Outreach centers, “hope in the storm” for Honduran youth

February 10, 2015

5 min read

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Outreach centers, “hope in the storm” for Honduran youth

By Jillian Slutzker

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Amidst a storm of gang, drugs and violence, youth in at-risk neighborhoods are finding security, opportunity and hope at nearly 50 community outreach centers around Honduras. From English classes to sports and job training, these centers are preventing violence and changing lives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_column_text] HON10061474 Tegucigalpa, Honduras—Marco Antonio Ferrera is 13 years old and lives alone in Las Pilas, a community with violence rates well above average in Honduras, considered among the world’s most dangerous countries. Marco’s father works in the United States. He sends money to his son, which helped Marco, then just 10 years old, build the house he lives in.

Marco says his dream is to have a home, be with his family and live well—a dream that can be difficult to attain in his neighborhood.

In at-risk communities around Honduras, stories like Marco’s are common. Caught between gangs, drug-related violence and poverty, and sometimes with parents living in the United States, youth struggle to find opportunities for success and paths away from violence.

“These are the neighborhoods where no one wants to go and, at times, have been completely thrashed by violence,” says Miriam Canales, Coordinator of the Northern region for Alianza Joven Honduras (Youth Alliance Honduras), a youth violence prevention program working in the country’s most at-risk communities.

For kids like Marco, Alianza Joven Honduras provides a key resource for them to develop, thrive and find an escape from violence. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International.

Through its 46 youth outreach centers in communities in seven Honduras cities, youth access safe spaces for recreation, tutoring, music lessons, life skills, vocational training and volunteering. At the core of the outreach center methodology are positive messages of nonviolent conflict resolution, youth empowerment and community.

The outreach center methodology “makes me feel better,” says Marco. “I have more friends, more opportunities. I learn many things. I have fun with my friends. And I am always glad to volunteer here in the outreach center.”

Overseeing 27 centers in four municipalities, Canales has seen many cases like Marco’s and has witnessed the positive effects of the outreach centers on a large scale for youth and communities nationwide.

“It is a place of hope inside what is often a major storm,” she says.

Activities that empower

HON100914152 On the wall of every outreach center are the guiding principles of this prevention methodology, including forming values, a creative use of free time, managing opportunities, volunteerism, strengthening school performance, building capacity to work, sustainability and developing a life plan.

Based on these principles, the centers’ activities support youth holistically, from work skill development like sewing or cutting hair to school tutoring, sports, music and life skills coaching.

The centers, as Canales says, are a place for kids to “develop their intellectual capabilities, where they can participate in workshops, become a little more dynamic and improve their self-esteem.”

For Sofia Umanzor, a teenager in San Pedro Sula who has lost friends to the city’s violence, the outreach center in her community has provided a safe space “keeping her off the streets” and has given her and her peers a new sense of self-esteem.

“We are very proud because he have had workshops on beauty care, English, computers and crochet,” she says. “Before, we didn’t have any of these skills.”

Community at the heart

HON100814119 The outreach center methodology’s success has prompted a coalition of partners including the government of Honduras, the private sector and local foundations to contribute their time, energy and financial support. But a major key to success, say Alianza Joven staff, is meaningful community engagement

Community coordinators and volunteers, primarily youth who have benefited from Alianza Joven’s violence prevention programs, manage the outreach centers. They host talent nights and other events for the greater community, building trust and support among parents and other community members who are witnessing the positive changes in their neighborhoods.

Germán Pérez, Coordinator of the Las Pilas outreach center, makes it a point to spread the word and bring in more and more youth to the center. Last quarter, he says, 400 youth used the center’s services.

“We tell them: ‘Invite other people so they get to know us, we get to know them and together we can promote the outreach center,’” he says.

Pérez says he and his fellow coordinators and volunteers are “selling” the idea that the outreach center is a place of opportunities. The more young people that walk through the doors, the safer and more vibrant the community becomes.

Volunteers—who Canales calls “the heart of the outreach centers”— give their all and ask little in return. What they really expect, she says, is a better community.

Real results

The outreach centers are making a positive difference in the lives of youth like Marco and Sofia, but on a larger scale, communities are seeing a reduction in the rates of violence crime.

In 2011, the city of Choloma has a homicide rate of 94.5 per 100,000 residents, says Cristhy Orellana, a member of Choloma’s Municipal Violence Prevention Committee. At the end of 2013, the rate had dropped to 68.3 homicides per 100,000 residents—more than a 20 percent decline.

“With this hard number, we have demonstrated that our integrated approach, along with the outreach centers, is demonstrating important medium-term results,” says Orellana.

A recent study by Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project found that the outreach center methodology as part of community-based violence prevention efforts is improving residents’ feelings of security and is a cost-effective approach to stemming violence in Honduras and other Central American countries.

Communities that were once ruled by gangs and hardly accessible to government authorities or outside groups are now hosting government officials and business leaders for outreach center talent shows.

“I think one of the most significant results that we have demonstrated is that we can work in the most violent communities in the country,” says Salvador Stadthagen, Director of Alianza Joven Honduras. “A former Minister of Security told us that he does not know how we do it. A lot of other programs have tried to go in but they haven’t been sustainable.”

With every new outreach center and every youth involved, Alianza Joven Honduras is “planting the seeds,” says Carlos Ramón Guzmán, an Outreach Center Officer for the project who began this work at 18 years old. One day, he says, these seeds will blossom so that “every at-risk community becomes a community of hope.”

With reporting by Emanuel Rodriguez[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

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Proposed 2016 USAID Budget Includes Targeted Investment in Central America

February 6, 2015

4 min read

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Proposed 2016 USAID Budget Includes Targeted Investment in Central America

By Jennifer Brookland

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The President’s 2016 fiscal year budget proposes $1 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development to improve economies and resilience of Central American countries.

These account increases “aim to advance economic prosperity through reducing poverty, improving education and workforce development, and strengthening resilience in the region, all of which address underlying factors responsible for the continued flow of migrants from the region to Mexico and the United States,” according to the budget request.

The proposal seeks funding for a “whole-of-government” approach especially targeted at El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, with $541 million in development assistance funding designated for programs that promote prosperity, governance and security.

Guillermo Cespedes, a crime and violence prevention advisor with Creative Associates International, says this is an important move for the United States.

