Venezuela
2023-11 Factsheet - Venezuela
November 2023
Dec 2023 > Cluster Alojamiento, Energía y Enseres, 2023
Highlights
- By the end of November, the Shelter, Energy and NFI Cluster reached 28,814 direct beneficiaries and 472,169 indirect beneficiaries through partners interventions in institutions and community spaces providing essential services to population: temporary shelters, education, health, and community centers, among others.
- In November, the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HN0) cycle took place. A draft of the HNO document was shared with OCHA. The Shelter, Energy, and NFI sector aims to highlight critical aspects to enhance the quality of life for 2.3 million people in need and foster resilience.
- The PIN saw a 15% increase compared to the calculation for the HRP 2022-2023. This rise is linked to the vulnerability of communities to natural events and disasters: 24% of key informants in communities identified the presence of floods. Additionally, 32% reported continuous and prolonged interruptions in access to electricity. Furthermore, damaged homes, overcrowding, and lack of access to basic supplies have been identified as one of the four main needs of the communities.
NFI
Shelter
Need analysis
- According with the HNO, in the area of Energy, power interruptions profoundly impact daily life, ranging from household to educational, commercial, and health activities. According to the 2023 Needs Assessment, 32% of the population reported continuous and prolonged outages occurring daily for several hours. This leads to critical situations affecting households, degrading well-being by hindering refrigeration, food preparation (indicated by 63% as the main impact of power failures), loss of appliances, and access to water and telecommunications. Moreover, these issues have severe psychosocial implications due to the inability to normalize or plan daily activities, leading to uncertainty due to unscheduled blackouts, sometimes triggering domestic violence situations.
- Access to Domestic Gas also poses challenges, with 33% of the population facing difficulties, mainly due to delays in cylinder distribution in remote municipalities. The primary consequence is the widespread use of firewood (indicated by 54% of key informants), impacting people's health through smoke inhalation, notably evidenced in Delta Amacuro with increased cases of heart attacks, strokes, and hypertension associated with women using this fuel. Additionally, the indiscriminate logging of trees contributes to increased water infiltration and retention in soils, elevating the risk of floods and landslides.
- In terms of Access to Adequate Supplies, 25% of key informants reported severe damages and problems. According to 66% of those surveyed, sleeping articles face the highest degree of inaccessibility. The precariousness of mattresses, mats, hammocks, coupled with the inability to replace them due to high costs, is a widespread issue in vulnerable areas. This not only affects habitability but also impacts mental health and creates conditions of overcrowding due to shared use of sleeping supplies across different age and gender groups within a family.
- Human Mobility and Temporary Accommodation Spaces (EAT) dynamics in Venezuela necessitate strengthening existing EAT and creating new spaces for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and victims of human trafficking. The lack of EAT for these groups is a gap that must be addressed and closed.
- In other cases, EAT are scarce and necessary, especially during emergencies and for people who have lost their homes and belongings. There is also a need to empower authorities to create temporary reception centers. Several municipalities within the Zulia state (Guajira, Mara, Machiques de Perijá, Jesús Maria Semprun, Catatumbo, and Colón) are exposed to the impact of disasters, yet these municipalities lack emergency shelters that meet minimum humanitarian standards for habitability, health, safety, and dignity. It is essential to consider the limited capacities of local institutions (Civil Protection, firefighters, municipalities), such as in Catatumbo.
- Similarly, in the Bolivar state, educational centers are often used as shelters in emergencies, negatively impacting children as classes are interrupted. Hence, there is a need to identify other spaces in collaboration with local authorities.
- Within the sector, it is a priority to identify, assess, and adapt Temporary Accommodation Spaces that meet minimum humanitarian standards for those displaced by disasters.
- Housing Improvement: Housing improvement was identified as one of the four main needs in communities. More than 50% of respondents mentioned severe and significant damages, and 38% reported severe overcrowding issues, a challenge especially in vulnerable high-risk areas. These conditions add to the identified needs for sleeping supplies, generating protection risks. In several states of the country, periodic floods affect housing conditions and lead to mass removals. This situation occurs with greater intensity in the states of Apure, Miranda, Delta Amacuro, Aragua, Mérida, Táchira, and Trujillo. Tools and resources are urgently needed to build or improve homes, especially in municipalities identified as high-risk.
Response
- By the end of November, 28,814 direct beneficiaries were reached by Shelter, Energy and NFI activities (50% female, 50% male, 19% indigenous). Interventions in institutions and other spaces providing essential services to population reached indirectly 472,169 people of concern. The response covered 15 states and the Capital District. States with the highest number of total beneficiaries were Táchira, Apure, Miranda, Bolívar, Zulia and Sucre.
- Regarding Shelter Response, 89 constructions and rehabilitations of spaces providing essential services to population were completed in health spaces, schools, community spaces, temporary shelters and WGSS and authority spaces, to allow access to essential services for the most vulnerable. Also 58 shelter emergency units were installed in coordination with authorities for disaster response and prevention and community spaces in Sucre, Miranda, Falcón, Aragua, Mérida, Apure, Bolívar and Capital District. 13,940 people on the move occupied temporary collective shelters managed by partner organizations in Apure, Miranda, Táchira, Zulia, Falcón and Sucre states.
- As for interventions to improve access to Energy, 233 street solar lamps were installed to prevent protection risks in Zulia, Táchira, Bolívar, Miranda, Sucre, La Guaira, Delta Amacuro and Carabobo. 102 systems to generate electricity were installed in education centers, coordination authorities for the disaster response and community spaces, and 2459 portable solar lamps were installed and delivered to beneficiaries in communities, community centers, schools, coordination authority spaces and health centers to strengthen response for disaster management.
- Regarding access to basic NFIs, more than 13,000 people were reached. 2762 habitat and 30 kits for people in mobility were delivered, and 130 provisions of non-food items were made to equip spaces for the provision of essential services including health centers, coordination authorities, education centers, community spaces, WGSS and temporary shelters.
Gaps / challenges
- The humanitarian challenges in the states of Miranda, Táchira, Bolívar, Amazonas, Delta Amacuro, Sucre, and their respective municipalities are varied, multifaceted, and affect diverse populations in precarious situations. Coordination and effective response are essential to address these critical needs and ensure the protection of the most vulnerable groups. The resilience of these communities largely depends on our ability to address these challenges in a timely and effective manner.
- There are identified geographic areas with the most critical needs for Shelter response in states with remote areas without access to services. The highest levels of needs severities were found in the states of Amazonas, Delta Amacuro, Sucre, and Zulia. Critical problems include the absence of basic services, particularly electricity, severe cases of overcrowding, disaster risks, protection risks, deficits in access to rights, and the presence of armed groups, especially in border areas and the mining arc.
- It is essential to support vulnerable groups, including single mothers, children, indigenous communities in remote areas, people with disabilities, the elderly, victims of trafficking, and gender-based violence. Each group has specific challenges and needs that require priority attention to ensure their well-being and safety. To address these needs and protect these groups, coordinated and effective humanitarian action is fundamental in collaboration with local authorities and other organizations.
