Mexican development agency head seeks closer cooperation with USAID

The Mexican and U.S. agencies for international development seek closer cooperation and “common ground” so they can address regional challenges such as irregular migration more effectively, Laura Carillo, executive director of Mexican Agency for International Development, or AMEXCID, told Devex.

Carillo met U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power in Washington last month, and asked for support in increasing the Mexican agency’s capacity to monitor and evaluate its programs and bolster data on what works and why, she said.

AMEXCID wants a strategy in which the agencies are “not working isolated from each other — because we’re both working in Guatemala, we’re both working in El Salvador, and we noted that we can only do so much when we try to do it isolated,” Carillo said in an interview.

“It’s much better to find common ground, not to step on each other’s feet. Whatever program we have, USAID can take it from there and take it to another level,” she added

AMEXCID, which was founded in 2011, primarily provides technical cooperation, sharing best practices and human resources in Central America and the Caribbean. It also provides humanitarian assistance for disasters, sending rescue and relief experts along with in-kind assistance.

AMEXCID and USAID cooperate on development in Central America to provide economic opportunities for people at risk of migration. In December, they announced Sembrando Oportunidades, a program that provides job skills to Honduran youth, allowing them to remain in their communities. The program, which translates as Sowing Opportunities, aims to reach 500,000 people.

Cooperation under the program will eventually include all three Northern Triangle countries and expand into the agricultural sector.

“We are a cooperation agency for development. We are not a migration agency or office and we’re very clear on that,” Carillo said. “[But] when we work in neighboring countries such as Guatemala and El Salvador, you will stumble upon migration issues.”

AMEXCID has two ongoing economic and workforce development programs in Central America, which the agency said have been successful at reducing migration. Both were started in 2019.

Sembrando Vida, or Sowing Lives, provides agricultural input, conditional cash transfers, and technical assistance to farmers to help them increase production for both self-consumption and commercialization of surpluses. Ten thousand farmers each in El Salvador and Honduras have participated in the program, creating 20,000 direct and nearly 45,000 indirect jobs, according to AMEXCID.

The agency’s data shows that before the program, 55.5% of participants in El Salvador were considering migrating. That number shrank to just 0.6% afterward. In Honduras, 56.4% of farmers were considering migrating but now just 1.8% want to leave.

“What we really are after is having a better opportunity for the whole region to develop. If we have better-prepared people, who’ve got more skills, then when they — for instance Guatemalans — when they go to the south of Mexico to work temporarily in the crops and they’re very skilled, it’s much better for our productivity,” Carillo said.

“When we see ourselves as part of a region it’s a win-win situation; when we promote development and economic growth and social growth and education.”

A broader workforce development program, Jovenes Construyendo el Futuro, or Youth Building the Future, trains youth between the ages of 18 and 29 who aren’t currently studying or working. It has reached 10,000 beneficiaries in both El Salvador and Honduras at 800 work centers. AMEXCID also reports a reduction in intention to migrate among participants of this program: from 35.7% to 11.4% in El Salvador, and from 63.5% to 8.5% in Honduras.

Both programs are set to expand to Guatemala and Haiti this year, according to AMEXCID.

Mexico occupies a unique position when it comes to international development, as it is both a donor and recipient of funding. Carillo said that while her agency’s budget is limited, they receive ample return on investment in their programs.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want more money from the Mexican government, she said.

“We need more resources, yes. But who doesn’t, right?” Carillo said. “If we had more funding, we would make good use of it. If we can get other agencies, other countries to look at this and try it, we’re pretty sure they’re going to be happy with the results.”