From 2006 to 2008 the world was hit by major food price increases. The effects of these were felt worldwide and have been studied in several countries. The objective of this dissertation is to assess the specific impacts on urban households in Colombia and to quantify their welfare losses as well as the aggregate city poverty increases. Using total expenditures as a measure of household welfare, the study employs household survey information combined with disaggregated price data for the 13 main capital cities and 13 basic food commodities to address the proposed objectives. The analysis starts with the nominal adjustment of the poverty line caused by the increase in the basic consumption basket and then simulates short and medium term impacts of the price surge. These are measured in terms of monetary expenditure at the household level and using poverty headcount rate and poverty gap indicators at the aggregate level. The medium term increase in poverty is around 3%, both in the extreme and overall cases. However sub-national results vary significantly from these averages, being Barranquilla the city most affected. In addition, households with lower initial welfare and educational level, as well as female headed ones seem to be hit the hardest. These results could be applied to develop more efficiently targeted programmes directed to protect household entitlements towards a food price crisis. They could also be used to establish benefit levels or expansion directions of existing conditional cash transfer programmes that intend to improve nutritional and poverty conditions in Colombia. Finally the results become even more relevant considering the likely recurrence of events like these in the near future.

Background Retinopathy of prematurity is the major cause of blindness in children in Colombia. This cause of childhood blindness is irreversible when stablished, but 100% preventable with the adequate strategies put in place. This raises important questions concerning strategies to reduce the incidence of blindness as a result of ROP, which should ensure that all infants who are at risk of blinding ROP are examined in screening programmes. Aim The aim was to collect data in the neonatal intensive care units. This was used to evaluate the existing human and material resources for preventing, screening and treating ROP and rehabilitation of children suffering from ROP. The data helped to do an analysis of gaps in the service and allowed to present a proposal for a programme to prevent blindness due to ROP in the cities of Manizales, Pereira and Armenia, Colombia. Methods 7 NICUs were visited in the three cities. The study collected quantitative data on neonatal intensive care units, admission and survival of premature babies during 2010, human resources and infrastructure and data on knowledge of the Colombian guidelines on ROP. Results The survival rates vary according to the provider. They are higher in the private sector, and lower in the public sector. Overall, the available data allowed us to estimate that there are approximately 45,000 births per year (2010) in the region (95% occur in hospital) and 1.8% of all the births are less than 2,000g. Therefore, in the region, 810 babies per year weighing less than 2,000g are at risk of developing any type of ROP. The number of places, ventilators and monitors is sufficient. Staffing is adequate in the private NICUs, with a shortage of neonatologists in the public NICUs. The number of nurses monitoring babies is universally adequate, but the lack of knowledge in controlling risk factors of developing ROP such as monitoring oxygen in a constraint. An ROP screening programme is not available in public NICUs and in some of the mixed providers. The Kangaroo Mother programme lack of screening for ROP. Conclusions The unstable health system has allowed (i) unsustainable NICUs and programmes for ROP (ii) If available, programmes running without being monitored or evaluated, and, (iii) no screening in public and some mixed NICUs in Manizales, Pereira and Armenia. (iv) no screening for ROP in the Kangaroo Mother Programe As access and survival rates improve in the NICUS of these cities, ROP is likely to continue to be a significant cause of blindness in the region, despite the progress that has been achieved with the 2010 Colombian guidelines for screening and treating ROP. Recommendations The results suggest that the prevention of blinding ROP is a complex task in Colombia that requires concomitant strategies to be put in place: Firstly, national policies in screening for ROP and oxygen delivery for the babies in the NICUs are needed. Secondly, as a primary preventive strategy, training nurses in the NICUs to control and monitor the delivery of oxygen; as a secondary preventive strategy, ROP programmes offered to the public, mixed, private NICUs and to the Kangaro Mother Programme; as a tertiary strategy, rehabilitation providing a low vision centre for these children Thirdly, running ROP programmes need to be monitored and evaluated.

