Skip to main content
Feed the Future
This project is part of the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative.
  • About
subscribe

Agrilinks

Search Log In

Main Menu

  • Topics
  • Events
  • Activities
  • Tools & Training
  • Members
  • About
subscribe
icn-agrilinks-event Agrilinks Event

From Citizen Security to Food Security: A cross-sector discussion of violence in Central America

Kids on Swing

Event Date: Jun 20, 2016

Time: 03:00 PM to 04:30 PM (GMT -5)

Location: United States

Online: Online Event

Event Links: BFS Special Event Cross Sector Discussion of Violence in Central America

Information

The high prevalence of violence in Central America is a major human and institutional development challenge that the Feed the Future project, Innovation for Agricultural Training and Education (InnovATE), has identified as affecting agriculture development. Specifically, the Northern Triangle countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – are considered three of the most dangerous countries in the world, as evidenced by intentional homicide rates. The level of violence clearly affects development in many areas, particularly in terms of agriculture and youth’s participation in agricultural education.

InnovATE began looking at this issue to investigate why youth, and young men in particular, were dropping out of the agricultural education system at alarming rates in Central America. In addition to young males, high violence rates affect all youth and women, as well. It became clear that violence in Central America is a pervasive, complex issue that requires a pervasive, complex response from across sectors working to end hunger and poverty. It cuts across development sectors—agriculture, education, youth development, workforce development, economic development, health and nutrition, and democracy and governance -- to make cross-sector collaboration of paramount importance to reaching food security goals in the Northern Triangle.

As the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stated, “If development is the process of building societies that work, crime acts as a kind of ‘anti-development’, destroying the trust relations on which society is based.”

On June 20 2016, we brought together practitioners working in different sectors in Central America to discuss how violence disrupts development and what to do about it. Talking points included:

  • Tips and tools for rural and urban development practitioners to best operate in an environment of “anti-development” to achieve cross-cutting food security progression.
  • How violence disrupts development such as food security.
  • What agricultural projects can learn from youth development projects working in contexts of violence and vice-versa.
  • What works well in a community that is affected by violence daily.
  • What is important to know about working with victims of violence.
  • Keeping staff safe in contexts of violence in development projects.

From Citizen Security to Food Security: A cross-sector discussion of violence in Central America

Rebecca J.
InnovATE

Rebecca J. Williams specializes in tropical conservation and development with a focus in gender and development. From 2009-2011, she served as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps in Honduras in the Water and Sanitation... more Program. She also researches youth violence and masculinities in Central America. She is a contributor to the Feed the Future project, Innovation for Agricultural Training and Education (InnovATE) funded by USAID. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Florida in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Her dissertation research was conducted in Honduras on women’s time poverty. less

Ken Baker
Glasswing

Ken Baker is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Glasswing. At Glasswing, Ken brings public sector knowledge, having worked abroad with the State Department in over ten countries and having served two terms as City... more Councilman in Norwalk, CT. In addition, Ken has over 12 years of experience in the private sector, having previously served as Vice President of Corporate Relations at AmeriCares, a large international relief organization. Ken has a B.S. in International Business from Northeastern University and an M.A. in International Affairs from American University. less

Fernando Rubio
Fernando Rubio
Juárez & Associates

Mr. Rubio has extensive experience in international development, having engaged in such professional activities as educational measurements (standards and testing), monitoring and evaluation, basic education, higher education... more partnerships, teacher development, assessment of institutional performance, planning and assessment of workforce development, distance learning, educational equity and gender, training and supervision of field research teams, EMIS database design and social marketing. He is currently Project Director for the “Guatemala Lifelong Learning Project” implemented by Juárez & Associates. Mr. Rubio received his MA in Psychology from the New York School of Social Research and a BA in Psychology from the Universidad de Panamá. He also teaches courses in Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation at Del Valle University in Guatemala. less

Karen Towers
USAID/Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean

Karen Towers is the Education Team Leader in the Office of Regional Sustainability in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC/RSD). She specializes in education programming for at-risk youth and workforce development... more programs in crisis and conflict environments. Ms. Towers has over 15 years of experience in program design, management, and evaluation of youth and education programs in Latin America and Africa. She has an M.A. in International Relations with a focus in education from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, and a B.A. in Economics and International Business from the University of Scranton. less

Isabel Aguilar
Catholic Relief Services

Isabel Aguilar Umaña serves as Regional Technical Advisor in Youth Related Violence Prevention for Catholic Relief Services, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the last decade, she has specialized in... more violence prevention, particularly youth-related violence. She has authored several books, articles and essays that highlight her areas of expertise, and she holds a B.S. in Spanish Literature and a M.A. in Human Rights. less

Filed Under: Youth Education and Extension Gender Policy and Governance Agricultural Productivity Climate and Natural Resources Gender Policy and Governance

Comments

You May Also Like

Event

Webinar: Climate Change and Agriculture in Central America and the Andean Region

This webinar will present results from a multiyear study assessing the potential impact of climate change on the agriculture sector in the region through 2050. Climate change poses a threat...

post

Reviving Central America’s Role in the Global Chocolate Industry

Like wine, whiskey and many other commodities, CRS set out to map the different flavors of cacao with the goal to improve farmer incomes. Field workers studied the different practices...

Madison Lawson

Oct 02, 2017
Event

e-Agriculture webinar: ZFU Ecofarmer Combo - discussing cross-sector partnerships with Mercy Corps

Join us for our next e-Agriculture webinar on cross-sector partnerships in ICT4Ag with Mercy Corps presenting the ZFU Ecofarmer Combo. When: Wednesday 6 December 2017 at 2 PM UTC 3...

post

Future Anticipation Helps Central America Prioritize Climate Investments

In Central America, looking at the future allows prioritizing the most robust investments for climate adaptation.

CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security CCAFS

May 20, 2020

Part of the Activity

Innovation for Agricultural Training and Education
Presentation Audio
PowerPoint Presentation8.14 MB
Audio Transcript263.43 KB
Chat Transcript269.32 KB
BFS Special Event Cross Sector Discussion of Violence in Central America
Follow Agrilinks:
  • Youtube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • RSS
Agrilinks
Achieving agriculture-led food security through knowledge sharing
MarketLinks
Market-based solutions for development
LearningLab
A collaborative learning community of development professionals
Landlinks
USAID's knowledge sharing platform focused on land tenure and property rights
Climatelinks
A global knowledge portal for climate change & development practitioners
Urbanlinks
USAID’s sharing platform for resources on sustainable urban development
Resiliencelinks
A global knowledge platform for resilience practitioners
Globalwaters
Sharing knowledge and ideas to solve global water and sanitation challenges
U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
The information provided on this website is not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

Search Agrilinks

My Account

  • My drafts and published content
  • My profile
Sign out

Contribute To Agrilinks

  • Add a post
  • Add an event
Need help?

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter featuring the latest and greatest Agrilinks content.

You'll also receive invitations to upcoming Agrilinks webinars and other special announcements. We won't share your email address and you can unsubscribe at any time.