Development Co‑operation Profiles: Colombia
Table of contents
Colombia engages in international development co-operation with the ambition to address global crises, promote equity and social justice, achieve peace and regional integration, and promote strategic partnerships. Its approach is shaped by its dual role as both a beneficiary of official development assistance and a provider of South-South, triangular and circular co-operation. Colombia advocates for international development co-operation that is effective; demand-driven; focused on local needs and knowledge; and that considers each partner’s objectives, expertise and capabilities. Its co-operation mainly focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean and is increasingly expanding to Asia-Pacific and Africa.
This profile presents verified data on Colombia’s development assistance allocation. See the Development Co‑operation Profiles.
A four-year National Strategy (ENCI in Spanish) guides the international development co-operation that Colombia receives and provides. The ENCI 2023-2026 is inspired by Colombia’s “pacifist, intersectional and participative” feminist foreign policy and the priorities of the National Development Plan 2022-2026. Colombia’s main policy objectives highlighted in the ENCI are: the fight against climate change, hunger and inequality; the promotion of peace and justice; and the strengthening of institutional capacities. The ENCI 2023-2026 is the first to include both a “feminist” chapter and an “innovative finance” chapter. Colombia’s technical co-operation expertise is compiled in a 2024-2025 best practices portfolio, which is designed to facilitate knowledge sharing with partners.
Colombia actively participates in regional and global discussions at the multilateral level, especially to support the international climate and biodiversity agenda. Colombia hosted the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali (2024), under the theme “Peace with Nature”; the 5th Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation in Bogota (2025); and the Latin American Climate Summit in Bogota (2025). In the global financing for development debates, Colombia has continued advocating for the incorporation of multidimensional criteria to measure development and for the promotion of additional and innovative sources of development financing. In this context, together with France, Germany and Kenya, Colombia established the Global Expert Review on Debt, Climate and Nature – an initiative of the Paris Pact for People and the Planet – to analyse how the sovereign debt of low- and middle-income countries can become more sustainable, both fiscally and environmentally.
In 2024, Colombia launched a South-South co-operation peacebuilding programme to share lessons learnt from its own peace process with other conflict-affected states. This programme co-creates strategies that empower partner countries in their transition toward more prosperous, just and lasting peaceful societies.
The programme includes three main components:
1. Learning pathways on specific topics including disarmament, regional development, financing for peace and reparations, and gender equality, drawing on Colombia’s own experiences and lessons learnt.
2. A global network of talents for peace which fosters virtual engagement and knowledge sharing among peacebuilders.
3. “International co-operation for peace”, for technical and financial collaboration to strengthen partner countries’ institutions.
Through the programme, participants from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and the Philippines implemented concrete plans in the areas of disarmament, transitional justice, support to victims and inclusive governance. Additional countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Mozambique are also advancing plans as to include a gender approach in their peacebuilding strategies.
Sources: APC-Colombia (2025), “Programme of South-South cooperation on peacebuilding: ‘From Colombia to the World’”, https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/programa-de-cooperacion-sur-sur-en-construccion-de-paz-de-colombia-al-mundo; SEGIB (2025), Informe Sur-Sur “From Colombia to the World”, Ibero-American General Secretariat, https://informesursur.org/en/from-colombia-to-the-world-a-cooperation-program-in-peacebuilding; UN Peacebuilding Commission (2025), Ambassadorial-level Meeting on South‑South and Triangular Cooperation, “Chair’s summary”, https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/chairs_summary_pbc_ambassadorial-level_meeting_on_sstc.pdf and “Concept note”, https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/final_updated_concept_note_pbc_ambassadorial_meeting_sstc_july_2024.pdf.
Colombia’s South-South co-operation is implemented through bilateral co-operation, regional projects, strategic alliances, triangular projects and humanitarian assistance, all of which are financed through the Cooperation and International Assistance Fund (FOCAI). According to OECD estimates based on available information from the government of Colombia, Colombia’s international development co-operation amounted to USD 6.90 million1 in 2025, compared to USD 5.14 million in 2024.
The Colombian government is committed to elevating South-South and triangular co-operation to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as established at the Second High‑level United Nations Conference on South-South Co-operation (BAPA+40). Colombia prioritises countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa for this co-operation, as well as other plurilateral mechanisms, such as the Pacific Alliance or the Andean Community.
