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Children on Plaza Libertad playground in Montevideo, Uruguay. Photo credit: City of Montevideo
In 2023, the City of Montevideo, Uruguay, was selected as a grantee of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF), the MMC’s instrument to channel international funding directly to cities to implement inclusive projects of their own design.
With support from the GCF, Montevideo is establishing the city’s first-ever two-generational care center for migrant children and their caregivers, with an emphasis on women and children ages zero to four. The center will provide female caregivers with essential legal, medical, and employment support, while giving their children access to food, recreational and educational activities, and a safe space to grow and develop.
Uruguay is home to three million inhabitants, forty percent of whom live in its capital city, Montevideo. Over the past five years, the number of migrants, asylum seekers, and Venezuelan refugees in Uruguay has tripled from 10,000 to 32,900 persons. More than half of Montevideo’s residents are from non-bordering countries in Latin America.
Migrants and refugees in Montevideo, especially women and children, face challenges accessing the labor market, lack robust support networks, and live in precarious housing with limited connections to basic social services.
With the Global Cities Fund, Montevideo is establishing a care center to provide migrants women and children access to essential services. Photo Credit: City of Montevideo.
Montevideo is using the GCF grant to help women and children in the migrant community access essential services related to their protection, social inclusion, and well-being. The Resuena project is establishing Montevideo’s first-ever two-generational care center for migrant and displaced families.
The center will specialize in providing comprehensive support to female caregivers from the migrant community. In partnership with local civil society organizations, the center will provide medical care, employment assistance, legal services, and housing support to its clients.
The center will also include a daycare where children can play and learn while their caregivers access support services. In addition to an age- and gender-responsive play space, the care center will provide children educational programming and nourishing meals to promote their healthy development. The project team will also help caregivers enroll their children in Montevideo’s formal school system once they come of age.
Intendente Mauricio Zunino (third from left) inaugurates the Resuena project, November 2024. Photo credit: the City of Montevideo
Stay tuned for more impact updates at the end of Montevideo’s GCF grant term!
The City of Montevideo is thrilled to be a grantee of the [GCF]. This funding will help us create our city’s first-ever early childhood aid and care center for migrant and displaced families.
Carolina Cosse, Former Mayor of Montevideo, Uruguay
