Cross-Cutting Activities

Food Security
Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability
Youth and Indigenous Leadership
Gender

Guatemala faces specific challenges that can be addressed most effectively by a cross-cutting approach, rather than by a sectoral approach. Thus, USAID/Guatemala designed activities that address these three themes across its portfolio. The cross-cutting activities are: 1) food security, 2) accountability and transparency, and, 3) youth and indigenous leadership.

Food Security

The Problem
Chronic child malnutrition in Guatemala is high, persistent, and has strong ethnic and geographic dimensions. Guatemala continues to have the highest rate of chronic malnutrition (49% nationally) in this hemisphere, higher than many countries in Africa. The most troubling aspect of Guatemalan chronic child malnutrition is its persistence and concentration among the indigenous population (indigenous 69% vs. non-indigenous 35%). Relative levels have changed little since 1995. At current rates of progress, it would take 20 years to eliminate stunting among the non-indigenous and 83 years among the indigenous population.

As a result of the USAID-supported national first grade student height census in 2001, it is now known which municipalities have the highest rates of stunting. Most of these municipalities are predominantly indigenous, located in the highlands of the country, and some have total stunting rates higher than 80%. The international Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has also done socioeconomic studies to identify six different vulnerable groups, of which the following three are the largest:

1. Small-scale farmers in eastern transitional lands near the border with Honduras (520,000 people).

2. Small-scale farmers in northern lowlands and highlands, primarily in Alta Verapaz (750,000 people) of which 20% are landless and 80% have land but no title.

3. Small-scale farmers in the western volcanic lands, transitional lands and highlands (1 million people) of which 54% have little or no land, 19% have some land for subsistence purposes, and 22% have some land for market activities.

These groups are differentiated by agro-climatic endowments but share similar patterns for labor migration and problems with access to land. All of these groups suffer from inadequate access to land for food security purposes and need off-farm income from seasonal migration for coffee and sugar cane harvesting to survive.

USAID Response
About half a million of Guatemala's poor families benefit from the USAID/Guatemala food security programs. USAID/Guatemala's food security program uses PL-480 ("Public Law 480" is the authorizing legislation for this program) Title II and Development Assistance funds to achieve the goal of improved food security for at-risk Guatemalans.

USAID provides from $16 to $18 million a year in food assistance. Roughly a third of this assistance is "monetized" or sold on the local market to generate funds for integrated and complementary income generation, basic health care and nutrition activities.

The Food Security programs are integrated activities that provide nutritious foods to populations in greatest need, particularly women and children, while at the same time engaging them in sustainable development practices. Examples of these practices include nutritional cooking classes, hygienic food preparation and feeding practices, growth monitoring of small children, disease prevention, improved infrastructure for small animal husbandry and family farms that improve family nutritional status as well as generate additional income. Participating families also receive technical assistance to develop small enterprises that are more market-oriented and competitive in the local market.

The program donates food commodities (such as corn-soy blend, pinto beans, black beans, soy fortified bulgur, rice and vegetable oil, and crude de-gummed soy oil) through U.S. and Guatemalan NGOs. In turn, these organizations distribute food to families through community development programs. They then sell some of the food on the open market to finance complementary social and economic development programs.

Each of the USAID/Guatemala offices: Democracy and Governance; Enterprise, Trade and Environment; Health and Education noted in the Guatemala Country Plan incorporates activities and indicators that directly contribute to this food security objective. The basic premise is that at the end of the strategy period (2004-2009), local and national governments will play a stronger and more effective role in directing resources.

Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability

The Problem
"Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it," said Transparency International (TI) Chairman Peter Eigen. "The two sources feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty."

Although 16 years have passed since the return to democratic rule, Guatemala's democracy and key institutions (e.g., the Congress, judicial system, and local governments) remain fragile and generally influenced by private interests. Politics are personalized and polarized. Common crime is rampant, impunity is widespread and corruption is endemic and fueled by organized crime, money laundering, and drug and alien smuggling. Guatemala has a long history of political and economic inequality that has contributed to the weak structures of governance and poverty, which, in turn, have left significant portions of society, especially indigenous people, marginalized and disenfranchised.

Since the end of the armed conflict in 1996, progress has been made in establishing democratic political reforms. However, patterns of influence and control of established elites remain largely unchanged. Corruption and a lack of transparency and accountability in the public sector are among the most significant factors influencing the slow economic growth and capital investment.

