Chapter 6
Colombia: Challenges in
Country-level Monitoring
Beatriz Londoño Soto and Tatiana Romero Rey*
In 1986, Colombia launched a program of Community Welfare
Homes [Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar (HCB)] to provide assis-
tance to families with young children. This early child development
(ECD) program has the greatest coverage among programs for young
children in Colombia, reaching approximately 1 million boys and
girls under age 7 years in all 1,098 municipalities. These children and
their families are the poorest in the country.
The government shares responsibility with families and communi-
ties to improve the nutrition, health, psychosocial development, and
living conditions of the children and families. Ten years after Colom-
bia launched the HCB program, the government conducted a first
evaluation of the impact of the program (ICBF 1997). This evalua-
tion resulted in the establishment of measures to improve the overall
program.
In the past decade, the government has:
- Supported complementary studies [e.g., the National Registry of
Community Mothers (Registro Nacional de Madres Comuni-
tarias)] (ICBF 2004c)
131- Beatriz Londoño Soto, M.D., M.P.H., is former Director, and Tatiana Romero
Rey, M.D., M.Sc., is ECD Advisor, Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, Bogotá,
Colombia.