THE High Commission of Canada, on Tuesday, signed a contribution agreement for a new project that will be executed by HIAS Guyana, entitled “Increasing protection and awareness for vulnerable Venezuelan women and adolescent girls in Guyana who are survivors or at risk of gender-based violence (GBV).”
According to a release, the project aims to address some of the needs of the Venezuelan migrant population in local communities, specifically with a focus on providing gender-based violence prevention and responsive services to migrant women and girls currently residing in Port Kaituma, Georgetown and Bartica.
Canadian High Commissioner, Mark K. Berman, pointed out that there are over 5.6 million Venezuelans who have left or fled their homes since 2015, with over 4.6 million remaining in the region. He shared that on a large scale, Canada is supporting the migrant population by hosting the next International Donors’ Conference in solidarity with Venezuelan refugees and migrants, on Thursday, June 17, 2021. This, he said, is being done in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and that Guyana will also be a participant in the conference.

At the conference, Canada will be collaborating with various partners to bring forward the voices of those affected by the crisis with the objective of highlighting the progress achieved to date, raising awareness of key opportunities and priorities including the impact on women and girls, mobilising additional resources and identifying future actions to maintain focus on the crisis. Funding from the 2020 International Donors’ Conference provided food, health, protection and cash-based assistance to the Venezuelan migrants and refugees including women and girls. Due to the crisis, many of the migrants are placed in vulnerable situations.
High Commissioner Berman, in his remarks, noted that the needs are growing for the Venezuelan migrant community and the partnership with HIAS in Guyana is timely given the global call for support at the upcoming conference, as well as Guyana being a host country for Venezuelan migrants.
“The Government of Canada, through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, is thrilled to be associated with this project. I am also pleased that our government has contributed in a very tangible way to supporting the Venezuelan migrant communities in Guyana. I must commend HIAS Guyana for the valuable work being undertaken,” he said.

This new project being undertaken in Guyana, the release said, will provide services to migrant women, adolescent girls and LGBTQI+ identified survivors of gender-based violence. The needs of these individuals will be assessed to provide psychosocial support, legal assistance and the implementation of an action plan for the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the cases.
Through the project, dignity kits (hygiene and self care products) will also be distributed to the women, girls and other gender-based violence survivors to promote physical well-being, alleviate family budget constraints and ensure they can move around despite their periods. The kits will also include health and protection information which will raise awareness on hygiene, reproductive health and gender-based violence.

In her remarks, Country Director for HIAS, Alex Theran, thanked Canada for its support of the project and said “The responsibility of hosting people who have been displaced from another country is a responsibility for the whole world and it really gives me a lot of hope when I see incredible countries such as Canada, who have a strong track record of supporting refugees and displaced people, stepping up and supporting women and girls here in Guyana.”
The project will be executed over the course of one year.
HIAS is an international Jewish humanitarian organisation that provides vital services to refugees and asylum seekers in 16 countries. It advocates for the rights of refugees to rebuild their lives and seek to create a world in which they find welcome, safety, and opportunity.