Prevent Sexual and Gender Violence in Colombia

Hello Friends, 

World Refugee Day is celebrated on June 20th, and we want to take the chance to honour the strength, resilience, and courage of the millions of Venezuelans who’ve made Colombia their home—and we celebrate the vital role you play in supporting them. Colombia is now home to nearly 3 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants, the largest such population globally.

Since their arrival, these families have faced terrifying vulnerability. Children who journey alone are at risk of child labour, trafficking, and recruitment by criminal gangs. Women like María, forced into dangerous work to survive—earning just $12 per encounter—have found renewed dignity thanks to psychosocial support, legal empowerment, and community networks. 

On this Refugee Week, we celebrate what we’ve built together:

• A safe haven in Bogotá’s Santa Fe neighborhood—supportingover 400 migrant women and children.

• Creative healing spaces where children like Ana, 13, has rebuilt hope through art and peer connection.

• Community leadership: María now mentors others, rebuilt her family’s wellbeing, and launched a small business.

• System-level change: Collaborating with YMCA/ACJ to strengthen care pathways and protect survivors of gender-based violence.

Your support empowers every one of these triumphs. When we fill hearts and minds with skills, hope, and community, we block the paths of exploitation—and light the path to self-worth and healing. Our community-based, trauma-informed work is more necessary than ever because when we invest in belonging, we pre-empt isolation, exploitation, and violence.

Your generosity on this Refugee Week—and every day—plants the seeds of safety, healing, and unity.

With deep gratitude,

Children Change Colombia

Links:

• Learn more about the specifics of the project
• Child Exploitation of Venezuelan Children