30-12-2021 | di COOPI

Peru. Red Recuperación: The first web platform for managing the Venezuelan diaspora

According to UNHCR data, the political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has led to the arrival of more than one and a half million Venezuelans in Peru. Most of the migrants live in poverty and lack access to basic resources and services. With funding from USAID, COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale and five other partners (NeedsList, CORE Group, Scalabrini International Migration Network, Diálogo Diverso and the NGO Presente) launched and spread the Red Recuperación web platform, an inter-institutional exchange space for goods and services in favour of Venezuelan immigrants and refugees.

"This is the first time that such an exchange software for humanitarian assistance has been used in Latin America, through which offers of hygiene products, clothes, food, legal assistance services to immigrants and refugees and other things can be found on a daily basis" says Matheus Souza, Program Manager of Needslist.

Since the start of the project on 1 April 2021, more than 70 national and international institutions have joined the platform with the aim of reaching more than 60,000 beneficiaries. As part of the pilot project, Red Recuperación is present in Lima and Tumbes (Peru) and in the city of Valencia (Venezuela) and aims to operate in more countries in the Latin American region. 

The objective of the web platform is to support organisations working directly with the Venezuelan population, using the high technological power of the software, to help them respond to needs and assist them more quickly and effectively.

COOPI, as the partner responsible for implementing the project in Peru, aims to affiliate to the network public and private institutions that work directly with immigrants and refugees, specifically in Lima (capital) and Tumbes, a border city with Ecuador and the main hub of the Venezuelan migratory flow. Furthermore, COOPI provides technical and administrative support to all collaborating institutions, through webinars to prepare beneficiaries for the correct use of the platform and by monitoring the actual distribution of goods and services to the final beneficiaries.

Also due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, Red Recuperación seems to be a very useful tool to strengthen and unite the efforts made by different actors from multiple sectors (international cooperation, local authorities, immigrant and refugee associations, universities, businesses, non-profit organisations, among many others) in favour of the population in need, thus boosting the efficiency and transparency of humanitarian assistance.