On October 28-29, in Brussels, the European Union, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), co-hosted the International Solidarity Conference on the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis. Giampaolo Silvestri, AVSI Secretary General, shared the experience of AVSI with Venezuelans in Brazil from the floor.
AVSI is proud to be among the outreach partners in the the BetterTogether Challenge, an initiative launched on October 21 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
On October 1, 2019, AVSI Foundation launched a new project in Brazil, “Promoting integration through employment of Venezuelan refugees and migrants and other vulnerable persons.” The project, funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), will reach 9,600 beneficiaries directly and 35,000 indirectly over two years.
Passi sought refuge in Uganda after the massive killings and instability caused by a rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2017. “It was hard starting a new life here in the refugee settlement, with no source of income, not even water or a piece of soap.” In DRC, Passi and her husband Kibuyi Kimaga ensured the wellbeing of their family primarily through Kibuyi’s job as a security guard at a hospital in Goma. At the time of the killings, Passi was at home with the children and quickly fled to safety. She never saw the father of her children again.
To keep Venezuelan refugees and migrants safe in Ecuador, and to promote integration and peaceful coexistence with the local community, AVSI Ecuador is implementing, in partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the project “Activados.”
