In Colombia and Ecuador, one question on people’s mind is whether President Barack Obama will continue Plan Colombia, a U.S. foreign policy initiative kicked-off under the Clinton administration that calls for U.S. aid to focus on the elimination of the production of cocaine’s raw material in Colombia. To date, he says he will end it.

This reporting project will focus on an often overlooked and unintended consequence of Plan Colombia: sex work – both voluntary and involuntary – in the border regions between Colombia and Ecuador. While the plan’s stated goal is the eradication of drug production and related paramilitary groups in Colombia, the undercovered story is how the strategy has resulted in the destruction of kinships and a dramatic escalation in the use of women for paid sex with the accompanying violence. A virgin now sells for $50.

Our team will examine Plan Colombia’s impact on women living and working in Sucumbios, a frontier province in North Ecuador, where oil extraction, drug and sex trafficking have turned women’s bodies into part of the battlefield. Prostitution is legal in Ecuador but lacks regulation and safety nets against sexual violence. In this landscape of toxic demand, Colombian displaced women have the least choice, being roped into sex and drug trafficking to eke a living. Many were victims of forced displacement.

I will produce a 5-7 minute documentary. My reporting partner, Dominique Soguel will produce three 1200-word features, blog and photo essay for Women’s eNews. Our content will include interviews with sex workers, Ecuadorian and Colombian, NGOs working with victims of human trafficking and sexual violence, and experts on Plan Colombia’s regional impact that can connect the situation to policy recommendations for President Obama’s new administration.