Don't underestimate scale of Venezuela migration crisis, World Bank director says
The World Bank director for Colombia and Venezuela urges U.S. and European actors to realize that the crisis is "more dramatic in numbers, deeper, bigger" than migration challenges affecting Europe, Lebanon, or Jordan today.
By Teresa Welsh // 27 March 2019BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The donor funds pledged to the Venezuela response do not match the scope of host needs — and neither does awareness of the scale of the crisis, according to Ulrich Zachau, World Bank director for Colombia and Venezuela. There was great awareness across Europe of the impact and size of recent migration flows from the Middle East and Africa to that continent, which saw his home country of Germany take in around 1 million people over the course of five years, he explained in an interview with Devex. “We are still struggling because this is an unfunded crisis.” --— Maria Paula Martinez, executive director, Save the Children Colombia The same awareness does not exist for the number of people flowing from their homes to other countries in South America, often by walking land routes. An estimated 9 percent of the Venezuelan population — 2.7 million people — is now living outside the country. Colombia has taken in the most Venezuelans, already numbering more than 1 million, and is expected to receive another 1 million in 2019. It is followed by Peru with 506,000, Chile with 288,000, and Ecuador with 221,000. “Germany is a developed country with a per capita income of multiple of that of Colombia or Ecuador or Peru,” Zachau said. “It’s very important that people in the United States, in my own country, in Europe, we realize that this challenge is as dramatic, more dramatic in numbers, deeper, bigger than the migration challenge that is affecting Europe today or Lebanon or Jordan.” The gap in awareness is currently matched by a severe funding gap for the response to regional migration and humanitarian needs caused by the economic collapse of Venezuela. As of March 6, the $146 million UN Refugee Agency appeal for the response in 2019 has raised $13 million — only 9 percent of the total needed. If that trend continues, UNHCR country representative for Colombia, Jozef Merkx, said the agency will be in a “very critical position.” Twelve million of those funds are needed for work inside Venezuela, while the remaining $134 million is required to fund the Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan in Colombia. The entire RMRP requires $738 million to meet the needs of 2.2 Venezuelans and 500,000 members of host communities in 16 countries. UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration coordinate the Interagency Group for Mixed Migration, known by its Spanish acronym GIFMM, which runs the national response in Colombia for 46 member organizations to ensure “a coherent and effective response.” Hemispheric neighbor, the U.S., has been the Venezuela crisis’ biggest donor, giving more than $195 million in humanitarian and development assistance since fiscal year 2017 to aid the regional response. That includes $81 million in contributions to U.N. agencies and NGOs. The U.S. has also announced it is ready to provide an additional $20 million for assistance inside Venezuela, were it to become possible to get in supplies that are already stockpiled across the border with Colombia. Canada is second in pledged bilateral funds, with an announcement last month of $53 million. Mobilizing funds In January, the World Bank approved Colombia’s request for eligibility for the Global Concessional Financing Facility, a mechanism that makes funds available to middle-income countries dealing with a large influx of asylum-seekers and migrants. The funding request is being reviewed, and Zachau said he hopes donors will pledge these concessional funds on a scale to match the need, a process which should take place in the next two to three months. The World Bank is coordinating with the donor community in Colombia, including bilateral donors, U.N. organizations, and other multilateral development banks such as the Inter-American Development Bank and Development Bank of Latin America. GCFF may also be used to mobilize additional funds, Zachau said, by getting donors to pledge additional concessional grant funds in addition to World Bank funding through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This would “allow greater total financial support on better terms than would otherwise be available,” he said. These additional funds will be key amid the trickle of pledged funds, Zachau said, because “given the size of the challenge, it’s hard to see how Colombia on its own will be able to continue handling this challenge without significantly increased international support.” While that money would assist the Colombian government in its response, NGOs are also confronting budget challenges they say will prevent them from adequately identifying and meeting the needs of the complex migrant and refugee population. This means those working on the humanitarian response must get creative when seeking resources. “There’s discussions about ‘How do you attract more capital that is different than the traditional donor stream?’ That bilateral, U.N.-type of government-to-government or government-to-NGO system,” said Provash Budden, Americas regional director at Mercy Corps. That organization is working in Colombian border departments of Cesar and La Guajira and has the organizational capacity to meet a greater need but currently lacks the funds to do so. Mercy Corps is making the case in Washington, Brussels, and across Europe for additional funds so that the humanitarian response is not put solely on Colombia’s shoulders. “There’s quite a lot of money sitting around in the markets of Latin America, and if there were incentives to invest in development bonds or refugee bonds or up-front payments that you could then create incentives for the private sector to get returns on that, backed by government guarantees, those are all things that I think should be explored a lot more,” he said. “There’s people having those conversations right now.” Save the Children Colombia has been operating in the country since 1991, but the influx of Venezuelans has challenged the work it was doing with internally displaced persons and presented a host of new needs that must be met. Maria Paula Martinez, executive director at Save the Children Colombia, said hers was the first international NGO to have an emergency response plan that established the humanitarian need. The organization needs $33.5 million for its response, but has only raised $11 million. “We are still struggling because this is an unfunded crisis,” Martinez said. “We don’t have enough money, so all the NGOs are asked to do their best.”
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The donor funds pledged to the Venezuela response do not match the scope of host needs — and neither does awareness of the scale of the crisis, according to Ulrich Zachau, World Bank director for Colombia and Venezuela.
There was great awareness across Europe of the impact and size of recent migration flows from the Middle East and Africa to that continent, which saw his home country of Germany take in around 1 million people over the course of five years, he explained in an interview with Devex.
The same awareness does not exist for the number of people flowing from their homes to other countries in South America, often by walking land routes. An estimated 9 percent of the Venezuelan population — 2.7 million people — is now living outside the country. Colombia has taken in the most Venezuelans, already numbering more than 1 million, and is expected to receive another 1 million in 2019. It is followed by Peru with 506,000, Chile with 288,000, and Ecuador with 221,000.
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Teresa Welsh is a Senior Reporter at Devex. She has reported from more than 10 countries and is currently based in Washington, D.C. Her coverage focuses on Latin America; U.S. foreign assistance policy; fragile states; food systems and nutrition; and refugees and migration. Prior to joining Devex, Teresa worked at McClatchy's Washington Bureau and covered foreign affairs for U.S. News and World Report. She was a reporter in Colombia, where she previously lived teaching English. Teresa earned bachelor of arts degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of Wisconsin.