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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partner the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented the achievements of the Regional Coastal Biodiversity Project in Barra de Santiago, Ahuachapán, El Salvador, one of the project implementation sites.
During seven years, the project generated environmental, economic and social benefits in ecosystems and marine-coastal communities in border sites of high biodiversity in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, to help reduce threats to biodiversity and create economic prosperity and rootedness in the territories.
With a total investment of more than $13 million from USAID, IUCN implemented the project in consortium with GOAL International, as a regional partner, and IUCN member organizations Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES), the Moskitia Development Agency (MOPAWI), Defenders of Nature Foundation (FDN) and Association for the Rescue of Wildlife (ARCAS).
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Promoting Social Cohesion through Art and Mental Health Care
On May 2, USAID Regional Director for Central America and Mexico Programs Chris Cushing accompanied the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Asociación Cultural Irreal Teatro to close the “ReconectARTE” psychosocial support initiative, which promoted social cohesion through art and mental health care among residents of the El Manguito community in San Salvador.
Since December 2023, participants of the “ReconectARTE” initiative have strengthened their social skills, mental health care, and the development of life projects through artistic disciplines, such as theater, drawing, painting, embroidery, and creative writing. This initiative strengthens local support networks to promote rootedness and the reintegration of returned migrants.
Beneficiaries from El Manguito are part of a larger group of 110 persons in eight municipalities of El Salvador who have participated in the six-month training sessions on topics related to leadership, management of emotions, management of healthy relationships, taking decisions, life plans, and grief.
“ReconectARTE” is an initiative of USAID’s Integrated Responses on Migration from Central America project, with IOM, that helps returned migrants build a better life at home. USAID and IOM assist government and non-government institutions providing services to returned migrants upon their return to their home country, reintegrating them effectively into their communities. The project is assisting migration authorities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to provide immediate services in reception centers, such as health care, humanitarian assistance, psychosocial counseling, and reference to a variety of services for a dignified return. Similar activities are implemented in Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama to facilitate the integration of migrants.
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Inauguration of the Integrated Border Management Academy
In collaboration with the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), the Central American Integration System (SICA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) “Food for Progress” ATraCSI Project, USAID inaugurated on May 6 in Guatemala City the third Integrated Border Management Academy, a joint effort to strengthen cooperation and coordination along the borders of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The four-week course will strengthen the technical capacities of 28 customs officers in the areas of customs, economic integration, trade, taxes, sanitary measures, among others.
Lorena Aceto, USAID Project Manager; Francisco Lima, SIECA Secretary General; David Duesing, Trade Representative for CBP; and Marcela Rondón, USDA representative, presided over the inauguration ceremony.
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Launching of INACIF Statistics Portal
The National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala launched a new statistics portal that provides citizens access to records and processed data in the five areas of consultation by forensic specialty: Necropsies, Medical-Legal Evaluations, Psychological Evaluations, Psychiatric Evaluations, and Crime Laboratory Requests. The new statistics portal, with support from the USAID and UNDP Infosegura project, uses technology and international quality standards for the collection, processing and presentation of statistics.
The portal allows users to view graphs through a series of filters, with a high level of disaggregation and in relation to several variables, such as: age groups, sex, month, day, year, municipality, department, among others. Users can also view predefined maps and download the filtered information in Excel and PDF formats.
Ingrid Romero, Director General of INACIF, commented that “this tool allows citizens to access data that is constantly updated.” She also said that this is “a transcendental moment in the process of strengthening INACIF, and we reinforce the commitment of service with science and justice, since the statistics portal optimizes the search and obtaining of updated, reliable and timely information.”
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United for Regional Trade
What do Honduras and El Salvador have in common? Apart from the Spanish language and several cultural aspects, the two Central American countries share the same space at El Amatillo, a major border crossing, to simultaneously process migration, customs, agriculture, and police controls.
Launched in December 7, 2023, the integrated border controls at El Amatillo are already impacting trade facilitation by reducing times and costs to cross borders, and increasing transparency. USAID, through its Regional Trade Facilitation and Border Management Project supported the collaborative process between the two countries as well as the implementation of streamlined trade procedures to enhance the Deep Integration Process or Customs Union and benefit Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The project helps the Central American region to strengthen trade competitiveness by enhancing integration and optimizing systems and processes related to foreign trade.
A total of five companies in El Salvador and 27 companies in Guatemala have long prepared for this modernization process by getting certified as Authorized Economic Operators. This certification provides the companies with streamlined trade processes.
Watch this brand new video and learn more about these exciting opportunities for regional trade in Central America.
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Central America is a region known for the abundance of its water resources; however, the Pacific slope is home to 70 percent of the population, which has 30 percent of the water resource at its disposal. In addition, the temporal distribution of the resource, the degradation of watersheds, the contamination of water bodies, weak water governance, and the increase in extreme hydrometeorological events, such as drought, are factors that contribute to the Central American population's limited access to water and the growing number of conflicts associated with the scarcity or lack of this resource.
To strengthen capacities for drought management and climate adaptation in international watersheds, representatives of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), government officials, regional and trinational entities, international cooperation agencies (including USAID), and various NGOs and institutions responsible for water management within the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) met in Tegucigalpa on May 8.
“This issue is of great importance to USAID. Therefore, through our Upper Lempa Watershed Project, we seek to ensure that the water resources of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are managed more efficiently and equitably. This will contribute to the reduction of water pollution and the increase of water flows, which, we hope, will reduce conflicts, especially gender-based violence related to the scarcity of this resource,” said Samuel Rivera, USAID Honduras Environment Officer, during the event.
The fifth Transboundary Water Management Workshop was coordinated by CCAD and the Global Water Partnership (GWP), with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through its IW: LEARN program. The Government of Honduras also supported the workshop along with partner organizations, including the Tri-national Trifinio Plan Commission (CTPT) and its GEF partners, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Organization of American States (OAS) through the “GEF/Trifinio” initiative, and USAID’s Upper Lempa Watershed Project with Winrock International.
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