Operación Convivencia
Life periods served
Where the program was applied
Country of application
Description

This is a program that covered a total of 40 low- and middle-income neighborhoods in Medellín, where the municipal government reinforced its civil apparatus for 20 months by assigning full-time public agents to help organize the communities. The objectives were to improve public order, promote better communication and connection between residents and the government, encourage conflict resolution, and promote access to family and social services. A centralized task force ensured that municipal agencies fulfilled these functions. The implementation of Operación Convivencia (Operation Coexistence) implied a 60-fold increase in field presence, as well as an increase in the responsiveness of municipal agencies. implied a 60-fold increase in field presence, as well as an increase in the responsiveness of municipal agencies.

Impact evaluations

A pilot study found no evidence that Operación Convivencia was able to produce, in general terms, significant improvements related to state governance, state legitimacy, emergency calls associated with security issues, and crime reporting. However, significant heterogeneity was identified, as the effects of the program depended to a large extent on the initial pre-intervention conditions. In sectors where the state already had relatively strong capacity and presence, the intervention was effectively implemented. As a result, in these cases, residents reported interacting more with the municipal team, and the program contributed to increasing the legitimacy of the state and reducing both crime reports and emergency calls to the police. On the other hand, in sectors where state capacity and presence were weaker before the intervention, the quality of the intervention was lower, failing to meet some important premises, and the number of interactions was significantly lower than that observed in successful areas (around 25% on average). Consequently, no evidence was found that the program had produced positive effects on any of the desired outcomes [1].[1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Blattman, C., Duncan, G., Lessing, B., & Tobón, S. (2022). Civilian alternatives to policing: Evidence from Medellín’s community problem-solving intervention Operación Convivencia. NBER Working Paper (29692). https://www.nber.org/papers/w29692

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