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The Regional Inter-agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (Platform R4V) is a regional coordination mechanism co-led by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to address the displacement of refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The R4V Platform comprises more than 192 partner organizations in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, supported by international financial institutions and more than 30 donors from the private and institutional sectors.

History
The Venezuelan displacement is the largest in the recent history of Latin America and the second worldwide . By 2018, more than 3 million people had left Venezuela. For this reason, in April that year, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, requested IOM and UNHCR to lead and coordinate a coherent and consistent regional response to promote the protection, access to basic services, self-sufficiency and socioeconomic integration of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, as well as the communities that host them. This coordinated response is nowaday the R4V Platform.

According to the R4V Platform, as of February 2022, more than 6 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela have left their country and more than 80% live in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Objectives
The R4V Coordination Platform aims to coordinate the response of the various UN agencies, NGOs, and civil society organizations that provide support and services to refugees and migrants from Venezuela in the region to complement the response of governments hosting them. In addition, it functions as a planning, advocacy, and fundraising tool. Finally, the R4V Platform is a transparency and accountability mechanism to ensure that all activities are inclusive and effective.

Refugee and Migrant Response Plan
The Refugee and Migrant Response Plana (RMRP) is an annual planning and incidence tool. is an annual planning and incidence tool. The RMRP is based on assessments developed by RMRP partners on the field, through which priority needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and affected host communities are identified. Moreover, it describes the response strategies and indicates the funding needs of Platform members.

The R4V Regional Platform leads and coordinates the development of the RMRP together with National and Sub-regional Platforms, the R4V Sectors, and partner organizations. All the strategies and activities included in the plan complement the response from host countries' governments.

The first RMRP was developed in 2018 and, as of 2021, has served to mobilize around USD 1.55 billion in funding for the included activities, also convening the donor community in two International Donor Conferences (in 2020 and 2021).

RMRP 2022
The 2022 Refugee and Migrant Response Plan was launched on December 9, 2021, and brings together 192 partner organizations in 17 Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The plan calls for USD 1,79 billion to support 3,81 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela and the communities hosting them.

This plan focuses on three main objectives: :


 * 1) Provide and improve access to essential goods and services.
 * 2) Improve the prevention and mitigation of protection risk.
 * 3) Increase opportunities for socioeconomic integration and social cohesion.

Major obstacles faced by refugees and migrants from Venezuela include unemployment and poverty, difficulties in accessing basic services and education, and protection risks associated with the lack of regular status.

The RMRP also establishes a regional structure of sectors, within which partner organizations coordinate their activities in nine main areas: Education, Food Security, Health, Humanitarian Transportation, Integration, Nutrition, Protection (and its Sub-Sectors Child Protection, GBV and Human Trafficking and Smuggling), Shelter and WASH.

Structure, roles and responsibilities
The regional coordination structure of the R4V Platform divides into nine thematic sectors. The sectors are led by some 20 UN organizations, NGOs, and civil society actors, part of the R4V Platform, experts in these areas:


