New study reveals factors that drive migrants to leave Central America

September 3, 2019

6 min read

A comprehensive study found that most migrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala originate from just 60 municipalities, across which the specific factors that push them to leave and the solutions to abate those factors differ greatly, Creative Associates International announced today.

In one of the most in-depth analyses to date of local factors — based on extensive data mining, statistical analysis and a 2,400-person survey conducted in February and March — Creative is able to distinguish the different triggers of migration in each municipality, as well as paint a general portrait of potential migrants in the Northern Triangle.

“Creative’s study allows us to make data-driven conclusions about today’s migration trends from the Northern Triangle and the best ways to address unique local drivers,” says Pablo Maldonado, Creative’s Chief Operating Officer.

The study, called “Saliendo Adelante: Why migrants risk it all,” investigates a range of factors, including household income, victimization, transnational ties and more, and how they combine to drive people from their homes.

These are a few of the topline findings of the report:

Intention to migrate: At the national level, Creative’s study revealed that 32 percent of Hondurans intend to migrate, while 24 percent of Salvadorans intend to, followed by 18 percent of Guatemalans.
Economics: Of the survey respondents in Guatemala who said they intend to migrate, 71 percent cited economic concerns as their primary motivation. In all three countries, a person with a household income of $200 to $400 a month who cannot make ends meet is 25 percent more likely to consider migrating. Overall, more than one-third of survey respondents reported household earnings under the $400 a month line and said they could not make ends meet.
Victimization: Regionally, having been a victim of a crime or having a family member or someone else close to you who has been makes an individual 50 percent more likely to consider migrating. In Honduras, for example, nearly one-third of survey respondents who have considered migrating have had a family member or close friend murdered.
Youth: On average across the three countries, 36.7 percent of youth intend to migrate. In fact, respondents 18 to 29 years old are more than twice as likely to consider migrating than adults aged 30 and older. The results from Honduras are particularly stark: Nearly 52 percent of young women surveyed plan to migrate, along with 40.7 percent of young men surveyed.
Transnational ties: Transnational ties – defined here as existence of family in the U.S., receipt of remittances, and prior migration to the U.S. – is a pull factor in the migration equation, but it is far less impactful than economics and victimization. Only 3 percent of survey respondents cited reuniting with relatives as their primary reason for wanting to migrate.

“Saliendo Adelante,” the title of the study, was inspired by a Spanish phrase that connotes a feeling of resilience and a desire to move forward in life.

Creative’s Maldonado says the development organization undertook the in-depth research to better understand the specific determinants that shape a person’s decision to make the oftentimes dangerous journey. This study is not connected with any Creative project or donor in the region.

“This study builds on Creative’s decades of development experience and deep roots in the region,” says Maldonado. “As an implementer of community-focused programs, we knew there were differences among the three countries, and even within the same country. This gives policymakers and implementers like us the research and data to make smart, effective decisions when trying to reduce irregular migration.”

Local strategies required

Creative’s extensive research provides insight into how the drivers of migration differ across municipalities — even within the same country — and how programs should be developed and implemented in the region.

“If governments want to curb irregular migration, they need to develop strategies that address the idiomatic impetus in these 60 municipalities,” says Maldonado. “To use a public health analogy, the migration solution requires the right medicine in the right dosage in the right location.”

In Honduras, for example, Creative’s research identified 12 municipalities that account for most irregular migration.

In-person surveys by Creative in Honduras found that while the majority of those who intend to migrate cite economic concerns as their main reason for wanting to leave, these pressures combine with victimization from crime and violence, transnational ties and other factors.

In the coastal city of La Ceiba, for example, 52 percent of households report having an income under $400 a month and being unable to make ends meet, two times more than in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Meanwhile, 63 percent of Tegucigalpa residents have been robbed or know someone who has been, compared to 35 percent in La Ceiba. Both cities exhibit similar rates of irregular migration, thus having a more granular understanding of the local level migration drivers can lead to more targeted interventions.

Escaping economic insecurity

Economic concerns are by far the most significant driving factor for migrants from the Northern Triangle.

The study showed that economic concerns — namely unemployment, household earnings from $200 to $400 per month and not being able to make ends meet, and a pessimistic economic outlook — are the primary statistically significant migration determinants for 71 percent of Guatemalans who intend to migrate, 67 percent of Hondurans who intend to and 50 percent of Salvadorans who do.

“We know that across the region, even when a household is facing a myriad of other issues, economic factors are often the underlying motivation behind migration,” says Rene Leon, Creative’s Economic Growth Senior Associate. “With the study, however, we have been able to pinpoint the specific determinants triggering migration decisions, and we can tailor our development programs to address them on a local level.”

By looking closely at the local data, Leon says, the study can identify the municipalities in which unemployment is a stronger push factor for migration. In Guatemala City, for example, 16 percent of those who have considered migrating are unemployed, compared to just 5 percent who have not considered migrating but are unemployed. In Guatemala, being unemployed almost doubles the likelihood of a person migrating.

Fleeing victimization

Across the Northern Triangle, and particularly in high-migration, urban municipalities, residents are coping with significant levels of victimization.

Creative’s study found that victimization — personal exposure to homicide, robbery, extortion and violence against women — is the primary driver of migration for 38 percent of Salvadorans, 18 percent of Hondurans and 14 percent of Guatemalans.

“In many high-migration municipalities, crime and violence have become part of the daily reality, forcing many people to leave their communities in search of safety,” says Enrique Roig, Director of Citizen Security at Creative.

With its local-level data, the study shows which specific aspects of victimization have the strongest influence on one’s decision to migrate in surveyed municipalities.

In San Salvador, for example, nearly a quarter of those who have considered migrating have been extorted, compared to 11 percent of people who have not considered migrating but have been extorted. Seventy percent of the country’s extortions occur in high-migration municipalities.

The data behind transnational ties

With more than 20 percent of income for the region’s households coming from remittances, the study carefully examined the influence of transnational ties on the decision to migrate, which was defined as the existence of family in the U.S., receipt of remittances and prior migration to the United States.

Transnational ties proved to play an important role in migration decision making, although they are far less impactful than economics and victimization. While nearly two-thirds of survey respondents have a relative living abroad, and 75 percent of those relatives have lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more, only 3 percent of survey respondents cited reuniting with relatives as their primary reason for migration.

