Understanding and Dissuading Irregular Migration from Colombia to the United States

Understanding and Dissuading Irregular Migration from Colombia to the United States is sponsored by U.S. Mission to Colombia. This program seeks applications to study and better understand why Colombians are increasingly migrating to the United States irregularly and to suggest strategies to dissuade those inclined to risk the irregular journey.

The Public Diplomacy Section at U.S. Embassy Bogota (PDS Bogota) announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a program that will study and help us better understand why Colombians are increasingly migrating to the United States irregularly.

The program will also study, analyze and suggest strategies to PDS Bogota to dissuade those inclined to risk the irregular journey to the United States from doing so. Proposals should cover a period of 6-8 months, starting from the time funding is disbursed.

**Priority Region:**This program is designed to engage Colombians considering migrating irregularly to the United States; Colombians en route to the United States without the proper authorization to enter; and Colombians who already entered or attempted to enter the United States unlawfully and were returned.

The implementing partner may interview these Colombians along migration corridors in Colombia (e.g., from Ipiales to Necocli), but they should also engage migrants in Colombia after their return. The implementing partner should also conduct interviews of Colombians in Mexico who plan to bus northward and/or Colombians who have arrived at the U.S.-Colombian border and plan to attempt to enter the United States.

While other nationalities may use Colombia as a transit country to migrate, this project is limited to engaging Colombian nationals only. PDS Bogota aims to better understand the reasons why Colombians migrate irregularly to the Unites States. PDS Bogota seeks proposals that will provide us with clearer data, not just anecdotal stories about the reasons Colombians migrate irregularly.

With the help of the implementing partner, we hope to interview hundreds of would-be migrants or recently returned migrants to understand who they are and why they’re on the move. With this data, we also want our partner to experiment with messages and platforms to determine how and where to message to Colombians to dissuade them before they seek to become irregular migrants.

What messaging might convince them to use a safe, legal pathway or not to go at all? This grant should have two parts: research and experimental messaging. For part 1, the implementing partner will focus on interviewing recently returned irregular Colombian migrants, Colombians strongly considering migrating to the United States irregularly, and Colombians who are already en route.

The grantee will need to identify these individuals, establish trust with them, ensure their privacy, and interview them one on one or in focus groups. In part 2, the grantee will experiment with messaging campaigns to reach Colombians considering migrating to the United States.

The grantee will evaluate and analyze the performance of potential messages and will make specific and detailed recommendations to PDS Bogota on effective messaging content and delivery based on the results of their experiments and analysis. See the Related Documents tab of this Notice for full program information and application instructions.

Applicants must contact U.S. Embassy Bogota's Public Diplomacy Section for specific application instructions, forms, and deadlines.

**Participants and Audiences:** As noted above, the implementer should engage Colombians considering migrating irregularly to the United States; Colombians who already attempted to enter the United States unlawfully and were returned; and Colombians en route to the United States without the proper permissions.

The purpose of engaging these populations is to learn why they are migrating irregularly and then apply this knowledge to innovative messaging campaigns. We expect the grantee to engage at least 300 Colombian migrants; however, the grantee is welcome to propose a program in which it engages more Colombian migrants.