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More than 2.8 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees have come to Colombia since 2015. Acogida (a Spanish word used to express welcome and a sense of belonging) aimed to improve protection and assistance to Venezuelan migrants and host communities in Colombia in partnership with local authorities and civil society organizations of the Venezuelan diaspora.

Providing Assistance and Services

We provided humanitarian assistance to families (at least 80% of them Venezuelans), including distribution of hygiene kits, and essential household items. Teams helped migrant families secure housing by offering nine-month rental assistance, with a particular focus on helping households headed by women at risk or victims of gender-based violence. To better integrate into host communities, we worked with Venezuelans to secure access to migration permits, as well as health, education, child protection, and psychosocial support services.

Building Community Connections

We worked with community action boards and municipal governments in over 60 targeted neighborhoods across eighteen municipalities in the Caribbean, Western, and Eastern regions of Colombia to promote social cohesion and the participation of Venezuelans in community life. We collaborated with Local Action Boards (Juntas de Acción Comunal) and newly formed “Acogida committees” to design community development projects. Our team also regularly checked in with both Venezuelans and Colombians on their perceptions of community life and their feedback was used to continuously refine planning.

Strengthening Local Leadership

We partnered with Venezuelan-led grassroots organizations in Colombia to expand our collective reach. Their first-hand knowledge and community networks combined with our team’s experience supporting migrant communities helped us reach more people and collect more data to inform continued action. As we learned from these hyper-local groups, we also supported their growth and sustainability efforts by providing training and targeted support to bolster their internal operations. These partnerships and the inclusion of Venezuelan migrants on our teams helped us work more efficiently, while also building skills within the community.

Casa Pintada

Rebuilding a sense of community and trust among neighbors can be a challenge, especially for those coping with the trauma of displacement and violence. Casa Pintada (meaning “painted house”) was a community cohesion activity that aimed to break down barriers by bringing people together to work towards a common, restorative goal – painting their homes.

Colombian and Venezuelan families alike participated in groups to learn how to patch and paint their homes, choosing colors and patterns that symbolize hope, inspiration, or happiness. Then, the community worked together to paint the homes, with neighbors helping each other and getting to know one another along the way. When the paint dries, new friendships have formed and the neighborhood feels more like home.