MADISON, Wis.—The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has chosen the World Council of Credit Unions to implement the flagship project for its new Venezuela Regional Response Program.
According to WOCCU, that project is an effort to counter the regional impacts of the complex emergency stemming from Venezuela’s economic and political crises.
WOCCU said its three-year Economic Inclusion Project will help Venezuelan migrants and vulnerable local residents in Peru and Ecuador “achieve socioeconomic security by gaining greater access to financial products and services, as well as entrepreneurship and employment programs.”
As a result of the Economic Inclusion Project, WOCCU said at least 100,000 Venezuelans and locals will obtain access to financial services (a credit, savings or insurance product), while 10,000 Venezuelans will have an improved capacity to establish a sustainable livelihood.
More Than 1-Million Have Fled
The World Council cited data from the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela showing more than one-million Venezuelans who fled their country’s economic crisis have resettled in Peru or Ecuador.
“Migrants surveyed and cited in the report listed ‘financial support’ and ‘money’ as immediate needs,” WOCCU said. “In addition, ‘access to work,’ ‘more work’ or ‘better wages’ were expressed as common needs among the population.”
WOCCU added many of the migrants are highly skilled doctors, nurses and lawyers who fled Venezuela and are seeking to reestablish their professional certifications in their new home countries.
A ‘Great Opportunity’
“The Economic Inclusion Project is a great opportunity for WOCCU to build upon its experience in providing access to financial services to migrant and low-income populations in Latin America,” said Megan O’Donnell, WOCCU vice president of Financial Inclusion. “We’ve successfully delivered services to Venezuelan migrants displaced by political instability and violence in the border region of Colombia. The Economic Inclusion Project in Peru and Ecuador will go even further by not only providing employment and entrepreneurship programs, but also expanding efforts to raise awareness of and prevent gender-based violence in this highly vulnerable population.”
WOCCU said the Economic Inclusion Project team will lean on the organization’s “trusted network of credit unions” and private-sector and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners to extend financial products and services to the migrant population. Formed a decade ago with support from a USAID-funded WOCCU project, RTC Connects is a transaction and technology network that will pilot and scale new financial products and services to vulnerable Venezuelans and Ecuadorians.
Letters of Support
WOCCU said Federación de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito del Peru (FENACREP) will assist in developing and scaling similar financial products to vulnerable Venezuelans and Peruvians. WOCCU added it has also secured letters of support from credit unions in Peru and Ecuador committed to developing products and services for Venezuelans and low-income local populations.
“To achieve employment and entrepreneurship goals, the Economic Inclusion Project team will partner with HIAS, Inc. to adapt its successful methodology for labor market inclusion and entrepreneurship,” WOCCU said. “This project will also deploy a robust grant program to stimulate seed investment for small businesses and provide larger grants to local non-profits working in job placement and professional recertifications.”