USAID and IDB Announce $2 Million for the final BetterTogether/JuntosEsMejor Challenge

The funds will support Venezuelans and their Host Communities with Inclusion, Gender Equality and Entrepreneurship, Employment, and Education Opportunities

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced $2 million for the final six BetterTogether/JuntosEsMejor Challenge  awards to benefit Venezuelans and their host communities in Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Guyana. 

The awardees will provide critical solutions for delivering accessible education, generating employment, fostering entrepreneurship, combating gender-based violence, fostering women’s economic empowerment, and enhancing inclusion:

• In Brazil, the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) will support close to 15,000 Venezuelan women heads of household with targeted skills training to build their own businesses and careers in Manaus, Cuiaba, and Porto Alegre. 
• In Ecuador and Peru, the Corporación para el Desarrollo de Emprendimiento y la Innovación Social (CODEIS) will equip and empower 1,000 Venezuelans and their families, to create profitable and sustainable businesses while generating social impact and leading social transformation in their communities through its “Young Change Makers Academy.”
• Also in Ecuador, Las Reinas Pepiadas will empower Venezuelan migrant women to share their stories with digital media and storytelling to create a safe migration route. The initiative will also consolidate and disseminate resources for the prevention of gender-based violence in the migratory processes of the Venezuelan community.
• In Panama, Banesco will support economic and financial inclusion of Venezuelan migrants by scaling a training program to create productive enterprises, and providing access to tailor-made banking instruments and seed capital. 
• Also in Panama, the International Youth Foundation will deliver Google’s online IT certification program and support job placement for 200 Venezuelan migrant women. 
• In Guyana, the National Coordinating Coalition will develop and launch sustainable services to mitigate gender-based violence (GBV), documenting the gap in service provision while simultaneously equipping migrants to escape the threat of violence through improved access to formal economic activities.  

The BetterTogether (JuntosEsMejor) Challenge is a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to crowdsource, fund, and scale innovative solutions to support Venezuelans and communities that host them across Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information, visit JuntosEsMejorVE.org.