Analysis shows that simply having a family member in the United States is not a statistically significant determining factor between those who intend to migrate and those who do not, despite the large number of people who reported family ties.

As Creative’s Salvador Stadthagen, Director of Latin America and Caribbean Strategy explains: “While economics and victimization provide the push, transnational ties are the pull that open the door a little wider.

For media inquiries, please contact Michael J. Zamba, Creative’s Senior Director of Communications at [email protected]

Rodrigo Moran: Fighting for a better El Salvador then and now

August 16, 2019

8 min read

Rodrigo Moran always wanted to change his country for the better. He graduated high school dreaming of becoming president of El Salvador. Moran, 30, isn’t in office yet, but he continues to work to create positive change for the country’s most vulnerable communities and the young people who live there.

A founding member of the El Salvador chapter of the Youth Against Violence movement (Jovenes Contra la Violencia in Spanish), Moran and his colleagues catapulted the topic of violence prevention to the forefront of the country’s political dialogue and into the homes, streets and community centers of high-crime neighborhoods across the country. The movement is currently in seven Central American countries, but when he joined in 2010 it was just getting off the ground.

Today, Moran oversees innovative technology-based solutions to the country’s development challenges as part of CREA Consultores El Salvador, a Creative Associates International subsidiary.

We sat down to ask Moran about his early years of activism, his storied but young career, and his vision for the youth of his country.

What was the country like growing up when you were young?

There were a lot of the same challenges we’re facing today, just a little less drastic. Today, I think that we’re in the middle of a country-wide crisis that fluctuates between being really dark and really hopeful.

Growing up, I remember seeing how the violence grew. When I was a teenager, I was mugged a couple of times, and it felt awful, but it didn’t feel as unsafe as it feels now. We live in a constant state of paranoia. Now, having a bird’s eye view or things, I see the magnitude of the problem.

I think that seeing the reality through movements like Youth Against Violence made me realize how big the challenges of our country were, and I discovered that my passion lies in social justice.

How did you hear about Youth Against Violence and what made you want to get involved?

Me and a couple of friends had created an initiative called El Salvador 180° with the purpose of supporting vulnerable communities. We saw this call on Facebook that was very cryptic. It was an “expectation campaign” that read: “Are you tired of the situation? Do you want to do something to address this? ¡Hagamos algo pues!” We went!

It was a call that the USAID-funded, Creative-implemented Alianza Joven Regional project put out for youth organizations to start brainstorming on how to create a movement of youth against violence, like the one in Guatemala. After that event, our organization was one of the founding organizations of the Youth Against Violence movement in El Salvador.

Rodrigo Moran (top left) with fellow Youth Against Violence members.

What was your role with the group?

I was the National Coordinator of the El Salvador chapter, and I was in charge of coordinating all the different projects and liaising between the El Salvador chapter and the other chapters of the Central American Youth Against Violence movement. I also represented the organization in different forums locally and internationally.

My main task was to coordinate, with the support of the Alianza Joven Regional team, the consolidation of hundreds of violence prevention dialogues that we held across the country and put that into a series of recommendations for violence prevention policy that made it to the Legislative Assembly.

Rodrigo Moran (center) delivering public policy recommendations of the Youth Against Violence movement to the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

How did the recommendations of the Youth Against Violence movement influence the country’s approach to violence?

The emphasis on violence prevention is bigger today. I wish they had followed more of the recommendations, specifically increasing the budget for violence prevention and reducing repressive police measures. They have increased it but not at the pace we wanted for a bigger change.

It’s funny because violence prevention seems like such a commonsense thing, but at the time crime and violence was rampant and people didn’t know exactly what we were talking about. Today we’re just scratching the surface of secondary and tertiary violence prevention, which we did emphasize back then 10 years ago. It’s interesting to look back and see how things could have been a little different if violence prevention was made a priority.

But I know the movement is still going. It’s a long struggle. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

What was your biggest achievement as a member of the Youth Against Violence movement?

My biggest achievement was working with all the different Central American Youth Against Violence movements. When I started there was only the Guatemalan movement. Then came the El Salvador movement, and then we expanded to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá and Belize.

The biggest accomplishment I can point to is the signing of the Central American Youth Against Violence movement charter with representatives from the Central American Integration System and youth. That felt like a big step toward a more peaceful region.

I think that Central America is really overlooked in many instances. It is such a rich region culturally and ethnically. The things I learned from my peers in the Youth Against Violent movement sparked my passion for Central America as a region.

Members of the Panama chapter of the Youth Against VIolence movement.

How did you and your peers get policymakers and other adults to take you seriously?

I think it was our drive. The fact that we were a novel organization with a new style of communication also helped. Non-profits and even youth-led organizations and movements were still pretty traditional in in the way they did things, and they stuck to protocol. We didn’t.

We had bright colored shirts we wore even to official events. We held creative events at unusual locations mixing people who wouldn’t otherwise get together; for example, police officers and former gang members, politicians and TV personalities playing soccer to raise awareness about the importance of violence prevention. We wanted to get things done.

We kept reminding the government officials and adults that they were also youth at some point. One of our coolest campaigns was at a Central American Heads of State meeting in Panama. We had found pictures of all the presidents when they were young and made masks out of cutouts of their faces to remind them that they were young at some point as well.

That was the biggest message we sent: It’s not just the youth that are between ages of 15 and 30 right now, everyone has been young. When you realize that the challenges you faced when you were young shaped who you are as an adult, it’s a really powerful thing. That’s why we emphasize working with young people, because what they experience will shape the way a country turns out in the next generation.

And there’s also the numbers: youth between 15 and 29 were the main perpetrators of violence and the biggest group of victims as well.

Costa Rican President Laura Chincilla recognized the Youth Against Violence movement at a meeting in 2013:

Tres presidentes, una vicepresidenta, y varios cancilleres escuchamos y recibimos de Jóvenes contra la Violencia recomendaciones valiosas.

— Laura Chinchilla M. (@Laura_Ch) February 20, 2013

Were there any youth you met in your work who went from being involved in the problem to being part of the solution?

