COMMUNITY STABILIZATION ACTIVITY MONTHLY UPDATE August 2020 | Newsletter No. 3 INSPIRING LIFE STORIES A social entrepreneur who works for the golden years Naudis José Cordero’s dream is to have a country home where he can address the needs of the elderly in Valle del Cauca and, besides, to offer work opportunities to those of his compatriots who need them the most. In his native Venezuela, Naudis José was a supervisor nurse in a hospital and also tau- ght his profession to others at a university. But not even adding up his earnings in both jobs was enough for him to buy medicaments that his mother, “his queen,” needs. Therefore, he asked for her consent to try his luck in Colombia and he ended up in Cali, where he was received by a cousin and his wife in March 2018. The first 20 days he worked selling coffee in the street and handing out resumes. His profile attracted the administrators of a nursing home for the elderly and he was hired for taking care of 14 elder people. Read full story in Spanish MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS Community Stabilization A social and cultural integration project involving Venezuelan and Colombian nationals begins in Ipiales The Alfonso López neighborhood located in the border city of Ipiales, Nariño, is known by being the zone with the greatest reception of the Venezuelan population. However, it has a complex social rea- lity in which high levels of poverty and overcrowding are frequent, as well as xenophobia outbreaks. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Community Stabilization Activity, implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the support of the NGO Ayuda en Acción in Nariño, has undertaken a social and cultural integration project with the most vulnerable families in the area. The main purpose of this intervention is to promote peaceful coexistence, tolerance, and frater- nity among the refugee and migrant population, Colombian returnees, and the host population through joint community initiatives. In early August, the first approach to the community took place in order to identify the geographi- cal limits and the socioeconomic vulnerabilities that affect the local population. During the visit, the project was presented to the Community Action Committee’s president and other members, as well as to local leaders that may support the implementation process. Despite the challenges generated by the COVID-19 pandemic to make this first meeting possible, a high receptivity and interest in participating in the project was conveyed by the community. The execution of these participatory activities that involve the territory’s inhabitants are expected to begin next month. A project to strengthen self-care and economy improvement of families is carried out in Riohacha The USAID Community Stabilization Activity (CSA), implemented by the IOM with the support of the NGO Action Against Hunger in La Guajira, carries out activities for family strengthening regarding the situation that the families living in the Commune 10 in Riohacha face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy has included activities such as the distribution of family hygiene kits for the refugee and migrant population, Colombian returnees, and the host community members, who are currently beneficiaries of the CSA’s social and cultural integration project. Moreover, these families also received an aware-ness-raising session on self-care issues in order to reduce health risks in the pandemic context. For the coming months, it is arranged to conduct a citizenship training plan that, in fact, will include a specific unit to address issues related to COVID-19, which has affected the health and economy of the population. Faced with this reality and taking into account the community’s concern for income generation, a meeting was held with the Community Action Committees of El Dividivi, Minuto de Dios and 2 de Fe- brero neighborhoods, to identify productive units in the territory that could boost families’ economy. Institutional Strengthening USAID strengthens Migration Public Policy in Territories After the approval of the Territorial Development Plans (PDT) by the local authorities, the work began to transform the indicators into activities that allow the fulfillment and follow-up of the objectives and the proposed goals. In the area of human mobility, local administrations face the challenge of implementing effective migration governance mechanisms. In this scenario, the USAID Community Stabilization Activity (CSA), implemented by the IOM, has been accompanying municipal governments with tech-nical assistance for the construction of Comprehensive Local Migration Management Plans in the municipalities of Cúcuta, Ipiales, Riohacha, Arauca, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. During the last month, preparatory sessions have been held with the territorial authorities for the establishment of deliberative boards that will convene all the actors involved in migration ma-nagement, including the health, education, economic development, integration