Colombia Facts

While Colombia is a beautiful country with so much to explore, it’s also home to many children living in poverty. These children and their families face unique challenges that Compassion is helping them overcome. 

Food Insecurity 

Around 13 million people in Colombia are moderately or severely food insecure. This means they don’t know where their next meal may come from. Unfortunately, food insecurity leads to malnutrition, which threatens children’s lives and prevents them from growing as God intended. 

Our Response: Malnutrition Monitoring & Intervention 

Through the Compassion program, we monitor each child we serve for signs of malnutrition and provide the medical and nutritional care they need to get healthy again. For example, we might provide food baskets, nourishing meals or therapeutic feeding. 

When children are hungry, they can’t focus in school, are at risk of chronic health issues and may even lose their lives. Compassion is working to prevent these consequences by providing nutrition support to children facing desperate poverty in Colombia. 

Child Exploitation 

Children living in poverty throughout South America are especially vulnerable to violence and exploitation. This violence can take many forms, from forced child labor to child trafficking and gang violence. 
 

Our Response: Protecting Children From Harm 

At Compassion, child protection is our top priority. Each child in our program receives age-appropriate training so they can learn how to stand up for themselves and others. We also train our staff and volunteers, ensuring that they know how to intervene when they see signs of abuse or violence.