The present research explores the growing field of studies of Minority Language Media by focusing on two case studies, Wales and Colombia. The research seeks to answer the question of how the complex, hybrid identity of media producers negotiate their various identity allegiances in the preparation and broadcast of output for Minority Language Media. The research process takes an interpretative and qualitative stance to interviews with producers and participant observation of the production process, to determine the impact of the different negotiations of identity upon linguistic output. This analysis allows for a comparative discussion which provides new elements for the study of Minority Language Media from manifold perspectives: it evidences the impact of certain identifications on the linguistic output of media, it shows the various stances that may be adopted in regards to the purpose and interest of Minority Language Media, and it provides a set of examples which enable a discussion about the development of the field of studies beyond the European remit from whence it stems. Finally, this research seeks to lay the foundation for new aspects of interest in the developing field. 

The global awareness of urban wetlands as areas where crucial issues as urban growth and policies against climate change overlap, must be addressed with critical urgency on developing countries with rapid rates of transformation. The late consciousness about the environmental value of Bogota wetlands have created a rich field of discussion regarding the role of these places in the city, but specially and what constitutes the main purpose of this investigation, the development of a vision which could lead to new kinds of physical interventions between the protected areas and the existing urban settlements. This work aims at recognizing and providing basic principles to guarantee that these physical realities are compatible with the needs of the main natural elements which constitute these ecosystems. Referring to urban ecology principles, wetlands and human settlements are intended as part of the same ecosystem and their reciprocal relations from an urban design perspective is the object of this investigation. The Jaboque wetland, for its size and location, offers interesting conditions to carry on the morphological investigation in order to define series of principles which explore this new physical dimension, and in particular, the construction of concept-plan and master-plan guidelines, aiming at overcoming typical limitations of general and not site-related policies, and finally which could influence actions on other wetlands with similar characteristics.

El tema de la violencia en Colombia ha sido retomado en multiples ocasiones desde diferentes perspectivas. En este caso se hace un análisis de la violencia generalizada en Colombia, desde el punto de vista de un fragmento de la población identificado como “migrantes internos.” En el texto se estudia la relacion entre la violencia y el sentido de idetidad nacional de migrantes internos hoy residentes en la ciudad de Bogotá.Con este fin se hace un análisis histórico de la violencia que ha tenido lugar los últimos 60 años en el territorio colombiano, el cual se conecta con el posterior análisis de algunos de los elementos que componen la identidad nacional colombiana.

The international development arena has been transformed in the last two decades. On the one hand, NGOs have become more market oriented, both in terms of their business models and in terms of their approach. On the other hand, private actors have also become more socially engaged, and advances in technology and communications have brought new opportunities for market sector actors to create social impacts. The result has been an increasing trend of social enterprises (SEs), hybrid organisations created for a social purpose but participating actively in the market for their subsistence. This paper examines the differences between traditional NGOs, funded mainly by government grants and donations, and these new actors that rely primarily on market-based income. Furthermore, this study tries to examine how Dutch NGOs and SEs are creating links between activities focused on market building and actual participation in markets, a challenge that Helmsing and Knorringa identified in 2008. To do this, 21 SEs were interviewed and another 16 NGOs were studied on the basis of interviews (5) and their annual reports, strategy papers and official websites. We find that there are three ways in which NGOs and SEs are successfully “bridging the gap” between market building and market participation: i) through official partnerships, ii) individually by tapping market and non-market sources of funding, using new technologies and leveraging from new forms of private philanthropy, and iii) by selling specialized “market building” services that guarantee an active participation of the private sector. Furthermore, the ability of SEs to engage in market building activities and of NGOs to participate in the market depends largely on their origins and the business models and financial strategies that they adopt.

In the work we developed a new methodology based on the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) and the level set method for the continuous model updating of geological facies with respect to production and static (well logs) data. We modelled geological facies using a level set representation and further conditioned them to production and static data using the ensemble Kalman filter. The history matching was done in a continuous fashion since the filter does not depend on previous states and updates parameters and states of the physical system as it receives data from the fields. The methodology is completely new and may provide an alternative to the pluri-Gaussian method with competitive complexity times. Further, the methodology allows to involve prior knowledge of the reservoir as a template base case in a Bayesian-like update. The methodology was tested and compare to others and implemented on a real 3D north-sea and synthetic reservoirs.