As of 2025, 456 SSTC activities have been conducted (including new projects and ongoing ones from previous years). For Latin America and the Caribbean, 18 projects were approved in areas such as food security, capacity building on migration issues, education and the environment, with countries such as Haiti, Honduras and Peru, among others. For Africa, Asia and Eurasia, ten South-South co-operation initiatives were approved, mainly focused on sectors such as agriculture; institutional strengthening and public policies; and peace, public security and national defense, with countries like Egypt, Thailand and Viet Nam, among others.
Learn more about triangular co-operation. Colombia is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation.
The three main actors in Colombia’s development co-operation system are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the National Planning Department (DNP) and the Presidential Agency for International Development Cooperation (APC-Colombia). The MFA, through its International Cooperation Directorate, formulates and guides Colombia’s overall foreign policy framework for development co-operation. The DNP is in charge of identifying national development priorities as well as planning and prioritising resources. APC-Colombia was created by Decree No. 4152 in 2011 as the technical and financial co‑ordinator of the non-reimbursable international co-operation that Colombia receives and provides. APC‑Colombia also administers FOCAI, which was created in 1996 and is used to finance Colombia’s South-South and triangular co-operation projects and provide humanitarian assistance.
In 2022, Decree No. 603 established a “National System of International Cooperation”. The system streamlines and helps to co-ordinate the work of the various national institutions engaged in international co-operation (government, territorial entities, the private sector, civil society, academia and philanthropy) and in co-ordination with international co-operation partners, to enhance policy coherence, effectiveness and impact. The system is led by a Strategic Committee comprised of the MFA, the DNP and APC‑Colombia and includes several technical committees to support co-ordination at the operational level.
Access the full list of providers of development co-operation at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Colombia’s National Strategy for International Cooperation (ENCI): https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/comunicaciones/publicaciones/enci-2023-2026 (in Spanish).
APC-Colombia: https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/la-directora/funciones (in Spanish).
Colombia’s National System of International Cooperation: https://apccolombia.gov.co/sncic (in Spanish).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2024), Colombia’s Feminist Foreign Policy, https://www.cancilleria.gov.co/sites/default/files/FOTOS2025/G%C3%A9nero%20-%20Informe%20Ejecutivo%202024.pdf (in Spanish).
Government of Colombia (2023), National Development Plan 2022-2026 “Colombia World Power of Life”, https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/portalDNP/PND-2023/2023-05-05-texto-conciliado-PND.pdf (in Spanish).
APC-Colombia (2025), Best Practices Portfolio of South-South Cooperation, Presidential Agency for International Cooperation, https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/comunicaciones/publicaciones/portafolio-de-oferta-de-cooperacion-internacional-de-colombia.
APC-Colombia (2025), Accountability Report, Presidential Agency for International Cooperation, https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/sites/default/files/2026-01/Informe_de%20_Gestio%CC%81n_Consolidado_2025%20APC-Colombia%20V1.pdf (in Spanish).
APC-Colombia (2025), From Colombia to the World, Presidential Agency for International Cooperation, https://www.apccolombia.gov.co/modalidades-de-cooperacion/cooperacion-sur-sur/gestion-de-la-cooperacion-sur-sur/programa-en.
SEGIB (2025), Informe Sur-Sur “From Colombia to the World”, Ibero-American General Secretariat, https://informesursur.org/en/from-colombia-to-the-world-a-cooperation-program-in-peacebuilding.
UN Peacebuilding Commission (2025), Ambassadorial-level Meeting on South-South and Triangular Cooperation, “Chair’s summary”: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/chairs_summary_pbc_ambassadorial-level_meeting_on_sstc.pdf and “Concept note”: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/final_updated_concept_note_pbc_ambassadorial_meeting_sstc_july_2024.pdf.
Colombia has been a member of the OECD since 2020. Colombia is not a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
Colombia is an Adherent to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the OECD-DAC Declaration on a New Approach to Align Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Environmental Assessment of Development Assistance Projects and Programmes, the OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption and the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development. Learn more about OECD legal instruments and DAC Recommendations.
Colombia participated in the first Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Programme Dialogue on Development Co-operation in 2024, and in the DAC High Level Meeting and the LAC-DAC Co-Lab series on Reducing Poverty and Inequalities and Multidimensionality Metrics for Development in 2025.
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← 1. This includes expenditures on technical co-operation (flights, hotels, logistics), “strategic partnerships” and humanitarian assistance. It does not include assessed contributions to the multilateral system. All humanitarian support goes to countries on the DAC list of ODA recipients (Haiti and Palestine/West Bank and Gaza Strip). Estimates are based on the APC-Colombia’s 2025 report (Table 11, p.69, FOCAI) and the budgetary execution documents.