Since 2018, RET has directly supported more than 114,000 direct participants in Peru, 54% of them are vulnerable women and indirectly benefitted 1 million participants throughout 13 projects focused on Protection, Education, Self-reliance & Livelihoods, Nutrition & Food security.
Since 2018, RET’s operations were focused in the provinces of Lima, Tumbes, Tacna and Arequipa. Moreover, RET created better educational opportunities for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Peru by reaching to out-of-school children and adolescents in the Southern districts of Metropolitan Lima, Chorrillos, San Juan de Miraflores, Villa El Salvador y Villa María del Triunfo.
Asylum applications in Peru have significantly increased from 379 in January 2016 to more than 20,000 in 2017. According to the UNHCR, “an estimated 45,000 Venezuelan asylum seekers entered the country, resulting in 800 new asylum applications per day”, making Peru the second country following Colombia with the highest number of Venezuelan migrants. During the migratory journey and at border crossings, migrants or asylum seekers have food, water, health, and shelter needs and often face protection risks. UNHCR states that “the risk of sexual and gender-based violence, trafficking and exploitation is a growing concern for local and national authorities.”
Families are exposed to labor exploitation and financial difficulties in earning a living, and students face difficulties enrolling in the education system. Moreover, asylum seekers entering Peru do not have clear information on procedures and costs to formalize their immigration status at the “Special Commission’s Government offices for Refugees” or the “National Migration Superintendent” and in any other entity that facilitates their access.
RET’s Interventions
RET started its activities in Peru in 2018, with a vision of consolidating its efforts to protect and provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees coming from Venezuela in particular and assisting the most vulnerable Peruvian communities. RET aimed to bridge the integration and socio-economic gaps in Peru and advance the self-sufficiency of refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable migrants in Peru, in coordination with the local Government.
The projects focused on providing humanitarian assistance and protection aid to improve access to health, shelter, and livelihood services, and provide non-formal education services to Venezuelan children and adolescents from Southern Lima. It strengthened their leadership skills and coping mechanisms by providing livelihood opportunities to advance integration into the Peruvian host community. The project also offered support to local public institutions and civil servants and protection to vulnerable young women and girls facing or at risk of gender-based violence. RET implemented its activities in coordination with the National Refugees and Migrants Working Group (RMWG), led by UNHCR and IOM.
Moreover, RET created better educational opportunities for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Peru by reaching to out-of-school children and adolescents in the Southern districts of Metropolitan Lima, Chorrillos, San Juan de Miraflores, Villa El Salvador y Villa María del Triunfo. RET focused on increasing access to education by reinforcing the MoE capacity to enroll and provide education services for refugee and migrant populations and provide out-of-school children and adolescents with non-formal education programs that develop their competencies and skills and help them access the formal education system.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and health emergency, RET developed a Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities and strategies to reinforce efforts led by PAHO/WHO and the Ministry of Health. RET promoted hygiene practices and provided basic training for infection prevention and control (IPC) to health personnel focusing on primary health care facilities and healthcare workers, and on medical waste management. Also, basic training on human waste management was provided, focusing on the handling and disposition of remains. RET also provided Multi-purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) to teh vulnerable communities to cope with the economic crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru.
Latest Projects
Promoting inclusive Education with equal opportunities for migrant and refugee girls, boys and adolescents, and from host communities in Peru (+DIVERSITY) – (2022- 2023)
The program will target 30,000 children and adolescents in three prioritized areas: North Lima, South Lima and Trujillo, in La Libertad.
The ECW Program is aligned with the country’s strategy so that children and adolescents can access relevant, inclusive and quality education with equal opportunities for all, in particular for migrants and refugees.
The program proposes to achieve five results:
1) Migrant, refugee and host community children and adolescents benefit from increased access to quality, inclusive education.
2) Migrant, refugee and host community children and adolescents remain in the education system.
3) Migrant, refugee and host community children and adolescents develop life skills and socio-emotional skills.
4) Education authorities and officials at the national and local levels improve decision-making based on available data and evidence on best practices in the region on access and inclusive education.
5) The ECW Peru Project promotes the mobilization of resources to improve inclusive access and retention in the educational system of migrant and refugee students.
The project, to be implemented between August 2021 and December 2023, is financed by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), led by UNICEF and implemented by RET, UNESCO and World Vision.
Rapid Emergency Support for Pandemic Integrated Response in the Andean Region (RESPIRAR) – (2022)
The project aims to reach more than 3,000 Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Metropolitan Lima and Callao. The project incorporates multisectoral approaches based on human rights to protect and improve the quality of life of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, the host community, and particularly health professionals. In coordination with the Ministry of Health, the response will foster articulation between host communities and refugees and migrant families.
Within a gender-balanced approach, the response will prioritize diversity and inclusion, with particular attention to highly vulnerable refugees and migrants, such as children and adolescents, pregnant women, the LGBTQI+ community, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
The project proposes three goals:
1) People affected by crises have access to quality primary health care.
2) People affected by crises have access to hygiene measures to prevent Covid-19.
3) Populations affected by crises can meet their basic needs.
The project, implemented between January 2022 and September 2022, is implemented by RET in partnership with ECHO, and IRC in Peru.
Building bridges of assistance, protection and integration for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Perú
Peru is the second destination country for Venezuelan people fleeing the socio-economic and political crisis affecting their country. Peru also shows a high number of migrants and asylum seekers coming from the Americas. During their migratory journey and at the border crossing points, migrants and asylum seekers require basic assistance such as food, transportation and shelter and often face protection risks. The objective of this project is to provide humanitarian assistance, protection and sustainable local integration of refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants in Peru, in coordination with local government entitiesin Lima, Tumbes and Arequipa.The project provides humanitarian assistance to Venezuelan asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants focusing on health, nutrition, water and shelter, and by strengthening their leadership skills and coping mechanisms through the provision of livelihood opportunities to advance integration into the Peruvian host community. In addition, the project provides strengthening to public local institutions and civil servants and protection to vulnerable young women and girls facing or at risk of gender-based violence.
These projects implemented respectively, between September 2018 and September 2019 and between September 2019 and September 2020, were funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) and implemented by RET in Peru.
Better educational opportunities for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Peru
The influx of refugees and migrant’s adolescent and children from Venezuela is overstretching the capacity of the Peruvian educational systems to accommodate students and provide them with quality education. According to the Metropolitan Lima Regional Education Directorate, 50,000 migrant and refugee children and adolescents are facing challenges to access the Peruvian education system due to several factors including xenophobia and discrimination, with girls being the most vulnerable. The project aims to create better educational opportunities for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Peru by reaching to out-of-school migrant, refugee and host community children and adolescents, from whom 70 percent will be Venezuelans and the remainder will be host community members in the Southern districts of Metropolitan Lima, Chorrillos, San Juan de Miraflores, Villa El Salvador y Villa María del Triunfo.The project will focus on increasing access to education for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, as well as Peruvian children and adolescents; reinforcing the MoE capacity to enroll and to provide education services for refugees and migrant populations; providing to out of school refugees, migrants and vulnerable local children and adolescents access to non-formal education programs that enrich their lives, allowing them to develop competencies and skills, increase self-esteem and help them access the formal education system and finally strengthening local communities’ capacities to protect out-of-school migrant, refugee and host community children and adolescents, increasing integration and avoiding xenophobia and discrimination.RET is implementing the non-formal education program “Aprendiendo Unidos” using a “Project Based Learning Method (ABP)”, allowing students to be meaningfully engaged in the “identification, development and implementation” of solutions, while strengthening their leadership, communication and numeracy skills.