BALTIMORE, Sept. 25, 2020 — The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has awarded a $250,000 grant to Lutheran World Relief to fund its ongoing COVID-19 programming serving Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Peru.
The grant, which comes from the CDP’s COVID-19 Response Fund, will support Lutheran World Relief’s initiative with local organizations in Peru to improve access to psychosocial and livelihoods recovery services and to provide crucial COVID-19 information for Venezuelan refugees and migrants living there.
The approximately 860,000 Venezuelans living in Peru, about 90 percent in Lima, are a particularly vulnerable population due to their precarious legal status, lack of social networks and limited access to services. Throughout the pandemic, Lutheran World Relief and its partners have been sending public health messages and other essential information to Venezuelan refugees through the VenInformado digital platform, accessible through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. To build resilience and mitigate the economic insecurity of refugees and migrants during and after the pandemic, the project will expand the VenInformado platform to provide virtual resources for guidance on income generating activities through links to online resources, including job referral services and vocational training tutorials.
Lutheran World Relief will lead the expansion of VenInformado’s reach, technical capabilities and available services for the refugee and migrant population, and work with local partner, Encuentros, to select a group of up to 205 migrants and refugees who are most at risk and eligible for enrollment in an online, in-depth course on entrepreneurship and vocational training. This course will include seed money and mentoring to help Venezuelans learn new skills and start small businesses that will generate sustainable incomes.
Another local partner in Peru, the Center for Psychosocial Care (CAPS), has partnered with Lutheran World Relief to manage the mental health and psychosocial services activities, offering input on how to expand the VenInformado platform to include key resources on how to cope with emotional trauma, and provide links to information on where to find services. The initiative will also provide counseling services for some of the most vulnerable as they deal with the emotional impacts of the pandemic.
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About the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP)
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s mission is to leverage the power of philanthropy to mobilize a full range of resources that strengthen the ability of communities to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. CDP manages domestic and international Disaster Funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. For more information, visit: https://disasterphilanthropy.org.
About Lutheran World Relief
Founded in 1945, Lutheran World Relief collaborates with local partners to grow inclusive and climate resilient rural economies, reduce poverty, and respond to emergencies and humanitarian crises. Lutheran World Relief works in concert with Corus International, an ensemble of faith-based organizations working together in the world’s most fragile settings to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to overcome the interconnected challenges of poverty, health care access and climate change.
