NRC in North of Central America and Mexico

Humanitarian overview

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (the countries constituting North of Central America, or NCA) and Mexico, are experiencing devastating humanitarian crises. These crises are driven by generalised violence, recurrent extreme weather events, structural poverty and inequality, political instability, and other factors. For the second consecutive year, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in NCA has increased and it is now estimated at a staggering 9.3 million (OCHA 2022), almost 30 per cent of the overall population.

Central America is the region with the highest homicide rate in the world and life is particularly difficult for women and girls. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of 2022, 4.8 million people are in need of protection assistance and over 8 million are food insecure.

Meanwhile, the number of people crossing or stranded in NCA and Mexico in increasingly dangerous conditions aiming to enter the United States keeps reaching new heights, adding more pressure to host communities and overwhelming migration and protection authorities across the region.  

NRC's operation

NRC has been working in the region since 2014, meeting the needs of tens of thousands affected by violence and disasters, including the internally displaced, refugees, people in need of international protection, deported people, their hosts, and children and youth out of school or at risk of dropping out.

We contribute to the development of policy aiming to protect the rights of the displaced and we call for increased humanitarian funding and engagement on processes that will generate structural changes in protection and assistance in the region.

Education

We work to ensure that children and youth have access to education and safe schools, despite violence and displacement. In collaboration with local communities and local and national authorities, our teams:

• identify out-of-school children and youth and prepare them to resume education activities and gain basic skills to remain safe
• promote and provide safe education opportunities, including flexible learning modalities, according to their needs
• strengthen the capacities of local communities and institutions

Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA)

To protect those who had to flee their homes, as well as those deported back to the region, we:

• provide information and counselling on humanitarian assistance, asylum procedures, and other legal pathways for people in need of international protection
• support authorities at local and national level to develop legal frameworks or improve practices to protect the rights of the forcibly displaced
• provide services to ensure access to Refugee Status Determination and housing, land and property rights

Water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH)

To support those affected by displacement, violence and disasters, we:

• rehabilitate schools to help children access a learning environment where safety requirements are met
• work with school staff and communities to promote hygiene practices and messages
• build the capacity of local organisations and institutions to respond to displacement emergencies, in line with the international humanitarian standards

Livelihoods and food security

We support vulnerable displaced people to restore their livelihoods by providing resources, training and coaching on running small businesses.

We also work with community centres to offer livelihoods training to vulnerable populations by strengthening development plans, improving curriculum designs and investing in equipment and materials for training programmes.

Our teams work with communities in rural areas exposed to climate hazards and food insecurity. We help implement climate-smart agricultural practices and make food production systems climate-resilient, while supporting the most vulnerable households with emergency cash to cover immediate basic needs including food.

Protection from violence

We assist people affected by forced displacement to protect their rights, mental health and physical security. We take a case-by-case approach to working to reduce peoples’ exposure to violence and enhance their resilience.

We support communities to recognise protection risks and develop self-protection strategies. We aim to empower people facing protection risks, and support duty bearers to improve their protection responses accordingly to meet protection minimum standards.

In collaboration with other humanitarian actors, we also collect and analyse information on mixed migration movements. This informs our operations to achieve a better humanitarian response, especially at key borders of the migratory route.

Advocacy

We contribute to the development of policy aiming to protect the rights of the displaced, and we call for increased principled humanitarian funding and engagement on processes that will generate structural changes in protection and assistance in the region.

Visit NRC Latin America’s website in Spanish here.