Accompaniment in protracted urban displacement: learning from a community-based response to Venezuelan displacement in Peru

Venezuelan migration has unfolded over more than a decade, beginning in the late 2000s and continuing to the present day. More than 6 million Venezuelans are estimated to have been displaced in Latin America and the Caribbean. Across the region, displacement has increasingly taken the form of prolonged and unresolved mobility, marked by legal precarity, economic instability and social exclusion. Rather than a short-term humanitarian emergency, Venezuelan displacement has become a structural feature of social and economic life in many host countries.

In Peru, this movement occurred largely outside formal settlement structures. At the end of 2025, Peru hosted an estimated 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Most live in urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods rather than camps. Migrants rent rooms, stay with acquaintances, or move frequently in search of work, often under conditions of informality and insecurity. The absence of camps or consolidated entry points challenged humanitarian approaches based on fixed locations, registration systems, and short-term assistance cycles.

This article reflects on learning from a community-based response implemented between 2019 and 2023, through a partnership between the Japan Agency for Development and Emergency (JADE) and the Missionary Association of San Carlos Scalabrinians (SCS) in Peru. The response sought to accompany people living through prolonged uncertainty while embedded within host communities, and offers practice-oriented insights for humanitarian actors working in protracted, urban, non-camp displacement contexts.

Displacement without camps: implications for humanitarian action

The dispersed nature of Venezuelan displacement in Peru significantly limited access to conventional humanitarian services. Many migrants and refugees were reluctant to approach formal institutions due to irregular migration status, fear of exposure, or previous experiences of discrimination. Others remained effectively invisible to assistance because they did not pass through identifiable entry points. During peak years of arrival, assessments suggested that a substantial proportion of Venezuelan households lacked regular status, constraining access to employment, health care, education, and protection services.

In this context, access could not be assumed; it had to be built over time. This required a shift away from models focused on rapid identification and short-term delivery, towards approaches that prioritised presence, familiarity and trust within neighbourhoods.

The response therefore placed strong emphasis on outreach as relational work rather than as mobilisation or service delivery. Volunteers and community actors maintained a regular presence in neighbourhoods, parish spaces and informal gathering points, creating opportunities for informal conversation and listening. Outreach activities were deliberately low-threshold, avoiding registration or assessment as an entry condition. The aim was not to identify needs quickly, but to establish legitimacy and trust over time.

Learning: In dispersed urban displacement contexts, outreach functions as relational infrastructure. Trust and relationship-building are prerequisites for any form of effective accompaniment or referral.

Outreach as trust- and relationship-building

Outreach activities were designed to be repetitive, predictable and non-intrusive. Presence over time proved more important than intensity. For many individuals, particularly those without regular status, trust developed slowly and unevenly. Initial contact often involved casual conversation rather than disclosure of needs, with requests for support emerging only after relationships had been established.

Being known in the community before being needed emerged as a critical enabling factor. People frequently sought support weeks or months after first encounters, returning to the same volunteers or spaces where they felt recognised and safe. Outreach therefore operated less as a gateway to services and more as the foundation upon which accompaniment could take place.

Outreach also played an important role in countering isolation and invisibility. For individuals experiencing psychosocial distress, loneliness, or loss of social identity, the opportunity to be listened to – without immediate problem-solving or bureaucratic requirements – constituted meaningful support. In several cases, outreach encounters served as the first step towards re-engagement with community life.

Learning: Outreach in protracted displacement settings should be understood as a long-term investment in relationships, not as a tool for rapid case identification or coverage targets.

Accompaniment as an operational approach

The response adopted accompaniment as a guiding operational principle. Rather than aiming to resolve discrete problems within short timeframes, accompaniment recognised displacement as a process shaped by shifting legal frameworks, economic pressures and family dynamics. Needs evolved over time, often in non-linear ways.

Volunteers acted as first points of contact, offering listening, orientation and continuity. Their role was not to replace professional services, but to provide relational consistency and help individuals navigate complex systems. Where needs exceeded their remit, individuals were referred to trained professionals – including lawyers, paralegals and psychologists – supported by the project.

This layered approach allowed limited specialist capacity to be used strategically, while maintaining continuity of relationships. Individuals were not required to retell their stories repeatedly, and referrals were accompanied rather than transactional. Follow-up was prioritised, recognising that outcomes often depended on persistence rather than one-off interventions.

Learning: Accompaniment requires continuity, relational consistency, and clear referral pathways. It cannot be delivered through short funding cycles or stand-alone interventions.

Working through faith-based and community institutions

Both Venezuelans and Peruvians are predominantly Catholic, and parish spaces represented familiar and trusted environments for many. In this response, faith-based institutions functioned primarily as community infrastructure rather than as ideological actors. Parishes provided physical space, legitimacy, and access to populations otherwise difficult to reach.

Religious leaders and parish volunteers enabled engagement with undocumented migrants and highly vulnerable households who were reluctant to approach state or international organisations. Their presence reduced barriers linked to fear, mistrust or stigma, while offering continuity in contexts where humanitarian actors often rotate.

Parish activities also created opportunities for contact between host and migrant communities. Shared events and religious festivities facilitated informal interaction and mutual recognition. In one instance, Venezuelan parishioners organised a Christmas meal for vulnerable Peruvians, reframing migrants not only as ‘recipients’ of assistance but as contributors to community life.

Learning: Trusted community institutions can act as bridges in protracted displacement contexts, supporting dignity, reciprocity and social connection beyond service delivery.

Flexibility and adaptation over time

The response evolved across several phases, including significant adaptation during the Covid-19 pandemic, when activities temporarily shifted towards hygiene promotion and food-related support. These adaptations responded to immediate needs while preserving relationships established through outreach and accompaniment.

Beyond Covid-19, flexibility allowed the response to adjust to changes in migration policy, emerging protection risks, and shifting community dynamics. This required ongoing dialogue between international and local partners, as well as openness from donors to adapt activities and outputs.

Operating between 2019 and 2023, the response spanned peak arrivals, policy shifts and pandemic disruption. Adaptability was enabled by trust between partners and recognition that rigid adherence to predefined plans risked undermining relevance.

Learning: In long-term displacement contexts, flexibility is a core operational requirement rather than an optional add-on.

Engaging host communities

From the outset, the response included both Venezuelans and Peruvians, recognising that exclusion risked fuelling resentment and undermining social cohesion. This was particularly important in neighbourhoods already facing poverty, informality and limited access to services.

Shared services, joint activities and inclusive outreach helped address common vulnerabilities and mitigate perceptions of competition. Careful communication was required to manage expectations and avoid reinforcing narratives of scarcity. Over time, inclusive approaches supported coexistence and participation.

Learning: Responses embedded in host communities must address shared vulnerabilities to remain socially and politically viable.

Conclusion

The experience from Peru highlights the need for humanitarian responses to protracted urban displacement to move beyond short-term assistance models. Effective action in such contexts depends on outreach that builds trust, accompaniment that recognises displacement as a process, and partnerships with institutions embedded in community life.

For humanitarian actors working in similar settings, this learning underscores the importance of investing in relationships, designing for continuity, and recognising that access, trust, and legitimacy are foundational elements of effective response.

Francesca Cerletti (PhD) is a conflict transformation practitioner and long-standing collaborator of JADE. She brings over 30 years of experience in the sector, working across Southeast Asia and South America. She is grateful to Luiz Do Arte (SCS) for the input to this article.