# **Progress on Central America Forward**

##### **June 2024**

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## Overview

In May 2021 Vice President Harris called on the private sector to draw on its unique resources and expertise to make commitments to support inclusive economic growth in northern Central America through a “Call to Action.” To build on the momentum generated under the Call to Action, Vice President Harris launched “Central America Forward” in February 2023 in partnership with the Partnership for Central America, a 501(c)(3) organization.  Central America Forward supports inclusive economic growth while also emphasizing the importance of good governance, good jobs, reducing violence, and empowering women. Central America Forward reaffirms the broader goals of the U.S. Strategy to Address the Root Causes of Migration, which was launched by the Biden-Harris Administration in July 2021. 

Since its launch, Central America Forward – in partnership with the Partnership for Central America – has mobilized a total of $5 billion in private sector commitments to support inclusive economic growth in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Over 55 companies and organizations have joined this initiative and made investments in the region. To date, these companies have deployed nearly $1.3 billion on the ground, including **$141 million in El Salvador, $509 million in Guatemala, and $545 million in Honduras, in investments**. These investments continue to create jobs, connect people to the digital economy, expand access to financing for small businesses, further empower women, provide workers with training and education, and improve local economic livelihoods. 

This public-private partnership is a collaboration between the U.S. government and the 501(c)(3) Partnership for Central America.

## Key Highlights from Central America Forward Partners: 

### **Training and Education**

**Millicom:** The *Conectadas* digital inclusion and entrepreneurial skills program has **trained more than 100,000 women in El Salvador, more than 50,000 women in Guatemala and more than 10,000 women in Honduras** since its establishment in 2017. The program consists of several hybrid training modules for women to acquire basic digital literacy on social media and financial management. New modules were recently included in the program covering mobile digital tools. With the objective of making a broader impact on breaching the digital gender gap. Meanwhile, *Maestr@s Conectad@s*, a new digital platform focused on training education professionals to online teaching skills, emerged from the increasing prevalence of virtual learning as well as teaching during the pandemic. The program has trained nearly 55,000 teachers in northern Central America on topics related to digital classroom tools, use of social networks, educational innovation and neuroeducation. Both programs launched their web-based app in 2022 and are accessible for free at Millicom Tigo’s website.

**Fundación Rafael Meza Ayau (FRMA):** Fundación Rafael Meza Ayau (FRMA) has strengthened 98 organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) addressing the environment, housing, youth employability, women’s empowerment, and early childhood development. FRMA also established math, science, and technology labs in 7 public schools; improved math, science, and technology skills of almost 4,000 public school students and 185 teachers; placed 253 people in new jobs; and trained 181 micro businesses to help them grow. FRMA designed and started the implementation of a Model for an Early Childhood Care Center to provide early childhood care services to almost 100 children. This is relevant to companies with more than 100 employees, which are required by law to ensure that their employees’ children have access to an Early Childhood Care Center.

   

### **Financial Inclusion**

**Mastercard**: Mastercard is moving steadily toward its goal of bringing five million people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras into the formal financial economy, and digitizing one million micro and small businesses. To achieve this, Mastercard partnered with GlobalPay Solutions to launch RocketPOS, a digital tool that has **helped more than 6,000 majority women-owned micro businesses** increase their sales by accepting digital payments, collecting service payments, and placing orders from suppliers in real-time. Additionally, their partnership with Central America-based financial groups will enable 15% of the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region to accept digital payments, which will further increase access to the entire digital economy across northern Central America.

**Banco LAFISE:  **Banco LAFISE has continued to grow its agricultural loan portfolio in partnership with USAID. Over the last three years, the bank’s portfolio grew from $345,000 to $40.2 million. Furthermore, in December 2023, LAFISE announced a new commitment to channel over $4 million in additional loans to smallholder farmers, through a USAID-brokered agreement with one of the largest food processors in Honduras.

**Deetken: **Deetken Impact raised over $17.5 million in partnership with USAID for financial inclusion and renewable energy investments to date and has several active deals in progress. Through tailored advisory services focused on investment readiness, development impact, and community engagement, projects are driving climate action, creating jobs, and fostering growth in the formal economy in El Salvador.

