Community Resilience Initiative Quarterly Report (Oct-Nov 2020)

(DI). The program works with civil society organizations (CSOs) to reduce the victimization of Venezuelan refugees and migrants and enhance direct, positive engagement between T&T nationals and Venezuelans to foster community development and resilience in response to the influx of Venezuelans to T&T since 2016. The CRI program consists of two objectives: (1) coordinate and enhance existing community systems to more effectively address the refugee and migrant crisis, and (2) foster positive social interaction and trust among Venezuelan and T&T communities. The CRI program focuses on six target locations in T&T: Arima, Chaguanas, Couva, Mayaro, Port of Spain, and Rio Claro. The program works through existing local civil society networks to expand services to refugees and migrants through community resource centers and serves as a link between civil society, government, and private actors. The CRI partner organizations, including Drama Making a Difference Company (DMAD), Families in Action (FIA), Living Water Community (LWC), and Ryu Dan Dojo Empowerment Foundation (RDD), continued building resilience capacities among T&T and Venezuelan populations through creative use of virtual platforms throughout this period and completed all planned activities successfully, despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The CRI partner organizations continued to collaboratively engage communities and stakeholders across T&T to share information and respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Under the CRI Multi-Stakeholder Coordination Committee (MSCC) technical subcommittee for economic inclusion, CRI partner LWC collaborated with the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) to launch a series of virtual seminars to educate and encourage equitable work practices among private sector actors. The series started in October with a session on “Fighting Human Trafficking: Why this is Also Your Business” during the TTMA’s virtual Trade and Investment Convention, attended by more than 100 business representatives. The CRI partners continued to build key skills for resilience this quarter, in particular focusing on economic resilience given the challenges posed by COVID-19 for both T&T nationals and Venezuelans. Partner DMAD completed a short video series called “Grow It Yourself,” teaching audiences to start easy at-home gardens. RDD and FIA completed courses that blended hard and soft skills learning to support beneficiaries to gain vocational skills, learn about running their own business, strengthen emotional coping strategies, and gain the language abilities needed to succeed in T&T. Over the course of the program, CRI provided a total of 1,919 participants (907 T&T nationals, 962 Venezuelans, 50 other) with educational or psychosocial support. The CRI program came to a close this quarter, completing all activities in support of the program’s objectives. A virtual closing ceremony was hosted by DI on November 6, bringing together 76 people on Zoom while also streaming live on DI’s Facebook page. The ceremony included a presentation on CRI achievements, outcomes, and lessons learned by the CRI team, two videos highlighting the program’s work and the perspectives of beneficiaries, a live panel discussion with program participants, and remarks from USAID/ESC and the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain.