In 2021, UNHCR will continue to co-lead with IOM the inter-agency mixed migration group (called GIFMM per the acronym in Spanish) in Colombia, , which by January 2021 had 73 UN agencies, NGO and Red Cross member organizations as well as 10 local coordination platforms and two local-based platforms, covering 13 departments. Within the GIFMM, UNHCR co-facilitates the protection and multisector sub-groups (shelter, non-food items and transport) and participates actively in the sub-groups for socioeconomic inclusion. UNHCR also participates actively in the back-to-back coordination mechanism for health and the cash assistance working group, which reports to the GIFMM and Humanitarian Country Team. The GIFMM will continue to work closely with the regional platform, to ensure regional coherence, and with the Resident Coordinator, UNCT, the Humanitarian Coordinator, the Humanitarian Country Team and the Government, including its migration roundtables.
In addition to the GIFMM, UNHCR will be equally active in the inter-agency response to Colombia’s situation on conflict of armed violence. In fact, UNHCR uses its co-leadership of the protection cluster to place protection at the centre of this inter-agency response. In 2021, the Office will maintain its leadership of protection thematic working groups in Choco, Nariño and Norte de Santander and local coordination teams in Antioquia, Arauca, Nariño, and Putumayo. Active participation will be sustained in protection cluster subgroups for gender-based violence and mine action.
By November 2020, UNHCR implemented its programmes through 51 partners, including international and national NGOs, UN Agencies such as WFP and local public institutions. Following a thorough selection process, 47 partners have already been selected to start in January 2021.
Alongside the humanitarian response, UNHCR will step up its engagement with development actors, notably UNDP and ILO, and with international financial institutions such as the World Bank Group, following Colombia’s access to the Global Concessional Financing Facility, and the Inter-American Development Bank. These partnerships will be leveraged strategically, including through a project financed by the Human Security Trust Fund, to advance solutions for refugees and IDPs, and enable early recovery and development initiatives to take over from humanitarian relief efforts. In 2021, UNHCR will also continue to coordinate with the UN Verification Mission in the collection and sharing of information related to protection risks among IDPs and other conflict-affected communities.
UNHCR will sustain a close and coordinated cooperation with both national and local authorities to offer comprehensive responses to the need of the population of concern. This includes, for example, ongoing support to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strength the national asylum system and legal stay arrangements, and to the Ministry of Labour and its dependent agencies to enhance access to legal employment and vocational training. Collaboration will likewise continue with the ministries of health, housing and interior, and with the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF per the acronym in Spanish) and the Public Ministry, including the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ombudsperson’s Office and local Ombudspersons.
Private sector engagement will be consolidated and expanded, particularly by promoting labour market access, entrepreneurship and financial inclusion for Venezuelans and durable solutions for IDPs. In the context of the 2016 Peace Agreement and considering financial constraints for the humanitarian response to IDPs, promoting increased participation of national civil society in humanitarian coordination frameworks will be essential in 2021.
2021