“USAID has recognized the need for data-driven, place-based differentiated approaches that include tertiary, secondary and primary prevention along with community policing, all implemented simultaneously in geographic locations with the highest levels of violence and focused on those individuals most at risk of being victims or perpetrators,” Cespedes says.

The expert, who was the Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles before joining Creative, says “the science supports that this is the most effective strategy to reduce violence and those of us in the field are very encouraged by the adoption of this approach by USAID.”

A three-pronged plan with a focus on youth

HON100814119 USAID’s development assistance to Central America will fall along three overarching “lines of action,” according to the budget request.

To promote prosperity, USAID seeks to integrate regional markets, promote better education and vocational training, and create more inclusive economic opportunities for women and vulnerable groups.

It hopes that nurturing healthy business environments that include youth will encourage entrepreneurs who can operate above board, instead of contributing to the region’s swollen ranks of illicit groups that undermine security and government institutions and dampen legitimate economic activity.

The budget request makes specific mention of the need to boost opportunities for entrepreneurship and job placement for vulnerable youth to provide alternatives to violence and greater resilience for households and communities.

(Read about the young winner of a business competition who’s turning his life around with hamburgers.)

The agency’s other two focus areas are on enhancing security and promoting improved governance, which includes bolstering government services and providing support to civil society and the media.

All three lines of action are ultimately key to reducing the region’s endemic violence, economic inequality, poverty and corruption.

According to Cespedes, USAID is smart not to attempt to drive down violence as if it existed in a vacuum.

“USAID has stated clearly that violence reduction is a cross cutting theme that is interrelated with all strategies including economic development, education, and governance. It is a critical component of the overall (approach in) Central America,” he says.

The budget request points out that these initiatives will complement the work of national governments and multilateral development banks, and support national and regional priorities and plans.

“Without significant progress, the region will continue to face extreme violence, severe economic inequality, social exclusion, and widespread corruption and poverty, thus compelling many Central Americans to flee their homes each year,” according to the budget request.

Budgeting for a change

The request for development assistance in the Northern Triangle of Central America shows the administration’s continual attempt to thwart thousands of migrants fleeing violence, corruption and economic insecurity at home.

Gang violence and narco-trafficking has resulted in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala having some of the highest homicide rates in the world outside of active war zones, and the region been a major source of unaccompanied minors immigrating to the U.S.

Last year’s budget included no reference to Central America.

Other USAID focus areas will include Asia and Africa, as well as initiatives to strengthen democracy, maternal and child health, and science, technology and innovation.

Together with the funding for the State Department, the federal budget request comes to $50.3 billion—a 6 percent increase over the 2015 enacted level and a nearly 9 percent increase over the 2015 request.

“The Budget proposes targeted investments in international programs that will help mobilize collective action to meet global challenges, counter terrorism and violent extremism overseas, strengthen the U.S. economy, and support United States citizens and the U.S. presence overseas,” according to a fact sheet released by the State department.

Altogether the amount makes up around 1 percent of the entire federal budget.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Salvadoran Paper to Support Dreams of At-Risk Youth

February 2, 2015

3 min read

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Salvadoran Paper to Support Dreams of At-Risk Youth

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]La Prensa Gráfica, one of El Salvador’s largest circulating daily newspapers, is joining the fight against violence in a country with one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

As the country’s drug and gang-related crime increasingly captures headlines and the attention of world leaders, the 100-year-old paper is generating some positive news—printing and distributing copies of the “Desafio de Soñar mi Vida” (“The Challenge of Dreaming My Life”) manuals to 10,000 youth in 13 municipalities hardest hit by violence. This crime prevention tool was developed by Creative Associates International.

“The Challenge of Dreaming My Life methodology will enable at-risk youth in the selected communities to develop life plans that will make them less vulnerable to involvement with violent and criminal activities,” explained Harold Sibaja, who runs the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative.

The project’s 77 outreach centers in 13 municipalities provide safe spaces and programs—including recreation, job training, tutoring, life skills support and volunteer opportunities—that keep young people off the streets, where they often become victims or perpetrators of violence. The dream manuals help youth to set goals and chart their progress.

Private sector commitment

The “Challenge of Dreaming My Life” printing initiative is part of a $60,000 partnership, known as “Estamos con vos” (“We are with You”) between La Prensa Gráfica and the project. These funds will add to the $5.8 million invested by USAID in the violence prevention project in 13 municipalities.

The partnership agreement was signed in a ceremony on Jan. 26, attended by USAID officials, mayors, La Prensa Grafica Board members, project staff and youth and volunteers from many of the project’s outreach centers.

While homicide levels have surged in recent months following a failed government-brokered truce between two ruling gangs, La Prensa Gráfica’s commitment to youth development and countering crime is as old as the paper itself.

“For a hundred years La Prensa Gráfica newspaper…. has been convinced that developing children´s physical and cultural skills contributes to the prevention of violence, to progress and to improving the quality of life of Salvadoran communities which is so needed, ” said José Roberto Dutriz, President and Director of the paper, speaking at the ceremony.

Community-based violence prevention activities in El Salvador and neighboring countries have proven successful at improving residents’ perceptions of security, according to a recent study by USAID and Vanderbilt University. Private sector partners like La Prensa Gráfica have a big role to play in ramping up and sustaining those initiatives.

“The document signed today contributes to a violence and crime prevention program,” said Larry Sacks, USAID Country Director for El Salvador, speaking at the ceremony. “This $60,000 partnership will provide materials to support youth participating in the outreach centers that we have supported through our crime prevention program.”

La Prensa Gráfica is the latest company to join a coalition of private sector partners supporting the project, including the Microsoft Corp. and Claro El Salvador, a major national mobile, television and Internet service provider.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Holding out Hope for Children and Youth

January 20, 2015

3 min read

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As I safely tuck my 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter into bed, I am still thinking about the 2015 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children that I read this morning. As a youth development professional and advocate, and as a parent, it is difficult to read the remarks of Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, declaring 2014 a dire year for the 15 million children that fell victims of major conflict and crisis globally.

“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,” Lake wrote in the report. “Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves. Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

The situation is especially heartbreaking given that 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most important declarations for children globally: the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The results of the Convention have been tremendous, from lowering infant mortality to raising school enrollment. However, the UNICEF report serves as a reminder and a call to action, imploring us to not rest on our laurels.