and social inclusion sectors, as well as entities at the national level with a decentralized presence, such as the Border Management Unit of the Presidency of Colombia, Migration Colombia, the National Planning Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the other hand, progress has been made in designing more effective mechanisms for moni- toring the commitments and responsibilities agreed in the Territorial Development Plans. In this sense, in a joint work with the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the construction of a monitoring tool for migration public policies began. Likewise, agreements were established with the Border Management Unit of the Presidency of Colombia to build simultaneously a tool that allows them to follow up on the commitments on human mobility at the local level, as part of their liaison role on migratory flows issues. Migration & Health Weaving health networks: María, the translator of the Yukpa indigenous people María Mindiola belongs to the Yukpa indigenous people and came to Cúcuta city from Machiques de Perijá, a town located in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, near the border with Colombia, this year in January. Together with her husband Yosmar, they made the decision to leave four of their six daughters in the care of their parents in Venezuela, to look for opportunities that would allow them to improve their economic condition as well as to access to vaccination services for their two other children: Ariam de los Angeles, 3 years old, and Omar, 8 months. In March, after learning that her husband had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in their community, located in the Nuevo Escobal neighborhood of the capital of Norte de Santander, María made the decision to participate and become a leader in the community health network Weaving Communities in Motion, an initiative that is part of the USAID Community Stabilization Program (CSA), implemented by the IOM. Being bilingual, María was able to translate coronavirus prevention messages that she heard in Spanish to people in her community who only speak the ancestral Yukpa language. “For us, as a people, it is very important to preserve our language. For this reason, many of the members of my community - especially boys and girls - communicate only in Yukpa language. To help my people to face this health emergency, I decided then to support the translation, verbally and in writing, in trainings and conveying messages on prevention measures against COVID-19. For instance, explaining them the steps for proper hand washing, the cough etiquette and physical distancing,” says María. Read full story in Spanish Fund Grants Jesus, a pal who takes care of you Jesus Adelvi Rojas migrated from his native Venezuela due to economic and personal factors and arrived in Bogotá in February 2020 looking for work and educational opportunities. Since he took his first steps on the capital’s streets, he felt he fell in love with its architecture and decided to start a new cycle in his life in the “city of opportunities”, as he calls it. However, the fact of migrating to another country generated confusion, fear and uncertainty to this 26-year-old Fine Arts student. He left behind everything he had built, undertaking a journey without knowing what was in store for him and with his suitcase as his only companion. In July his situation changed substantially. Jesus learned through a friend about an employment announ- cement looking for community agents and decided to apply for this selection process in which 46 people participated. This is how he joined the Your Pal Takes Care Of You (Tu Pana Te Cuida, in Spanish) project, executed by the Red Somos Corporation, whose objective is to create a community network for public health surveillance that provide tools to the population of refugees and Venezuelan migrants, Colombian returnees and host communities in Bogotá and the neighboring municipality of Soacha. Read full story in Spanish COLOMBIA: MIGRATION FACTS Migración Colombia Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombia By the end of May, 3% of all Venezuelans who Plan Fronteras (Borders Plan) of the were in Colombia at the beginning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over a pandemic had returned to their country and water purification and sanitation project in a further 2% would be waiting to do so Tibú, Norte de Santander OUR ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD PRESENCE OF OUR PROECTS IN TERRITORY Data cut-off date of Health Community Institutional August 31, 2020 Care Integration Strengthening MAGDALENA Santa Marta LA GUAJIRA ATLÁNTICO Maiao Barranuilla Riohaha Soledad CESAR BOLÍVARBOLVAR Valleduar Cartagena NORTE DE SANTANDER Cuta ANTIOQUIA Villa del Rosario Bello SANTANDER Itag Buaramanga ARAUCA Medelln Araua CUNDINAMARCA VICHADA Cha Puerto Carreo Soaha BOGOTÁ D.C. VALLE DEL CAUCA Cali NARIÑO Iiales Vu st Health Care V.M. C.R. H.C. gts Rtus uts DEPARTMENT Nº BENEFICIARIES DEPARTMENT Nº BENEFICIARIES ANTIOQUIA 279 LA GUAJIRA 1860 V.M. 2 C.R.