Testimony of Harold Sibaja

Regional Representative

Creative Associates International, Inc.

Before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere

“Central America and the Merida Initiative”

May 8, 2008

10 a.m.

Room 2226 Rayburn House Office Building

Good morning Chairman Engel and Members of the Subcommittee.  I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning and to address the topic of “Central America and the Merida Initiative.” 

 

My name is Harold Sibaja and I am Regional Director in Central America for Creative Associates International, Inc. (Creative).  Creative is a minority women-owned and managed professional and technical services firm in Washington, D.C. Creative has more than 31 years of experience in managing complex projects in conflict and post conflict environments for the U. S. Government, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense and other international donors. 

 

Specifically, because I led and managed Creative’s USAID-funded Youth Alliance Program, an initiative that addressed the challenges of youth and their involvement in gangs in Guatemala, I have been asked to provide an assessment of the challenges confronting youth and the region as well as the matter of an effective balance between prevention and enforcement within the context of the Merida Initiative.

 

Before I get to the challenges, I would respectfully submit that a preventive-soft power approach should be part of a plan to address the challenges of youth gangs in an effective and balanced manner.

 

The Challenge

 

Having said that, I would like to address the findings of the USAID-funded Youth Gang Assessment that provided the basis for several initiatives under the Youth Alliance Program which ended earlier this year. A follow-on project has recently been launched. It will build on the Youth Alliance Program’s impact which continues to benefit Guatemalan youth, who would otherwise have few alternatives to counteract the powerful influences of gangs.

 

 In 2005 USAID asked Creative to conduct a joint study called, “USAID CAMS Gangs Assessment”.  That study produced the following findings:

·                    Youth gang activity is transnational and requires a coordinated and multinational response, including coordination with non-U.S. agencies and governments;

·                    Youth gang members and gangs  in Central America are not homogenous and there is no typology applicable to every gang, the membership, activities, and level of violence;

·                    While gangs are diverse, the factors driving gang activity in the region include a lack of opportunity, both educational and economic with associated drivers of intra- family violence, access to drugs and firearms, and overwhelmed and ineffective justice systems;

·                    Central American governments cite as a primary source of the gang problem, the deportation of gang members by the U.S. government;

·                    Faith Based Organizations are a critical element to enable youth to leave gangs.

·                    That an effective response requires an inclusive mix and balance of prevention, intervention, and law enforcement to achieve sustainable results.

 

In a response to this study, USAID and its Global Development Alliance developed a partnership in Guatemala that included the USAID, Creative, governmental and non-governmental sectors, and quite importantly, the private sector to begin to address the challenges of which we speak.

 

What started under an $800,000 agreement with USAID and the Global Development Alliance and which ultimately grew to a value of $1.6 million, has provided a second chance to scores of vulnerable Guatemalan youth through the shared commitment of local communities, faith-based organizations, the private sector, and the Guatemalan government. This effort, the aforementioned Youth Alliance Program, known in Spanish as Programa Alianza Joven, provided sustainable crime-prevention capacity through training, education and income generating activities.

 

One of the programs developed, what we called “Challenge 100—Peace for Guatemala” paired former gang members with local businesses that provided on-the-job training and internships and job opportunities for former gang members, young men and women alike. The effort grew out of a reality show called “Challenge 10—Peace for the EX,” which involved two groups of five former gang members that competed to create legitimate businesses – a car wash and a shoe repair – under the guidance of two prominent private-sector mentors. Launched as a reality television series, “Challenge 10” (www.challenge10.com) drew international media attention and led to increased awareness that former gang members are worthy of second chances and can turn their lives around.

 

Through these efforts, we have also formed critical new alliances with faith-based organizations which are especially effective in dissuading youths from joining gangs.  To date, seven Youth Alliance Program-sponsored outreach centers provide a safe haven for hundreds of youths every day who come to learn new skills and take part in recreation rather than falling prey to gang influences.

 

Recently, the USAID awarded Creative the Regional Youth Alliance program, known in Spanish as Alianza Joven Regional USAID-SICA, in recognition of the firm’s successful innovative prevention and intervention programs that have integrated ex-gang members into society and prevent youth from joining gangs. Central to this initiative are public-private alliances involving SICA, the Central American Integration System and the private sector in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. The program was officially launched on April 9, in San Salvador, El Salvador.

 

I would ask at this point, to be allowed to submit more extensive materials about the USAID-funded programs, including video productions which I hope you may review. (Submit Materials)

 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, based on the joint USAID-Creative study of the challenge of Youth Gangs and our experience in the Youth Alliance Program and current initiatives under the Regional Youth Alliance USAID-SICA, I believe that prevention and intervention are critical to an effective approach that seeks to address the challenge of Youth Gangs in Central America.  Within the context of the Merida Initiative, I would respectfully recommend the same, that law enforcement be combined with strategic attention paid to prevention and intervention.

 

Chairman Engel and distinguished Members, thank you for the opportunity to address you today.