In recent decades, Northern Central America (NCA) has faced high rates of violence, mainly at the community, school, and intra-family levels. Violence serves as one of several drivers of internal and external displacement in the region that dramatically affects children, youth, women, and the LGBTQI+ population. Evidence has demonstrated that socioemotional education in childhood positively affects the development of social competencies, reduces anxiety, drug use, stress, and improves academic performance by up to 11%. However, key education stakeholders in NCA often do not receive clear and accessible information on existing evidence or on how to develop educational programs and policies to effectively prevent violence.

USAID and IRC’s Response  

To respond to this crisis in NCA, USAID granted the IRC $8.25 million USD to implement RETO over three years (October 2021- September 2024).  RETO seeks to create demand for sustainable solutions for the prevention of violence that impacts youth through evidence-based educational policies and programs. RETO engages key education stakeholders, including youth leaders, to identify evidence gaps, execute focused search strategies for relevant evidence, and translate the results into actionable guidance for education programming and policymaking. To provide strategic guidance to RETO, IRC leverages its global Evidence to Action team within the Airbel Impact Lab, which specializes in synthesizing research to inform program design.

To drive RETO’s work in each country, IRC has formed a core team of 11 national organizations, including youth advocates, researchers, policy advocates, educators, and representatives of the private sector: 

• El Salvador: Fundación para la Educación Integral Salvadoreña (FEDISAL), Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (FUNDEMAS), Fundación Salvadoreña para Desarrollo Económico y Social (FUSADES), and Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA);  
• Guatemala: Empresarios por la Educación (ExE), Fundación para el Desarrollo de Guatemala (FUNDESA), Jóvenes contra la Violencia (JCV-GT), and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG); 
• Honduras: Fundación Hondureña de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (FUNDAHRSE), Jóvenes contra la Violencia (JCVH), and Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán (UPNFM). 

Learn more in the factsheet attached!