**CrossBoundary: **In collaboration with USAID, CrossBoundary provided investment facilitation and transaction advisory services to several small and medium enterprises in El Salvador. Support provided has included assistance in identifying viable investment opportunities, fundraising, responding to due diligence requests, and structuring transactions. **To date, CrossBoundary has raised $6.9 million for technology-enabled businesses working with low-income populations**, including a motorcycle financing financial technology company, a digital payment platform for small businesses, a digital insurance company providing auto insurance to low-income workers, a company providing nano credits to low-income entrepreneurs, and an impact venture capital fund that will invest in technology-driven startups.

> 
In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, only four in ten adults have a bank account.  Financial inclusion can help households build assets, allow small businesses to grow, and contribute to a sense of belonging in the community.Research shows that the chance of a family member migrating lowers dramatically among households that saved money formally in the previous year.  

### **Non-Traditional Jobs**

**Pantaleon**: Pantaleon provides various trainings and opportunities for citizens in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Its initial **$25 million investment towards the construction of Synergy Industrial Park** is attracting investment and new business operations to Guatemala while promoting the training of employees. The company’s “School for Tractor Operators” trains women for jobs as tractor operators through technical instruction and empowerment-based programming.  It also invests over $1 million annually in other upskilling initiatives in communities surrounding its operations.

### **Increased Production and Sourcing**

**Gap**: Gap Inc. is on track to expand sourcing in Central America by $150 million by 2025 and works closely with suppliers to grow capacities in the region. The company’s growth in the region has enabled a local spinner to build 22,000 new spindles in Guatemala to increase regional yarn production, and Gap Inc.’s Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) women’s empowerment program has **provided life and professional skills training to 2,000 women in Guatemala and Honduras** since 2021.

### **Entrepreneurship**

**PriceSmart:**  Through USAID’s Guatemalan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (GEDI), PriceSmart, Inc and PriceSmart Foundation together **contributed $300,000 to support the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE)** to empower 80 Guatemalan women-led, small and medium enterprises with tailored business management training and tools, connecting them to new markets, and helping them access financing. PriceSmart opened its newest membership warehouse clubs in Santa Ana, El Salvador in February 2024 and in Escuintla, Guatemala in November 2023, creating approximately 225 new jobs and bringing the total number of PriceSmart clubs in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to thirteen.

**Heifer:**  Heifer International, in partnership with USAID in Guatemala, **awarded $625,000 to Red Global de Empresarios Indígenas to offer training, mentoring, branding, and marketing** to high-potential enterprises led by indigenous people. To date, the project has strengthened the business capacities of 350 entrepreneurs to participate in higher-value, larger, and formal markets of which 66 were female. In addition, Heifer has co-invested an additional $150,000, in partnership with USAID, to support Asociación de Productores Organicos para el Desarrollo Integral del Polochic (APODIP) to link six cacao-producing associations, comprising more than 300 producers, to the European fine-flavor cacao market. With the investment, APODIP is establishing an industrial plant to process paste and liquor of cacao, providing opportunities for value-added products and increased economic benefits to the producers. In Honduras, Heifer is proud to have committed to match a $4 million investment from USAID to increase productivity and incomes for 15,000 small and medium dairy farmers.

**Alterna:**  Alterna is partnering with USAID to support small and growing businesses (SGBs) by providing business and technical services, improving business-market intelligence, strategic-financial knowledge, digital and soft skills, and facilitating value chain connections and financing opportunities. **Eighty-five SGBs have successfully completed the cultivation processes.** In addition, eight companies participated to learn how to establish a solid financial foundation for their businesses and upon completion, the companies will have the opportunity to access repayable financing of up to $50,000 through Alterna’s Impact Investment Fund.

**Argidius:**  Argidius Foundation, in partnership with USAID through the Guatemala Entrepreneurship and Development Initiative (GEDI), is working with the organization Multiverse to foster a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem for youth by deploying three local chapters within Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala and establishing a regional business center to facilitate access to business support services for entrepreneurs and foster linkages between distant communities and regional hubs. 

To date, the organization has directly supported 79 businesses in different aspects of their business, more than 100 mentoring sessions and 20 events facilitated between regions.

Partnering with Earth University, the initiative has extended support to rural enterprises in coffee, mushroom, and honey sectors, culminating in the training of over 50 organization representatives in associative marketing and the provision of seed capital to 14 coffee Farmers’ Producer Organizations. Additionally, 129 students have benefited from technology-focused education in Extracurricular Education Centers (CEEX), supported by FUNCAFÉ, illustrating the initiative’s multifaceted impact on empowering Guatemala’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

**Pro Mujer**: With the collaboration of local partners, NGO Pro Mujer brings direct finance and entrepreneurship support to vulnerable groups, including underserved women, their families, rural communities, and indigenous populations.

