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Venezuela Shelter, Energy and NFI Cluster: Cluster Overview HRP 2022-2023

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Venezuela
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Shelter Cluster
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Humanitarian Needs Overview

Shelter, Energy and NFIs

For several years, and in the context of a prolonged economic crisis, Venezuela has been impacted by a human mobility crisis and a progressive deterioration in the access to basic services.

Since 2020, and in the context of COVID-19 pandemic and focalised violence situations, human mobility has become more dynamic, incorporating an influx of returnees, with incoming needs for temporary shelters. The common use of informal cross borders has led to protection risks, including people involved on pendular movements to obtain their means for subsistence.

Additionally, impact of continued natural disasters, including heavy rains and floods, have generated significant needs of basic NFIs, temporary shelters and preparednessfor risks mitigation and response.

Access to basic services including access to energy, has been compromised in several regions of Venezuela, leading to a significant impact on the life quality, including impacts in food preservation, possibility to provide education, livelihoods, among others. This has provoked significant life-threatening risks and environmental impacts associated to the massive use of firewood as a source of energy for cooking, use of gasoline, kerosene and improvised connections to the national electric network.

In the context of the pandemic and economic crises, the infrastructure of institutions providing essential services to population such as health institutions, community spaces and schools lacked maintenance and worsened their shelter conditions, including access to energy, disabling their possibilities to save lives of the most vulnerable population.

Urgent humanitarian assistance is needed to provide a critical response:

Improvements on temporary shelters and access to NFIs are required to support people on the move.

Basic NFIs, temporary shelters and construction capacities are required for people affected by natural and anthropic disasters

Repairs, constructions and improvements for community spaces and institutions providing basic services is required.

Access to renewable sources of energy is required to fulfil the basic needs of the most vulnerable population and represents an urgent priority for remote areas.