Questions/Answers

The initiative: “Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation Model for members of the Public Force with disabilities” that is being developed at the Inclusive Rehabilitation Center (CRI) of the Ministry of National Defense of Colombia, is the model that provides for not only physical rehabilitation of people with disabilities, but also includes an innovative component that is developed in the CRI, which is the phase of family, social and labor inclusion of these active and retired military and police, who acquired a disability during their military service. This phase of inclusion has been developing since August 2016 and to date, about 5,530 users have been benefited of the 17,181 members of the Public Force with disabilities identified around the country. The problem that was intended to be addressed was to provide better life opportunities to these young people, who are between 18 and 25 years old, and who acquired a disability to defend the country during the internal armed conflict. Reason why the State was obliged to offer them the necessary tools to build new life projects, which would allow them to achieve inclusion in society. For this, the Ministry of National Defense, created the Disability Policy of the Security and Defense Sector in 2014, which is framed within the new paradigm of disability that has been evolving during the last decades worldwide, which shows that It is possible to overcome disability regardless of the individual's physical conditions, as long as the environment is not discriminatory but inclusive. In this way, the Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation Model was created as a starting point whose main objective is: “Create and develop a sustainable Integral Rehabilitation System for members of the Public Force in a situation of disability, which provides the necessary tools for the self-management of their life projects”.

This initiative is related to the category 1, because through the Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation Model for members of the Public Force with disabilities, our users are provided with inclusive and equitable services, giving them the necessary tools to achieve social, labor, familiar, cultural inclusion. In this way it is sought that these people achieve a better quality of life, promoting in them an effective participation in society, recognizing their special needs, rights, duties and all laws to ensure the effective fulfillment of their integration into the community.

The SDG No. 8 specifically in the target No. 8.5, includes propensity for decent, full and productive work for people with disabilities. Given this, the CRI within its Employability program has sought that our users can get a decent job through Public Employment Agencies or start their own business idea. To date, 780 users have finished with business idea or alternative life project and 419 have been employed in diverse companies. The SDG No. 4 on quality education, in the targets No. 4.5 and 4.a, the CRI offers to its users a wide offer of vocational training courses at different levels, from high school education, technical and technological courses through an agreement with the SENA (National Service of Learning of Colombia) and scholarship opportunities for higher education. Likewise, CRI facilities meet the accessibility requirements for people with disabilities, making the Center a very inclusive place for everyone. Finally, SDG No. 10 in the target No. 10.2, the CRI aims to achieve the social, economic and political inclusion of all people, which is in line with our Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation Model, which its main objective is to reach the inclusion in all areas of the lives of our veterans with disabilities.

The CRI is increasing the population by 2020, such as the beneficiaries of active militaries, veterans of the Korean War, civilians with disabilities, among others. What implies a social sustainability by the increasing of our population. Also, the CRI has a very high sustainability for the finance, human resource and technology, receiving annually all the budget directly from the General Budget of the Nation, based on the Inclusive Rehabilitation Law. Finally, regarding environmental sustainability, the CRI complies with the international standards of quality standards being certified by the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification (ICONTEC), which guarantee the sustainability.

Given the Colombian context, which is a country that has an internal armed conflict for about 60 years, this initiative addressed a deficit in governance because it was a state debt to these young military people who have sacrificed their physical integrity for defending the country from war and acquired a disability as a result. About 53% of them have acquired a physical disability, 32% a cognitive disability, and the rest have acquired a mental, visual, multiple or auditory disability. The most of this population belong to the National Army and the National Police, the most affected ranks are the soldiers and patrolmen, who until 2015 only have received functional rehabilitation from the health services of each of the military forces. Since the opening of the CRI in 2016, they are receiving better life opportunities at the educational, work, sports, social, family and cultural levels, providing them with all the necessary tools to be included in society, as active and productive people. This initiative has had very high positive results for them and their families, in accordance with the 2030 Agenda of leaving no one behind in order to respond to their specific problems and vulnerabilities.

In the Colombian Military Forces, great management has been carried out since the end of the 20th century to address gender inequality. Since 2009, a gender equality policy was established and in 2016, the first Gender Office of the National Army was created to align the institution's policies with the international agenda on gender equity. In the CRI although most of our users are men (95%), we have involved many women in training programs for beneficiaries and support to caregivers. Also, we must highlight our military women with disabilities that we have support to be world champions in their sports.

The CRI population is active or retired members of the Public Force with disabilities, beneficiaries of legal age with disabilities; Veterans; Korean veterans; active or retired members of the Public Force from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP); members of the Public Force who are in the process of retirement; military and police victims; civilian personnel with disabilities of the Ministry of National Defense; regular soldiers who have acquired a disability during the provision of their mandatory military service; And in general, populations of the security and defense sector that require this phase. From the beginning of its management in 2016 to November 2019, the CRI has served 5,500 users, where 780 finished their program with an idea of a business or alternative life project, 419 got employed in private companies, and since the beginning of the 2019, about 3,900 evaluations have been made from the programs carried out by the CRI: Physical Activity, Social and Communication Skills; and, Active, Productive Life and Environment. Considered as highly satisfactory results for three years of management.