A more helpful way to address youth issues

There is still so much to be done, especially for the children and youth in conflict and crisis environments where the violation of their rights often has irreversible outcomes as they transition through adolescence to adulthood.

In Central African Republic, where 2.3 million children are affected by the conflict, armed groups are believed to have recruited up to 10,000 children with close to 500 deaths. In South Sudan, an estimated 235,000 children age 5 and younger are suffering from severe acute malnutrition with close to 750,000 children displaced and more than 320,000 living as refugees, according to the report.

Yet, in spite the terrible figures revealed in the report and the challenges for youth in so many countries, there remains hope for millions of children and youth effected by conflict and crisis.

If we assume all children, especially those who are marginalized, should and can have the same opportunities as those in safer or more developed countries—and we build community support to make those opportunities real for them—we can still give children and youth pathways to positive futures as we enter the Post Millennium Development Goals era.

Creating more asset-based youth initiatives, which build on assets instead of honing in on risks and challenges, can enable young people to change their life’s trajectory and become responsible contributors to their communities. It’s a much more positive, and we think effective way of addressing issues affecting youth.

For example, at-risk youth living in violent, crime-affected communities in Honduras have explored viable life alternatives through Alianza Joven Honduras (Youth Alliance) program, which is funded by USAID and implemented by Creative.

Here, where violent crime and gangs rule the lives of families and neighborhoods, this program countered the risk factors by providing more than 20,000 children and youth with computer literacy, job training, tutoring, life skills and leadership opportunities—first and second chances to build resilience and engage in something positive.

Creative’s Northern Nigeria Education Initiative fostered enabling environments for orphans and vulnerable children and youth, particularly adolescent girls and boys in informal Qur’anic schools. In these environments, vulnerable youth learned core academic concepts, received job and life skills training and accessed critical psychosocial support in one of today’s most confusing and violent environments for children.

Making new statistics

These two initiatives show us that, although children and youth around the world are too often victimized, they don’t always have to be victims.

Young people who find opportunities to engage their minds, learn new skills and involve themselves in their communities can form the ranks of another kind of statistic—the numbers of youth who are successfully using their own assets and resources to withstand so much negativity and create a positive future for themselves.

As the UNICEF report suggests, 2015 is a pivotal year for the field of children and youth development, and we must renew our commitment to the protection of their rights and creation of hope and opportunity.

Panama: What’s Good for the Company is Good for the Community

January 20, 2015

1 min read

PANAMA CITY, Panama — There are two Panamas: the rich, and the poor. Most people here live parallel lives. But a growing number of companies are getting involved in their communities—and reaping the benefits as these worlds combine.

Panama’s “Two Worlds” Come Together for Youth

Experts: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

January 16, 2015

5 min read

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Experts: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and other countries, more than 3 million Syrians live in limbo. Especially for those in their teens and twenties, their life plans—education, careers, marriages and families—are suspended while a violent civil war at home rages into its fourth year.

“If you go into a refugee camp, every day is Ground Hog’s day. There is no tomorrow and there is no yesterday. Every day is frozen,” said Curt Rhodes, Founder and Director of Questscope, which works across the Middle East to create social, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for marginalized youth.

Rhodes joined other experts in youth, development and stabilization on a panel entitled “Youth Programming in Jordan and Syria,” hosted by Creative Associates International on Jan. 6.

With the spread of ISIL and other extremist groups in an already unstable region, preventing marginalized young people from joining violent extremist groups is becoming a development and security priority.

Outside of the Middle East’s conflict hotspots, many youth in transitioning countries like Egypt and divided ones like Lebanon are also adrift. With more than 100 million youth aged 15-29 in the region and a youth unemployment rate of 28 percent, economic opportunities are slim.

Authoritarian governments and nascent, backsliding democracies leave youth with the “inability to feel like they had any say not only in their governments but even in their communities,” said Richard Jaskot, Director of Stabilization and Development at Creative.

Criminal treatment breeds criminal youth

To stem radicalization among youth, Rhodes said, governments and practitioners first need to adjust the lens through which they view the problem.

In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and other communities where Questscopoe works, Rhodes said youth in juvenile detention centers often report being mistreated and abused by authorities. This abuse within a system meant to reform at-risk youth can in fact lead to even more alienation and violent behavior.

“The fact that you treat them in a criminal way helps them become better criminals,” he said.

Rhodes said that rather than labeling at-risk, marginalized youth as criminals to be tracked and punished, we should view radicalization among youth as a public health crisis, looking at its causes and symptoms and striving to reduce its spread.

Countering radicalization with connection

While headlines speak of new “recruits” to groups like ISIL and “recruitment” campaigns via social media, experts say that those who join these violent groups are largely seeking out membership, “auditioning” in the words of Guillermo Cespedes, Crime and Violence Prevention Advisor at Creative who has developed youth gang and violence prevention efforts in Las Angeles and throughout Central America.

Rhodes agreed that young people who join radical, violent groups are searching for them, largely pushed by marginalization and other risk factors.

“Terrorists are looking for a place to hire them,” he said. “They don’t get recruited.”

What they are often also seeking, said Rhodes, is connection and a sense of purpose.

Many young Syrians living in camps, have lost all their relationships to death or separation and do not know where loved ones have ended up outside of the country, he said, leading to a kind of “mental health crisis.”

Adolescence and early adulthood is a time when people seek meaning and define their social identities.

But deprived of connections, living in chaos and with a world of radicalism at their fingertips, Rhodes said, “I can be searching for my social identity in Aleppo, Syria and a guy in Brighton, England who is searching for his social identity—we can find each other and we can talk. We can be economically marginalized but we are no longer politically marginalized.”

Reestablishing relationships, particularly with adults but also with peers in a supportive environment, Rhodes said, can recreate a lost sense of family, identity and relationships and can prevent youth from seeking out connections and meaning in a radical movement.

Restoring agency & opening pathways

In seemingly dead-end situations from refugee camps to authoritarian societies where young people feel they have no legitimate means to affect change, said Creative’s Jaskot, youth may reason that “if [violent extremism] is the only way you can make a difference then maybe try it.”

Giving youth avenues to regain a sense of purpose and personal agency, Rhodes said, is key to combatting extremism among youth.

