This project, “Strengthening the care, integration and protection of refugees, asylum seekers and host communities in Darién, in line with the MIRPS National Action Plan, with special emphasis on children, adolescents and women,” is financed by the MIRPS Fund.

In recent years, Darién has become one of the most important and risky transit points in the region. In 2021, 133,720 people entered the country irregularly through this border, a record number of people in mixed movements towards the north of the continent. According to the National Immigration Service, in the first seven months of 2022, more than 75,000 people crossed the Darién Gap, almost double the total for the equivalent period of 2021, with between 1,000 and 1,300 daily entries into Panama. In 2022, the most common nationality for those in transit is Venezuelan. 

People from this area arrive in very precarious conditions, in poor health and hygiene conditions, they lack work opportunities and means of subsistence, children and adolescents do not have basic materials to attend educational centers. 

This project will benefit more than 800 refugees and asylum seekers in the province of Darién, providing them with 500 kits of basic humanitarian assistance for health and hygiene (taking into account the differentiated needs of women, men and girls and boys), 230 kits schools for children and adolescents, and aims to provide training in microbusinesses and basic equipment to entrepreneurial women in the Darién area.