3.3 million), Sudan (~3.1 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (~2.8 million), South Sudan (~1.5 million), Nigeria (~1.2 million) and Ukraine (~1.2 million).

Context

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Figure 2.2. Density of events of displacement by department. Adopted from: Unidad de Vctimas (2013)


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2.2. IDP livelihoods and urban poverty Not surprisingly, a vast majority of the displaced population fled to towns and cities, often hoping to find safety and support from family members or friends located there. However, the struggle for most IDPs continued upon arriving, as they usually settled in informal settlements on the peripheries of urban areas (Figure 2.3) where access to employment, education, healthcare and social services was poor. In 2010, up to 82.6% of IDPs were classified as living in extreme poverty (Albuja and Caballos, 2010). To make things worse, many urban IDPs are still living in fear of aggression, as the civil war has also been present in the urban areas (Naranjo, 2004). Violence, insecurity, and threats instigated by armed groups in urban areas often caused further displacement, either within the same city (CODHES, 2013) or to larger metropolitan areas such as Medelln and Bogot (IDMC, 2006). Many of the unemployed and poor urban IDPs in those cities have themselves been recruited by local street gangs, paramilitary groups, and other criminal organizations (Davis, 2006).

According to Albuja and Caballos (2010), up to 93% of all IDPs in Colombia displaced from rural to urban areas as a result of the armed conflict. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the dynamic character of the displacements, it is difficult to reconfirm this figure.

Figure 2.3. San Javier district in Medelln (Antioquia) is largely inhabited by displaced families.

Context

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2.3. The transition to peace Law 387 of 1997 was the first national policy that recognized forced displacement in Colombia, while the first official registry of IDPs took place in 2000 (Garca Ramrez et al., 2013).

Today, the armed conflict is losing its momentum, as the paramilitary groups demobilized and the guerrillas lose their military power and control over occupied territories (IDMC, 2014). Although forced displacements are still happening today in some parts of the country, it is much less intense than at its peak between 1999 and 2002 (Unidad de Vctimas, 2013). As can be seen in Figure 2.4, since 2006 the number of people who officially declared displacement is greater than the number of acts of displacement, which shows that the country entered into a transitional period towards peace.

In 2012, the FARC entered negotiations for a reconciliation agreement with the Colombian Government. The peace talks take place in Havana and are observed by diplomats from different states, including the host country Cuba, with Norway as a neutral mediator. In Colombia, the transition from the period of conflict into peace is reflected by the implementation of different economic reforms as well as short and long-term reparation programs for victims and the displaced population.

Figure 2.4. Displacements and declarations of persons (1985-2012). Adopted from: Unidad de Vctimas (2013)


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2.4. Post-conflict reparation programs

Intermediate short-term initiatives According to Law 387, the responsibility to attend to the victims and provide them with humanitarian and emergency help was transferred to the local governments. The newly arrived IDPs were eligible for three months humanitarian aid provided by the municipal government after their registration.

This aid usually included access to food, shelter, clean water, sanitation, medical care, transportation subsidies, as well as assistance with education for children under 15 years old (Ibez and Moya, 2010a). Local authorities in some municipalities also provided construction materials and financial support for families willing to build a house. Additional help was also provided by local and international Non-governmental Organizations and the Catholic Church (Meja, 2011). In terms of livelihoods, most of the displaced households were left on their own. As noted by Ibez and Moya (2010b), the few existing income-generating and training programs for the IDPs were insufficient to address the persisting problems of unemployment and poverty among the displaced communities. Their socio-economic situation did not improve and they continued to live as a marginalized part of society (Garay Salamanca and Barberi Gmez, 2009).

The Victims Law and Land Restitution The first large scale initiatives to provide integral reparation for the victims of the armed conflict were drafted The Victims Law (Ley de Vctimas y Restitucin de Tierras y sus Decretos Reglamentarios, Law 1448 of 11. June 2011), which introduced regulations and policies that are meant to reduce the injustice and social inequality through economic and moral reparation for the victims (Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho, 2011).

The main proposal of this law is to restitute land rights to the original owners who abandoned their land by force or voluntarily as a result of armed aggressions, threats or general insecurity during the conflict. The program aims at restoring respect to private property, establishing rule of law, and bringing the displaced back to the depopulated countryside. This prevailing lack of respect to constitutionally guaranteed property ownership rights was present in Colombias rural areas ever since the illegal armed groups started to make large-scale land grabs and conducted acts of terror against landowners. Therefore, Land Restitution has some attributes of a land reform as it attempts to take decision making power from powerful landowners (who

Context

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until now could use force accumulate land) and guarantee legal property rights for the landless poor (Garca-Godos and Wiig, 2014).

