USAID/Colombia Community Development and Licit Opportunities Activity (CDLO)

The purpose of the USAID/Colombia Community Development and Licit Opportunities Activity (CDLO) is to strengthen the capacity of conflict-affected communities to be reliable and effective partners with state and private sector actors in the implementation of comprehensive rural social and economic development activities, including the promotion of illegal crops substitution and alternative development.

This partnership will participate in local-level social and economic development, including land, rural and alternative development, and coca reduction to bridge the divide between state and private actors and the communities they serve.

In consultation with the Government of Colombia (GOC), the CDLO will implement comprehensive rural development activities in targeted conflict-affected regions characterized by low state presence, lack of economic opportunities, and a high presence of illegal crops.

Using a Do No Harm approach, flexible and responsive assistance will be directed towards communities with little previous outside engagement who lack the social capital to plug into any outside economies and whose continued disengagement will exacerbate the coca problem and threaten the viability of the peace process.

CDLO will serve to support and complement local government and GOC efforts and must: i) reconstitute social capital weakened by decades of conflict and isolation by building trust and fostering citizen participation in local affairs; ii) enable communities to proactively and positively map out their socio-economic development path by working effectively with state and private sector entities, especially in areas affected by the high presence of illegal crops; iii) enable conflict-affected communities to play an active role in the implementation of rapid response activities and the design, supervision, and monitoring of short- and medium-term local development activities associated with peace building, illegal crops substitution and alternative development; an