Save the Children provides assistance for the urgent needs of migrant children in 5 regions of the country

In recent years, more than 1 million Venezuelan citizens have arrived in Peru in a vulnerable situation, fleeing from hyperinflation, unemployment, lack of food and medicine, the collapse of transportation, among other serious problems.

Since 2018, our humanitarian response program has aimed to provide essential care to Venezuelan children in Peru and their families, as part of our actions to ensure the exercise of the rights of all children and adolescents. In this context, Save the Children, with the support of the BHA/USAID, has been developing the “Families without borders” project, which seeks to enable the Venezuelan migrant population to meet their basic needs and increase services aimed at improving children’s nutrition. and girls from migrants and host communities.

One of the strategies implemented is economic assistance to cover the urgent basic needs of vulnerable families and their sons and daughters. This strategy helps empower families, in addition to improving their capacity to face future crises, preventing them from having a negative impact on the lives of children. Economic transfers make it possible to meet a wide range of children’s needs in a single intervention, reducing food insecurity and malnutrition by improving access to a greater amount of food. In addition, they contribute to the protection of boys and girls against gender violence, emotional stress and labor exploitation.

The case of Angie stands out, who has lived for three years with her husband and their one year and nine month old son in San Juan de Miraflores. She is one of the mothers who has received financial assistance for Venezuelan families at risk, which will allow her to cover food for her family and the rent that she has not been able to pay in full in recent months, since her husband does not have a steady job.

Another case is that of Edimar. She lives with her partner (who drives a mototaxi), her partner’s mother, and their four, three, and one-year-old children. With the financial assistance, she will also be able to buy basic food and cover part of the rent.

During this year, Save the Children has assisted 7,804 families: 662 in Piura, 768 in Lambayeque, 1,801 in La Libertad, 4,029 in Lima and 550 in Arequipa. In addition to assistance for urgent needs, Save the Children also provides interventions and advice to improve nutrition practices and seeks to strengthen the inclusion and integration of vulnerable Venezuelan and Peruvian families, through livelihood opportunities and access to essential health services and psychosocial support.

Given the contexts of vulnerability experienced by Venezuelan migrants and refugees, Save the Children, with the support of the USAID Office of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA/USAID) and the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM), has deployed a program of attention to vulnerable Venezuelan population. In 2020 we will begin the transition to their inclusion, and by 2022 we hope that more than 21,000 Venezuelan migrants, refugees and displaced persons, especially children and adolescents, will have access to a more dignified life.