The Victims Law recognized the importance of addressing the housing needs of victims. The Law specified that the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory (MinVivienda) has authority over urban housing subsidy schemes for the victim population and restitution of properties in urban areas, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MinAgricultura) coordinates housing programs and the implementation of Land Restitution in rural areas (Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho, 2011). Since most of the property dispossessions took place in the countryside and the majority of the displaced households fled to cities, MinVivienda assumed responsibility of social housing schemes for the urban IDPs, while MinAgricultura focused on implementing Land Restitution policies.

In order to facilitate the enforcement and coordination of the restitution program, MinAgricultura established the Land Restitution Unit (URT), which opened a number of regional branches across the country. Since 2012, the URT has been attending the displaced households at their local offices and processing applications for the restitution of their lost properties. In the first years, the URT is resolving cases of lands located in the selected so-called micro and macro-focalized zones that were approved by the military as sufficiently secure. The number of those focalized zones is gradually expanding, allowing IDPs from more areas to apply for restitution. The URT hopes to finish processing all cases by 2021.

Once property rights are restored, the URT supports the beneficiary household in their return and reestablishment. The landowner is prohibited from selling the property in the first two years after restitution (Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho, 2011). Except for Land Restitution, The Victims Law also regulates the eligibility for indemnisation and psychological help as an additional reparation measure for the victims of violence and their family members.

Figure 2.5. Cover page of The Victims Law. Source: Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho (2011)


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Social housing The social housing schemes for the displaced population followed the recommendations of The Victims Law, but developed independently from Land Restitution. After a short time of preparations, MinVivienda announced the inauguration of its 100,000 Free Housing (100,000 Viviendas Gratis) program in 2012. Construction of the first projects started shortly after. The success of the first stage of the program led to its extension with an additional 300,000 units.

The Free Housing projects are operated according to different financing schemes. Some of them are funded entirely from the federal and local governments; others are subsidized by the National Savings Fund or built in collaboration with private businesses and donors. Regardless of the arrangement, MinVivienda set a limit for the construction costs to 70 minimum salaries3 per unit. These are usually two-bedroom units in apartment blocks or single-floor row houses.

The majority of the Free Housing developments are built in cities that received large numbers of IDPs. Beneficiaries of the Free Housing program are drawn from different local waiting

Figure 2.6. Promotional sign near Las Gardenias Free Housing project in Barranquilla: Here we are constructing 3,000 free houses. 3 In 2012, the minimum monthly salary in Colombia was $566,700 COP, the equivalent of around $312

USD. Subsequently, 70 minimum salaries were equal to $21,840 USD.

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lists for the displaced households and are supplemented by families classified as being in extreme poverty and victims of natural disasters in local areas. It is estimated that the IDPs constitute around 72.5% of all beneficiaries of the program (Minvivienda, 2014a). The units are handed over to the displaced households literarily for free. The beneficiary families get access to all the municipal services, including water, gas and electricity for which monthly bills must be paid. Depending on the project, they may also be charged a symbolic administration fee, whose exact amount takes into consideration their relatively low income levels. To discourage misuse of the program, the beneficiaries cannot sell or rent out the units in the first 10 years of ownership (El Congreso de Colombia, 2012).

2.5. Motivations and challenges of carrying out a comparative study In my thesis, I attempt to compare the impact that Land Restitution and Free Housing programs have on the livelihoods of the IDPs. The comparativeness of those programs is based on the presumption that they share the same principle motivation. Both are large-scale reparation initiatives that respond to massive displacements during the armed conflict. They are part of the same political agenda represented by the President Juan Manuel Santos, and are executed by the different ministries in his government which has been in power since 2010 to the present day. Additionally, both initiatives have been characterized as being populist, as they propose radical interventions based on intentions and principles, which seem hard to disagree with (Cuervo, 2012, El Colombiano, 2014, El Espectador, 2012, Gilbert, 2013).

It needs to be clarified that these programs are not necessarily mutually exclusive in the sense that those displaced may apply for Land Restitution and Free Housing at the same time. However, the restrictions to in the use and transactions of the properties as well as the long distances that separate the social housing projects from the rural areas in which most restituted lands are located make it close to impossible for a single household to take full advantage of both, at least in a way envisioned by the government.

There are also a few important differences in the nature of both programs that need to be taken into consideration before evaluating their performance. As mentioned before, Land Restitution is not only about giving people a chance to rebuild their livelihoods, but it has also a more widespread goal to restore respect for private property and formalize land tenure in Colombia once and for all, which might be seen as a land reform in the countryside (Garca-Godos and Wiig, 2014). It can also be argued that Land Restitution is not necessarily a


16

program that gives something for free, but rather it attempts to reintroduce justice by restoring rights to properties that the victims already had in the past, but were taken away from them.

