By By Dayron Escorcia
Youth Advisory Group (YAG) – GOYN Barranquilla-Colombia
Barranquilla, considered the golden gate of Colombia, has over the years been positioned as an exemplary city at national and international level in matters such as infrastructure, public-private partnerships and other points of action. However, it had a great debt in the creation of strategies that would benefit people with disabilities and put the district care system into operation.
The regulatory framework that advocates for the disabled population is dense both at the national and district level. Following this line, since 2015 the Barranquilla City Council had obtained approval of the public disability policy, however, it was not until 2024 when the local administration created the IncludeTE+ strategy which officially strengthens and launches the District Care System for People with Disabilities (PwD) and their caregivers. Despite being relatively new, its impact has been gratifying to the point of having obtained the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The district strategy IncludeTE+ The process began with a census phase of the target population, and yielded very striking figures that demonstrate the priority of addressing and creating more and more interventions that seek to improve the quality of life and access to opportunities for people with disabilities and their caregivers. According to official sources from the Mayor's Office of Barranquilla, the district currently has approximately 30,000 people who act as caregivers, of which 80% are women, which translates into 24,000 women dedicated to caring for people with disabilities.
The intervention model is divided into 3 lines of action: Dignity and recognition, Llégate Centres and complementary offeringsThe initiative itself is not aimed at working with caregivers; however, it includes them among the beneficiaries under a model that responds to three essential values: recognizing, rewarding and redistributing the work of caregivers.
The added value of the strategy begins with the creation of the network of caregivers, which seeks a comprehensive approach for these people who dedicate their lives to caring for others. A route that offers a wide range of guides and benefits for them, among which the following stand out: support for the construction of life projects for caregivers; training processes such as basic care operators for people with functional dependency and first aid, basic training in sign language, customer service, pedagogy, among others. And depending on the individual aspirations and profiles, training and seed capital for entrepreneurs are offered for those who work in this area.
Looking at this new model of public intervention in the district care system, we could say that it is a success and demonstrates the commitment of the current government to achieve the goal of making Barranquilla the most inclusive city in the country and an example in the hemisphere in this matter. However, from a youth perspective, certain shortcomings can still be seen. An example of this is that there is no distinction between caregivers according to age. Although the program does not exclude beneficiaries of the services provided by age, there is no segmentation of how many young people are part of the 30,000 caregivers of people with disabilities in the district. This would be essential to begin building future action plans through the initiative discussed here or through a new one, since this population segment responds to another type of interest and would therefore need another type of stimulus and offer, both in terms of training and access to services.
On the other hand, the focus of the strategy is based solely on caregivers of people with disabilities, however, the law prioritizes and includes within the care system 3 types of populations with higher levels of functional dependency, such as: early childhood, population with disabilities and older adults. This would demonstrate that the district must find a way to integrate the other two types of caregivers into the IncludeTE+ strategy since regardless of the type of population to which they dedicate their care, before the law they have the status of caregivers.
In the 2024 report of GOYN Barranquilla it is stated that 33% of young people with potential (those who do not study and do not work) in the city are dedicated to household chores. Additionally, 5 out of 10 young women with potential are dedicated to household activities. If we look at a territorial level, we can see that many of these activities carried out in homes correspond to the care of younger siblings, children and/or grandparents; however, to date there is no inclusion or profiling of these as potential beneficiaries of programs under the quality of caregivers.
Although the district is doing a commendable job of building an increasingly inclusive city, efforts must be redoubled to consolidate a comprehensive district care system that manages to include young people who pause their life project to care for those who need it. Young people who in one way or another carry out caregiving activities have a tendency to not recognize themselves as caregivers, which leads them to be excluded from programs aimed at this public. Taking the above into account, it is essential that future public policies design strategies that respond to these little-known realities, so that the benefits do not end up being exclusive.
This initiative, which has been running for less than a year now, has the potential to be a benchmark in Latin America and even worldwide. However, it must begin to refine certain areas so that the approach to the target audience is more holistic, robust and in which young people are also at the center.