The biggest example I can think of is one of our colleagues from the Guatemalan Youth Against Violence movement. He was one of the founding members of the Guatemalan movement and, when I met him, he seemed like the sweetest guy. His eyes resembled the ones of a kid, full of hope and ingenuity.

We became friends and after a few months of knowing him, I realized that he had a dark backstory and had been involved in gang activities since he was 13, when he learned to handle a gun.

His family was abusive, and he never really felt like he belonged until the gang started offering him what he was lacking at home. He lived that life for a long period of time.

After a really dark experience of being beaten by police and left to die, he promised God that he would turn his life around if he survived. And fast forward this number of years and he’s mentored hundreds if not thousands of kids on violence prevention issues and positive youth development across Guatemala. I remember his energy being the driver for the rest of his peers and it was so contagious.

How did your experience with the movement help you get to you where you are today?

I can say with 100 percent confidence that Youth Against Violence was instrumental to who I am today in so many ways. That’s where I learned that my passion was social impact and specifically giving youth opportunities to thrive.

And there’s another thing: I went full circle. I was a volunteer at one of Creative’s USAID projects, and then when I wanted to pursue my master’s studies in international development, the director of that project became a mentor and friend. He told me to look for opportunities to go study in the U.S. and guided me to apply to the Fulbright program, which I got.

In my graduate studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, I focused on international development and did my master’s thesis on violence prevention in Central America, talking a lot about our experience with the movement and even citing some of the Creative’s projects in Central America. As a graduate student, I did my internship at Creative in 2015.

After I graduated, I got a chance to do a consultancy with Creative, and then I worked full time at the HQ and now in El Salvador at one of the first Creative subsidiaries.I can thank the Youth Against Violence movement for driving me to become a part of the Creative family.

Rodrigo (center) and two of his colleagues at CREA Consultores El Salvador.

What advice would you give to youth in El Salvador who are dealing with crime and violence and don’t know where to go next?

It’s really hard to give them advice without giving them resources so that they can thrive. But I think that the biggest advice is to understand that you are a valuable person and that there is a world of opportunities out there that the circumstances don’t allow you to see. I know many of these youth are facing real situations of vulnerability, economic hardship and other barriers. Other barriers are imposed by society – society telling them that they’re not worth it, that they’re not valuable and can’t do anything beyond belonging to a gang.

If they knew they had a lot more potential, the system would collapse on itself. I would tell them: “Try to explore your potential and look for positive role models that can teach you how life’s not easy, in fact life is really hard, but if you pursue your passions, despite the punches, you can achieve excellence.”

New digital library to bring opportunity to youth of San Salvador

August 16, 2019

2 min read

Thousands of youth in San Salvador will soon have a new way to spend their time off the streets and learning new skills. On Aug. 13, construction began on a modern, digital library in the capital city’s second largest municipal part, a result of a collaboration between the MCN Build Foundation in Washington, D.C., the San Salvador mayor’s office and CREA Consultores El Salvador.

The library collaboration emerged out of a 2018 Sister City agreement between the U.S. capital city and Salvadoran capital city. The agreement aims to improve economic development, youth development, public safety, sustainability, culture, education and government collaboration in both cities.

The MCN Build Foundation is financing a major portion of the $450,000 library project, covering 80 percent of the construction. The San Salvador mayor’s office is financing the remaining 20 percent. CREA Consultores, a Creative Associates International subsidiary, will implement the project, procuring products and services for construction and developing activities for citizen engagement in the library.

San Salvador’s Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt commended its sister city and welcomed this collaboration.

“We are very grateful for the support to our sister city, Washington, D.C. and to the MCN Build Foundation for making this project a reality. It will be very beneficial to thousands of youth in this city,” he said. “This is definitely a reflection of the good relations we’ve established with different funders and opens our doors to other friend cities.”

On behalf of Rudy Seikaly, president and CEO of the MCN Build Foundation, Michael Waidmann, the foundation’s director, thanked the mayor for his vision and constant support for this project, which will include an array of amenities and a vast number of books.

Waidmann explained, “The library will be of about 375 sq. meters with free WIFI, 30-plus personal computers and more than 10,000 analog and digital books, as well as an area to focus on science, technology, arts and math.”

He added that there are plans to include a section of the library dedicated to children, including an outdoor play area, and that they will eventually add a coffee shop and a welcome plaza, while “always respecting the ecosystem and natural beauty of the park.”

For the mayor’s office, MCN Build and CREA Consultores, the library represents a window of opportunity for youth to develop skills and access tools and knowledge to navigate daily challenges and prepare for the workforce.

As Mayor Muyshondt said, “Our present and our future is in our youth. That is why we need to generate spaces so they can work and have better opportunities.”

Miskito nursing grad brings healthcare to diverse population

August 9, 2019

3 min read

By Mirna Robleto

WASPAM, Nicaragua – With a blue and red cape placed over her white nurse’s outfit, Eda Masantos steps on stage at her graduation ceremony to address her peers.

“This afternoon marks the end of a very important chapter in our lives,” she tells the audience. “But at the same time, it’s the start of an important chapter in our lives as professionals.”

Masantos, 29, graduated in June with honors from the Intercultural Nursing program at the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN).

As a woman from the Miskito indigenous minority group in Waspam, in the Northern Caribbean Coast, Masantos faced many obstacles to becoming an educated professional working to improve health in this remote area of Nicaragua.

But through the Aprendo y Emprendo project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International, she was able to earn a scholarship to pursue a technical education.

Eda Masantos speaks at her graduation. — Eda Masantos gives remarks at her graduation from URACCAN.

“If the Aprendo y Emprendo project had not come to my town, this dream would not have been possible,” she says. “It changed the lives of many young people, mine included.”

Masantos and 31 other classmates, 25 of them women, received their degrees and became nursing technicians, with a focus on addressing the needs of the region’s ethnically and linguistically diverse population.

Masantos is a health volunteer in her community and began hosting a radio program part time on Radio URACCAN, sharing tips on healthy living, disease prevention and good hygiene with her listeners. The job also allows her to provide for her two young sons.

For Masantos, a single mom, reaching graduation day was not easy. Mid-way through her studies, she became pregnant and gave birth to her second son, who has microcephaly, a birth defect that caused his head to be much smaller than expected and can cause a range of other health problems. But Masantos credits her parents for helping her provide the specialized care her son needed while continuing her schoolwork.