Free Housing, on the other hand, not only provides the victims of armed conflict and natural disasters a brand new property which arguably elevates their living standards and ensures dignity, but it also responds to the large shortage of housing in Colombias urban areas (El Nuevo Siglo, 2014, FMSD, 2014) and gives a significant boost to the construction industry, which results in the creation of thousands of new jobs (Minvivienda, 2014b). The contribution of the two programs to the improvement of those issues is difficult to quantify and compare and there is little doubt that both land reform and the alleviation of housing shortages are among the issues that need to be tackled by the Colombian government. However, in my further analysis, I am focusing on the difference those programs can make for the livelihoods of IDP households.

It also needs to be clarified that since the majority of the displacements took place more than ten years before the reparation initiatives were put in place, it is assumed that the reestablishment of rural livelihoods for returning households means starting, literarily, from

Figure 2.7. Construction of Las Gardenias and other Free Housing projects in Barranquilla gave a significant boost to the local economy.

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scratch, as both the physical assets and the rural community from before the conflict are in many cases impossible to recover. For this reason I consider Land Restitution as an attempt to establish a new rural livelihood that may build on the pre-conflict experiences and networks. Alternatively, the aim of Free Housing is to establish new or reinforce existing urban livelihoods that are potentially based on the living situation and networks that the IDPs established after being displaced to the city.

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3. Research Methods My research methods have been largely influenced by the knowledge base and principles of Urban Ecological Planning (UEP). UEP is a multidisciplinary approach to planning rooted in urban and social ecology and the understanding of civil society, governance systems, and the changing character of urban environments. Migration and displacement are among the most related issues of interest of UEP researchers.

Territorialism is perhaps the most relevant UEP concept to my thesis, as it addresses the strength in increasingly fragmented societies in terms of community, resources and skills, land ownership relations and communal land, territorial urban-rural relations (Bjnness, 2013). Investigation within this framework implies an understanding of the past and present informal and formal institutional structure (Bjnness, 2013), and is preoccupied primarily with qualitative research methods.

My decision to utilize qualitative methods was not only influenced by the UEP approach, but also by the particularity of my research question and the topic of investigation. During the research process, it became clear to me that focusing equally on all projects within the geographical scope of the Land Restitution and Free Housing programs, and using quantitative data to describe them, would not be practical given the time constrains as well as human and financial resources at my disposal. Therefore, I realized that the only reasonable way to approach my research question was by performing in-depth investigations of a limited number of carefully selected case study locations and projects. According to Flyvbjerg (2006), the case study approach is an excellent method for researching and learning, as it allows both beginners and experts to expand their knowledge by adding another evidence-driven case to their areas of expertise. This is especially true considering the multidisciplinary character of UEP and the diversity of topics within this field of study, which assume that most readers may require a sufficient introduction before examining a particular issue in greater depth. In his explanation of using case study methods, Flyvbjerg discourages

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recounting, inordinate summarization, and over-generalization. Instead, he recommends researchers to tell the story in its diversity, allowing the story to unfold from the many-sided, complex, and sometimes conflicting stories that the actors in the case have told (Flyvbjerg, 2006). This position led me to apply an ethnographic approach to interviewing, which will be discussed later in this chapter.

A lot of effort was put in planning research methods, yet at the same time, some allowance had to be made to react to various situations in the field. Throughout my work, I followed what the well known development practitioner Robert Chambers called the principle of learning rapidly and progressively, which he defined as:

Conscious exploration, flexible use of methods, opportunism, improvisation, iteration and crosschecking, not following a blueprint program but being adaptable in a learning process. (Chambers, 1994)

These principles and theories on methodology helped me select and adopt different research methods at all stages of my work, which are described below.

3.1. Preliminary work The initial idea of developing a Masters thesis on a topic related to Colombia emerged in December 2013, when I got to know Dr. Henrik Wiig, the lead investigator of the Colombia Land and Gender (CLG) project4 at the Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research (NIBR)5. The institute was inviting students to assist them with their investigation on the peace-making process in Colombia and in particular, the implementation of the Land Restitution program. The main requirement to participate in the project was the knowledge and ability to communicate in Spanish. Throughout the entire duration of my investigation between December 2013 and May 2015, NIBR assisted me with preparations and provided comprehensive supervision of my work.

