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Assessing Cost-effectiveness in Reintegrating Ex-combatants in Colombia

Infrastructure, Morality, Food and Clothing, and New Developments in Latin America

ISBN: 978-1-80117-435-0, eISBN: 978-1-80117-434-3

Publication date: 13 December 2021

Abstract

This study examines the cost-effectiveness of reintegrating ex-combatants from armed groups in Colombia. After an ethnographic exploration of the challenges of reintegration that ex-combatants face, I evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the reintegration program operated by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (Agencia para la Reincorporación y la Normalización, ARN), the government agency that handles the reintegration of ex-combatants from all armed groups in Colombia. I analyze the agency's approaches (past, current, and proposed) toward reintegrating ex-combatants from various armed groups, comparing the financial costs against outcomes. The ARN has been successful at achieving two of its primary goals: minimizing recidivism and maximizing employment of ex-combatants. Only 10% of ARN program participants rejoin criminal groups and 93% find employment across both the formal and informal sectors (informal employment is widespread in Colombia and Latin America). The ARN has been unsuccessful at providing adequate security for ex-combatants. Approximately 6% of ex-combatants enrolled in the ARN program have been murdered since 2001: approximately 3,000 program participants have been assassinated. Next, I evaluate the cost-effectiveness of both the ARN's overall program and its outcome across different regions and demographics of the participant population. Finally, I suggest ways that other countries facing the challenge of reintegrating populations of ex-combatants can learn from the Colombian experience, as well as ways that Colombia can improve its own reintegration cost-effectiveness.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Bruce Bagley, Giulio Rocca, Jessica Berns, and Milt Lauenstein for their comments on various drafts of this project. All errors are my own. Funded by the Milt Lauenstein Research Initiative on cost-effectiveness and peacebuilding.

Citation

O'Brien, C.A. (2021), "Assessing Cost-effectiveness in Reintegrating Ex-combatants in Colombia", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Infrastructure, Morality, Food and Clothing, and New Developments in Latin America (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-252. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120210000041010

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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