FIU in Colombia

Emphasis on Public Health Enterprises

• Partnerships with Colombian Universities

  Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work has made international activities a priority. With several MOUs in place and in progress in Colombia alone, Stempel’s outreach is giving the opportunity for Colombian universities and organizations to collaborate with Stempel College on activities related to research, continuing education workshops, faculty exchange, students and alumni, and events.

• Current & Future Projects

  Current and pending research projects and activities include topics on Covid-19, Antimicrobial Resistance, Immunizations, Vaccine Hesitancy, Lead & Mercury Poisoning, Cervical Cancer Elimination, Diabetes & Obesity, GeoHealth & Malaria, and Tuberculosis. In addition, the Colombian government-funded $3 million collaboration between the college and two other Colombian universities to evaluate the levels of mercury and cyanide contamination in the Atrato River basin in the northwest and its health impact on the local population.

• Global Health Consortium

  Dr. Carlos Espinal, Director of the Global Health Consortium (GHC), has spearheaded Stempel’s activity in Colombia under the direction of Dean Tomas Guilarte. Dr. Espinal leads several research grants in the area and as an advisor to PAHO and WHO, Dr. Espinal is engaged in the public health measures for Colombia. He regularly presents at conferences and speaks to Colombian media.  In 2020, he was a member of the Mayor of Cartagena’s Covid-19 Task Force.

• Global Health Conference of the Americas

  The annual Global Health Conference of the Americas will be hosted by the Global Health Consortium and take place in Cartagena December 2-5, 2021 as a hybrid virtual and in-person event. Expected to be the most attended thus far, the 2021 Globla Health Conference will again bring together leading experts from around the world to present, speak and discuss critical global health challenges such as Covid-19, health disparities, immunizations, environmental health, arbovirus and antimicrobial resistance with the public health community and students.

• Visiting Professor Appointments

  Visiting professor appointments have been awarded by the University of Cartagena to Dean Tomás Guilarte and Dr. Carlos Espinal. These appointments further strengthen the relationship between the two universities and allow the opportunity for them to participate in academic initiatives in Cartagena.

Center for the Administration of Justice

• Justice Reform and Modernization Project (JRMP) in Colombia

  From 2006 to 2010, CAJ- FIU implemented the important $20 million USAID Justice Reform and Modernization Project (JRMP) in Colombia.  FIU’s partners range from ministers of government and justice officials to embattled local officials and the rural poor in areas of difficult access and substantial danger, and include traditionally marginalized Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.

  CAJ’s efforts included:

  • Strengthening the capacity of nongovernmental institutions to impact justice reform while addressing the needs of disadvantaged populations;
  • 2 Victims Service Centers for victims of violent crimes in Paloquemao and Bucaramanga established and support for the creation of decentralized judicial centers
  • Awarding more than $2.5 million in grants to 78 civil society organizations (special focus on vulnerable groups - Afro-Colombian, indigenous groups, women, and youth, to promote effective judicial reform and access to justice);
  • Promoting the organization of 5 civil society advocacy coalitions to expand rule of law agendas and to advance and sustain reforms (one for Gender and Justice and three Afro-Colombian Coalitions for Justice – one each in the North Pacific, South Pacific and Caribbean regions; and a country-wide youth coalition).
  • Consolidating ADR conciliation centers in 17 sites and improved services in others while training more than 1,000 Justices of the Peace, conciliators and community justice operators in ADR techniques;
  • FIU-supported conciliators in Soacha and members of the Indigenous Court in Sur de Tolima have been recognized as among the best non-governmental justice oriented programs in Colombia by the prestigious Corporación Excelencia en la Justicia (CEJ);
  • Organizing and training citizen oversight groups that carried out successful projects in Cartagena, Bogota and Cali;
  • Construction and organization of 6 Regional Justice Houses and 14 satellite Justice Houses primarily located in conflict-impacted areas;
  • Leveraging nearly $7 million in additional Colombian public and private financing for the construction of Justice Houses;
  • Implementation of the new criminal procedure code;
  • Building and equipping 5 PD Special Support Offices, 2 regional PD training centers and 17 PD regional offices throughout Colombia, and PD Training School( Escuela de la Defensoría Pública Roberto Camacho Weverberg (ERC)). FIU also helped ERC establish a virtual platform to permit virtual and distance learning;
  • Training justice professionals, including 1,750 public defenders, 526 private lawyers and 2,363 law students, in trial skills and procedures;
  • Introducing innovative initiatives to bring the new system to remote rural and conflict-impacted areas/ design and implementation of 18 virtual courtrooms on an internet-based platform;
  • In cooperation with the US-DOJ, CAJ-FIU conducted a national trial skills competition that eventually involved more than 1300 law students from 64 universities all over Colombia. Developed and consolidated alternative dispute resolution (ADR) conciliation centers in thirteen municipalities in the Sur de Tolima, Macarena, Casanare, Nordeste Antioquia, Bajo Cauca and Norte de Cauca regions and improved the performance of two others in Soacha and Bogotá. The Project has also trained 1082 Jueces de Paz (JPs), conciliators and community justice operators in ADR techniques;
  • Helped create and train citizen oversight groups in Cartagena, Medellin, Valle del Cauca and Bogotá. Trained seven citizen oversight groups from Bogotá-based universities to monitor how justice-related issues were being managed at Bogotá’s Comisarias de Familias.

  “USAID would like to commend FIU for its innovative work extending access to justice in Colombia. Specifically, FIU is commended for its success in the Colombianization of the Justice House Program by leveraging over $7 million from the GOC; creating and strengthening the National Gender and Youth Justice Coalitions through over $2 million in small grants to 73 Colombian NGOs; and enabling formal justice system to reach the farthest corners of Colombia through the implementation of 20 virtual court rooms.” Letter from Janet Ballantyne, USAID Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Latin American and the Caribbean, 10/15/2009

• Training program for upper level Colombian Law School Students at FIU

  CAJ-FIU has agreements with several Colombian Universities and has being implementing a training program for upper level Law students on the US legal system, Alternative Dispute Resolutions and Money Laundering as well.  The program, implemented in coordination with the FIU Law School, has being in place since 2011. Participating Colombian Universities include: Universidad Javeriana, La Gran Colombia, UDES (Santander), Universidad Católica, Universidad Libre de Bogota, Universidad Libre de Barranquilla, Universidad Libre de Cartagena, Universidad Libre de Cúcuta, Universidad Libre de Cali, Universidad Libre de Pereira and Universidad Libre de Socorro. More than 900 students have participated in the program since its inception. Some of the courses designed and implemented are US Legal System a Comparative Analysis with the Colombian Legal System, Alternative Dispute Resolutions, Mediation, International Arbitration, and Money Laundering. 

  • Supervised the investment of more than USD$4 million in the construction of six regional Justice Houses (JH) and fifteen satellite JHs. Moreover, FIU negotiated approximately USD$6.8 million in construction costs from public and private Colombian sources. FIU-supported JHs, located mostly in conflict-impacted areas of Colombia processed more than 72,000 requests for assistance as of the end of 2009.  In June 2009, President Uribe and U.S. Ambassador Brownfield inaugurated Colombia’s fiftieth JH in Tumaco, a community with a large, highly vulnerable Afro-Colombian population.
  • Helped the new accusatory system reach areas affected by the conflict or of difficult access by establishing twenty virtual courtrooms, connecting local police, prosecutors, public defenders and their clients with judges in large urban centers.