In the Colombian context, which ideally will now start a post-conflict period, it is necessary for the government to pursue strategies to prevent the causes of the conflict. This study considers the hypothesis that one possible cause for future conflict is the problems that emanate from coexistence of social housing neighbours. In Colombia, social housing programmes focus on providing shelter, in the sense that it is understood as something only physical. The problem is that this notion ignores the need of people to generate community integration. This study takes a conceptual approach to the issue by addressing the debates around citizenship as an identity and active citizenship. It also analyses concepts such as social capital, state-society-synergy and finally community and social housing. The study focuses on the case of Colombia, analysing the context and the challenges of social housing. It evaluates the housing policy and community integration programs of different institutions of the national government. Finally, it concludes with the suggestion that the government should have a participatory approach to building social housing that will help with arraigo (attachment) and to form the social fabric to achieve community integration, accomplishing better conviviality and housing conditions.

A technological and environmental alternative has been studied for about a decade to reduce the consumption of coal. It consists of substitute one part of the coal by biomass (neutral generated of CO2) in a co-_ring process. The co-_ring process consists of the controlled combustion of two or more fuels in the same burner. According to research performed in the US and Europe this process has economic and technical viability. And depending on the characteristics of the fuel, this process can contribute reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG). This thesis presents a methodological proposal to analyze and evaluate a thermoelectric power plant from the exergoenviromental point of view, operating in co-_ring process and using coal and biomass. The boundary of the problem is composed by the power plant and the technological paths to obtain and manipulate the fuels. Exergy is used in the thermodynamic analysis and the life cycle assessment method is proposed to quantify the environmental impact. The climate change category was used following the global warming potential index. Two scenarios were evaluated: scenario A corresponds to the power plant operating with 100% coal and scenario B corresponds to the power plant operating in co-_ring with 90% of coal and 10% of biomass. The technological route used for the coal is established between the southern mineral region of the state of Santa Catarina and the Jorge Lacerda thermoelectric power plant complex, which is located at Capivari de Baixo. The information utilized for the biomass path was obtained from the research performed in the thermoelectric power plant complex. The purpose of this task was to use the biomass from the rice farms as fuel. The analysis showed that the power plant is largely responsible for exergy destruction. Moreover it has the largest generated impact associated with the analyzed category. From these results, an exergoenvironmental analysis for the representative thermodynamic cycle was performed. The results showed that the boiler constitutes the equipment with the largest potential of improvement.  Finally, an exergoenvironmental global index was proposed to compare the exergoenvironmental impact of the thermoelectric generation process for both scenarios, which were compared with Carnot cycle scenario. The exergoenvironmental global index showed that 11% improvement is possible for the scenario B when compared with scenario A without taking in account the biomass microbial decomposition and up to the 35% when the decomposition was considered.

A review of the main issues that affect the livelihoods of non timber forest products (NTFP) focusing on the commercialisation issues of gatherers/producers and traders, was made for Colombia. It aimed to investigate broadly which are some of the cultural, economic, social, environmental, marketing and legislative issues that affect the outcomes for NTFP livelihoods. The sustainable rural livelihood framework was used to understand the main issues affecting NTFP livelihoods and to propose alternatives to improve the constraints found in NTFP development and commercialisation. The study identify the great importance of NTFP local and regional markets for rural development, and some data was given for international markets in order to understand the magnitude of the commerce and the possibilities that might arise for some promissory products. The review of some institutional and organisation incentives influencing NTFP production and commercialisation was undertaken by reviewing the forestry policies and some of its instruments. The study used secondary data of reports made mainly in Latin-America. The report concludes that the policies and norms that influence NTFP, such as the forestry policy and plans do not consider the importance of NTFP for social and environmental objectives. For NTFP research, the analysis of the commercialisation process is strongly co-related to social networks, ecology, cultural taboos, norms for management of NTFP and effectiveness of support organisations. NTFP livelihoods can be seriously affected by government organisations and NGO’s if they are treated as traditional commodities because of the fragility and uniqueness of their ecology, economy and social structures. The report gives some recommendations to government agencies and researchers that wish to mend the constraints found for NTFP successful development.