The Anda ( Spanish for moving forward) project is led by GlobalCommunities, an international non-profit organisation that worked for more than 12 years implementing large-scale development programs throughout Colombia.

BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities made the grant to the five-year ANDA project to help vulnerable people, including internally displaced persons, women, youth, Afro-Colombians and Indigenous persons in Colombia to become more resilient.

Sustainable Communities chairman Ian Wood said BHP was proud to be part of a project that would reach more than 40,000 people in six municipalities in the Department of Cordoba and the cities of Monteria and Cartagena.

Much of the international and government assistance provided to economically disadvantaged people in Colombia to date has been for emergency support and short term interventions, rather than for sustainable economic and social development.

The Anda project aims to create sustainable, long-term change by identifying community priorities and encouraging community engagement through working with the Colombian government at all levels to extend the reach of services and assistance to project participants.