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    Cecilia Barraza

    Cecilia Barraza is a Colombian GBV expert with 27 years of experience designing and implementing public policies to advance gender equity, improve access to justice, and reduce GBV. She currently serves as deputy chief of party on the USAID/Colombia Justice for Sustainable Peace project. Cecilia has served as an advisor on the Presidential Council for…

    Beekeeping: A Sweet Solution for Rural Colombia

    Science shows that honey, rich in antioxidants, can lower a person’s cholesterol and promote healing. As a commodity, it can also transform entire communities. Just ask Zoraida Silgado Escobar, legal representative for the Carbebias Honey Producer Association (Asocabebias), in Northern Colombia. Before beekeeping helped to change her community, her father and neighbors earned their livelihood…

    How USAID’s Solicitations and Resulting Awards Include Underrepresented Groups

    The paper’s background section explains why the study focused on these four social groups and explores the diversity that exists across and within them. In addition, the paper examines whether it is effective to use the phrase “vulnerable groups” to refer to the collection of social groups that programming is intended to include. The paper…

    An Argument for Inclusive Stabilization

    Photo courtesy of USAID Colombia Human Rights Activity. This post originally appeared on Devex. When everyone is struggling to recover from violent conflict, singling out one community for assistance among many ethnic and religious identities can actually make matters worse. Yet, to heal the inter-community rifts that set the stage for conflict, targeted outreach to…

    To Respond to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis, Let’s Also Tap the Private Sector

    Globally, new momentum is building for the private sector’s participation in alleviating migration crises worldwide and supporting migrants’ and refugees’ integration. From investing in migrant-owned businesses to engaging a migrant workforce or securing resources for optimal basic service delivery for migrants and host communities, private sector engagement offers unique avenues for helping to solve migration…

    Mitigating Climate Change in Colombia

    In Colombia, a country highly dependent on natural resources, climate change will have significant consequences. As the country consolidates a historic peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), it must also prepare for potential environmental deterioration as former combatants and displaced people resettle in rural areas. These challenges call for early action…

    Conserving Guatemala’s Ecosystems with Good Governance

    From mangroves to pine trees and sea turtles to quetzals, Guatemala is home to an incredibly diverse host of species and ecosystems. As one of the most ecologically diverse nations on the planet, Guatemala’s biodiversity underpins its food security, clean air and water, economic development, and local livelihoods. But its complex ecosystems are vulnerable to…

    3 Questions with Angélica Medina: Breaking Social Inclusion Barriers in Colombia

    Angélica Medina is the gender and vulnerable populations expert for the USAID Human Rights Activity (HRA) in Colombia. HRA responds to a history of human rights violations in Colombia by promoting a culture of human rights. Why is social inclusion important for the development of Colombia? Inequality in Colombia has largely overshadowed women’s progress to…

    Helping To Conserve the Peruvian Amazon

    The Peruvian Amazon is a tropical rainforest covering more than 270,000 square miles, and its vast collection of plant and animal species make Peru one of the world’s most biologically diverse countries. Many Peruvians rely on forest-based livelihoods to feed their families, but a deforestation crisis has jeopardized their jobs. The USAID Peru Environmental Management…

    A Roadmap for Conservation in Colombia

    In December 2015, Colombia’s President Juan Manual Santos made a historic commitment to Colombia’s conservation efforts, promising to expand the National Protected Area System by 2.5 million hectares. The government of Colombia is also pursuing expansive rural development that aligns with its peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). To support these…

    Strengthening Interethnic Cooperation in Kosovo

    Limited cooperation between Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs since 1999 has hindered the country’s social, economic, and political development, prolonging the region’s instability and lengthening timetables for European Union accession. The USAID Advancing Kosovo Together (AKT) program improved conditions that enabled Kosovo Serbs and other ethnic minorities to participate in the workforce and government institutions…