“Everyone wants to know that I can do something and the thing that I am doing actually matters,” said Rhodes.

Where few opportunities for education, income, political participation and social status exist, governments and program implementers need to step in with viable opportunities for youth as alternatives to radicalism, panelists said.

Often when programs to reach marginalized youth do exist, they are ill-fitting and ineffectual having been designed by adults outside of the Middle East, said Eric Rusten, Education for Development expert at Creative and co-author of the Youth Speak methodology and toolkit, a youth-led process of investigating an issue that affects them and mobilizing community action to address it.

Rusten said that programming geared towards vulnerable youth must put youth at the center so that those doing the bulk of the talking, thinking, idea-generating and implementing are the same young people who are supposed to benefit from the program.

This leadership is empowering for young people, agreed Rhodes.

“Out of your situation, if you feel like you can tell your story and it is told in such a way that people listen to you, you feel like you are on a different trajectory,” said Rhodes.

By the thousands

Violent extremism among youth is a problem that transcends borders. Marginalized young people from the camps of Jordan to the hearts of major cities around the Middle East and in the West are susceptible to this epidemic.

To be successful, initiatives to combat violence and extremism can’t just “go after the low hanging fruit,” said Creative’s Cespedes. Programs must engage those who are most on the brink of violence and radicalization and even those who are already involved in radical groups.

Rhodes said that although many youth in the Middle East perceive that the Western model for political and economic prosperity and security has failed, this does mean those youth are unreachable.

“We have to figure out how to get in dialogue with people who don’t particularly like us and people we don’t particularly like,” he said.

Effective efforts to counter youth radicalism in the region will also require scaling up programs like Questscope and Youth Speak that have been successful at generating positive relationships, restoring personal agency and opening opportunities for marginalized youth

“You can’t do it on a hundred kids, you’ve got to think in terms of thousands,” said Rhodes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

15 development trends to watch for in 2015

January 14, 2015

6 min read

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15 development trends to watch for in 2015

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]2015 is expected to be a big year in global development, and Creative experts weighed in on the trends and changes they anticipate. From social investing to yoga, here are 15 things to watch in 2015.

1. Real-time and open data

Funders and NGOs will continue to improve data collection and management so project information is increasingly available for real-time analysis and decision-making.

A continued push for information transparency will lead more governments, funding agencies and implementers to make their data openly available. USAID helped put this on the agenda for 2015 by releasing these Development Data guidelines in fall 2014.

From Jacqui Deelstra, Associate, Technology for Development and Ayan Kishore, Senior Associate, Technology for Development

2. Answers on the poverty-growth relationship

Does macroeconomic growth for countries mean better lives and incomes for its citizens?

In 2015, we might learn the answer and just how these correlates between growth and poverty reduction work, if they exist. USAID is currently conducting a multi-country study using the Inclusive Growth Index (IGI) —a methodology to assess countries’ economic condition and the role increased trade and investment have had on the lives of individuals and households in developing countries.

Expect more research on the poverty-growth relationship from donors and development experts this year.

From Jerry Wright, Senior Director, Economic Growth Division

3. Focus on urbanization and youth migration

Cities are the next frontier for economic, technological and social development, according to the private sector. Meanwhile, youth migration patterns will affect urban development programs. Empowering and providing opportunities to young people in cities and will be a development priority in 2015.

From Bonnie Politz, Senior Advisor for Youth, and Magdalena Fulton, Senior Associate for Youth and Elizabeth Mullen, Program Associate for Youth

4. A neighborhood-based approach to crime and violence prevention

In fall 2014, Vanderbilt University released the results of a three-year study showing that community-based violence prevention programs in at-risk neighborhoods across Central America have improved residents’ perceptions of security—51% fewer residents reported being aware of murders, extortion or blackmail and 35% fewer residents reported avoiding dangerous areas out of fear of crime.

In 2015, expect implementers to focus on the neighborhood level where crime and violence prevention can generate significant results.

From Guillermo Cespedes, Director, Crime and Violence Prevention

5. More “Om”

For children and youth—particularly those at risk—mindfulness, meditation and yoga practices bring about calmer focus and inner balance, resulting in reduced anxiety and stress and greater self-control and self-awareness.

Expect to see a growing awareness of the power of these methods and an increased willingness to use them in programming.

From Eileen St. George, Director, Education in Conflict

6. Cutting-edge university innovations on electoral integrity

In 2015, nine innovative partnerships between USAID and U.S. universities will conclude, producing cutting-edge research we can expect to influence recommendations to USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance.

Out of the research, we will see innovations that strengthen programs and field missions including an Election Results Evaluation Tool; a sophisticated forensic instrument to assess whether elections are free and fair; findings on whether vote-buying efforts truly affect how citizens vote; and research on the impact of election observers on fraud, political representation and accountability.

From Tihana Bartulac Blanc, Senior Associate, Electoral Education and Integrity

7. Mainstreaming technology for development & peacebuilding

Development professionals in 2014 increasingly discussed lessons learned and best practices for the use of technology for development, including the Principles for Digital Development, an initiative supported by a large coalition of funding agencies and international organizations.

Peacebuilding actors also generated new technologies and initiatives to stem conflict and address humanitarian crises. In 2014, USIP launched the USIP PeaceTech lab. These tools can be used to combat gangs and terrorists who use technology as a means for recruitment and intimidation

In 2015, using this knowledge, technology interventions will become even more integral to development work in all sectors, including peacebuilding and conflict resolution, and will be better designed and implemented.

From Jacqui Deelstra, Associate, Technology for Development and Ayan Kishore, Senior Associate, Technology for Development

8. More social investing

While social investing became trendy in the United States in the 1980s, it did not come into vogue in development assistance until much later, when movements such as the Calvert Social Fund, the Clinton Foundation and the Business Call to Action emerged.

Uptake on social investing by corporations and donors may have been slow, but the impacts of social investing have been impressive. Now, it’s a key feature on the post-2015 development agenda.

From Jerry Wright, Senior Director, Economic Growth Division

9. A move beyond “training” to human and institutional capacity development

With USAID focusing more on human and institutional capacity development, implementers are following suit and reshaping their approaches.

