News

Digital inclusion and access to decent livelihood opportunities

This project aims at increasing access to decent livelihood opportunities for Venezuelan refugee and migrant entrepreneurs in Colombia through enhancing digital access to information, support, and training on entrepreneurship.

Lack of information

Since 2014, the influx of Venezuelan refugees and migrants has greatly impacted Colombia. By the end of 2021, around 2 million Venezuelan migrants were granted Temporal Protection Permits (ETPV) by the Colombian government. This allowed them to formalize their businesses and gain access to formal employment and professional training. However, the majority of income sources for Venezuelan refugees and migrants remain informal, with 93% of jobs being informal, 49% being casual, and 17% being part-time. This means that most employees lack stable and sufficient income (Source: Livelihoods Evaluation, DRC, April 2022). The lack of access to information and services for decent livelihoods is a significant barrier for these individuals.

Digitizing business and financial history

The lack of access to information and services about access to decent livelihoods, is one of the main limitations to access those livelihoods opportunities. This project will contribute, on one hand, to reducing the risks of duplication of assistance and facilitating entrepreneurs' access to support programs by digitizing their business and financial history. On the other hand, it will address training and guidance needs by facilitating access to tools and information through instant two-way communication for small entrepreneurs and training modules.

There are several strategies which are being implemented in order to ensure greater livelihood opportunities. Firstly, the project boosts digital livelihood education through the leaning platform Moodle. In addition to this, the project also seeks to develop an informative Chatbot that provides information on livelihood opportunities, and access to products and tools. Furthermore, in order to ensure sustainability, an information system with registration of entrepreneurs will be implemented.

Through these strategies, the project will seek to

Reduce barriers to access to livelihoods training
Promote the digitization of learning processes and tools
Fill the information gap about livelihood opportunities through a Chatbot
Encourage more women with time constraints and caregiving roles to strengthen their livelihoods