“These situations were not an obstacle. On the contrary, they gave me the strength to continue,” she says. “My son’s illness motivated me to finish my studies so that I could gain knowledge to better take care of him.”

Healthcare education for a diverse region

The Aprendo y Emprendo Project, with strategic partner URACCAN, developed the Intercultural Nursing degree to meet the unique needs of a region in which rural families often lack access to healthcare services and information. According to data from the National Institute of Information Development, 71 percent of households in the Northern Caribbean Coast are affected by extreme poverty.

Hermes Castellano, Coordinator of URACCAN in Waspam, explains that existing healthcare services can also be ill-suited to serve the region’s many ethnic minority groups.

“In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the inequity in health services that affects many sectors of the population, including the indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, due to insufficient health care strategies incompatible with distinct worldviews,” Castellano says.

In this context, the Intercultural Nursing program incorporated traditional, ancestral and alternative medicine approaches into its curriculum so that its graduates could provide the best care for the multiethnic population. Aprendo y Emprendo focuses on at-risk and often marginalized groups, so many of the students and scholarship recipients were ethnic minorities themselves.

“These professionals are very unique because they are multiethnic and multilingual, they have respect for Mother Earth and are very aware of interculturality,” Castellano says.

Castellano hopes that this class of students and future graduates will strengthen the Northern Caribbean Coast’s health system and make it more accessible to all. Masantos is already a part of that change through her radio program and is looking ahead to the next step in her education.

“Everything I learned I put into practice through the radio show,” she says. “My dream is to become part of the municipality’s health system, to continue studying and to help my family to forge ahead.”

With editing by Evelyn Rupert

El Salvador rehabilitation and reentry NGO awarded prestigious global prize

August 2, 2019

3 min read

By Evelyn Rupert

La Factoría Ciudadana, an organization pioneering rehabilitation for both victims and perpetrators of violence in El Salvador, was named a recipient of the McNulty Prize Catalyst Fund, a recognition of its exceptional work and potential for impact.

The McNulty Foundation chose five up-and-coming organization across the globe, awarding a total of $75,000 to help each venture advance their work and expand their reach.

La Factoría Ciudadana, the only winner in Latin America, is a grantee and partner of the USAID Crime and Violence Prevention Project, implemented by Creative Associates International.

A conflict resolution workshop at La Factoria Ciudadana — Social worker Edwin Mejía leads a conflict resolution workshop at La Factoría Ciudadana. Photo by Janey Fugate.

Founder Jaime Zablah launched La Factoría in 2017, inspired by what he saw at Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles rehabilitation organization he visited while on a violence prevention study tour organized by Creative, USAID and Los Angeles partners.

“This prize is an international recognition of our work,” Zablah said. “La Factoría is part of the solution to our country’s struggle with violence. We bring hope to governments and civil society, and especially to people who have experienced violence. But we can’t do it alone.”

Zablah’s organization in San Salvador offers workshops, therapy and counseling to those whose lives have been marked by violence, including formerly incarcerated people and ex-gang members. La Factoría recently purchased a tattoo removal machine to give its clients a better chance of finding steady employment and reintegrating into society without visible tattoos, particularly those that represent gang affiliation.

Zablah said that the McNulty Prize Catalyst Fund award will also help La Factoría launch several business ventures within the organization that will provide much-needed job training and employment for clients. Its photocopying and printing venture, artisan soap business and recycling service will also generate revenue and help La Factoría sustain its operations.

Attendees of the Gang Prevention and Intervention Conference from El Salvador. — La Factoría Ciudadana’s Jaime Zablah (back row, second from left) was part of a group from El Salvador who attended the 2019 Gang Prevention and Intervention Conference in Los Angeles.

Creative’s Ben Rempell, Director of the Crime and Violence Prevention Project, says the program became closely involved with La Factoría after realizing early on its potential to advance violence prevention and rehabilitation in El Salvador.

“We knew that with Jaime’s commitment, La Factoría would be able to touch many lives and help drive the conversation around rehabilitation and reintegration in El Salvador,” Rempell said. “We have been a proud supporter of theirs and believe that this recognition by the McNulty Foundation is well-deserved.

The McNulty Foundation established the Catalyst Fund in 2017, and awards are given to fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network in partnership with the Aspen Institute.

The fellow recipients of the 2019 McNulty Prize Catalyst Fund were:

3QA, a Middle East-based organization pioneering regional standards and accreditation for nonprofits
Association of Ghana’s Elders, which serves and advocates for Ghana’s elderly population
Ascend Indiana, which connects potential employees with training programs and job opportunities to keep talent in-state
Saving Syrian Children, a charity that provides rehabilitation and counseling to children in Syria

El Salvador: Crime and Violence Prevention Project

June 12, 2019

New program to reduce conflict, build cohesion in Guatemala

June 10, 2019

By Evelyn Rupert

3 min read

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A five-year U.S. government-supported program in Guatemala to reduce conflict and violence and build social cohesion is being implemented by Creative Associates International and its partners.

The Peacebuilding Project, known as Proyecto Tejiendo Paz in Spanish, will identify points of conflict and strengthen relationships among and within 130 communities in the Western Highlands, foster community-led peacebuilding and improve local and national governments’ ability to respond to conflict.

The project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and will be implemented alongside partners Fundación ProPaz and PartnersGlobal in the departments of Huehuetenago, Quiché, San Marcos and Totonicapán.

“This project will enable communities in the Western Highlands to build peace and promote healing from the long-lasting effects of a 36-year armed conflict,” said Creative President and CEO Leland Kruvant. “With our past work in Guatemala during and after the civil war, Creative will deliver conflict-sensitive and inclusive programming that fosters locally led solutions.”

Addressing conflict from the local to national level

With an understanding and respect for the local dynamics at play, Proyecto Tejiendo Paz will engage leaders — including councils of elders, healers, women’s groups and youth organizations — to collaborate on peacebuilding at the community level.

Enrique Roig, Director of the Citizen Security Practice Area at Creative, says the project will work to address the distrust and breakdown of the social fabric caused by Guatemala’s civil war and the conflicts that have continued since its end in 1996.

