Highlights
In response to the border crisis with Venezuela, WFP started to assist 120 migrant families in Maicao and Riohacha cities. In Maicao, beneficiary families are temporarily staying in the Migration Centre run by a church organization, until they manage to find housing elsewhere. WFP provided in-kind rations to the Migration Centre, allowing families to get cooked meals.
Additionally, families who do not stay in the Migration Centre but visit it for help, received food assistance through in-kind baskets that were complemented by other foods provided by cooperating partners in order to promote a more diversified diet. Along with food assistance, training activities on access to rights and basic services such as identification registry, health and education were carried out, as well as nutrition education activities.
Operational Updates
- Colombia CO actively participated in the 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence In partnership with the Legal Commission for the Equality of Women of the Senate, WFP central office participated in the campaign through the diffusion of the Violentometro, a pedagogical tool that allows people to identify the different forms of violence and recognize them depending on their intensity. The Violentometro was distributed to all WFP suboffices, and was shared through social networks. In different regions of the country, WFP participated in workshops, talks, cultural events, and awareness rising activities with local communities, NGOs, grass-roots-level organizations, women associations, among others.
- First Executive Committee of the Colombia and Ecuador binational project on adaptation to climate change The initiative “Building adaptive capacity to climate change through food security and nutrition actions in vulnerable Afro and indigenous communities in the Colombia-Ecuador border area” will be implemented by Colombia Country Office (CO) in alliance with the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (Colombia) and the Ministry of the Environment (Ecuador). The five-year project actions will contribute to reversing the marginalization that Afro and Awa communities have faced from the social and environmental damage from the conflict and contribute to peace and reconciliation through adaptation to climate change.
- Indigenous communities improved their food security while reinforcing their capacities to reduce environmental degradation In Antioquia department, Embera indigenous communities affected both by the armed conflict and limited access to basic services, experienced loss of crops due to heavy rains and droughts. In collaboration with FAO, WFP supported 1,100 families that participated in food production using forest-pasture systems that promote a sustainable management of natural resources, thus contributing to reduce degradation of ecosystems. Families redeemed food vouchers and participated in trainings on food handling and nutrition, with an emphasis on breastfeeding and complementary nutrition for children under five.
Original source and full report: WFP
Published on 30 November 2017