Preliminary work on my project started in January 2014. The focus of the first few months was performing background research based on relevant online publications, previous academic dissertations, chapters from books, as well as other documents from the NIBR collection. Through the CLG project I also got to know Jemima Garca-Godos, human geographer and Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, whose main area of expertise is

4 http://www.colombialandgender.org/

5 http://www.nibr.no/en/


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transitional justice6 in Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala. Conversations with her helped me get a better understanding of key issues and prepare for the upcoming fieldwork in Colombia. From an early stage, I tried to attract attention to my work and exchange opinions with other researchers working in the field of urban planning or topics related to Latin America7.

As suggested by Dr. Wiig, I started corresponding with Paola Garca Reyes, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla) and director of the local branch of the Land Observatory (Observatorio de Restitucin y Regulacin de Derechos de Propiedad Agaria)8 research project. We agreed that it would be practical for me to focus on the same study area as the researchers from Land Observatory since they allowed me to participate in their activities and field trips during my visit. The defined subject area of investigation covered the Caribbean region of Colombia, including my host city Barranquilla, and a number of urban and rural municipalities identified by Ms. Garca Reyes as interesting cases for analysis, such as El Carmen de Bolvar.

The finalized thesis proposal was delivered in May 2014. The aim of the project was to find out whether the Land Restitution program increased the return rate of urban IDP households to rural areas and contributed to the improvement of their livelihood situation. The proposed research methods were focused around qualitative interviews with between 15 to 20 IDP households that went through or are still in the process of Land Restitution as well as with key informants from local NGOs, universities and public institutions. This would be supplemented by relevant statistical and demographic data, policy documents and Geographical Information System (GIS) files for mapping exercises. Materials would be requested from public authority entities, such as the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), the Augustn Codazzi Institute of Geography (IGAC), and the URT.

3.2. Fieldwork Fieldwork in Colombia was conducted between June 9 and August 8, 2014. In the first few weeks I focused on orienting myself in the region and establishing contacts with various local

6 The United Nations (2010) defines transitional justice as the full range of processes and

mechanisms associated with a societys attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation. 7 Among other activities, I was invited to present my project at two seminars for Masters students

organized by the Norwegian Latin America Research Network (NorLARNet) in Oslo. In March 2014, I presented my thesis proposal and in February 2015, I shared my preliminary findings. 8 http://www.observatoriodetierras.org/

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organizations and stakeholders. As expected, I was invited to join the Land Observatory project in their activities. Throughout the fieldwork, I collected an assortment of documentation that was relevant to my thesis. In particular, I was interested in getting access to data that is not available to the public on the Internet.

Progress during the first month of my fieldwork was slow9. Most of the household and informant interviews took place in the second month of my stay in Colombia. All of them were conducted in Spanish (of which I am a fluent speaker).

Fortunately, there were no serious security concerns in the course of my fieldwork. During some visits in areas which were considered dangerous, I was accompanied by a local resident who guaranteed that I could perform my investigation without being bothered or intimidated by a third party.

Local informants and stakeholders Interviews with local informants and stakeholders were useful for my research for two reasons. First, they were valuable sources of inside information and expert opinion. Second, many of my informants referred me to households or other professionals who I could approach for a meeting. All informant interviews had a semi-structured character. A list of questions and topics for discussion was usually prepared beforehand and differed depending on the area of expertise of my respondent.

An important turning point in my investigation was an interview with Pablo Yepes Carvajal, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Universidad del Atlntico in Barranquilla. He told me about the popularity of the 100,000 Free Housing projects for the displaced population in the region. I got interested in this issue and after performing an extensive research on it, I decided to add the Free Housing program to my investigation and compare its progress with Land Restitution.

Informant interviews were also performed in the town of El Carmen de Bolvar during the trips organized with the Land Observatory researchers. The most extensive one was with a legal adviser at a large agricultural corporation who was very familiar with the local Land Restitution program. She also gave me a tour of their facilities and the town.

9 This was primarily attributed to the ongoing FIFA Football World Cup in Brazil, which diverted

attention of many Colombians away from everyday issues; at least until the very well performing Colombian National Team was eliminated from the tournament.


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Two other interviews were performed at the town hall: one with the head of a unit that attends and registers the displaced families, and the second with the municipal Secretary of the Interior. I also possess transcripts of

two interviews performed simultaneously by the researchers at the Land Observatory project: one with the Public Notary and one with a municipal officer responsible for the registration of land transactions.

In Barranquilla, I performed interviews with four employees at the Mario Santo Domingo Foundation (FMSD), which manages the Villas de San Pablo Free Housing project. Their support was particularly helpful, as they did not only

answer my questions, but also showed me around the entire development and introduced to a several residents for interviews. My collaboration in research with the FMSD continued long after the fieldwork was over. Finally, there was one interview with a senior officer at the Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims in their local branch in Barranquilla.