“We aim to address some of the repercussions of the armed conflict that are still affecting the Western Highlands more than 20 years after the Peace Accords,” he said. “With support from Proyecto Tejiendo Paz, communities will develop their own visions for a more peaceful future and take steps toward realizing them.”

Communities will work together to identify causes of conflict and design action plans, known as “community visions,” to address them, with support from trained community facilitators. Key conflict dynamics include intra-family violence, poor governance, land disputes and extractive industries and natural resource exploitation. The project will also develop a team of conflict mediators to help communities resolve conflict peacefully.

At a broader level, the project will build the capacity of departmental and national governments to resolve conflict and improve communication.

Through trainings and exchanges for key governmental institutions, strengthening early warning and response to conflict and improving coordination among agencies, the government of Guatemala will be better suited to address conflict and violence. Improving the government’s ability to respond to conflict will strengthen relationships with communities and rebuild trust.

Decades of experience in Guatemala

Creative brings 30 years of experience in Guatemala to the project. Creative’s work in the country began in 1983, training Peace Corps volunteers. Since then, Creative has gone on to work with USAID to support citizen engagement in politics immediately following the 1996 Peace Accords, establish training centers for teachers, provide opportunities for vulnerable youth and former gang members through education and employment programs and more.

Elsewhere in the region, Creative implements holistic crime and violence prevention projects in El Salvador, Honduras and the Caribbean, working closely with municipalities to address crime and building resilience for the most at-risk youth.

Roig said with the collective experience of USAID, Creative and other partners in the region, Proyecto Tejiendo Paz will assist Guatemalan communities and governments to better address and respond to conflict and rebuild the social fabric.

“We understand the complexities of working in Guatemala and looking forward to establishing close relationships with our counterparts to ensure transparency and collaboration in implementing Proyecto Tejiendo Paz,” Roig said.

Guatemala – Tejiendo Paz

Program

1 min read

Though Guatemala is Central America’s largest economy, it ranks below average on the World Bank’s Human Capital Index compared to its Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. In January 2024, the new government pledged to advance reforms to address significant gaps in human development, infrastructure and economic inclusion.

USAID’s Tejiendo Paz (the Peacebuilding Project) addressed conflict using preventative rather than reactive approaches involving all societal sectors. From May 2018 through June 2024, it worked with a multitude of community members, civil society organizations and the Guatemalan government in 133 communities throughout the Western Highlands to address the underlying causes of social conflict and build local capacity to lead holistic peacebuilding initiatives. Through a systems approach, resilience-oriented design and an emphasis on prevention, Tejiendo Paz supported individuals and stakeholders to resolve conflicts and develop networks and partnerships to build peace from the ground up.

Program Achievements

Promoted neglected community priorities

Given that neglected communities suffer the impacts of social conflicts more severely, they are also critical actors in defining peacebuilding priorities and promoting development in their communities. Using instruments to integrate a holistic approach, Tejiendo Paz worked with government officials to review and update their plans to reflect new priorities and strategies.

Built partnerships to implement peacebuilding and conflict mitigation priorities

Tejiendo Paz provided technical support and funding to local and traditional authorities to co-create and implement conflict mitigation and peacebuilding strategies in selected geographic areas, including beyond the Western Highlands. Through this effort, Tejiendo Paz supported the government in institutionalizing social conflict mitigation approaches and building trust with communities. The program co-conducted a conflict analysis and mapping to identify priority areas and existing local capacities to prevent and manage those issues. The analysis guided where to develop and implement action plans to address social conflict and promote cohesion.

Strengthened governmental and non-governmental capacity to manage, respond to and resolve local conflicts

Tejiendo Paz worked with government and NGO actors to further strengthen their abilities to coordinate comprehensive approaches to addressing local conflicts. Tejiendo Paz worked to improve the government’s capacity and inter-institutional coordination at the national and department levels to identify, prevent, address and respond to local conflict. With the government’s new emphasis on resolving social conflict and constructively engaging citizens, Tejiendo Paz supported training and technical assistance for officials based on their priorities and emerging needs.

Lessons from LA inform global violence prevention efforts

May 28, 2019

By Evelyn Rupert

5 min read

Mike Areyan stands up in front of the crowd and announces that during the work week, he normally wears long sleeves. But today, he says, he put on a short-sleeved shirt so that his audience could see his story, inked in tattoos that cover both of his arms.

Areyan is a former gang member who began working directly with gangs to halt the cycle of violence that he was once trapped in himself; he is now a Violence Intervention Coordinator at nonprofit Southern California Crossroads.

Areyan and other intervention workers shared their personal and professional experiences with a group of more than 60 violence prevention practitioners from Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a Los Angeles study tour organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development and its El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, which is implemented by Creative Associates International. Countries represented included El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Mike Areyan, violence intervention worker — Violence intervention worker Mike Areyan speaks with the study tour group. Photos by Evelyn Rupert.

The three-day tour followed the annual Gang Prevention and Intervention Conference, which took place in Long Beach, Calif. May 13-14. Through panel discussions, presentations and site visits, the study tour group gained insights into how Los Angeles is reducing violence through four parallel pillars: prevention, intervention, reinsertion and law enforcement.

Enrique Roig, Director of Creative’s Citizen Security Practice Area, says that the study tour serves to share program ideas with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that are struggling with high levels of crime and violence and to foster cross-country partnerships.

“We’re building a worldwide movement of violence prevention practitioners that allows for sharing of evidence-informed and effective violence reduction programs and strengthening our efforts by learning from one another,” he said. “We are connected by geography, demographics, culture and shared history, and we should continuously be looking for ways to collaborate on violence prevention.”

Preventing and halting violence

The study tour’s first stop was at Alma Family Services, where staff talked about the resources they offer to engage communities, parents and youth and prevent young people from becoming involved in gangs or violence through the Los Angeles Gang Reduction and Youth Development office’s (GRYD) model.

GRYD’s family systems approach to diagnosing youth risk and reducing risk factors through family counseling has been adapted by Creative for application in El Salvador, Honduras, the Caribbean and Tunisia. The unique approach builds upon the strength of families and uses evidence to inform programming.

Ron Noblet speaks to a group. — Ron Noblet provides a brief history and overview of violence intervention work.

Ninoksa Duarte, programs, training and research specialist for the USAID-funded Proponte Más violence prevention project in Honduras, said the study tour gave her fresh insight into her own program through learning about what others are doing.

