4. Capacity Building and Local Development

And, the president of this FOREC council, he adopted a certain institutional model which has an objectives, one is eliminate intermediate officers because corruption is an important priority so that when the moment you are eliminating the intermediate offices you are eliminating the whole procedure itself, guarantee the transparency the decisions, reinforce democratic systems and social organization.

The FOREC (Fund for the Reconstruction of the Coffee Area) council's president introduced an institutional model focused on eliminating middlemen to reduce corruption. By cutting out these intermediate officers, the organization aims to streamline processes, enhance transparency in decision-making, and strengthen democratic values and social structures. Ultimately, this model seeks to build a more accountable system in local governance.

Think of this model like a direct-to-consumer business that bypasses traditional retail shops. Instead of relying on middlemen who might increase prices or cultivate corruption, the business sells directly to customers, ensuring fair prices and transparency.

And what they did was, they, in order to meet this kind of process they adopted a decentralized approach so for each of the municipality, so the many NGOs came forward to support for this reconstruction activity and then what they did was at least they have given each NGO a particular task and then each one NGO was assigned in charge of the municipality.

To implement their strategies effectively, FOREC adopted a decentralized approach. This means they assigned specific tasks to various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for each municipality. By distributing responsibilities, they could ensure focused efforts on local needs and better management of resources.

Imagine a large community event, like a fair. Instead of one person trying to oversee everything, the event coordinator assigns different tasks—like food, entertainment, and logistics—to various volunteers. This way, each volunteer can focus on their area of expertise, leading to a smoother event.

For example, an NGO ‘Fenavip’ which has been assigned the municipality of Calarca and Camara Junior. The municipality of Finlandia and ‘Antioquia presente’, the municipality of La Tebaida and so on.

Specific NGOs, like 'Fenavip', were assigned to particular municipalities to oversee reconstruction efforts. Each NGO's focus on a specific area allows them to tailor initiatives to meet local needs effectively, promoting community development.

Consider a project team where each member specializes in a different skill—like graphic design, marketing, or coding. By assigning tasks based on their strengths, the team can work more efficiently, just like NGOs focusing on their respective municipalities.

And under the FOREC responsibilities, temporary shelters was not been a part in the initial process but then, people have started building their temporary units whatever the resources they had so, this is where the temporary shelters and building new temporary units have already started, in whatever the lands they are not available.

Initially, temporary shelters weren't part of FOREC’s plan, but due to urgent needs, community members began creating their housing solutions. This grassroots effort highlights the importance of adaptability in response to community needs, as people utilized available resources to build temporary homes.

Think of a group of friends going camping without a tent. They might improvise by using tarps and branches to create a makeshift shelter. Similarly, communities used whatever they could find to address their immediate housing needs.

So, this is where the coffee growers organizations, they actually aim to favour the development of the local coffee industry through the improvement of efficiency of and international competitiveness and procuring at the same time the integral development of the coffee grower his/her family and the region.

Coffee grower organizations focus on enhancing the local coffee industry's efficiency and competitiveness on international markets. They also aim to support the development of coffee farmers and their families, ensuring that not just the industry thrives, but that the community grows as a whole.

This is similar to a local farmer's cooperative that helps its members access better tools and training. By improving farming techniques, the cooperative ensures not only the farmers' success but also the prosperity of the whole farming community.

And the local know-how, availability of own resources, independent decision making this is talking about the capacity.

Capacity development refers to building local skills, resources, and decision-making powers within a community. By empowering residents to take charge of their development, initiatives are more sustainable and tailored to the unique needs of the community.

Consider teaching someone to fish rather than giving them a fish. By equipping them with skills and knowledge, they can sustain themselves long after the initial help is gone, just as communities develop their capacity for self-reliance.

The hard needs, which talks about the funding, housing reconstruction and reconstruction of infrastructure related to coffee industry, general infrastructure, community services and educational technical whereas, here it talks about the soft needs community organization how to build this and participation, education, decision-making capacities and information channelling, employment opportunities and economic reactive.

Development interventions can be divided into 'hard' and 'soft' needs. 'Hard needs' refer to physical infrastructure and funding, like housing and community services. 'Soft needs', on the other hand, emphasize community organization, participation, and capacity building, which are essential for sustainable development.

Building a house requires both materials (hard needs) and a solid foundation and design plan (soft needs). Just as a house needs both to stand strong, communities require infrastructure and skills to thrive.

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