 * 1) WASH: led by UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). Its objective is to promote access to water and basic sanitation to refugees and migrants from Venezuela in homes, educational institutions, informal settlements, community kitchens, border crossings, and health centers, considering their specific needs based on their age, gender, and diversity.
 * 2) Shelter: co-led by UNHCR, IOM and the Norwegian Council for Refugees (NRC), it aims to promote access to safe temporary and permanent accommodation for refugees and migrants from Venezuela.
 * 3) Education: co-led by UNICEF and Save The Children, the sector advocates for public policies that ensure the right to education of refugee and migrant children and adolescents and promotes access, permanence, and completion of their studies.
 * 4) Integration:co-led by IOM and International Labour Organization (ILO). The sector studies and implements approaches, collaborations and instruments to promote the socio-economic integration of refugees and migrants from Venezuela considering factors such as gender, age and diversity while contributing to local sustainable development.
 * 5) Nutrition: led by UNICEF, it addresses the nutritional needs of Venezuelan boys and girls under the age of five and pregnant and lactating women. It also seeks to prevent, identify and treat malnutrition by strengthening local services, providing supplies, and raising awareness of healthy eating habits.
 * 6) Protección: co-led by UNHCR and HIAS. The sector seeks to prevent the risks faced by refugees and migrants from Venezuela through the provision of services and protection mechanisms. These include access to territory, registration and documentation, regularization, asylum systems, border monitoring, access to birth registration, and confirmation of nationality, among otherss . The Protection Sector also has three subsectors:
 * 7) * Child Protection:co-led by UNICEF and World Vision International (WVI). In emergencies, children are at risk of age-related harm and abuse. The subsector promotes strategic coordination and effective response to protect children and adolescents in emergencies.
 * 8) * Gender-based Violence: co-led by UNFPA, HIAS and Save The Children, it seeks to strengthen the coordination of organizations to prevent, respond and mitigate the risks of gender-based violence and promote access to specialized services for survivors of gender-based violence.
 * 9) * Human traffiking and smuggling: co-led by IOM and ONU Mujeres. Its objective is to coordinate a strategy to prevent and respond to human trafficking and smuggling, offering guidance and technical assistance to national authorities and civil society.
 * 10) Health: co-led by OMS/OPS y ONUSIDA. The Sector works to improve access to health services for refugees and migrants from Venezuela, supporting cross-border health coordination and strengthening community participation to ensure equal access to health without discrimination.
 * 11) Food Security: co-led by World Food Programme (WFP) and Action Against Hunger (ACH), it seeks to improve the food security of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, mainly through cash assistance or vouchers to allow people to choose their own food and promote their inclusion in national social protection systems.
 * 12) Humanitarian Transportation: co-led by IOM, UNHCR and OXFAM. It provides safe, humane, and dignified transportation – both border-to-border and internal transportation – to vulnerable refugees and migrants from Venezuela to mitigate human trafficking and gender-based violence risks.

In addition, the R4V Regional Platform has four working groups (Communication, CwC/C4D, Support  Spaces, and CVA) and is complemented by National and Subregional Platforms, which coordinate the work of the partners in their respective geographic areas and collaborate with the governments of host countries. In each country, those platforms are responsible for the operational coordination and implementation of the Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP). These platforms are established in Brazil, Chile , Colombia , Ecuador y Peru – at national level – and in the Caribbean , Central America and Mexico , and the Southern Cone – a nivel subregional. Their organization is based on the context of each country and the capacities of governments and RMRP partners, taking into account the existing coordination structures.

International Donor's Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants
The first International Solidarity Conference about the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis was convened by the European Union in 2019 in Belgium. The event aimed at raising awareness about the situation of refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean and about the efforts done by host countries and communities.

That conference and subsequent iterations were global events to bring visibility to the needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, highlight the efforts of the countries hosting them, and call on the international community to mobilize additional resources. The conferences have been organized by a State in collaboration with UNHCR, IOM and the R4V Platform.

On May 26, 2020, the second edition of these conferences was held as a Donor Conference convened by the European Union and the Spanish Government with the support of Canada, Norway, UNHCR and IOM. The event took place virtually and received commitments amounting US$2.79 billion, including US$653 million in grants (the remaining amount corresponds to loans . A report developed by Alinea and Canada a year later (May 2021) showed that, to date, of the total commitments, 56% had been disbursed, and of the total amount promised in loans, 29,2% were disbursed.

The last Donor Conference was hosted by the Government of Canada on June 17, 2021. The event achieved the commitment of countries and institutions to contribute 1,554 million dollars to this crisis, out of which 954 million would be donations and 600 million loans. Within the framework of this conference, the R4V Platform organized nine side events that aimed to show the work of the regional sectors, as well as the main challenges and gaps identified to respond to the needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and their host communities.