“Getting to know the GRYD project a little bit better was extremely helpful and allowed me to understand where the work that we are doing in Proponte Más was born,” she said. “One idea that I consider extremely important is how we join forces to begin to change the focus from being on youth identity to youth actions.”

To stop cycles of violence, intervention workers like Areyan work in the streets to offer alternatives to active members, cool tensions and provide support for families.

On call around the clock, these intervention workers, also known as community outreach workers, respond when tensions between groups are at their highest, including in the immediate aftermath of a violent incident. Some intervention workers visit hospitals to speak with victims and their families and to try to prevent a retaliatory attack from taking place.

Supporting reentry

In his closing keynote address at the Gang Prevention and Intervention Conference, Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries remarked: “There is no us and them, just us.”

The study tour group had a chance to see how Boyle has built that idea into bustling operation that provides gang members, those exiting prison and others affected by gang violence with job training, employment, therapy, classes, tattoo removal and more. Former rivals work side by side, welcoming people from behind the front desk, screen printing T-shirts for sale at the gift shop and baking muffins at Homegirl Bakery.

The group also spent an afternoon at Amity Foundation, a therapeutic and teaching community where men exiting prison, some after decades, can live and receive services aimed at healing while they readjust and refocus on life outside.

Study tour participant Natalia Velasco Castrillón, Children and Youth Director at the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, said she saw at Amity and Homeboy the importance of focusing on rehabilitation and mental health the moment that someone exits prison.

“They have so many needs, and if we can accompany them in that transition to freedom, it will be more possible for them to stay away from reoffending,” she said. “We need to understand the pain in the hearts and souls of communities, individuals and families so that going forward, they understand that they can make different decisions.”

Law enforcement’s role in prevention

The relationship between police and residents of high-violence neighborhoods is often fraught with deeply rooted fear and mistrust on both sides.

But the Los Angeles Police Department officers involved in the Community Safety Partnership program are working to rebuild that relationship through local outreach and showing that the role of police doesn’t have to be limited to enforcement.

Los Angeles police speak on a panel. — Sgt. Nathan Ruvalcaba shares his experience with community policing alongside three other officers involved with the Community Safety Partnership.

“We understand that we cannot fix a problem by putting people in jail,” said Sgt. Nathan Ruvalcaba. “We have to work with them.”

Ruvalcaba and other officers involved discussed the Community Safety Partnership initiative at a Boys and Girls Club in the Ramona Gardens housing project, where they engage young people in sports and fun activities like the Summer Night Lights program to reshape the perception of police and restore trust.

Bringing LA lessons back home

Study tour participants acknowledged that there will be many challenges in trying to replicate the work that’s been done in L.A. to reduce violence over the past several decades in their own contexts.

However, building cross-country connections, sharing ideas and experiences and seeing an organization like Homeboy Industries thriving gives a new perspective on what is possible.

Jaime Zablah, inspired by what he saw at Homeboy on a previous visit, established the Factoría Ciudadana (Citizen Factory) in El Salvador to provide reentry support with assistance from the Crime and Violence Prevention Project.

The project is also partnering with Salvadoran NGOs to adapt and apply the street- and hospital-based violence intervention work being done in Los Angeles to El Salvador. While small, these initiatives are evidence that lessons learned in the U.S. can help propel the field of violence prevention in other countries, and vice versa.

“I hope that participants will be inspired by what they see in L.A. and that they will take program ideas back to their countries with renewed vigor to invest in violence prevention efforts,” said Roig of Creative. “More importantly, we hope participants come away with the awareness that no one program will solve the problem; we have to bring together prevention, intervention, exit strategies for formers, and law enforcement in a coordinated fashion.”

Adapting and adopting evidence-based programming to prevent violence

May 16, 2019

By Evelyn Rupert

6 min read

In Central America and the Caribbean, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations that serve at-risk youth are applying evidence-based and family-centric programming to prevent violence in hard-hit areas.

At the 2019 Gang Prevention and Intervention Conference in Los Angeles, Creative and its partners from El Salvador, Honduras and St. Kitts and Nevis shared their experiences learning in applying a violence prevention model adapted to meet the needs of their communities.

Each year youth program implementers, police officers, elected officials, civil society activists, former gang members turned community violence intervention workers and others from the United States and abroad gather at the conference to share evidence-based best practices and lessons learned in violence prevention and gang intervention work. This was the conference’s eighth year.

Creative’s model comprises two key parts: First, youth risk is measured using what’s called the Youth Service Eligibility Tool (YSET), a diagnostic originally developed by the City of Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction and Youth Development office. The YSET evaluates youth across a series of risk and protective factors at an individual, peer and family level; risk factors include behaviors and attitudes such as anti-social tendencies and impulsive risk taking. The more risk factors a youth present, the more likely he or she is to engage with the ecosystem of gangs and violence prevalent in many communities.

Second, youth diagnosed as being high-risk of engaging with gangs and violence participate in a counseling program alongside their families to reduce those factors identified by the YSET. The YSET is then administered again after six months to measure the impact of the intervention.

From left: Creative’s Guillermo Cespedes, Pamela Sanchez of CESAL, Michele de Coudray-Blake of St. Kitts and Nevis, Regina Luna of Orphan Helpers and Ricardo Vladimir of ISNA.

Creative has adapted and validated this model in high-violence areas in Central America and the Caribbean through several USAID-funded programs, explained Creative’s Crime and Violence Prevention Advisor Guillermo Cespsdes, former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles.

In addition to using the model in its own programming, Cespedes said, Creative has committed to institutionalizing and sharing it with government and nongovernmental partners so that they can better differentiate youth at varying levels of risk and deliver the right intervention for each.

“Creative has generated almost 30,000 YSET diagnostics between Honduras, El Salvador and the Caribbean,” he said during the May 13 presentation. “In addition, it has developed processes to incorporate the diagnostic into the child protection systems of both Honduras and El Salvador.”

Ricardo Vladimir, Deputy Director of the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Children and Adolescents (ISNA), explained how his office has folded the YSET into its work with youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

“We didn’t have evidence as to whether we were doing our work well or poorly,” he said. “That’s where, thanks to USAID’s support, we were able to implement and verify our interventions, the good things we were doing and the bad things that we needed to correct.”