Consistent with this trend, Creative is moving beyond just training to implementing its Collaborative Approach to Performance Support that builds individual, organizational and systemic capacity with diverse results-based tools.

From Michael McCabe, Senior Associate, Training and Capacity Development

10. Youth voice and authentic engagement

In the past year, we saw young people shape discussions on the UN’s post 2015 development goals; Malala Yousafzai receive the Nobel Prize for her courageous work to promote girls’ education; and closer to home, organizations like the Alliance for International Youth Development amplify youth voice at the Interaction Forum 2014. Programs designed with and by youth are more targeted, effective, and sustainable according to global research and evidence generated by Creative’s youth-led programs in Morocco and Central America.

Embedding youth voice and authentic youth engagement will be critical to all aspects of programs in 2015.

From Bonnie Politz, Senior Advisor for Youth, Magdalena Fulton, Senior Associate for Youth and Elizabeth Mullen, Program Associate for Youth

11. Blended learning and leveraging mobiles

By the end of 2015, the global e-learning market is expected to double from its 2011 worth of $35 billion to almost $70 billion. The development field is embracing the e-learning revolution that allows staff, partners and beneficiaries to learn “soft” and “hard” skills anytime, anywhere.

CreativeU.com and other platforms are aggregating quality, mobile-friendly courses and converting formerly instructor-led trainings into dynamic models that blend in-person with mobile learning, which have demonstrated better long term retention.

This year, mobile apps and educational games will continue to advance, giving youth engaging tools to interact with curriculum and create and share their stories, real or fiction, in ways that stimulate their minds creatively, emotionally, intellectually and with purpose.

From Michael McCabe, Senior Associate, Training and Capacity Development, and Eileen St. George, Director, Education in Conflict

From Eileen St. George, Director, Education in Conflict

12. A “gender data revolution”

In December 2014, Hilary Clinton announced six new partnerships to extend Data2X, an initiative launched in 2012 to spur a “gender data revolution” and advance gender equality and women’s empowerment globally through evidence-based policy and programs. Expect an even stronger push for gender-relevant data this year along with more demand for lessons learned in gender and development.

Donors, including USAID, will continue to emphasize gender integration in projects and require more systematic approaches that involve gender analysis and strategies, draw on data and evidence and demonstrate results.

From Rekha Martin, Senior Associate, Gender

13. Using effective local governance to build state efficacy

Strengthening effective local governance will be a priority in 2015. The Busan New Deal and USAID Local Systems’ Framework present a platform that calls for better understanding of the political economies of countries and communities to meet this challenge.

State-society relations will be a key focus area this year—and in the post-2015 development agenda—in achieving peacebuilding and state-building.

From Deborah Kimble, Director, Governance and Civil Society

14. Enhanced career preparation and job entry programs

Today, the fastest growing jobs throughout the world are “digital” and technology-based. Youth will seek out training this year in computer and technology skills in order to take advantage of the economic opportunities in today’s economy. Green jobs and investments in agriculture will also create employment opportunities for youth.

From Bonnie Politz, Senior Advisor for Youth, Magdalena Fulton, Senior Associate for Youth and Elizabeth Mullen, Program Associate for Youth

15. Measuring human capital development

There are three strands of measurement for evaluating success and returns on investments in human capital: education, health and economic returns to individuals and households. It took a lot of work and debate for the development community to come to this consensus.

Now in 2015, Creative’s experts will work with and alongside both USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to define how best to design projects that improve human capital development, and also measure their impact on markets, economies and—in the end—standards of living for people in developing countries.

From Jerry Wright, Senior Director, Economic Growth Division[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Debate Over E-learning a “First World problem” for many youth

December 23, 2014

3 min read

2011-mayo-063

Segundo, a young Embera Indian and indigenous environmental leader, guided my kids on a hot sticky trek through the Darien jungle explaining the incredibly rich biodiversity of this economically poor region of Panama. He leads these eco-treks as a volunteer through a local NGO, and with very limited job opportunities for Embera here, I was curious how Segundo made his living.

Segundo told me that he had not gotten much of a formal education: school was too far away from his indigenous village, not to mention that it had 50 students to a class and poor teaching. However, he proudly talked about how he now fixes air conditioners in this hottest corner of Latin America. When I asked how he got this training, he flashed his smile and said his teacher was, “YouTube por supuesto,” (YouTube of course).”

Segundo represents a different side to what has become an international debate on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and e-learning, in which a growing number of op-eds, blogs and conference debate sessions question e-learning’s effectiveness, return on investment, sustainability, completion rate and quality.

These are valid conversations for a growing industry that is predicted to have $52 billion a year in investments by 2016. But the reality is that many of the 357 million out of school and out of work young people worldwide don’t care whether social scientists think e-learning is an appropriate way for them to gain skills and knowledge.

Instead, across Latin America, Africa and other regions, young adults like him are flocking not only to YouTube educational videos, but to e-learning aggregator sites such as www.Alison.com, www.CreativeU.com and Coursera to get free access to just-in-time learning—even if it only gains them a certificate of competency completion and not a formal accreditation.

People like Segundo don’t always have time to wait for the results of international debate. And their need and desire to access educational content is not changed by the statistic that less than 10 percent of students in the U.S. finish MOOCs—a fact commonly used to temper the optimism of e-learning’s potential.

At the recent Online Educa global e-learning conference, delegates from African countries also highlighted that the narrow Western definition of MOOCs as being only online multi-week courses offered by universities overlooks the technological limitations in some countries caused by limited bandwidth or Internet connectivity.

Instead, blended learning MOOC approaches from India to Nigeria to Central America have historically more often used Massive Open “On-Air” Courses through radio distance learning, and increasingly access to learning via their Android devices to deliver agricultural or literacy training.

The bottom line as highlighted at the Online Educa conference was the importance of more localized content in local languages. It is pretty intuitive, learners want knowledge contextualized to their situations and in their language rather than just an off-the-shelf example designed for a generic learner.

Colleagues also emphasized that what mattered most to many users in developing countries was either getting certificates to help with employment opportunities or just getting the pieces of information they most need when they need it, be that a course to advance or improve as a teacher or a fixer of air conditioners in the Darien.

For now, Creative will continue to support the trends and the appropriate methodologies and learning effectiveness of online or blended learning platforms and courses, while also building the capacity of our partners to access what they need, when they need it.

