Localization Results

In 2022, the Mission obligated $27 million in direct awards, roughly 25% of its total portfolio/funding that year, to six local organizations. Many of these organizations have worked with USAID/Guatemala for many years as intermediate partners, and received institutional strengthening support necessary to administer direct USAID funding. Of the Mission’s current 27 bilateral awards, 80% involve some aspect of local leadership, including direct awards, transition awards, sub-grant programs or grants under contract, and local organizational strengthening.

KEY PARTNERS AND RESULTS 

In FY22, USAID made the following awards to several local organizations, including:

• El Refugio de la Niñez, a leading local organization promoting the protection of adolescent victims of trafficking, launched the Protection of Trafficking in Persons Victims and Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UAC) Project. The project strengthens local and government capacities to assist youth through the reception and reunification process. 

In 2022, El Refugio's specialized legal support for human trafficking survivors resulted in 13 convictions against their traffickers. The activity also provided comprehensive protection services for 70 underage TIP survivors; supported 861 unaccompanied minors with psychosocial services at government shelters; and provided protection and mental health services to 265 children who have remained in their communities. 

• The Gen Now Youth Impact Leaders Initiative Project with Fundacion Crisalida/Glasswing International is laying the foundation to develop and establish a youth service corps model that supports youth’s resiliency, positive advancement, rootedness, and ability to contribute to their own communities’ development in Guatemala and Honduras.

• USAID extended the Guatemala Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains activity,  implemented by local partner Agropecuaria Popoyán, a Guatemalan agribusiness that works at all levels of the agriculture value chain to improve local agricultural productivity and capacity. To date, Popoyán has helped ten producer organizations develop and implement plans to improve productivity and quality; provided assistance to 31 organizations to strengthen their administrative, finance, and business plans; and created 25 alliances among private sector companies and smallholder producers. 
• The HIV Prevention for High Risk Individuals Activity is implemented by the Pan American Social Marketing Organization (PASMO). The activity supports Central American government and civil society partners to provide comprehensive prevention services to high risk individuals, including non-discriminatory counseling and testing services, and links HIV-positive individuals to appropriate clinical care and treatment.
• The Sustainable HIV Response in Central America is implemented by the Fundación para la Alimentación y Nutricion de Centroamerica y Panama (FANCAP) to contain the HIV epidemic in Central America and fulfill UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals for HIV status, treatment and viral suppression.

Other direct awards to local partners which concluded in FY 2022 include: 

• In FY 2022, USAID through Feed The Future’s Coffee Value Chains Project implemented by the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Coffee Producers of Guatemala (FEDECOCAGUA), completed its last year of implementation to build the administrative and technical capacities of 33 coffee cooperatives. The project facilitated $40 million in coffee sales, 9,000 jobs, production of 8 million eggs ($1 million), and planting of one million coffee seedlings. 
• The Water Quality Improvement and Institutional Strengthening of the Mancomunidad de la Cuenca del Río Naranjo (Mancuerna) provided safe water and basic sanitation services in the Maya Mam territory to prevent chronic malnutrition. In 2022, Mancuerna expanded access to sanitation services for 1,770 people and improved sanitation facilities in 19 health facilities and schools. The activity ended in December 2022 and a new water and sanitation (WASH) activity will begin in FY 2023.
• The Safe Return to School Activity was implemented by the Fundación Sergio Paiz Andrade (FUNSEPA) supporting the Ministry of Education to implement health safety protocols for children to return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered classrooms for nearly two years. The activity provided 630 tablets, 18 servers, and software to reach students at 18 schools in the Western Highlands, plus trained  271 educators. The activity also delivered sanitation kits to over 17,000 schools. The project ended in July 2023, and these efforts are continued under USAID’s Safe Return to School Plus activity. 

Additionally, USAID continues to support a range of international partners that provide targeted technical assistance, specialized advice and training, and small grants to help build the capacity of talented local organizations working across a range of sectors, across Guatemala. For example:

• USAID’s Addressing the Root Causes of Irregular Migration Project created an agile grants mechanism and research unit that awarded 57 subgrants to local partners. These community-level activities created education and livelihood opportunities for youth, women, and indigenous people living in areas of high outmigration.
• USAID’s Justice and Transparency Project has a robust grants program component that allows USAID to deepen its engagement with civil society organizations, citizen platforms and other actors that serve a critical role in overseeing the Guatemalan justice sector, providing services to victims and advocating for democratic reforms.  To date, the project is supporting 19 local awardees on a range of good governance priorities, and is providing local organizations small grants each year. 
• USAID’s Community Roots Project provides support to local organizations to create alternative education and vocational opportunities, provide psychosocial services to participating at-risk youth and returnee migrants, and support networks to replicate the community-based case referral model to enable the most vulnerable youth to access services offered by different institutions.
• USAID’s Urban Municipal Governance Project complements its work with municipal officials and institutions by supporting civil society organizations, NGOs and business organizations to strengthen community organizations in marginalized, at-risk urban neighborhoods. 
• The Guatemala Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (GEDI) seeks to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem for Small Growing Business (SGB) in Guatemalan communities affected by migration. To date, GEDI has provided 8 grants to strengthen local entrepreneurship incubators and service providers for SGBs. In 2022, GEDI awarded a subgrant to Fundes, micro-entrepreneurship credit organization, to provide seed capital and help program participants strengthen their entrepreneurial capacities. GEDI also awarded the INCAE Business School a grant to accelerate 80 women-owned small and medium enterprises through tailored business training and mentoring. GEDI also awarded a subgrant to the Alterna Sustainable Value Chains and Thriving Communities project to support 80 small companies and six producer organizations of organic coffee, cocoa and vegetables.

NEXT STEPS

• USAID/Guatemala’s localization efforts reinforce a strong commitment to support indigenous communities as outlined in the Mission’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy and Indigenous People’s Engagement Strategy. USAID/Guatemala will increase assistance to indigenous-led organizations in an effort to address major inequities in the opportunities and support provided to these communities. In FY 2023, the Mission is in the process of designing eight new direct awards to local partners for activities that will focus on civil society strengthening, agricultural value chains, rural finance, biodiversity and building the capacity of youth and indigenous organizations to advance locally-led development, HIV Care and Treatment among other goals.

• USAID/Guatemala is also conducting a Partner Landscape Assessment of local organizations that could be new partners in the future. The Assessment has already surveyed more than 80 local organizations whose work is closely aligned with USAID’s strategic priorities and target populations. The next step is to complete 30 key informant interviews with selected locally-led organizations to better assess their capacity to work with USAID’s target populations of youth, women and Indigenous Peoples. The results of this Assessment will inform the Mission’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of these local organizations, especially to be able to develop other local organizations. 

• USAID/Guatemala plans to launch an Annual Program Statement in 2023 for local organizations to share concept papers on selected development themes, with a focus on building local organizational capacity to advance Guatemala’s development.