The National Development Plan (2006 - 2010) of the Colombian government, included a Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program for members of the Public Force in a situation of disability. To carry out this mandate, on June 1, 2009, the National Council for Economic and Social Policy (CONPES) approved Document CONPES No. 3591, through which the Colombian State committed itself to the creation of the Comprehensive Rehabilitation System for the Public Force National. This document recommended the design, construction and provision of the Inclusive Rehabilitation Center (CRI). The Vice Presidency office and the Ministry of National Defense carried out various activities for the design and construction of this Center. To assist in this purpose, the Government of the Republic of Korea was interested in this project and contributed about 11.5 million dollars for its construction (51% of the total investment), through a Co-financing Agreement between the Cooperation Agency Korea International (KOICA) of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of National Defense of Colombia signed in May 2013. The construction of the Center was delivered in August 2016. For the maintenance of the CRI, we have administrative and financial autonomy and receive resources directly from the General Budget of the Nation through the Ministry of Finance. We are constantly monitored by the planning office of the Ministry of Defense and periodically receive audits on our management from various entities of the Colombian government. On behalf of the Korean government, we have received many visits from expert evaluators from KOICA to evaluate the implementation, results and impact of this project. The final evaluation of the project by KOICA was carried out in November 2018 with highly satisfactory results.

We demonstrate the need to expand our population to reach groups in the defense sector that need the inclusion phase that we offer at the CRI. For this purpose, the modification of article 3 of Law 1471 of 2011 (Law on the integral rehabilitation of the members of the Public Force) was included within the National Development Plan (2018-2022), including new population groups within the Integral Rehabilitation Phase made by the CRI. This modification was approved by the Congress and by the President of the Republic and we created the Regulatory Decree to begin serving these new populations.

The CRI is the only Center of this type in Latin America. It is a place dedicated exclusively to the inclusive rehabilitation of members of the Public Force with disabilities who have been affected by the internal armed conflict in our country. We have received visits delegations from around 19 countries who have shown great interest in learning about the processes of inclusive rehabilitation that are being carried out here and they want to replicate it in their countries of origin. Thus, we are becoming a worldwide reference in issues of inclusive rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

In addition to the economic contribution that the Korean government made to the construction of the CRI, this initiative was also largely inspired by the Korean experience and how the processes of integral rehabilitation of people with disabilities in that country are developed. Many of the programs we work on and part of our architecture were taken as an example of Korean rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities. However, for the context of our country, this initiative was adapted to the characteristics of our population, dedicated to offering a differential environment to the health context for the Colombian Armed Forces.

We are currently transferring our services nationwide, due to the dispersion we have of members of the Public Force with disabilities in different regions of the country. The largest number of Persons with Disabilities of the Military Forces resides in the Andean Region and in Bogota, D.C. (where we are located), however there is a significant percentage of the population that is in the Caribbean Region (10%) and in the Pacific Region (9 %). So far, there is a rehabilitation center of this type in the city of Medellin with smaller dimensions, in order to cover the population concentrated around the department of Antioquia and the Caribbean Region and efforts are being made to transfer the Model of Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation to this city, making trips of our officials to that region and other regions to implement our Model. In the future, the construction of a rehabilitation center in the city of Cali (Pacific Region) will be planned due to the concentration of this population in the southwest of the country. The CRI will continue in a constant evolution that will allow it to expand its management to reach all regions of the country.

For us, the transferability of our model is very important to the extent that many more people with disabilities can benefit. At the national level, we are constantly working within the National Disability Council to strengthen the exchange of experiences with organizations that work for civilians, which will allow us to expand our knowledge and transfer our work to the benefit of people with disabilities around the country. At the international level we have received visits from international delegations and in turn we have visited countries such as Korea, Mexico and the United States where we acquire new knowledge and replicate our model for the benefit of the entire population with disabilities worldwide. Finally, due to the great potential that transferability has with many other countries, we are currently working in order to seek the transferability of our initiative and learn from the experiences of each of them.

A total investment of about 18 million dollars was made for the construction of the Center. We receive the annual maintenance budget and it represents an average of 3.7 million dollars per year. This Center was built on a 34,000 square meter lot and has: gyms, swimming pool, climbing wall, public transport, housing and vehicle simulators, interactive panels, neuro mental exercise equipment, Gesell cameras, classrooms for educational processes, library, accommodation, etc. Our human resource is made up of more than 100 professionals in physiotherapy, psychology, neuropsychology, occupational therapy, social work, speech therapy, sports medicine, among others.