Burgers & business give at-risk Honduran youth hope

December 19, 2014

5 min read

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Burgers & business give at-risk Honduran youth hope

By Jillian Slutzker

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WATCH VIDEO

Jesus Lanza was heading down a bad path—involved in gangs and drugs—until he had a chance to learn the basics of business with Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce. With training and a small grant, he turned his life around and turned his small kitchen into a booming burger enterprise to support his family.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Tegucigalpa, Honduras—In his family’s small kitchen in one of the capital’s most at-risk neighborhoods, 23-year-old Jesus Lanza, wearing an apron and gloves, flips hamburger patties and fries potatoes. Today, he will sell from 16 to 25 burgers, enough to help support his parents and 8-year-old sister.

HON101014132 Jesus, known by his nickname “Chuy,” has a steady burger business. Neighbors regularly pop in for a bite in the tiny kitchen restaurant. He even rides in his father’s taxi for deliveries farther away.

But “Chuy’s Burgers” is about to go through a growth spurt thanks to a prize of $5,000 he won on Dec. 19 in the “Honduras Emprende” entrepreneurship contest, held annually by the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Chuy hasn’t always been this successful. Just a couple of years ago, he says, he was off course, involved in drugs, drinking and destructive habits. A community pastor told him this path would likely end in “either death or jail.”

“I watched my friends, one by one,” Chuy says. “The drugs were going to destroy them….I did not want this for my life and for the future of my family, so I asked God to open a door for me, a better way for my future, better welfare for my life.”

Tegucgalpa is one of the most violent cities in Honduras, considered the most dangerous country in the world outside of a war zone. Gangs and drug activity plague many of the city’s poorest barrios, like the one where Chuy and his family live.

Reintegration through entrepreneurship

With help from the Alianza Joven Honduras (Youth Alliance Honduras) violence prevention program, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International, Chuy enrolled in a social nreintegration through entrepreneurship and employment training program for youth at high-risk run by the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The program, “Second Opportunities for Our Youth,” has trained more than 150 18 to 29-year-olds in entrepreneurship, as well as conflict resolution, life planning and resilience skills. Participants learn how to start and sustain a business, and they are provided with small grants to get their ventures off the ground.

“The specific objective of the project is to reintegrate back into society people who in the past have been linked to criminal acts or have been imprisoned with a background in rehabilitation centers,” explains Fabricio Sierra, Project Coordinator for the youth-at-risk reintegration program at the Chamber of Commerce.

“What we are looking for is that these young people believe in themselves and seek alternatives to their economic problems rather than the violence, drug dealing, or belonging to criminal gangs. They have the potential to find ways to generate an income that would really be favorable—to pay their studies, pay for their houses, lights, their daily meals. We have such talented people with very entreprenuerial ideas,” he says.

For many former gang members or youth like Chuy living in violent neighborhoods, the stigma associated with their communities can prevent them from getting jobs in established businesses. Self-employment can be a viable economic alternative and a means of reintegration into society.

Collaborating on shared problems

Since 2011, Alianza Joven Honduras, USAID, the Honduran government and the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce have collaborated to support former gang members and at-risk youth with job skills training and key tools for adapting to post-gang or post-crime life.

“It was definitely a challenge for the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce to identify what way we can help our country to address the various shortcomings that exist,” says Karla Ruiz, General Manager of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce.

Ruiz says that when the Chamber saw the possibility to “teach what we know”—how to start a business—the program was born. Whether former gang members or at-risk youth, she says, “they definitely have the incredible potential that allows them to be linked to the labor market or even start a microenterprise.”

The Second Opportunities for Our Youth program received $30,000 in funding from Alianza Joven Honduras and another $30,000 from the government’s Security Tax Trust Committee for its 2014 and 2015 activities.

Ruiz says that by teaming up with initiatives like Alianza Joven Honduras and partners from the public and private sector, the Chamber of Commerce and other groups can work on common objectives like reducing violence and reintegrating highly at-risk youth into society.

“I think that definitely we can have an impact,” Ruiz says.

Sustainable successs

The program has certainly had a positive effect on Chuy, who plans to use his “Honduras Emprende” contest award of $5,000 to expand Chuy’s Burgers, which will ultimately generate additional income for his family.

In the meantime, he continues to deliver his signature burgers to schoolkids and teachers, neighbors and even employees at the Chamber of Commerce. He jokes that his customers are from ages 7 to 80 years old.

“Jesus for us is a success story,” says Ruiz.

But he is not the only one.

Sierra, the coordinator of the at-risk youth project at the Chamber of Commerce, reports that more than 90 percent of program particpiants complete the full training.

Another entrepreneurship program graduate named Fernando, he says, is paying his way through a college degree in teaching thanks to profits from his small CD business, which he started with seed money provided by the Chamber.

“I believe that if we continue betting on reintegration, we will achieve having a successful country,” says Sierra.

HON101014142 As more former gang members and at-risk youth turned entrepenerus launch their own enterprises and succeed, they will be positive examples to the youth in their communities and show them that there can be viable opportunities outside of violence, Sierra says.

“This project is a great support for youth today,” says Chuy, noting that many young people in neighborhoods like his don’t live to reach the age of 20 due to violence, and youth are both victims and perpretrators of this crime.

“I think that providing jobs for society gives them the opportunity to engage. [Youth] will give 100% and will fight for the longing in their hearts to become better people.”

With the support of Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce, Chuy experienced that transformation.

“If you had seen me in the past, and now what I am, there has been a totally radical change,” he says. “If my friends had this opportunity, I think they would become better human beings for Honduras.”

With reporting by Emanuel Rodriguez[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

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WATCH VIDEO

Jesus Lanza was heading down a bad path—involved in gangs and drugs—until he had a chance to learn the basics of business with Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce. With training and a small grant, he turned his life around and turned his small kitchen into a booming burger enterprise to support his family.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Ownership the key to post-2015 development

December 11, 2014

5 min read

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Ownership the key to post-2015 development

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]As the Millennium Development Goals end, today’s development practitioners must chart new goals that capitalize on programmatic successes, improve shortcomings and take into account markedly different realities on the ground, according to a panel of experts.

