Sumando Voluntades: the importance of local actors in refugee response
As a result of the protection good practices that have emerged through the MINARE, the National Technical Team (ETN) expressed interest in fostering closer engagement with local actors to translate the national experience to the local level. The ETN recognizes the crucial role of communities and local stakeholders in responding to forcibly displaced persons. This initiative therefore aims to replicate the MINARE at the local level, encouraging local actors to take on commitments to support the response to refugees and asylum-seekers from within the communities, and to promote their integration.
To this end, a workshop was held on 16 November as an initial step to engage with local actors. The session brought together approximately 38 participants representing various public institutions, local governments, and others. Designed as a participatory workshop, the session aimed to present the MINARE as a national framework for responding to refugees, while showcasing its flexible structure that invites the involvement of additional actors. A subsequent reflection session focused on identifying the main challenges faced by communities and possible actions or strategies to address them.
This methodology aimed to replicate the working and reflection sessions that originally shaped the MINARE in 2017. The participatory segments included the following activities:
A dialogue session on the human mobility situations experienced in different cantons or communities, with the aim of identifying common challenges. This activity was designed to generate inputs for the next segment: the proposal of short-, medium- and long-term actions. To guide the discussion, participants were organized into working groups to respond to specific questions, fostering exchange across tables on a variety of topics, including the community context, challenges in assisting forcibly displaced persons, good practices and lessons learned, public policies focused on displacement, and support needs.
A discussion on current assistance and response actions for forcibly displaced persons, with the potential to become good practices that could benefit other communities. This was followed by a brainstorming session on medium- and long-term measures that could eventually become MINARE commitments. These actions may be developed into project proposals to be presented to international cooperation partners within the framework of MINARE.
Location
Costa Rica (border cantons of Upala, Los Chiles and Guatuso, which have a significant presence of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants). This initiative is also planned for the cantons of La Cruz and San Carlos.
Duration
2022 – Present
Results
As a result of this workshop, the authorities of two local governments expressed interest in expanding their knowledge of MINARE and the mechanisms for their incorporation into this framework for action. As a follow-up to this initiative, a second working session with two local governments is being planned for next month and a work plan is being developed with the local governments.
The expected results of this initiative are to deepen the link between the host communities and MINARE and to include in this framework of action a local response level.
Linked MIRPS Commitment
This initiative is not directly related to a commitment of Costa Rica’s national action plan known as MINARE (Marco Integral Nacional de Atención y Respuesta a las Personas Refugiadas), but is an initiative that seeks to expand the scope of this national plan.
MINARE was conceived in 2017 as a framework for action of national scope, involving public institutions, ministries, autonomous institutions, and other relevant actors to articulate actions to address the situation of forcibly displaced persons. However, it did not contemplate at that time a local level in the response to refugees. With the level of maturity that MINARE has reached after 5 years of implementation, the National Technical Team (ETN), the technical structure that monitors the implementation of MINARE, reiterated the importance of linking MINARE with local actors, which is why this was established as one of the priorities of its work in 2023.
Lead Entity and Partners
This initiative began in 2022, as part of a joint effort between the Vice Ministry of Interior and Police, which has the mandate to lead the implementation of MINARE, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (as Technical Secretariat of MINARE) and Ayuda en Acción, an NGO with presence in the northern part of the country, which is developing a project to support the progress of MINARE.