Investing in post-conflict countries in central america

Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress with the purpose of establishing economic cooperation, social development, and democratic reform between the United States and Latin America. However, Alliance for Progress funds were also used to create counterinsurgency programs and to train paramilitary forces to stop the spread of communist influence in Latin America.

In the late s and s, with the end of the Cold War, the United States supported UN and OAS facilitated peace processes throughout Central America that brought an end to civil conflicts and then helped finance major post-conflict reconstruction efforts. Engagement Moving Forward The challenges in the Northern Triangle require economic growth, good governance, and social progress, and the private sector needs to be front and center in its development. Most of the work must happen in-country, and progress will take at least 10 to 15 years of consistent attention and commitment.

There needs to be a high level of political commitment from elites in these countries: the NTCA political parties need to sign a year commitment with business leaders and unions and set bold goals for Sustainable development in the region will also require continuous, long-term U. NTCA countries view stability, security, economics, and governance as the major issues plaguing their societies.

And yet, the United States views immigration and drugs as the core of the issue. The United States has made a similarly long-term commitment to Plan Colombia, which has made astounding progress even if some work remains to be done. We should expect that the Northern Triangle, which is home to some of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, will still be a work in progress years from now, but with long-term U.

What should U. First, at the political level, the United States is going to have to create mechanisms to maintain attention and engage Republicans. Mexico should also become an equal partner to the United States in its engagement with the NTCA, providing advice, funding, and help for security forces in these countries. Second, in terms of security and justice reform, the NTCA must invest more resources in gang prevention, community safety, corruption control, transnational crime, and drug and human trafficking, both in the short term and long term.

The region must also further efforts on violence and crime prevention, partly by creating sufficient economic and social opportunities. The United States can contribute to this effort by providing added support to professionalize and stem corruption in the police, justice, and military in the NTCA. The army is not trained for police work, and it tends to come in with heavy weapons.

All too frequently abuses—even if only a small minority—undermine confidence in the military as an institution and trust in the government overall. In this context, replicating the kinds of programs that have shown impact in homicide reduction make the most sense. They need replication and expansion, particularly when so many migrants apprehended on the southwest U. Successful programs have emphasized investing in preventive measures dealing with education, inequality, youth employment, and school retention.

A clear strategy focused on high-risk places, people, and behavior is needed, addressing persistent inequality, youth unemployment, weak security and justice institutions, and organized crime. Additionally, it is essential to strengthen the capacity of the police, prosecutors, and judiciary in ways that are inclusive of communities, rather than approaching communities in armored personnel carriers.

Investment focused on deterrence and problem-oriented policing is important. The United States should also think about innovative financing mechanisms such as social impact bonds targeting criminal justice reform, domestic violence prevention, and recidivism reduction.

Moreover, the United States can help diminish drug-related criminal activity by taking measures to decrease drug demand in the United States. As long as there is high drug demand in the United States, nefarious actors from the NTCA and elsewhere will find means to import drugs into the country. Even if the United States closes its southern border, migration, drug-trafficking, and the illegal flow of weapons will continue.

To prevent this, the United States needs to invest both in domestic drug-prevention initiatives and in cooperation with Mexico and Central America to control the flow of money and weapons from the United States, which also fuels gang-related and other types of violence in the NTCA. Third, the United States needs to continue economic programs that help governments increase their tax bases so that they are able to fund investments in security, education, and infrastructure.

Big investments will be needed in cities; after Africa, Central America is the fastest urbanizing region in the world. For example, investments in tourism will require new skills and training, such as English language proficiency. Absent U. What could the Northern Triangle look like in 10 to 15 years if there were greater regional cooperation and investment, continued U. The region needs to make concrete commitments in the areas of security, governance, and economics. In terms of economic growth, NTCA countries should strive to double GDP per capita by by investing in infrastructure, education, and training in promising sectors such as tourism, textiles, and BPO.

Regarding poverty alleviation, meeting SDG targets 1. Targets such as halving homicide rates and human trafficking are just as attainable. Ultimately, if these targets are met, the number of migrants coming to the United States would decline and inspire the NTCA diaspora in the United State to return home, start businesses, and contribute to the economic and social fabric of their countries.

NTCA countries should look to their regional peers and strive to become like Panama or Costa Rica in the next 10 years. Reduced violence is not implausible with a joint and sustained U. To succeed, a U. Daniel F. Runde is senior vice president, holds the William A.

A peace agreement is just a piece of paper until the commitments written on it become a reality. Our foundation focuses its funding on improving food security through agriculture, mitigating conflict through development, building capacity to combat human trafficking, and securing the safety of as many people as possible. Although we created our foundation in with an emphasis on conserving wildlife and habitat, we soon shifted our focus to include people because conservation and sustainability become viable when people have choices beyond simple survival.

I can think of no better investment than in people—like the Colombians— who are resilient enough to have survived decades of conflict. The real question we faced in Colombia was not whether to invest in development but where to start. Our funding can test new ideas, but we need public sector support to bring those ideas to scale in every part of the country that needs investment.

Working with government—locally and nationally—is essential. This foundational investment would redeploy the military to focus on development and secure land for further investments in smallholder agriculture, smaller-scale voluntary coca-crop substitution, and land titling projects. Catatumbo is marked by high levels of violence, poverty, and drugs. About a third of the militants in the National Liberation Army continue to operate in the region as they dispute power with other drug trafficking groups and smaller factions of dissidents.

Why focus investment in the part of Colombia with the most difficult challenges? Because if we can demonstrate success here, we know success is possible everywhere. As an outside funder, we consider every investment through the lens of how any successes we achieve could be sustained or replicated locally and nation- ally after our funding is completed. That informed an approach that mixes one-time capital investments and pilot projects, which could attract future funding if we demonstrate success.

Roads are vital to providing rural farmers access to markets for alter- native crops to replace coca. In September , the foundation signed an agreement to build or improve nearly 50 miles of tertiary and 4. The National Roads Institute is scheduled to complete the first six regional and tertiary roads by the end of , with follow-on funding for the remainder contingent on performance. These roads will enable market access and security, allowing farmers to get better prices for their production of legal crops, thus reducing the incentive to grow coca.

Land titling is another essential element in providing legal alternatives to coca cultivation for rural farmers.

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