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CWS in Central America

In every situation, our programs aim to make sure people don’t have to make decisions out of desperation. Poverty, violence and other factors create conditions where families leave their homes not by choice but for survival. CWS works to make sure communities are more resilient and  families have more and better options.

CWS is responding to the root causes that are forcing families to flee:

  • Climate change, rural poverty, gender-based violence and lack of opportunities for youth:
    In Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, CWS-supported rural food security programs that improve family agriculture, provide job skills training and leadership opportunities for young adults and help prevent gender-based violence. Meet Rafael, one of the hundreds of people participating in CWS food security programs in Honduras.
  • Crime and gang violence:
    CWS leads Plataforma NNAPES, the only regional coalition of organizations from Mexico to Panama that is working to prevent intergenerational violence and expand opportunities for children and families of the incarcerated.
  • Systemic impunity and corruption:
    CWS partners with and financially supports the Washington Office on Latin America and the Latin America Working Group, both Washington, D.C.-based organizations that help inform Congressional debates and policymaking on U.S. development assistance to Central America and Mexico policy, border policy and drug policy reform.

Here's how your support of CWS is responding to the migrant caravan:

  • In Honduras: With major support from Growing Hope Globally, CWS partners with Honduran organization (and fellow ACT Alliance member) CASM to support hundreds of rural families as they put food on their tables and overcome the challenges of poverty.
  • In Guatemala and Mexico:
    • The same day the caravan entered Guatemala, CWS provided an emergency grant to Guatemalan partner CIEDEG to provide emergency aid to caravan families in Guatemala City and later also at the Guatemala-Mexico border.
    • CWS helped make it possible for our Honduran partner CASM to deploy staff immediately to accompany the caravan in Mexico. This kind of accompaniment helps ensure that accurate information about the caravan is being communicated and helps to keep pressure on the Mexican government to ensure full protection of the caravan families.