Relief efforts in Colombia
CARE has been present in the Latin America and Caribbean region since 1954. CARE has been responding to the Venezuela migrant and refugee crisis with a gender sensitive approach. CARE has been implementing emergency response interventions directly and through partners (in particular, women’s organizations) in Peru and Ecuador, Colombia, and inside Venezuela. CARE focuses its response on some of the most vulnerable forcibly displaced and host community members, especially women, adolescents and girls, the LGBTQI+ population, and young men.
In Colombia, CARE focuses on protection, health, and early recovery. This includes providing cash for protection, humanitarian transportation, legal and psychosocial counseling, and strengthening institutional and community protection systems. CARE also offers sexual and reproductive health services, particularly for pregnant women who have never had access to prenatal support. Additionally, CARE supports women’s entrepreneurship to reinforce their livelihoods. In every intervention, CARE aims to include up to 30% of hosting communities in order to bolster social cohesion.
Colombia receives the highest number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the region. Currently, over 2.8 million Venezuelans live in Colombia. The mass exodus of people has overwhelmed the country’s health and education systems, among others, and has fueled rising xenophobia in the country.