We are here in Colombia

As many as 8,400,000 people live in unsafe areas controlled by armed groups. In addition, years of violence have forced 8.5 million Colombians to flee within their own country. Add to this the 2.9 million refugees from Venezuela, and we are talking about a huge number of people who had to leave everything behind. Around 15 million Colombians do not know if they will have food tomorrow, and 3.2 million people in the country lack access to clean drinking water. There is a big need in Colombia!

Especially in La Guajira, a region in the north of Colombia, the need is immense. At least 59 percent of the more than 880,000 people in this area lack the resources to buy enough food. ZOA is therefore providing emergency aid in this region through food vouchers. ZOA staff works together with The Canadian Foodgrains Bank and World Renew to provide those vouchers.

People who have fled often face food shortages. They also frequently end up living on the streets or building simple shelters from materials they can find, such as plastic, scrap wood, or corrugated metal. As a result, many slums have emerged where displaced Colombians and Venezuelan refugees live together. Here, they reside in cramped conditions amidst piles of waste, without water or electricity, and without proper sewage systems. Due to the harsh living conditions and often hopeless situations, these people are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.

ZOA provides, among other things, ecological dry toilets, school sanitation facilities, water desalination systems, food packages, and emergency aid for refugees. Will you help alleviate the suffering of people on the run in Colombia?

Different Projects

ZOA focuses on different areas of aid in 10 departments across Colombia. 

• Ecological dry toilets: ZOA provides training and materials that enabled hundreds of families in slums to build their own toilets that do not require water.
• Toilet buildings at schools: ZOA installed toilet buildings with dry toilets at several schools in remote areas. As a result, students and teachers no longer have to defecate in nature but have access to safe and hygienic toilets.
• Water desalination plants: La Guajira, located in the North of Colombia is very dry area. In rural areas 72% of the people do not have access to clean drinking water. ZOA is building innovative desalination plants for communities that have no access to clean water. The water installations are 100% solar-powered and can produce up to 1,000 liters of clean drinking water per hour.
• Hygiene education, water and sanitation: In the Atlántico department, we are working with UNICEF in slums where people are not connected to the water grid. We conduct workshops on handwashing and hygiene and install water tanks. Previously, floods during the rainy season mixed rainwater with sewage, polluting streets and houses and making people sick. An innovative sewage filtration system now prevents this.
• Food kits: In partnership with WFP, the UN World Food Programme, we provide food aid in the department La Guajira where food insecurity is high. Every month, we pack about 12,000 food kits that are distributed to vulnerable migrants and indigenous groups. Packages contain products that can be stored well such as rice, flour, pasta, tuna, oil, beans and lentils.
• Emergency aid for refugees: Along migration routes, we help migrants who often travel hundreds of kilometres across Colombia on foot. We give electronic vouchers that they can use for food, medicines, hygiene items and transport.
• Cash and voucher food assistance: With several cash and voucher projects, we make sure vulnerable people can buy enough food to prepare 3 meals a day. With these projects, we work together with local vendors to support the local economy.

Support for caminantes across Colombia

We also provide assistance to refugees traveling on foot from Venezuela through Colombia: the caminantes. Due to the continuing decline of Venezuela, the poorest migrants are now leaving their country by foot. These brave caminantes walk hundreds of kilometres without any support. ZOA is helping toprovide cash assistance throughout Colombia to migrants in transit. The assistance provides access to NFIs, shelter, medicine, food and transport.

The electronic cards allow them to decide for themselves what they want to buy, depending on the needs of the family members. This project now spans 7 departments across Colombia. The project, funded by BPRM, aims to assist 28,140 individuals over a 12 month period.

Working together with donors and partners

Our work in Colombia is funded by our constituency in the Netherlands. In Colombia, we work with BPRM, WFP, UNICEF and CFGB.