Overall, there were 10 informant interviews, five of which were performed in Barranquilla and Soledad and five in El Carmen de Bolvar (Table 3.1). Given the sensitivity of the provided information, names of the informant interviewees were kept anonymous, with an exception of a few persons who gave me verbal or written consents to use their real names. For a more detailed list of all interviewees see Appendix 1.

Table 3.1. Summary of informant interviews.

Position Institution / Organization Location Date Interviews Assistant Professor Universidad del Atlntico Barranquilla June 27 1 Legal Adviser Large Agricultural Corporation El Carmen de Bolvar July 1 1 Municipal officers Municipal Government El Carmen de Bolvar July 10-24 4 Administrative workers at Villas de San Pablo

Mario Santo Domingo Foundation Barranquilla July 16-24 3

Senior officer Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims

Barranquilla Aug. 5 1

Total: 10

Figure 3.1. Researcher from the Land Observatory project and a local informant at a tour in El Carmen.

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Except of the informant interviews described above, I also attended several meetings and events that gave me an opportunity to exchange information with other informants and stakeholders. These include, for example, meetings with the officers at the local URT branch in Barranquilla, activities organized by the researchers of the Land Observatory project, and multiple visits at the FMSD office in Villas de San Pablo.

Household interviews The choice of household interviewing methods in my case study locations was based on an assumption that the past life and the history of displacement and migration of my target groups may potentially have a major impact on their future livelihood decisions. Application of the ethnographic approach, in which the interviewer develops a respectful relationship with the respondents and asks open ended questions (Sherman Heyl, 2001), allowed me to record their life histories in detail and construct a cultural understanding of the investigated issues. According to an American sociologist Barbara Sherman Heyl (2001) who pioneered research on sensitive issues, such as prostitution, central to ethnographic interviews is the meaning the interviewees place on their life experiences and circumstances, expressed in their own language.

The ethnographic method implied the use of semi-structured interviews with some questions and topics for conversation prepared beforehand, but with no fixed sequence (see Appendix 2). This strategy allowed my respondents to elaborate on issues they find more relevant and important and stay away from anything they are not willing to talk about. Although it might seem like a limitation, I found this flexible interview method to be necessary given the sensitivity of the topic and the age difference between myself (26-year-old) and the majority of respondents who were roughly between 50 and 70-year-old. In some cases, showing due respect and expressing my truthful compassion resulted in gaining their trust, which made them more comfortable opening up and sharing their bitter memories without me directly asking.

The length of the interviews varied between ten minutes and three hours. This was determined mainly by the character and confidence of the interviewee. Some of them were more outspoken and wanted to share more details, while others preferred to answer my questions in a short and precise way. In general, all of the interviewees were enthusiastic about my investigation and they seemed to try their best to help me, for example, by referring me to other people that could tell their story and contribute to my research. Using this so-called


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snowball technique, it was fairly easy to perform five or more interviews in one day. Everyone I interviewed gave me permission to record our conversation10. Only two persons (both elderly men) refused to give an interview, saying that they did not want to recall their traumatic memories from the conflict and displacement.

The choice of locations for interviews allowed me to collect data from a wide ranging group of displaced households who live in all kinds of environments including the most remote rural areas, a small town, and a large urban center. The geographic representation of the displacement and migration patterns of the interviewed IDP households (Figure 3.2) illustrates the diversity of the different cases and highlights that most of them were moving within the case study region from rural areas most affected by the conflict towards towns and cities.

The interviewed group is also diverse in terms of age and gender. At the moment of the interview, the youngest of my respondents were in their late 20s, while the oldest were over 70 years old. 12 of them are women and 11 are men.

Access to victim households was facilitated by different people I came across during my fieldwork. One of them was Beln Pardo, a researcher at the Land Observatory project. She introduced me to various gatekeepers, such as members of the womens association (ADMUNE) in Soledad, as well as our contacts in El Carmen de Bolvar. Some of my interviews were conducted with the assistance of the researchers from the Land Observatory project. Interviews in Villas de San Pablo were possible because of a close collaboration with the employees of the FMSD in Barranquilla. In general, I collected data from 21 household interviews (Table 3.2). Most of them took place in respondents homes.

Table 3.2. Summary of household interviews.