“It is a more complex and difficult environment than it was when the MDGS were formulated,” said U.S. Ambassador James Michel, a former U.S. Agency for International Development official and author of “Shaping the New Development Agenda,” speaking at a Dec. 9 panel on the same topic.

Fifteen years after the Millennium Development Goals were designed, development has changed, panelists said. The private sector is now a key player in stimulating growth. A surge in intrastate conflicts have rendered millions more vulnerable and less accessible. And good governance, rights and inclusion are priorities alongside economic progress.

In response, the development industry is “changing-both in the goals it is setting for itself and the way development is funded,” said Leland Kruvant, President of Creative Associates International, which co-hosted the discussion with the Center for International Private Enterprise.

Groups like the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which has proposed 12 new goals, and the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, which has proposed 17 goals, have taken these trends into account, said Michel.

Shifting paradigms

development_agenda-5 With the emergence of new players in development—from donor blocs with members like Brazil and India to the private sector—the way the aid industry goes about development must change, panelists said. Donors are no longer conceiving of a North-South aid flow but rather a true global partnership.

The emphasis on the word “partner” in USAID’s new mission statement “forces us to think in cross-cutting ways,” said Tony Pippa, Deputy Assistant Administrator in the agency’s Bureau of Policy.

These new partnerships will capitalize on innovations in technology and development, Pippa said, and will prioritize local solutions and developing country ownership to ensure lasting outcomes.

Equally important, panelists said, is setting goals that center on inclusive growth, effective and accountable democratic institutions and climate sustainability—all critical elements to success in the post-2015 era.

“This paradigm shift in development is something that I think the US really welcomes,” Pippa said.

Private sector leadership

The private sector has long been a contributor to international aid, but the ways in which business invests in emerging markets today marks a move from philanthropy to smart social impact investing.

“Bill Gates doesn’t write checks anymore,” J.W. Wright, head of Creative’s Economic Growth Division, told the audience. “He writes programs and policies, and that is changing the dialogue.”

By investing in development, private companies can improve their “triple bottom line”— benefiting people, the planet and profits, wrote Bradford Strickland, economic growth expert at Creative, and Charito Kruvant, the company’s CEO, in their paper “Making Positive Social Impact an Everyday Part of International Business.”

As the development industry seeks to leverage the interests of the private sector, they should reach out to other entities besides big names like Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, said John D. Sullivan, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise.

“We always talk about public-private partnerships, and we think that means we are going to find a big multinational corporation to a form a partnership,” he said.

Small and medium enterprises in developing countries are not only valuable, he said, but in many cases, are essential to creating inclusive, sustainable growth.

Particularly in conflict and post-conflict settings, engaging the private sector can accelerate recovery and growth.

Sullivan said the informal sector, which according to the World Bank makes up from 25 percent to 40 percent of annual output in Asia and Africa, should also be brought into to economic growth efforts. Unlocking the potential of informal sector workers will be a boon to developing economies.

Beyond traditional partnerships, companies should also engage in dialogue with governments, Sullivan said, on how to create enabling environments for growth and investment. Without these institutional frameworks, inclusive growth and the other sustainable development goals will be hard to achieve.

Reaching the most vulnerable

Nowhere are these goals more difficult to achieve than in fragile and conflict-affected states.

More than 1.5 billion poor people live in places plagued by conflict and fragility, and more than half of the populations in post-conflict states live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

development_agenda-14 “This is a class of countries for whom special needs are required if you really want development,” said Pauline Baker, President Emeritus of the Fund for Peace and contributing author to Creative’s series on Economic Growth, Fragility and Resilience.

Development progress is typically charted through indicators and data, which are hard to obtain in a crisis context. The Sustainable Development Goals, for example, stipulate a daunting 169 targets.

In these environments, Baker said, a census has often not been conducted for decades, records of land ownership are nonexistent and records like voter registration can be subject to political manipulation.

By only viewing development in a kind of “antiseptic way” and looking at economic indicators alone, Baker said, “you’re really writing off a whole class of conflict-affected states”

The new agenda, Baker said, must address the humanitarian and development needs of these most vulnerable people and build the resilience of societies and states to overcome fragility.

Development implementers cannot ignore these critical groups—including a surging youth population, millions of refugees and internally displaced people, and women who have been blocked out of political and economic development processes.

But reaching these populations will require some innovation.

“We are going to have to be more creative and come up with effective methods by which we can work in places coming out of conflict and achieve those development gains,” said Pippa.

Today’s development policymakers certainly have hurdles to overcome as they prepare for the post-2015 world, but with stronger partnerships and shared knowledge, these experts are optimistic.

“The potential benefits and the quality of the work to date provides grounds for hope and optimism that these efforts will contribute greatly to a sustainable world of freedom, opportunity and dignity for all,” Michel wrote in “Shaping the New Development Agenda”.

“The outcome cannot be guaranteed,” he wrote. “But the vision is certainly worth pursuing.”

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Development companies hope multinationals become clients

November 20, 2014

5 min read

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Development companies hope multinationals become clients

By Jennifer Brookland

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In a time of federal budget uncertainty, lingering sequestration anxiety and bursting competition for development dollars, international development companies should look to multinational corporations to expand their client roster.

“There are companies out there bringing in billions and billions of dollars,” said Charito Kruvant, co-founder and CEO of Creative Associates International, who spoke at the Council of International Development Companies’ 2014 conference in Washington, D.C. “We have to grow, so we’re looking at our client base.”

Though Congress slashed the U.S. foreign assistance budget slightly less heartily than other appropriations, international development companies once reliant on U.S. government funding have increasingly eyed big business as a type of donor less prone to turnover, freezes and inefficiencies.

These development companies are also uniquely situated to provide real benefits to multinationals that recognize the humanitarian importance—and good business sense—of engaging with communities where they work, according to Stan Soloway, President and CEO of Professional Services Council, the national trade association of the government professional and technical services industry.

International development companies “are perfectly positioned to provide the needed interface between multinationals and emerging markets because they speak both ‘languages’ – development and free enterprise,” Soloway wrote in an introduction to a paper published by the Council and co-authored by Kruvant and colleague Bradford Strickland.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Better storytelling needed

photo-1 Indeed, development companies like Creative are still figuring out how to use the syntax and colloquialisms of this language.

