We work across Latin America and the Caribbean to improve the lives of the most deprived children in the region. Child rights are at the centre of what we do, while responding to COVID-19, conflict, and climate change related issues. Our regional priorities are migration and displacement, safe back to school and learning, as well as safety nets and resilient families.
Our regional priorities are in line with our global strategic goals, which aim to ensure children get a healthy start in life, can safely go to school and learn, live free from violence, and can grow up in resilient families.
Our child protection work focuses on strengthening national and local child protection systems. When children migrate, we make sure they are safe and protected by cross-border and regional mechanisms. Our education work targets both formal and community-based education and ensures all children can learn in countries of origin, transit, and return. We are responding to the Venezuelan migration crisis with programmes supporting children and their families who have fled to Colombia and Peru as well as through local strategies in Venezuela. In North Central America’s migration response, we have been leading our local solutions response by mitigating the root causes of migration, attending to the pressing needs of migrants, improving the quality of life of children and their families and assuming a leading role within regional humanitarian spaces.
In Colombia, Perú and Venezuela, we support Venezuelan children as well as host populations, providing safe spaces and education for children, sexual and reproductive health services, and cash transfers to help Venezuelan families rebuild their lives. In Northern Central America, our response focus on covering the health, education and protection needs of children and their families, as well as supporting families to cover their basic needs by providing direct cash assistance. Furthermore, we advocate and campaign for the rights of migrants and refugees.
In our education work, we provide teachers and community volunteers with the necessary skillset, strengthen the capacities of local authorities and deliver educational materials to the poorest children. Through our innovative technological strategies, we have assured that all children can continue their education in the most challenging settings. We plan to keep developing technology and innovation strategies to ensure high-quality, needs-based solutions for all children and their families.
To protect children’s right to health, we train community members on primary care, strengthen health authorities’ capacities and provide sexual and reproductive health services. Our nutrition programmes serve children from rural communities most prone to malnutrition.
