• ActionAid
• Focus areas of our work
  • Building local democracy
  • Fighting corruption
  • Conflict management
  • Land rights
  • Trade justice
  • Gender equality
  • Youth for development
• How we work
  • Civil society and partnerships
  • Personnel assistance
• Countries we work in
  • Central America
  • Kenya
  • Middle East
  • Mozambique
  • Nepal
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
• Examples and results
  • Partner stories
  • Personal stories
• The organisation
  • Vision and mission
  • Association and board
  • Corporate documents

Strengthening local democracy

Poverty is increasing in Central America, affecting rural populations in general, and women and youth in particular. At the same time, inequality is also deepening the gap between rich and poor, and an increasing part of the population suffers from economic, political or social exclusion. In this connection, women, youth and indigenous populations are particularly vulnerable, and among youth there is in increasing tendency to consider migration – either to the North or to the South – as one of the only solutions.

Poverty, inequality and exclusion are not new to Central America. During the dictatorships of past years, people experienced the same problems. As the peace processes advanced, democracy was seen as a means to stop the civil wars in the region. However, in many ways, the Central American democracy can be considered more formal than real, as voters are considered nothing but voters with the power to periodically elect governments and people in power.

Democracy has not yet been able to present meaningful proposals on how to get beyond the socioeconomic and cultural conflicts existing in all of the Central American countries, both a local, national, and regional level.

Generally, there is limited public participation in decision-making. Citizens feel no ownership in relation to local development, but pass on responsibility to elected authorities or centrally designated, public institutions. This in itself constitutes a vicious circle that reproduces itself through a vertical, male dominated and exclusive political culture.

This circle can only be broken though the citizens’ active and legitimate participation in a real democracy. Fortunately, at local level one can indeed find examples of this kind of participation, as more citizens’ groups with success manage to participate in public planning and obtain more insight and better opportunities for controlling public finances.

MS in Central America

MS has been working in Central America since 1991, when the first office was opened in Nicaragua. In 1992 the program was extended to El Salvador, in 1995 to Honduras, and in 1997 to Guatemala. At present we have offices in all four countries, in order to assure a close personal contact with our local partner organisations. Right from the outset, the program was designed as regional, in part due to the smallness of the region, but also because of the, in many ways, similar challenges that the countries face. For that same reason, MS has tried to promote cooperation between local partner organisations, both at local, national, and regional level. In Central America, our program has three focuses: building local democracy, trade justice and migration.

Building local democracy

50 percent of our resources are invested in building local democracy in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. This is done by supporting the organisation and training of citizens, in order for these to be able to elaborate concrete proposals and put forward relevant and realistic demands to local authorities, in regards to the use of public funds.

Trade justice

30 percent of our resources are used on promoting poor campesinos’ accesss to the fair trade market. This is in part done by increasing citizens’ capacity to take advantage of the economic potential in rural tourism, local and international markets and supporting activities that promote the export of coffee.

Migration

Finally, we spend 20 percent of our resources on examining the possibilities for a deeper involvement in migration issues. Each year, migration has bigger and bigger social, economic, and democratic consequences for the Central American countries. We support the organisation of migrants’ families, in order for these to get together and define local development plans on how to make better use of the money received from migrants abroad.

Target groups

In our cooperation with local partners we focus especially on the vulnerable and exposed groups in the region. In particular, our focus is on women, youth and poor campesinos. In Guatemala, we pay special attention to the situation of indigenous people.

How does MS work in Central America

In Central America, MS cooperate with rather small and weak organisations, and we therefore prioritize networking. Many of our partner organisations are so small that their possibilities for influence are limited if they work by themselves. But when the organisations learn from each other and for instance coordinate advocacy at local, national or regional level, their possibilities for creating sustainable and lasting results are bigger.

MS as such does not implement development projects. We support development by identifying and supporting local organisations, which are able to reach the target groups – poor campesinos, women, and youth. In order for these organisations to create sustainable results, it is necessary that they are in charge. Because eventually, they are the ones who will have the main responsibility for continuing the work.

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