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Colombia + 2 more

Colombia: Food Assistance Fact Sheet - April 4, 2018

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SITUATION

  • Despite recent peace accords between the Government of Colombia and the country’s largest guerilla movement, humanitarian needs in Colombia remain high, driven by ongoing violence, the effects of natural disasters, and the escalating crisis in neighboring Venezuela. More than 2.2 million people in Colombia are in need of emergency food assistance, according to the United Nations.

  • Low levels of food production and few employment opportunities make it difficult for families displaced by conflict and the host communities sheltering them to access enough nutritious food on a consistent basis. As a result, more than 95 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain food-insecure.

  • The escalating political and economic crisis in neighboring Venezuela has resulted in an influx of vulnerable Venezuelans and Colombian returnees crossing into Colombia in search of food and medical care. This influx has strained health and social services in the areas of Colombia bordering Venezuela, including La Guajira, Norte de Santander and Arauca   

RESPONSE

  • USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP) partners with the UN World Food Program (WFP) to assist IDPs, returnees, host communities and vulnerable Venezuelans in Colombia who lack access to food and suffer from high levels of malnutrition.

  • With FFP support, WFP provides Colombian IDPs and host communities with U.S. in-kind food aid and food vouchers through direct distributions as well as food-for-work and food-for-training activities. In FY 2017, FFP-supported programs reached more than 100,000 conflict-affected Colombians across the country, including approximately 24,000 children younger than five years of age and pregnant and lactating women.

  • In coordination with the Government of Colombia, WFP also provides food vouchers to vulnerable Venezuelans sheltering in Colombia, Colombian returnees, and host communities. Vouchers allow food-insecure families to purchase nutritious foods already available in local markets, increasing dietary diversity while supporting the local economy and encouraging agricultural recovery.