Our initiative is sustainable over time in financial and institutional terms because the Colombian government created Law 1471 of 2011 and CONPES 3591 of 2009 which aims for the comprehensive inclusive rehabilitation of members of the Public Force with disabilities and designates an annual budget for its maintenance. In addition, we still have a population to attend, which makes us sustainable to the extent that this Model must cover the entire population with disabilities in the defense sector. Finally, our expansion of the population to other population groups in the Sector allows us to remain sustainable over time.

Yes

The Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification (ICONTEC) of Colombia conducts to us semiannual audits for management follow-up. In the last audit in November 2019, we were assessed the requirements to be certified in quality, the Action Plan, our management indicators, the organizational structure, among others. Different external entities of the Colombian State also carry out evaluations in conjunction with the Ministry of National Defense. On the other hand, the Korea International Cooperation Agency in Colombia (KOICA), having contributed to this project, conducts annual evaluations by expert external evaluators for objective evaluations of the project.

We have different indicators included in the Strategic Sector Plan that are: number of users served; number of users who completed the Individual Work Plan (IWP); number of users who completed the IWP and got employed; and, number of users who completed the IWP and created an alternative productive project. Also, on the evaluations carried out by Korea through KOICA, they use the satisfaction level as an indicator applying surveys to our users and the final evaluation was carried out based on the five evaluation indicators of the OECD DAC, which are: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and cross-cutting issue.

Regarding the final evaluation carried out by KOICA, the results for the CRI were: very relevant (considering this project is very in line with the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities CRPD); efficient (stating that the CRI manages the budget efficiently); very effective (indicating that the building was perfectly built according to the needs of people with disabilities and also, our budget increases continuously since the opening, allocated by the Colombian government , thus the CRI very effectively secured its budget); high impact (because not only the quality of life of the users and their families have been improved,, but also the user's self-awareness has changed thus, the impact of this project is very high. Also, the activities carried out during this project have high impact on expanding the inclusive rehabilitation system in Colombia and spreading to the surrounding areas); Highly Sustainable (because the CRI receives all the budget from the government based on CONPES 3591 and Inclusive Rehabilitation Law. Thus, the financial sustainability is very high). These findings represent very highly satisfactory results for us, and we use it to show it to other national control entities and to improve our work daily.

The Inclusive Integral Rehabilitation Model of the members of the Public Force with disabilities was born from the office of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia and since its beginning has involved various levels of our government. The CRI, which is the entity that develops the Model, belongs to the Ministry of National Defense, and its management is constantly articulated with all the Military Forces (General Command, National Army, Air Force and National Navy) and the National Police, where we work together with them to provide the inclusion phase to all members of the Public Force with disabilities. On the other hand, we are part of the National Disability Council led by the High Presidential Counselor for disability. Also, we are involved with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Housing, Ministry Transportation, Ministry of Culture, mayors, governors, with the National Service of Learning (SENA), among others, and we have made many agreements with them to expand and improve the offer of services and opportunities for our population.

During the design of this initiative, participated the Vice Presidency of the Republic, the Presidential Cooperation Agency (APC), the Korean Embassy in Colombia, KOICA. During the implementation, diverse entities joined us such as the National Planning Department (DNP), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the SENA, the Ministry of Education, the Colombian Institute of Educational Credit and Technical Studies Abroad (ICETEX), private sector entities such as LEVAPAN SA, CISCO SYSTEMS, Transmilenio, Fundación M3D, GCF Learn Free, various foundations for people with disabilities, universities, NGOs, embassies from other countries, among others, have joined this initiative. Finally, we have been evaluated by the ICONTEC which is the entity that makes us annual audits, the Comptroller General of the Republic (highest state fiscal control body and has the mission of ensuring the good use of public resources and assets), the Attorney General's Office (autonomous control body responsible for investigating, sanctioning, intervening and preventing irregularities committed by public officials, of the Colombian State) and KOICA for evaluations by their external experts hired from Korean universities such as the Seoul University and private companies.

One of our lessons learned over time is the need to expand our population and from 2019 we started working on it, expanding the population to different population groups with disabilities in the defense sector that also need the inclusion phase of our model. A special case is the extension of services to our Korean War veterans, for this we are working on designing specific plans and programs for this population in order to offer them services of inclusive rehabilitation of the highest quality, according to their needs. On the other hand, we have seen the need to expand our service offer in other major cities of the country in order to decentralize the CRI because the Center is in the capital of the country (Bogota). For this reason, we have been traveling to different cities and towns, to socialize the services offered by the CRI to the with disabilities there. The future project is to be able to build other CRI headquarters in the main cities and to start alliances with the health units of the military forces to implement our services in those places.