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Contribute to the exercise of rights and socioeconomic and cultural integration among the migrant and/or refugee population and the host community in areas receiving migrants in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This is the main objective of the project Fair and inclusive socioeconomic recovery of the Venezuelan and host population in these countries, funded with three million euros by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and implemented by Ayuda en Acción with the collaboration of local partners WWB Foundation, Banco Codesarrollo and Perspektiva, with a duration of four years.
The project is based on the Triple Nexus approach, focusing on three main axes: economic integration, social protection and cohesion, and culture of peace. The target group are Venezuelan nationals between 18 and 55 years of age in a situation of human mobility, located in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and people between 20 and 55 years of age from the host communities. The latter may have negative perceptions about the contribution of Venezuelan migrants or refugees to their community and face similar problems.
The intervention of the agreement includes both the Venezuelan migrant and/or refugee population and the vulnerable host population. It is expected to reach 7240 people, of which 70% will be immigrants and/or refugees from Venezuela and 30% host population. With a strong gender approach, it is expected that the agreement will reach 65% of the total number of women beneficiaries.
Context of the regional migration agreement
The biggest migration story in the Latin American region stems from the economic and social collapse of Venezuela that has left millions of people in the country struggling to meet their basic needs. Venezuelan people have suffered dramatic aspects throughout their arrival to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and other countries. These three countries host the largest number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the region, who not only seek means to subsist, but also to integrate into societies that could be their homes.
The main needs of Venezuelan migrants and refugees at the regional level until 2023 are: access to documentation and regularization, income generation, access to information and counseling, mitigation of discrimination, and access to social programs with differential needs and humanitarian assistance.
This is why Ayuda en Acción, through co-financing from AECID, proposes a multidimensional comprehensive care project to contribute to the exercise of rights and socioeconomic and cultural integration among the Venezuelan migrant and/or refugee population and the host community in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru through the following actions:
- Economic integration through the acceleration of entrepreneurship and access to regularized financial services from an inclusive financial market approach that integrates the different actors involved.
- Improve social cohesion and coexistence between the migrant/refugee population and the host population.
- Promote the protection and promotion of rights through a comprehensive care model.
- Strengthen local response capacity and institutional articulation to meet the needs of the migrant and host population.
The project has a duration of four years, during which it will serve more than 7,240 people in a situation of human mobility of Venezuelan origin with a large integration of local populations in vulnerable situations. The proposal is being developed in the cities of: Ibarra, Otavalo and Pimampiro (Ecuador), Lima in the districts of Comas, Los Olivos and San Martin de Porres (Peru) and the Municipalities of San José de Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario (Colombia). The geographical prioritization responds to the fact that urban and peri-urban areas are where most Venezuelan migrants and refugees are concentrated and, therefore, where the highest percentage of the problems to be addressed occur.
Regional migration agreement: a coordinated intervention
There are differences in the forms of settlement in the three countries that have effects on the migratory dynamics of the migrant population and on the impact on the local population. While in Peru, 90% of Venezuelan migration is concentrated in the city of Lima, in Ecuador it is distributed practically throughout the territory (2020) and in Colombia there is a high concentration in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Medellín and in border cities such as Cúcuta or Guajira.
Although the context is different in each host country, the needs of the Venezuelan population are the same. At the subregional level in 2023, integration, health, and protection continue to be the most unmet needs with 58.3%, 52.3%, and 52%, respectively.
In the three countries, campaigns for legal counseling and accompaniment in regularization processes were implemented above all, since the national regulations of the three countries had expired in their own regularization processes for the Venezuelan migrant population. At the same time as regularization, part of the migrant population was diagnosed according to their state of vulnerability in relation to their socioeconomic situation and integration.
In Ecuador, emphasis has been placed on promoting the regularization of Venezuelan migrants. In addition, the first diagnosis of enterprises in Ibarra has been implemented, which began in 2023, in order to select the enterprises that will be strengthened in the following months.
In Colombia, activities were carried out in coordination with the institutions (Migration Colombia) to promote regularization processes. Likewise, the first Citizenship School has been developed, aimed at strengthening the organizational processes of the youth of Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario, addressing issues such as public policies, participation and democracy, youth citizenship, national youth subsystem and peace building.
“The agreement seeks to improve the living conditions of Venezuelan migrants and refugees and the vulnerable host population by increasing their income and their integration in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia,” said Estefanía Gómez, coordinator of the Ayuda en Acción project, who emphasized that “in the following years we expect to strengthen at least 580 enterprises through training and empowerment processes with entrepreneurial skills. In addition to being strengthened, these enterprises will have a focus on environmental sustainability and will be sustainable over time”. “We implemented this agreement because supporting migrants is essential to build more inclusive, just and prosperous societies for all,” added Estefanía Gómez.
Cristina Lippi, deputy head of NGDO at AECID, emphasizes that “agreements are the best manifestation of cooperation through civil society because they allow us to achieve strategic objectives, their dialogue process is the pure essence of cooperation and allows us to reach a common ground between the needs of cooperation and the proposals of the entities. In addition, they allow us to adjust the circumstances during the life of the intervention, landing in real time the activities that respond to the objectives set, but, above all, they allow us to have a greater impact: social, economic and strategic”.
In the area of coverage of protection needs, the agreement will support 480 victims of gender-based violence with psychological support and referrals to institutions for socio-emotional care and support. In addition, we will provide 1,700 services (70% migrants and 30% host) in psychosocial support with a differentiated approach and attention. During these four years, some 3,800 people will receive legal advice/guidance for the regularization of their migratory situation. Finally, 3,100 people will be sensitized against discrimination and xenophobia.
As for the intervention of minors, 740 children and adolescents are expected to participate in schools of rights and citizen participation.
