Project profile — Education for Venezuelan and Host Community, Girls, Boys and Adolescents in the Andean Region

This project aims to enhance the integration of Venezuelan refugee and migrant children, especially girls, and children that face marginalization and/or vulnerability in targeted host communities into the education systems of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Project activities include: (1) providing catch up, remedial and flexible learning programmes for out of school children and children who are behind their learning due to school closures to help increase their access to quality learning opportunities; (2) providing mentoring actions for school directors and pedagogical, gender-responsive education training for teachers; (3) providing children, especially girls, with learning equipment (such as connectivity) for continuity of online education at home; and (4) providing psychosocial and pedagogical support to children and adolescents upon reintegration and continuity in the education system. The project seeks to directly benefit Venezuelan refugee and migrant children and vulnerable host community children, especially girls, and teachers, other education personnel, and authorities from the Ministries of Education in each country. Parents and caregivers of the direct beneficiaries will also benefit from the implementation of the project’s activities.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased provision of protective education services to Venezuelan refugee and migrant children and host community children, especially girls; and (2) improved implementation of regional evidence based normative frameworks through policy dialogues and exchange of experiences to deliver gender-responsive education services.

Results achieved at the end of the project (September 2024) include: (1) provided increased education services across the 3 countries, ensuring the enrollments of 6,533 new Venezuelan refugee and migrant children (52% girls); (2) achieved a 93% student retention rate in schools supported by the project across the 3 countries; (3) engaged 7,786 participants (52% girls) and provided non-formal or complementary learning activities for Venezuelan refugee and migrant children and host community children. This includes workshops, assistance in strengthening tutoring programs, and organizing sessions focused on topics such as self-esteem, leadership, and emotional management; (4) provided capacity-building on gender-responsive education services to teachers and principals, with 96% demonstrating increased knowledge; (5) provided teaching materials to 11 schools to enhance the learning environment; (6) delivered 2,066 school kits to refugee, migrant, and host community children. These kits include learning materials, uniforms, cash vouchers for transportation, and menstrual and hygiene kits for adolescent girls; (7) delivered training to 4,361 teachers across the 3 countries on education in emergency contexts; (8) referred 908 children (29% girls) to specialized protection and psycho-social support services; (9) strengthened 8 national and local information management systems for improved collection and analysis of education data; and (10) organized and delivered 2 regional forums focused on enhancing access to education and increasing retention rates of migrant children and children in transit.