The Board of Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved today a $20 million grant to Costa Rica to implement the Comprehensive Citizen Security and Violence Prevention Program for the Inclusion of Vulnerable Migrant Groups. The grant aims to make local and migrant populations less vulnerable to violence, marginalization, and discrimination.

Costa Rica is primarily a destination country for migrants and has a long tradition of inclusion, with receptive policies towards migrants and refugees. As the number of migrants entering the country or passing through it enroute to the United States grows, they face new security challenges, like the risk of becoming victims and/or perpetrators of crime and violence, limited institutional capacity to address their needs, or intensifying anti-migration attitudes.

The grant is funded through a $100 million grant facility to support countries with large and sudden intra-regional migration inflows, which the IDB established with its own resources in 2019.

The program will be implemented by the Ministry of Justice and Peace (MJP) and consists of two components: social measures to prevent violence and strengthening institutional capacities to deal with migratory flows.

The first component will expand infrastructure and services for preventing violence, benefiting both the migrant population and host communities in various regions of the country. The second will build the institutional capacities of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreign Nationals to handle migratory flows and bolster the socioeconomic inclusion of migrants so they are less vulnerable and exposed to crime and violence.

The initiative will complement the work already being done in Costa Rica through the Citizen Security and Violence Prevention Program, which the IDB financed with a $100 million loan. This program builds police stations and creates Civic Centers for Peace in vulnerable communities.