Description of the group Location Date Interviews IDP households living in the town El Carmen de Bolvar July 1-10 4 IDP women, members of ADMUNE Soledad July 3 3 IDP beneficiaries of Free Housing project Nueva Esperanza Soledad July 3 3 IDP farming households living in the rural area El Carmen de Bolvar July 9 4 Land owners and farmers living in the town El Carmen de Bolvar July 9 3 IDP beneficiaries of Free Housing project Villas de San Pablo Barranquilla July 23-24 4 Total: 21

Due to the sensitivity of the topic and a need to protect privacy of the respondents, all real names were changed to fictitious. For more detailed information about household interviews, see Appendix 1. 10

To record all interviews, I used a free recording application installed on my smart phone. After the interviews, all audio files were copied to my personal computer and stored for transcription.

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Figure 3.2. Displacement and migration patterns of the interviewed households. Source of data of the events of displacement: Unidad de Restitucin de Tierras.


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Focus group The starting point for interviews in the rural area of El Carmen de Bolvar was a focus group (Table 3.3) conducted in collaboration with the researchers at the Land Observatory project. Our meeting took place at one of the participants properties and included the landowner himself, along with five other male members of the farmers support group, ranging in age from their early 30s to late 60s. The focus group discussion started with asking questions we prepared beforehand. Over time discussions evolved into a more informal conversation and exchange of opinions. The meeting took around six hours. Similarly to household interviews, all names of the participants of the focus group were changed to fictitious.

Table 3.3. Summary of the focus group.

Focus group participants Location Date Nr. of participants Members of the informal farmers support group El Carmen de Bolvar July 9 6

Other interviews Interviews not classified above included one with an IDP household and two with local informants in the cities of Santa Marta and Riohacha (Table 3.4). The gained information provided me with some useful background information about the general situation and living conditions in those places. However, since the respondents were not directly involved in either of the two initiatives that are the subject of my investigation, those interviews have less relevance and therefore have not been used as much as the ones mentioned previously. Similarly, there were a number of spontaneous, unrecorded conversations on the topic with different people that definitely contributed to my knowledge about the situation.

Table 3.4. Summary of the not classified interviews.

Description of the group Location Date Interviews Community activist Santa Marta June 28 1 IDP household, not a beneficiary of any reparation programs Santa Marta June 28 1 Local activist representing the indigenous Wayuu community Riohacha July 5 1 Total: 3

Observations and photographs Since my 2014 fieldwork trip was my first visit to Colombia, I tried to use my time as efficiently as possible, both for the benefit of my investigation but also for of my own interest. Extensive walks around different poor and affluent neighborhoods were performed on an

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almost daily basis in Barranquilla and Soledad and periodically around the urban and rural areas of El Carmen de Bolvar. Additionally, I visited various informal settlements in Cinaga, Riohacha, Santa Marta, Medelln, Cali and Bogot.

The observations I have made there, combined with the photographs I took not only provided me with good visual material that supplements my investigation, but also validated my interview data. These methods helped me to get a good sense of the living conditions of the victims in both urban and rural areas. On many occasions, I was invited to participate in peoples everyday activities, such as eating, working and entertainment. When performing observations, special attention was paid to the quality of building and infrastructure, access to public services, sense of security, and the general satisfaction of the quality of life. Throughout the visit, I kept a diary to record all these experiences. These fieldwork notes helped me recall my observations later on.

3.3. Data analysis After concluding the fieldwork, the main focus of my work was to organize and process the collected data. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Writing the first drafts of my thesis began in September 2014.

A prerequisite for performing comprehensive data analysis was a careful selection of the right parameters for comparison according to the theoretical framework and the collected data. Triangulation and the reconfirmation of the validity of the data were performed throughout the process to ensure the credibility and relevance of my work and to maintain a strong connection to the real life situation. In order to assure the integrity of the analysis, the threshold time for the data used for the comparison of the scale and scope of the two programs (Chapter 6) was set as the conclusion of my fieldwork (August 2014), by which all the qualitative data has been collected. The update on the progress and a summary of more recent issues that concern both initiatives is presented in the Epilogue (Chapter 13).

Since my area of investigation involves two different programs at two different locations, it was important to develop an appropriate structure for the analysis and presentation of empirical data. For this reason, the case analysis part of my thesis is divided into four chapters, as shown in Table 3.5. In Chapters 7 and 9 I introduce the processes and the problematic of Land Restitution and Free Housing programs and their corresponding areas of investigations, El Carmen de Bolvar and Barranquilla and Soledad accordingly. Both of these


28

chapters are based primarily on informant and stakeholder interviews. Chapters 8 and 10 are based on primary data from interviews with the affected urban and rural households in El Carmen as well as the IDP households in Barranquilla and Soledad. These chapters also include the information I could collect on the programs that were not the main focus in the particular location. More precisely, it includes opinions of the urban IDPs in Barranquilla and Soledad on Land Restitution and limited information on the housing situation in urban and rural areas of El Carmen de Bolvar.

