A conference focusing on preventing crime and reducing violence in Central America will feature four experts from Creative Associates International, which has programs in three of the target countries.
Called the Regional Prevention and Education Conference, the two-day event is expected to draw 250 funcionários eleitos, formuladores de políticas, program implementers and the media to discuss best practices in these areas, as well as the development of an official conference declaration. It is part of the Sistema de Integração Centro-Americana (SICA in Spanish), an organization comprised of the region’s countries.
Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who will host the conference in Tegucigalpa as the chair of SICA, said in a prepared statement that Central American countries need to share their experiences of what works in crime and violence prevention and how they can be implemented elsewhere.
“During the conference, we want to share the successes of each one of these best practices that we have had in Honduras, which have led to a bringing about peace and tranquility and reducing the rate of delinquency,” President Hernandez said in a statement.
He called for a regional approach to reducing crime and violence.
Creative has been working in communities throughout Central America to develop techniques that engage both policymakers and communities in the prevention and reduction of violence.
Guilherme Céspedes, former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, will speak about Creative’s secondary prevention project in Honduras called Propor mais.
Financiado pelos EUA. Agência para o Desenvolvimento Internacional, the Proponte Más project will identify and work with 800 famílias e suas idades juvenis 8 para 17 que estão empiricamente em maior risco de ingressar em gangues. Using the Youth Service Eligibility Tool (YSET), youth are evaluated based on a series of nine risk factors at a family, domínio de nível individual e de pares.
Baseia-se num sucesso piloto de 100 famílias na capital hondurenha.
Salvador Stadthagen, the former Ambassador of Nicaragua to the United States and currently the head of Creative’s Aliança Juvenil de Honduras projeto, will discuss community empowerment. Financiado pela USAID, o projeto has had significant results in the target communities with the highest concentrations of at-risk youth.
Joining Stadthagen on the community empowerment panel is Juan Jose Hernandez of Creative’s Projeto de Prevenção ao Crime e à Violência em Salvador. Hernandez is one of the leading developers of successful outreach centers in neighborhoods with high rates of crime and violence.
Creative’s outreach centers are important to high-at-risk communities in O salvador, Honduras, Panamá e Guatemala.
Fabian Bendersky, psicóloga clínica argentina e consultora criativa, will discuss how sports plays a role in supporting at-risk youth. He will be joined by a representative from the Juventude contra a violência organização, which is supported by USAID and Creative.
In addition to its speaking roles, Creative is one of the sponsors of the Regional Prevention and Education Conference. Apart from the government of Honduras, the host, other sponsors include the World Bank, o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento, the U.N. Programa de Desenvolvimento.