Six decades of armed conflict have left Colombia facing one of the most serious and prolonged humanitarian crises in the Americas. Colombia remains one of the top three countries with the highest number of internally displaced people in the world, with millions forcibly displaced and in urgent need of help.
NRC in Colombia
At the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), we’re doing everything we can to help displaced families in Colombia – by focusing our efforts on hard-to-reach areas, where the authorities are struggling to provide protection and essential support.
What’s happening in Colombia?
Despite a peace agreement in 2016, armed conflict continues to torment the people of Colombia, with organised armed groups controlling large rural areas. Entire communities, particularly rural Afro-Colombian and indigenous ones, are confined to their homes, while others are forced to flee.
Every single day, somewhere in Colombia, a new group of people is forced from their homes or trapped by conflict. In areas with limited state presence, families struggle to access protection, education, shelter, clean water, food and legal support. Intensifying conflict and violence have a devastating impact on civilians, leaving many in Colombia in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
Colombia also hosts one of the world’s largest populations of refugees and migrants in need of international protection, including people from Venezuela and elsewhere.
Despite the scale and complexity of the crisis, Colombia’s humanitarian response remains underfunded and lacks sufficient international support, leading NRC to rank Colombia as the world’s third most neglected displacement crisis.
Our response
In addition to emergency response delivered whenever critical needs arise, we’re working with our partners in the following areas:
-
Water, sanitation and hygiene – distributing hygiene and sanitation kits, improving water infrastructure and teaching good hygiene practices.
-
Shelter and settlements – providing displaced families with access to emergency shelter and longer-term, more permanent places to stay.
-
Education – helping crisis-affected children access and stay in school, distributing teaching materials and providing young people with vital vocational training.
-
Protection from violence – ensuring displaced families and communities stay safe by preventing and responding to violence, coercion and actions that deny them their rights.
-
Information, counselling and legal assistance – helping people access legal documentation, procedures and support to exercise their rights.
Download the factsheet for NRC in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama
Our operations
Established: 2005
Areas of operation: Arauca, Bogota, Buenaventura, Cali, Cucuta, Florencia, Guapi, Ipiales, Maicao, Medellin, Ocaña, Pasto, Popayan, Puerto Asis, Quibdo, Riohacha, San Jose del Guaviare, Santa Marta, Tumaco and Villavicencio.
Country Director: Giovanni Rizzo
Contact: co.nrc@nrc.no
View NRC in Colombia's website in Spanish
Our impact
In 2025, we assisted 143,879 people through our programmes in Colombia:
-
26,904Education
-
10,499Livelihoods and food security
-
14,503Shelter and settlements
-
15,282Protection from violence
-
71,464Information, counselling and legal assistance
-
48,887Water, sanitation and hygiene
-
3,267Multi-purpose cash assistance
Note: some people received more than one type of assistance.