Table 3.5. Division of the case study analysis.

Location El Carmen de Bolvar - Chapter 7 Barranquilla / Soledad - Chapter 9 Land Restitution Chapter 7

Primary focus of investigation Chapter 8

Secondary focus of investigation Chapter 10

Free Housing Chapter 9

Limited information, No focus of investigation

Primary focus of investigation Chapter 10

3.4. Research limitations As in all other investigations, my methodology is not without certain limitations. Some of those potential weaknesses have been identified before embarking on fieldwork, allowing me to make the necessary preparations and neutralize them. For example, I was aware that certain organizations and institutions might have particular biases and agendas which they want to promote; therefore I tried to make sure to use diversified sources to collect information and opinions about particular issues whenever possible.

Nevertheless, avoiding the perception of bias during my interviews was perhaps the single biggest challenge to overcome, especially when I was accompanied by my local contacts. Whenever I felt this was the case, I explained that I am a foreign student researcher not affiliated with any local political organization or activist group. I also tried to avoid any loaded questions to show my neutrality and willingness to obtain honest and unbiased opinions11.

There were also logistical challenges that forced me to further narrow down the study area. After spending several days investigating the situation in different places in the first month of my fieldwork, I realized that trying to focus on multiple locations at the same time was not

11

Interviews in the two Free Housing projects illustrated that the presence of a local informant that was known to the respondents did not have an impact on their answers. All interviewees in Nueva Esperanza (where I was alone) and Villas de San Pablo (when I was accompanied by a local administration worker) had very similar opinions about the living situation in their respective housing projects.

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feasible, even though they were all within the same region. The main obstacles were long distances between the selected areas of interest (even up to a five hour drive from my base in Barranquilla), time constrains (only two months of fieldwork), lack of trusted contacts and entry points to the local community, and the resulting inability to provide equal attention to the different locations without prioritizing some over the others. Therefore, I decided to narrow down my study area and select two main focus locations for a more in-depth study: the Metropolitan area of Barranquilla & Soledad and the municipality of El Carmen de Bolvar.

Another limitation that requires acknowledgement is related to the selection of interviewees. Since in most cases, my informants determined access to other household interviewees, it was not possible to achieve an optimal balance between the different types of households that were subject to my investigation. In particular, it was very difficult to find IDPs that benefited from the Land Restitution program and returned to their original properties. Although opinion of this type of households might have provided a valid contribution to my investigation, the inability to locate them is also very meaningful, as it confirmed my hypothesis that this group is very small in number, compared to, for example, those who are still in process of Land Restitution but are not considering the eventual return or those who returned regardless of the restitution verdict. I sought to overcome this limitation by further triangulation and interviewing more households than originally planned.

Nevertheless, if I were given an opportunity to come back or prolong my fieldwork in Colombia, I would have probably invested more time in trying to find and investigate those that appear to be underrepresented cases. In addition, inspired by the positive experience from the focus group discussion, I would try to organize more such meetings whenever possible and apply this technique to allow the respondents compare their experiences between themselves.

In regards to getting access to the relevant documentation, my objective was largely accomplished, even though my financial resources were limited and some of the desired information (i.e. GIS files) was not available for free. Also, most of the statistical data and maps on topics related to my thesis were at the national scale and it was difficult to find this kind of information focusing specifically on my case areas. For this reason, the comparison of scale and scope of both initiatives (Chapter 6) is based on the available data on the national level.

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4. Literature Review and Theory The aim of this chapter is to identify gaps in knowledge in order to validate the relevance of the research question and motives of my investigation. Through the review of literature and related theory, three main issues for further analysis have been identified: migration and urbanization patterns, social networks, and government interventionism.

4.1. Knowledge gaps To date, little research appears to have been undertaken which addresses or compares both the Land Restitution and the Free Housing programs and evaluates their impact on the livelihoods of the beneficiaries. As explained by Carrillo (2009) and Crisp et al. (2012), literature on displacement is generally focused on humanitarian aid, refugee camps, and migration. More specific works on urban IDPs in Colombia emerged relatively recently and are mainly concerned with socio-demographic pressures and integration in specific large cities, such as Bogot (Human Rights Watch, 2005, Zea, 2010), Medelln (Snchez Mojica, 2013, Gmez Builes, 2010), Cartagena (Pollock, 2013), as well as Buenaventura, Tumaco and Soacha (Aysa-Lastra, 2011, CODHES, 2013). Nevertheless, according to Crisp et al. (2012), urban planners, demographers, and development specialists have not addressed significantly the relationship between displacement and urbanization. Albuja and Caballos (2010), who placed the displacement in Colombia in the context of rural-urban migration, came up with similar conclusions, suggesting that local governments and planners can do much more to address the challenges faced by urban IDPs.

