Kolumbien

• Owing to the Colombian conflict, there are more than 7 million domestic refugees. To make things more difficult, there has also been an influx of over 1.6 million Venezuelan refugees to Colombia in the past two years.
   
• Unemployment among Colombian refugees within Colombia is 58% – much higher than the national average of 10.3%.
   
• Traumatic experiences, violent upbringings, and poor to no promotion of preschool and kindergarten has led to the unfortunate circumstance that children are already showing developmental deficiencies at an early age.
   
• The decades-long internal conflict in Colombia has left behind a battered society. There are more than 7 million internally displaced refugees in the country.
   
• After fleeing, many families hope for peace and economic progress in the outskirts of big cities. Most are disappointed: gang crime is high, job opportunities scarce and domestic violence commonplace in families.
   
• The chances of a displaced person making a decent living are very slim. Unemployment among internally displaced young adults is 58% compared with the national average of 10.3%.
   
• The tense situation is exacerbated by the high influx of Venezuelan refugees. By July 2020, 1.8 million Venezuelans had fled to Colombia.
   
• Colombia has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Current forecasts predict a 5% drop in the country’s GDP, making the pandemic the biggest economic crisis in decades, with 5.4 million Colombians losing their jobs.
• The state pre-school education for children from poor backgrounds, which is defined by law, is of insufficient quality. The resulting development deficits cement the inequality of opportunity between rich and poor, making it even more difficult for marginalised children to escape the spiral of poverty.

Vivamos Mejor relies on continuing education, and to this end has created the Bridge to School and Bridge to Working Life programmes. The following videos, shot in Colombia, show examples of how Vivamos Mejor's projects are implemented and why they have a lasting impact.