A sandwich between International organizations and community-based associations with the State in the middle in contexts of education in emergencies

• In Event: Who rules? Actors, movements, and struggles behind education governance in Latin America (Part 2)

Proposal

Drawing on the framework of global-local conditions of possibilities (Rhoten, 2000), this work analyzes the refugee crises in Barranquilla, a medium-sized city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where as much as 137,000 Venezuelan immigrants have arrived in recent years. Barranquilla adopted an open-door education policy after 2018, directed by the national ministry of education and supported by international organizations such as UNHCR and USAID, which provided resources and services to the Venezuelan diaspora until their funds were reduced as a consequence of shifting geopolitical interests. While international organizations and NGOs started working on site with projects related to cash transfers or orientation against violence, the Colombian education system adapted its registration procedures to allow migrant children to enroll with different types of identification documents, or even without them. At the same time, some migrant families and host communities created community-based associations that opened safe spaces to share experiences and bridge gaps in the education system.

Despite these efforts, multiple challenges emerged. Xenophobic behavior has been evidenced in some public schools. Structural gaps include long distances between families’ homes and schools, confusion regarding appropriate grade placement for migrant students, the impact of families’ extreme economic instability, gender-based violence risks faced by students, and the threats posed by illegal armed groups operating in vulnerable neighborhoods.

To help migrant families navigate bureaucratic institutions such as health and education, the government of Barranquilla created a state-run Center for the Integration of Migrants. Originally financed by international aid, the center’s resources were later reduced and transferred to Colombia’s Ministry of Equality after USAID funds were cut. My visits to this center revealed that migrants’ integration requires far more than the basic assistance currently offered, such as school enrollment. Nevertheless, the center has become an institution that the State must now sustain, since its elimination would have detrimental political effects.

By contrast, community-based associations receive little to no state funding, even as they also struggle with economic restrictions linked to changes in international aid. Yet these associations have created schools with official certifications, despite lacking financial support. As a result, students often attend classes in precarious facilities previously abandoned by other organizations, while teachers receive salaries below the national minimum wage.

These dynamics suggest that the combination of national and international pressures that pushed Barranquilla to open its school system to migrants and to establish an integration center has created difficult situations for the Colombian State. On one hand, it continues to expend funds on insufficient integration strategies; on the other, it neglects community-based associations that provide critical support for migrant and local families to maintain children’s access to education. This case highlights how local governments in the Global South, operating within broader geopolitical frameworks, navigate refugee crises by balancing external pressures, limited resources, and grassroots initiatives.

Author

• Patricia Grillet, University of Hawaii / East-West Center