Giving Compass' Take:

• According to projections from the United Nations, the number of Venezuelan refugees will reach 5.4 million by the end of 2019. Isabel Diaz at Pacific Standard discusses what this means for neighboring countries. 

• How can funders work to develop and execute a strategy that can begin to address this crisis? 

• Learn more about the refugee crisis in Venezuela. 

The political and socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela has spurred an unprecedented population outflow. It is currently the biggest exodus in Latin America's recent history and the second-largest displacement crisis in the world, after Syria. Between 2015 and now, the number of Venezuelans fleeing their country went from 695,000 to four million, according to the United Nations' Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Throughout 2018, roughly 5,000 people left Venezuela on a daily basis—pushed by lack of access to food and essential services, as well as violence—with projections that there will be 5.4 million Venezuelans living abroad by the end of 2019.

Such a massive and fast influx of people also has a ripple effect on the receiving end.

"Latin American and Caribbean countries are doing their part to respond to this unprecedented crisis but they cannot be expected to continue doing it without international help," Eduardo Stein, joint UNHCR-IOM special representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, said in a statement.

Read the full article on the Venezuelan refugee crisis by Isabel Diaz at Pacific Standard.