Welcoming Venezuelan Migrants, Innovations in Integration Policies in Colombia

The Colombian government estimates that by the end of the year, more than 1 million of the 1.7 million Venezuelans eligible for an unprecedented regularization will have received temporary protected status that allows them access to social benefits and will make them eligible to gain a permanent resident visa within ten years.

Despite this policy, challenges remain, not only in Colombia, but more generally in Latin America as host countries work to transform the socioeconomic integration of migrants and refugees into a development opportunity. At the same time, there is much to be done to increase social cohesion in the face of public concerns about the scope and magnitude of this migration. What strategies have been implemented in Colombia so far and what can other countries in the region, and globally, learn from the Colombian experience?

In this webinar organized by MPI and the Department of Social Inclusion of the Organization of American States (OAS), speakers examine issues of integration and social cohesion in Colombia. The conversation focuses on an innovative program by the Colombian government, Café por la Integración, which seeks to open spaces for dialogue with key stakeholder communities throughout the country. The webinar also explores how the international community can support countries that are receiving high numbers of Venezuelans, such as Colombia, while trying to enhance the situation for migrants as well the host communities where they reside.

The event was in Spanish and this is the live English interpretation to English.