> 
*Thanks to the two loans Guatemalan artist Jennifer María Barrera received from Pro Mujer, she transitioned from selling her products to family and friends to opening her own shop.  At*Arte Hecho con Manos de Amor*, she sells handmade decorative items.  “Without Pro Mujer, I never would have had the funds to make this happen.  In Guatemala, accessing credit through traditional channels is complicated, but Pro Mujer made everything quick, simple, and easy,” shares Jennifer. * 

> 
*Through Jenni Marexa Arévalo de Mata’s tutoring business*Refuerzo Académico, *she works with children needing support in reading and writing to give them tools to learn and improve their skills.  Thanks to her participation in Pro Mujer’s training courses, Jenni created a clear value proposition for her business, allowing her to attract new clients.  Jenni also used what she learned to start a new business selling crochet bathing suits.  This side hustle helps support her when business is slow at*Refuerzo Académico.  

> 
*Wendy Sanchez runs the*Flores del Boulevard *flower shop in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  She came to Pro Mujer looking for guidance and support to expand her business and incorporate a new ”breakfast surprise” delivery service.  During the workshops, Wendy created a brand identity, launched e-commerce on social networks, and improved her business’ financial management.*

### **Assistance to Smallholder Farmers**

**Cargill:**  Cargill continues to expand reach to farmers with technical assistance, as well as children and community members with school meals. In Guatemala and Honduras, since making their commitment, **programs with local NGOs have reached more than 18,000 children and more than 4,500 farmers**. Cargill also partnered with USAID, Mastercard, and PriceSmart to support the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) to empower female entrepreneurs by providing them with business management training, tools, and mentoring, connecting them to new markets, and helping them access financing, creating a network of 85 women-led, small and medium enterprises. Finally, in collaboration with FUNDES, Cargill and USAID assisted 40 small business owners generate an increase of $ 31,000 in sales.

**JDE Peet’s, CoHonducafe, and Grupo Cadelga:  **Collectively over the past year, coffee producers JDE Peet’s, CoHonducafe, and Grupo Cadelga have **assisted 10,512 smallholder farmers** in partnership with USAID, resulting in $90 million in new sales. This assistance includes the disbursement of $3.7 million in credit to smallholder producers. Since 2021, JDE Peet’s, CoHonducafe, and Grupo Cadelga have provided technical assistance to 13,500 farmers to increase farm productivity and enhanced market linkages.

**Root Capital: **In partnership with USAID, Root Capital, a nonprofit organization that provides financial services to small and growing agricultural businesses, has channeled over $12.5 million in loans to coffee cooperatives that support over 7,200 smallholder coffee farmers in Honduras.

**Nespresso/Nestle:** Nestlé continues to help farmers implement regenerative agriculture practices and strengthen a supply chain of responsibly grown coffee, in partnership with USAID/Honduras. At an event in January 2024, Nestlé and CoHonducafé and USAID commemorated the first sale of coffee produced under their alliance, launched in April 2023. Additionally, Nestlé announced at the event that it will expand its youth initiative in Honduras to reach 100,000 young people, quadrupling its previous target.

### **Technical Assistance and Financial Training**

**Grupo Bancolombia**: Grupo Bancolombia is one of Latin America’s major financial institutions, with operations in El Salvador and Guatemala.  Its *In-pactamos* program provided **technical assistance and mentorship to 113 businesses, 60% of which were women-led**.  Similarly, its *Elevate* financial training program empowered over 400 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), half of which were run by women.  The company has granted $19.5 million in loans to SMEs, thereby helping transform ideas into successful businesses.

> 
*With the support of Grupo Bancolombia, Andrea Zamora expanded her microenterprise*Tienda el Pinalito*, a business that sells basic agriculture products and grains.  “The personalized advice they gave me, including the tools, both financial and marketing, was incredible.  I have been able to apply it to my business now.  Without a doubt, it is a great program with useful information that is essential for business.”  * 

> 
*Kerime Manzur owns a 25-year-old business in El Salvador that sells technological items.  Kerime shared, “I did have knowledge, but I did not know how to apply it.  Thanks to my participation in this program, I was able to empower myself.  I was able to put into practice what I learned, including better financial management, to create a better future for my business.”* 

The U.S. government and the Partnership for Central America welcome additional commitments to Central America Forward to promote economic opportunity in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.  Interested partners can reach out to the Partnership for Central America at support@centampartnership.org.

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