With regards to publications and studies carried out on the two reparation initiatives separately, the Land Restitution program has received significantly more attention than Free Housing. Interest in the former emerged a couple of years before the initiative was officially introduced in 2011. Some of the authors who critically evaluated the proposals and attempted to predict the effectiveness of Land Restitution include Garca-Godos (2010), Lid (Garca-

Literature Review and Theory

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Godos and Lid, 2010), Saffon (2010) and Wiig (2009). Research conducted since the launch of the program leaves no doubts that it is performing slower than originally expected and does not meet with its main objectives (Garca-Godos and Wiig, 2014, Gutirrez Sann, 2013, Medina, 2012). Authors who analyzed The Victims Law from a gender perspective concluded that it fails to improve the situation of women, who are arguably among the most vulnerable groups affected by the conflict (Garca-Godos and Wiig, 2014, Rodrguez Rodrguez, 2014). Various international organizations, such as Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2009, 2012), the International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC, 2010), the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD, 2011), and Human Rights Watch (2005, 2013) have also developed reports in which they shared their concerns about the different aspects of Land Restitution that correspond to the issues they are advocating for.

On the contrary, the Free Housing program has not attracted much attention from academics and researchers before its implementation. This is because the planning phase was relatively short as the program was based on similar social housing schemes in Colombia. This is gradually starting to change as the program is expanding, making it one of the largest of its kind in the world. In regards to general publications on the Free Housing program, Gilbert (2013) questioned the idea of providing dwellings for free and claimed that the implications will not be as positive as the government may expect. lvarez Vsquez et al. (2014) concluded that by the first quarter of 2013, various Free Housing projects failed to meet the originally established standards for the financing, design, and provision of services to its residents.

Literature on the general situation of centrally planned housing in Colombia is focused on emphasizing the qualitative and quantitative shortage of affordable and social housing in urban areas (Balln Zamora, 2009, Escallon G, 2011, Faras Monroy, 2014, Insuasty Delgado, 2013, Pecha-Garzn, 2011).

4.2. Migration, urbanization, and return One of the recurring topics in the works mentioned above is the issue of urbanization in relation to population movement during and after the conflict. From this point of view, there is a direct relation between the reparation initiatives and rural-urban migration patterns.

It is important to note that forced displacement caused by the Colombian conflict overlapped with a massive rural-urban migration trend in South America, which today is among the most


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urbanized regions in the world. As indicated by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) the growth of urban population in Colombia in the last 50 years followed the same patterns as in other countries on the continent, and today, has reached 80% (UN DESA, 2014). It is difficult to assess whether a hypothetical situation of no conflict would have had a significant impact on the rural-urban migration process in Colombia, but the comparison with other Latin American countries suggests that rapid urbanization was happening in all states in the region, regardless of their political and economic situation (UN DESA, 2014). Therefore, in some cases it may be problematic to make a clear distinction between the displaced populations and those who voluntarily migrated into the cities, for example to seek employment or education opportunities12.

From a demographic point of view, The Victims Law is an indirect attempt to reverse the process of rural-urban migration13. At the same time, the Free Housing projects (of which a vast majority is built in cities) are based on the idea that the urbanization process in Colombia is still proceeding and that there is an urgent need to address the shortage of housing in urban areas while little demand for new housing is expected in the depopulated countryside. FMSD is one of the providers of subsidized and free housing units which officially acknowledged and incorporated this assumption into their strategy for the development of new projects (FMSD, 2014).

As a result we can see how these two reparation initiatives represent very different ways of thinking about the migration processes: one being a romantic idea of returning to the countryside and engaging into a rural livelihood that was lost due to the conflict, and the second, which accepts that once people move from the rural to urban area (forcibly or voluntarily), they are likely to adapt there and stay permanently.

Further literature on rural-urban migration worldwide raises serious concerns about the ability of the state to change the course of urbanization14. This process is often described as being one directional and there is little indication that this may change anytime in the future. The idea of the inevitability of urbanization was discussed as early as the 1940s when more than 12

Typically, one of the main differences between the displaced people and those who voluntarily migrated to urban areas is that the former usually bring no savings which would enable them to start a new livelihood in the city, while the later come prepared, with a certain amount of cash that facilitates their survival, at least in the

the boys have lost their love for land: reparation programs for colombia's displaced population

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