31-05-2023 | di COOPI

Venezuela. Promoting hygiene and health

From June 2022 for one year, COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale has been promoting good sanitation practices and distributing 2,700 family hygiene kits and 2,700 reusable menstrual hygiene kits in the most vulnerable communities most affected by the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. These activities will contribute to the achievement of the Water and Sanitation (WASH) goals that are part of the project, "Multisectoral Humanitarian Assistance to Respond to the Urgent Needs of the Most Vulnerable People in Venezuela," under the CONAHVE consortium, of which COOPI is the leader, and co-funded by the Directorate General for Civil Protection and European Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

Specifically, COOPI operated in the area of the municipalities of Sucre, Bermúdez and Valdez in Sucre state, in those of Caroní and El Callao in Bolívar state, and in Tucupita and Pedernales in Delta Amacuro. Here, outreach activities and kit distribution have already reached 9,164 beneficiaries: priority was given to survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking, people with disabilities, and members of indigenous communities.

In addition, in the same areas covered by the kit distribution and promotion activities, COOPI has also been engaged in the rehabilitation of seven community centers (health centers and protection centers) to reduce the potential transmission of water- and sanitation-related diseases and to upgrade existing facilities, thereby improving the quality of life of people using these facilities.

The project has improved access to comprehensive protective services in the indicated areas. Thanks to the strategy of complementary, integral, and multi-sectoral activities, there has been a marked improvement in access to health and reproductive care, thus enabling access to safe water and the application of safer sanitation practices. All of this then affected the target population's ability to have healthy and nutritious food and improved emergency response capabilities.

CONHAVE- Consortium for Humanitarian Assistance in Venezuela (acronym in Spanish) is a consortium of five international organizations (COOPI, CESVI, ACTED, Première Urgence Internationale, Solidarités International) and six local partners formed in 2002. Its intervention aims to provide a multisectoral, integrated and coordinated response to the most urgent needs of the most vulnerable population affected by the Venezuelan crisis through the provision of services and assistance in the areas of Protection, Health, Water and Sanitation, and Food Security. The Consortium is present in eight states of the country (Distrito Capital, Miranda, Zulia, Falcón, Bolívar, Sucre, and Delta Amacuro) and aims to reach 27,153 beneficiaries, prioritizing women, children, girls and adolescents, survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking, the elderly, the disabled, and members of indigenous communities in border areas.