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By Martha Guerrero Ble | November 30, 2023 Executive Summary More than eight years have passed since the situation in Venezuela began to implode, pushing millions of people to search for protection abroad. Today, the Venezuelan exodus is arguably the largest forced displacement situation in the world. Colombia is the primary destination for forcibly displaced Venezuelans abroad. Indeed, by October 2022, close to 3 million Venezuelans had fled to Colombia. Since the beginning of the crisis, Colombia has shown tremendous generosity towards Venezuelans, welcoming them, and taking concrete actions to ensure access to rights and their integration into the economy and society. The country took steps to grant regular status to Venezuelans, and foster their self-reliance, access to work, and inclusion into national systems. Most notably, in 2021, Colombia instituted a mass regularization program to grant legal status and work authorization to its Venezuelan population through the Estatuto Temporal de Protección de Migrantes Venezolanos (ETPV). However, progress in Colombia is at risk. In the past year, Colombia's new president, Gustavo Petro, has changed the way the government responds to Venezuelan displacement. The new government dissolved many of the structures and policies that shaped the response. Petro implemented a new "policy of silence" around the Venezuelan situation in Colombia, which disregards the Venezuelan presence in the country and their specific needs. This has affected the coordination across government and non-government agencies and the efforts to integrate Venezuelans into the Colombian economy and society. The shift in the response has already had a significant impact on the conditions Venezuelans face in Colombia, affecting progress achieved on their economic inclusion. Petro's government has rightly maintained the Venezuelan regularization process, but there have not been any additional efforts to support their economic integration. As such, the future of Venezuelans' economic inclusion in Colombia remains uncertain. In particular, obtaining formal jobs continues to be a major challenge for many Venezuelans, especially as Venezuelan professionals struggle to validate their credentials in the country. Informal jobs allow forcibly displaced Venezuelans to earn an income and survive. However, Venezuelans continue to struggle to find decent and stable jobs, facing exploitation and abuse in both formal and informal employment. Other aspects such as rising cost of living and lack of accessible housing affect Venezuelans' ability to make ends meet. As a result, some eventually decide to re-migrate to another city or country in search of better opportunities. Others are at risk of being recruited by criminal groups. The situation is exacerbated by major cuts in an already paltry funding environment from international donors. So far in 2023, donors have only funded 16 percent of the total needs for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) coordinated Venezuelan response—also known as the Response for Venezuelans (R4V). Donors have been implementing major cuts in their support for the Venezuelan response, decreasing funding for an already severely underfunded appeal. Humanitarian organizations in Colombia are facing major budget cut-outs, which is affecting the delivery of crucial programs to support Venezuelans. While Colombia is also receiving funds from the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF)—a multi-donor trust that provides loans at below market rates and grants to large refugee hosting middle income countries that otherwise would not be able to access such financing—the changes in government structure are affecting the implementation of such programs. In this context, Colombian municipalities are stepping up to support the integration of displaced Venezuelans. Many municipalities have opened centers where Venezuelans can seek help and guidance to access government services, such as registering to the social security and health systems, finding a job, or obtaining legal support. Plus, Bogotá and Medellín, the two largest Venezuelan-hosting municipalities in Colombia, are taking additional measures to promote the socio-economic inclusion of Venezuelans. Through these measures, many Venezuelans are accessing quality support at the local level to promote their integration. In July 2023, Refugees International traveled to Colombia to examine the status of the response and the progress made toward the economic inclusion of Venezuelans. This report analyzes the situation of Venezuelan socio-economic inclusion in Colombia and the new dynamics under which Venezuelans join the Colombian economy. This report is a product of the Labor Market Access Initiative led by Refugees International and the Center for Global Development that focuses on expanding evidence and research around the economic inclusion of refugees and forcibly displaced individuals around the world.