During her June 13-17, 2021 trip, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced the following new initiatives to promote good governance and expand opportunities that will enable the people of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to build hopeful futures at home.
Youth were a central feature of these new initiatives:
- In Honduras, USAID will provide $10.1 million to support youth employment at home by working alongside Honduran civil society and the private sector in Honduras to provide workforce development services to at least 500,000 young people in the next five years.
- In El Salvador, USAID has pledged nearly $12 million to help small businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19, as well as new multi-year solicitations for up to $115 million to address crime and violence, including gender-based violence, and provide opportunities to youth and likely migrants
- In Guatemala, through the $5 million USAID BRIDGE Partnership, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Universidad del Valle will develop a replicable model to enable Latin American colleges and universities to foster youth employment, entrepreneurship, and innovation to help address the challenges driving people from their communities.