Each regional office makes grants in fields that most effectively address problems in that region. In the Mexico and Central America office, we support efforts in five key areas:
Development Finance and Economic Security
We help improve the access of low-income people to financial services that can help them build, manage and control assets. Our goal is to assist the poor in generating sustainable incomes, through business ownership or acquiring job skills, so they can build additional assets such as homeownership or better health and protect against unforeseen setbacks.
Education and Sexuality
We seek to increase access to higher education for the disadvantaged and to deepen public understanding of sexuality and its relationship to human fulfillment, culture and identity. Our grants support the education of new leaders and thinkers and foster knowledge and curriculums that support inclusion, development and civic life. We also support access to comprehensive sexuality education, both in school and outside of school, to help prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. We also support education that addresses the prevention of sexual violence and the achievement of gender equity.
Environment and Development
We promote the sustainable use of natural resources in rural southern Mexico and Central America. Our work focuses on forestry and tourism activities that can simultaneously provide jobs and income, protect the environment and build healthy communities. We are particularly interested in indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Most of our funding goes toward efforts to improve policies, institutions, understanding and training related to these issues, rather than supporting field activities in specific locations.
Governance and Civil Society
We invest in the development of local, national and regional efforts to strengthen public, private and civil society accountability. These initiatives seek to expand access to information, promote freedom of expression, and strengthen citizen involvement in the oversight of government performance. We also address challenges to human security and democratization processes triggered by the emerging forces of organized crime, economic instability, market-driven reforms, and the de facto power of economic elites. We partner with civil society organizations, academic and governmental stakeholders and support initiatives to strengthen state action for the public good.
Human Rights
We seek to strengthen democratic values, promote diversity and reduce discrimination by fostering civil society growth and strengthening institutions and relationships that will effectively promote and protect the human rights of all people, particularly of traditionally underprivileged and marginalized groups such as migrants, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, women and individuals affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.