Salvadoran Father and Son standing in front of home smiling. — As part of the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project’s family counseling, Alexis de la O Romero, 15, (right) and his father Víctor Manuel Marroquín have grown closer and Alexis has lowered his risk level for engaging with violence. Photo by: Erick Gibson

ISNA was supported by the USAID-funded Crime and Violence Prevention Project through a grant to train staff on how to apply and analyze the YSET to better understand youth risk and measure the results of their own programming.

“For the government, the evaluation of our programs is still a real challenge,” he said. “But this helps us to have clarity on what factors we have to keep working on in order to improve.”

Partners for prevention in Honduras

Like the partnership with ISNA in El Salvador, Creative also is working with child protection services and juvenile justice systems in Honduras, particularly through the National Institute for the Attention of Youth in Conflict with the Law (INAMI). In Honduras specifically, Creative and USAID worked closely with Arizona State University to adapt the YSET to the Honduran context, and created a new tool called the Instrumento de Medición de Comportamiento (IMC).

Orphan Helpers, a nonprofit organization and grantee of the USAID-funded Proponte Más program, receives referrals from INAMI to provide services to youth involved with the juvenile justice system as an alternative to detention.

At the Gang Conference, Orphan Helpers Counselor Regina Luna shared how her organization is not only applying the diagnostic, but also the family systems intervention, to high-risk youth, including those actively involved in gangs.

The diagnostic was applied to 68 youth referred to Orphan Helpers by INAMI, and 48 of them completed the intervention, in which trained counselors work hand in hand with the youth and their families to reduce risk factors, strengthen protective factors and build family cohesion.

Brothers Paco and Gabo at Casa Alianza. — Brothers Paco and Gabo head to Casa Alianza once a week to receive counseling and other support services. Photo by: José Granados

“We help them understand what the position of the family is in supporting the youth so that he or she can complete their alternative measures with supervision of each one of the adults in the home,” Luna said.

Luna noted that in a major success for the program, five of the 27 participating active gang members decided to leave their gangs with support from their families.

Another Proponte Más grantee, CESAL, works with high-risk youth on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa and has also adopted the IMC and family counseling model.

Clinical Orientation Guide Pamela Sanchez said at the Gang Conference that the IMC was applied to about 1,600 families, of which 326 are participating in the family counseling program. She noted that the model has not only helped them identify which youth are most in need of services, but also to develop a group of family counselors who are thinking about the role of the family in violence prevention in a new way, focusing on the families’ strengths instead of their faults.

“The model and the program have taught us about the positive and about understanding that even though [the beneficiaries] live in a community with truly difficult conditions, where there is a nearly complete absence of the government, families can invest in themselves and remain united,” she said.

From Central America to the Caribbean

After the success of the diagnostic and family counseling in El Salvador and Honduras, the model was again tailored to a new context, in the Caribbean.

USAID’s Community, Family and Youth Resilience program, which works in Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana, is partnering with governments and NGOs to develop teams of trained family counselors who can work with families to reduce youth risk in 15 communities across the three countries.

Michele de la Coudray-Blake of the St. Kitts and Nevis Department of Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Inclusion, Clinical Supervisor for the program in St. Kitts and Nevis, said at the Gang Conference that early results indicate that the approach is well-suited to respond to the unique needs of youth.

Between the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, 67 families are participating in family counseling with a team of eight counselors. Coudray-Blake said a challenge has been getting the families to buy in to the program, particularly when many family structures are not clearly delineated and a non-parent relative often steps into the caretaker role.

However, she noted that by building trust with the families and youth, counselors are empowering them to improve supervision, communication and accountability within the households.

“We’re hearing from the families, we’re hearing from the index youth, we’re hearing from the counselors that they see differences,” she said. “The families are responding positively to the fact that they get a different message from the family counselor. They are getting a message of strength and respect and resilience and tolerance.”

In sharing their experiences and successes at the Gang Conference, panelists demonstrated how an approach developed in the U.S. can be adapted to serve new populations of at-risk youth. Through the adaptation process along with training and capacity building, innovative ideas can be transferred to in-country partners and government agencies. This ensures the sustainability of evidence-based programming that doesn’t focus on changing a youth’s identity, but working within a family system to change risky behaviors.

Restoration projects revive public spaces in El Salvador

May 6, 2019

By Gerson Lara

1 min read

Families in more than 40 communities around El Salvador are enjoying new parks, playgrounds, sports fields and community centers thanks to an ambitious effort to rehabilitate formerly abandoned or underutilized public spaces.

The El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative, worked on the public space restoration initiative in partnership with municipalities and local residents, who lent their ideas and volunteered time to help with the work.

A total of 41 communities are benefiting from the results in the municipalities of Apopa, Ahuachapán, Colón, Mejicanos, Ciudad Delgado, Olocuilta and Zacatecoluca.

The goal of the projects was to reduce feelings of insecurity in public spaces and build community cohesion and identity. More than 130,000 people will enjoy the new spaces, which were built near existing Outreach Centers to create hubs of play and learning in vulnerable areas.

An electoral solution for the Venezuela Crises?

March 20, 2019

By Jeff Fischer

7 min read

As the humanitarian, security, and political crises continue to intensify in Venezuela, calls for an electoral solution to the crises have been made by the international community and domestic opposition to the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

As international recognition of the Venezuelan presidency is split between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, conducting fresh elections to determine governance is seen as an avenue for resolution of this recognition divide. However, in the current environment, conducting such an election is fraught with difficulties and risks.

First, the level of public confidence in the National Electoral Council (CNE) and its impartiality is low. And, even if the opposition could participate in electoral administration, under what authority would they be appointed and by whom? And such an appointment at the commissioner level may not have an impact on fraud occurring in the polling stations. Finally, what forces would provide electoral security in a fair and effective manner and not attempt to suppress turnout through intimidation? As a result, if an electoral solution is pursued, some international dimension to its conduct, administration, and security will have to be considered.

Protests in Venezuela Jan, 23, 2019. Photo by Voice of America.

