6 Quarter: April – June 2007

BACKGROUND
Colombia is one of the world’s largest producers of illicit crops and exporter of drugs, mainly
cocaine. This weakens not only the Colombian state and hurts Colombians, but also harms the
rest of the world. Although Colombia has made significant strides in halting the spread of
narcotics-related activities, it still has much to do. The United States, via the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), has been a long-standing partner of the
Government of Colombia (GOC) in its fight against the illicit economy. The Municipal-Level
Alternative Development Program (ADAM) is an important part of the USAID Alternative
Development (AD) effort in Colombia 1 .
AD is difficult. The reasons why people become involved in the illicit economy are varied as are
their motivations to re-engage with licit activities. Thus, AD is an “inexact science” at best.
Approaches based on simple economic trade-offs between illicit and licit activities offer only
partial insights. Forced eradication, although a very tangible demonstration of political will in the
fight against narcotics, also has its limits. What we do know is that people in isolated
communities, with little or no state presence and limited economic options, are more likely to
cultivate illicit crops. Cleary, alternative models are needed. ADAM is one of these. It channels
funds towards activities that provide incentives for Colombian citizens – in some of the most
marginalized areas of the country – to remain part of, or rejoin, a legal culture. In accord with
GOC policy, participating communities must sign agreements to guarantee that all of its veredas
(an area about the size of a parish) are free of illicit crops to receive assistance.
Programmatically, ADAM’s work is organized in three technical areas:
1. Alternative Development: Productive interventions, typically based around agriculture
and livestock, that strengthen rural livelihoods and enable poor families to make
important first-steps on the road to economic development.
2. Local Governance: A range of activities from improving public services to formulating
municipal development plans that improves the capacity of local governments to respond
to citizen needs and provides opportunities for people to participate in the development of
their communities.
3. Infrastructure: Social infrastructure projects to aid displaced populations forced to move
out of their homes by violence, frequently linked to narcotics activities, and productive
infrastructure projects to support the interventions of the Alternative Development area.
The true challenge of ADAM is not the technical issues – these are relatively well understood and
low risk – but rather channeling the interests and agendas of a diverse range of individuals and
groups into one coherent municipal strategy. ADAM has genuinely involved a broad range of
stakeholders in the selection of activities. These are described in a Municipal Initiative document
that outlines roles, responsibilities, and contributions. When fully operational, ADAM will have
broad geographic coverage across ten departments and in 100 of the most deserving
municipalities in Colombia. ADAM staff will guide and manage the work of hundreds of
Colombian implementers and bring to fruition sustainable packages of municipal development
activities.
1 In October 2005, ARD Inc. began implementing this five-year, US$190 million Program. It contributes to
the achievement of Strategic Objective II of the USAID Program in Colombia “Expanded Economic and
Social Alternatives to Illicit Crop Production” and its Intermediate Results “Local Government and Institutions
Strengthened” and “Sustainable Licit Economic Opportunities Expanded.” Through its work with displaced
people, it will also contribute to Strategic Objective III.
USAID/Colombia: Areas for Municipal-level Alternative Development (ADAM)
Quarterly Performance Monitoring Report 6 th Quarter: April - June 2007
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