“To appeal to the private sector, we need to know how to explain what we do and how we do it,” said Kruvant. “We need to tell our story of how wonderful we are at changing people’s lives.”

The way to do it isn’t always with nice pictures and brochures, she said, but hard numbers and statistics that business can use to improve their supply chains, incorporate technology and make their human resources more farsighted.

“We need to transfer our language in cross-cultural way to speak to those companies without giving up on our mission,” said Kruvant. “Understanding the private sector and understanding their precise needs lets us figure out how to be of service to them.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Shared opportunity

Companies ranging from beverage distributers to clothing manufacturers can benefit from international development companies’ expertise in capacity building, negotiation and workforce development. But for that to happen, those multinationals need to know this community exists.

Many large companies do not automatically think to turn to international development firms when they work in emerging or fragile markets, just as development organizations are unsure of how to move beyond targeting a firm’s corporate social responsibility arm or foundation and partnering with the company itself.

Foundations only provided 10 percent of philanthropic funding in 2013, according to Susan Rae Ross, founder and CEO of consulting company SR International and author of Expanding the Pie: Fostering Nonprofit and Corporate Partnerships.

“The real money,” she said, “is in the business. If you want to think about doing HIV training for employees of Levi Strauss, that money comes out of the HR department.”

With 72,000 companies in medical technology company Medtronic’s supply chain, Managing Director of International Relations Dr. Trevor Gunn says the company’s fundamental problem is that it cannot find enough suppliers around the world—the perfect “in” for an international development company with expertise in livelihoods development, economic growth and capacity building: if Medtronic or a development organization thinks to partner.

“Do we really understand our future? We always think we do, and that’s why we need help,” Gunn said.

Corporations need help developing markets for smallholder farmers, for instance, or strengthening the health or education sectors, but are more likely today to turn to large nonprofits or boutique consultants, said Devex’s Raj Kumar, who moderated the panel.

The prospect of multinationals and development companies turning to each other could be a mutual opportunity, according to Denis O’Brien, Chairman of the global communications provider Digicel.

“There is a growing movement in corporate America and worldwide to make multinationals more responsible,” O’Brien said.

For big business, it is “your time to actually do something in countries where you generate income,” O’Brien said. “If you want to sleep at night and you’re making a lot of profits in a poor country like Haiti, you’ve got to do something that is super impactful.”

O’Brien recommended reinvesting profits back into community projects, and then running those projects as managers would the core business.

Kruvant and Strickland suggest companies are starting to do this: “Rather than channeling work through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department, corporations seeking to affect positive change are using new products and services that are helping to build social impact into their everyday business practices,” they write.

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The trouble with partners

Yet, as speakers at the CIDC conference pointed out, partnering with large companies is not a mindless solution for development organizations wishing to expand their pies.

They can be complicated to get off the ground, for starters.

“Most people underestimate the time it takes to do a partnership by at least 40 percent, especially in the development community when there’s a big gap between when you establish a partnership and when you get the funding,” said Ross. “In many ways doing these partnerships, you have to be a risk-taker.”

“I don’t have a bottom line that’s endless that will go on while we discuss partnership,” said Kruvant. “I need to be able to plan and deliver services for the next three years, not dance with CEOs who tell you how great you are. Think of us as vendors first, and then partners.”

But when that relationship is achieved, Ross pointed out that true partnership must extend beyond the bankroll.

Instead of hunting for a donor to support a cause, development firms must come to the table clearly able to articulate their assets and expertise, but also open-minded to the idea that big businesses want to have a hand in shaping the solutions, and not just funding them.

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Outreach center success touted at IADB

November 20, 2014

3 min read

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Outreach center success touted at IADB

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]To tell a story about transformation in the barrios of San Pedro Sula to diplomats, policymakers and business leaders in the corridors of Washington, DC, a picture says a thousand words.

The Inter-American Development Bank showcased images of youth in the Alianza Joven Honduras violence prevention program. The exhibit debuted during a summit of leaders from Central and South America, Europe and the U.S. focused on growth and development in the Northern Triangle region of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The 49 vibrant photos on display show youth and the community volunteers, faith-based organizations and leaders who support them in many of the program’s 46 outreach centers in at-risk, high-crime neighborhoods across the country.

“That is my favorite,” said David Medina, Deputy Director of Alianza Joven Honduras, pointing to a photo of eight teenage volunteers jumping in mid-air with their hands raised. “It shows the energy of the volunteers. They are the most important thing in the outreach centers. Because of them, everything happens. It is youth helping youth.”

The Honduran government, through its Security Tax Trust Committee, is contributing $1 million to develop 11 new outreach centers and support all the other centers in Honduras, reaching 23,000 children and youth with additional equipment, prevention activities and support.

Alianza Joven Honduras is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International.

“A lot of this project we have done together,” said Alejandra Hernández, Honduran Vice Minister of Security in Prevention, discussing the cooperation between the U.S. and her government on violence prevention. “It is important to know it is not just money. It’s really reaching our children.”

Gang violence and narco-trafficking has resulted in Honduras having the highest homicide rate in the world outside of a war zone, and it has been a major source country of unaccompanied minors immigrating to the U.S.

The Alianza Joven outreach centers, which provide at-risk youth with safe spaces and opportunities including life skills, job training, tutoring and volunteer opportunities, are helping to counter these trends, according to a recent study by Vanderbilt University.

Cutting-ribbon-2 During the summit—which was attended by Presidents Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras, Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden—leaders discussed innovative approaches, like the outreach centers, to improve security, health, economic opportunities and education to reduce crime and stem migration from their region.

“A peaceful Central America, with opportunities for its people, with justice and security, will be of great benefit not only for our citizens but also for the United States and other peoples of the world,” said President Hernández, speaking at the event.

Surrounded by flashing cameras, President Hernandez made a special visit to open the exhibit in between event sessions. The President and First Lady have been vocal supporters of youth-focused crime prevention and the USAID outreach center partnership.

Violence has many causes and is a complex phenomenon in the country, explained Alejandra Hernández, Vice Minister of Security in Prevention as she toured the exhibit.

She said it is important for partners and donors in the U.S. and from outside of Honduras to know that Honduras is not just fighting crime through the criminal justice system. The smiling faces on display in the hall of the Inter-American Development Bank attest to this.

“Prevention is the most important thing,” she said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]