Global precedent

In six cases over the last 30 years, there have been agreements by the domestic stakeholders and the international community for international supervision of elections: Namibia (1989), Cambodia (1993), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996-97), Eastern Slavonia (1997), East Timor (1999 – 2001), and Kosovo (2000 – 2001). In each of these cases, the motives for international supervision emerged from deep political divides and mistrust among the electorate such that an “independent umpire” is needed for the election outcomes to be accepted by all parties.

Syria was also slated to have internationally supervised elections. United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution (SCR) 2254 mandates “…a Syrian-led political process…and sets a schedule and process for drafting a new constitution, and further expresses its support for free and fair elections, pursuant to the new constitution, to be held within 18 months and administered under the supervision of the United Nations, to the satisfaction of governance and to the highest international standards of transparency and accountability, with all Syrians,…including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate…”. However, given the current trends in that conflict, it seems unlikely that such supervision will be undertaken.

In each of these cases, international supervision has been implemented in different ways. Two intergovernmental organizations have been mandated to supervise elections, the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). While the UN could be so mandated for Venezuela, it may in fact be the Organization of American States (OAS) which is mandated to supervise the process, with inherent advantages and some risks.

In Namibia, the elections were administered by the South African Administrator-General (SAAG) under the supervision of United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG). Each of the 23 election districts had a UN supervisor. In the end, the administrative effort alone involved some 885-election specialists from 27 countries.

In Cambodia, the United Nations Transitional Administration in Cambodia (UNTAC) possessed the mandate to both supervise and administer the election. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the OSCE was mandated to “supervise the conduct of the election” as stated in the Dayton Peace Accords. Over 2,000 international supervisors from OSCE participating states supported the process. The UN received the mandate to supervise the “Popular Consultation”, the non-binding status referendum on independence for East Timor from Indonesia. Subsequent to the passage of the question, the UN was re-engaged to supervise the first rounds of the presidential and parliamentary elections under independence. And, following the military intervention by the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) in Kosovo, the OSCE was once again mandated to supervise a round of municipal elections and then elections for a Kosovo assembly.

Commonalities among these elections

While varying in structure, these elections did have some factors in common.

First, there was a launching document or agreement, which framed the basic terms of reference for the elections that were agreed upon by the contestants.

Second, with the exception of East Timor in1999, these elections were conducted with either a UN peacekeeping or NATO related security presence. For East Timor, the Indonesian government stated that any peacekeepers deployed within the country’s borders would be treated as an invading force. This left electoral security to the Indonesia police and military. In the aftermath of the voting, an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 people lost their lives in post-election violence, a testament to the breakdown of electoral security when it is provided by those with a vested interest in the outcomes.

Third, in three of these cases– Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, and Kosovo—the electoral process included international voting because of the displacement of otherwise eligible voters by conflict or regime intimidation.

Fourth, each of these elections involved or entailed significant political transitions; in the cases of East Timor and Kosovo, the electoral process resulted in the establishment of a new country.

And, finally, while the international community held the supervisory posts, local citizens were recruited as voter registrars and poll workers.

Recommendations for Venezuela

If international supervision of a presidential election is considered for Venezuela, the following scenario is offered as an initial guide.

The basic legal framework for the election including timing, eligibility, lustration on eligibility to participate, and other issues pertinent to the structure and administration of the elections should be embodied in a political agreement signed by the OAS, the parties in conflict and, potentially, the military. From the provisions of this agreement, the administrative rules and regulations for the conduct of the election can be developed. It is to note that the election would be conducted under the rules and regulations developed for the presidential election alone, and not the election laws of Venezuela. To further strengthen the mandate, a UN Security Council Resolution could be attempted.

Under the recommended OAS lead, the Secretary General of the OAS can appoint a seven-member, expert-model Electoral Commission, composed of five international members from OAS member states and two national members, one representing Maduro and one for Interim President Guaidó. The national members will have voice but not vote. At least three of the members shall be women.

The Commission would appoint a Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) who will have administrative responsibility. The CEO can be either a current or recent election director from an OAS member state. The Commission and CEO will develop the rules and regulations, operational plan, budget, and calendar.

Enfranchisement must include marginalized elements of the electorate such as refugees (out-of-country voting), military, illiterate, and persons with disabilities. For out-of-country voting, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) can be engaged to administer this voting as it has done in Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, and Kosovo. Under this arrangement, an international election supervisor would be present at each polling center and new Venezuelan poll workers would be recruited and trained by the OAS.

The second body to be appointed is a three-judge panel of all internationals for an Electoral Court. Once again, the OAS Secretary General would make the appointment and draw from active or recently retired judiciary from OAS member states. A list of electoral complaints to be within their jurisdiction will be established so that electoral stakeholders have an avenue to appeal decisions of the Electoral Commission to the Court.

Importantly, while this transitional arrangement of institutions and process covers the electoral administration component, there remains an electoral security component which must also be addressed. One recommendation is for the Venezuelan military to agree to stay in the barracks on Election Day and to be able to cast their ballots from those locations, hence their role as a signatory to the election agreement.

However, there still may be electoral security threats and violence from bands of armed groups – Colectivos. Therefore, as with other cases of international supervision, some form of electoral security component is required. An international electoral police task force can be deployed to secure the election. Under this arrangement, active police officers would be deployed along with their Venezuelan counterparts to conduct electoral security planning and policing of electoral events, facilities, materials, and transport. Once again, the UN could be mandated to establish the task force drawing from a global reserve of officers. However, if the UN is sidelined, then the OAS could receive the mandate as a component of their election supervision responsibilities.

Given adequate political will on all sides, the electoral scenario described above is a plausible approach to political resolution and a transition from continuing crises to more political and security stability. But such an endeavor will be costly in finances and resources and represents a cost to be largely borne by the international community.

In examining the cost-benefit comparison, it is a matter for the international community to measure the ongoing and cumulative costs associated with the current crises for both Venezuela and its neighbors, against the one-time cost of an election administration and a security. In this respect, the international supervision of this election can be regarded as an investment in national stability for Venezuela and regional stability for its neighbors

The author, Jeff Fischer is a Senior Advisor for Electoral Security & Integrity at Creative Associates International, in Washington, DC. He served in leadership positions for three transformational elections: as Director General of Elections in Bosnia Herzegovina for the OSCE (1996), Chief Electoral Officer for the UN in East Timor (1999); and as Director of Elections in a joint appointment in Kosovo by both the OSCE and UN (2000).