USAID Response
Government of Guatemala (GOG) Institutional Assessments and Implementation of Follow-on Recommendations -- At the direct request of President Oscar Berger, USAID undertook institutional assessments of over ten GoG ministries and four other public entities that together manage approximately 70% of Guatemala's operational budget. Each assessment evaluates the organizational structure, administrative/financial management, and internal/external controls to carry out the stated objectives of each institution. Each assessed organization has developed an action plan to address the weaknesses identified and introduce needed procedures and internal controls. USAID will provide some limited follow-on support for institution-specific findings and Government-wide systemic reforms that will focus on key areas such as organizational structure, personnel management, procurement policies, accounting systems, budget, strategic planning, and others.

Internal Strengthening of the Comptroller General -- USAID is providing technical assistance and support for internal strengthening of the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) since this institution plays a critical role in ensuring accountability of host country and other donor resources. The assistance will focus on the following areas: 1) Assessment of the OCG's organization, structure and operational policies and procedures; 2) Development of a viable work plan and implementation of identified priority areas in the following fields: strategic planning, out-sourcing of audit services, development and implementation of audit standards, methodologies and procedures to institutionalize the performance-based audit approach, audit management and resolution program, development of a web site, internal audit functions, and financial disclosure reports by public officials; 3) Short-term technical assistance to be provided by other Latin American Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), such as the SAI of Bolivia, which is the only SAI certified in ISO 9000; 4) Attendance at international conferences, and 5) Purchase of essential equipment.

Youth and Indigenous Leadership

The Problem
Approximately 35% of Guatemala's population is between 15 and 29 years old and 11% are between 15 and 19 years old. Only 19% of youth are enrolled in high school and in some provinces 10% or less are enrolled. With a population doubling time of 19 years, the youth population is growing rapidly.

The lack of opportunities for education, training and employment severely limits the life options that youth have and most become unskilled laborers before their 15th birthday. This is particularly acute among rural, indigenous youth. Desperate, many young women and men migrate to cities and other countries in search of work and an increasing number fall into "easy earnings" in organized crime and gangs.

USAID Response
The target groups for specific USAID youth and indigenous cross-cutting activities are youth between 10 and 25 years of age living in rural areas, marginal urban areas, and indigenous leaders. Indigenous is self-identified as pertaining to one of Guatemala's 24 indigenous ethno-linguistic groups.

To address the need for youth and indigenous leadership in Guatemala, USAID pooled resources across the three sector offices to fund a basic education and a higher education scholarship program for technical, university and post-graduate degree programs. The USAID contributions are leveraged with the private sector: one from the corporate sector and one from participating universities or institutes. All academic scholarships will be accompanied by leadership and professional development support activities (e.g. English, ICT, and entrepreneurial skills).

As a strategy to reduce high rates maternal and neonatal mortality in rural indigenous areas, USAID funds a scholarship program to train Mayan nurse aides as skilled birth-attendants. After the carefully selected Mayan nurse aides complete the training program, they will be placed by the Ministry of Health to provide service in predominantly indigenous parts of the country. This strategy blends the best of the Mayan culture, its human capital, with the best of Western medicine.

Gender

Gender is intrinsic to our portfolio and cuts across sectors. (See Our Programs/Special Initiatives)

Under our Democracy and Governance program, a gender and ethnicity plan was developed to adequately address women's and indigenous peoples' issues related to the justice system reform and modernization and include activities to assist the Special Prosecutor's Office of Crimes against Women and the Domestic Violence Commissions of the USAID-supported Justice Centers.

Our Trade and Economic Growth program financed the participation of six Government of Guatemala (GoG) and NGO leaders in the Global Summit of Women held in México in June 2005. Follow-on meetings upon their return with Guatemala's First Lady Wendy de Berger resulted in an initiative called "GUATEMUJER -- Opening the Way of Development to the Woman" that provides opportunities for women to participate in income generation projects and training in local governance. In the case of community-based tourism activities, meetings and workshops are planned around the availability of Q'eqchi' Maya women. A notable feature of the Candelaria Camposanto tourism destination is that the best ecotourism guides are three Q'eqchi' women. In Petén, particularly in the forest concessions, gender inequalities exist in participation of forestry activities. USAID promoted the revision of the communities' by-laws to incorporate articles that promoted women be considered for important positions in the board of directors.

Our Education program helps improve access to education for all children who do not have the opportunity to attend schools. The success of pilot programs has encouraged other donors to become involved, resulting in greater educational equity. Current programming focuses on closing the gender gap in access to education between boys and girls. Specifically, our program supports the GoG's priority to enhance girls' gross primary school completion. This rate improved from 59.6% in 2003 to 61.7% in 2004.

Our Health program supports efforts to increase access to and improve the quality of health care delivery systems for poor, indigenous women and children of the Western Highlands. The Mission supports initiatives to strengthen the capacity of health care networks and improve cooperation among the many groups involved in the health system, including local communities. USAID/Guatemala also promotes the development of effective campaigns to address reproductive health problems and violence against women and to increase public health expenditures for preventive health care.