Second Special Meeting on Criminal Gangs Toward a Regional

Strategy to Promote Inter-American Cooperation

March 2, 2010

USAID Gang Prevention Activities in Latin

America & Caribbean

U.S. Anti-Gang Strategy

Integrated Approach: Justice Sector

Strengthening Law Enforcement

Capacity-Building Prevention Rehabilitation

LAW ENFORCEMENTCAPACITY-BUILDING

PREVENTION

REHABILITATION

JUSTICE SECTORSTRENGTHENING

USAID Anti-Gang ProgramsPrevention/Rehabilitation

U.S. Experience: Solid Evidence for Prevention Sustainable: focus on underlying factors helps break the

cycle of poverty and violence. Cost-effective. Eases pressure on prison system. Rehabilitation reduces risk of recidivism, builds community

cohesion. Recommendations of Gangs Assessment, 2006

Prevention programs to mend social fabric. Municipal information systems. Skills training. Employment opportunities. Health and Social Services.

USAID Anti-Gang Programs

Focus on the Justice Sector Crimes Against Life Unit and 24 Hour Courts - Guatemala Criminal Procedure Reform - El Salvador Dispute Mediation Centers - El Salvador Juvenile Justice Reform – Central America

Focus on Law Enforcement Capacity-Building Community-based Policing

Villa Nueva, Guatemala Grants Pen, Jamaica El Salvador

USAID Anti-Gang Programs

Focus on Community-Based Solutions Gangs are not the only problem. Entire community must be made resilient and resistant

to crime and violence. Youth growing up in safer communities are less likely to

face the temptation of crime and violence. Examples:

Centros de Alcance “Por mi Barrio” – El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras

Community-Based Crime and Violence Prevention – El Salvador

Community Empowerment and Transformation - Jamaica

USAID Anti-Gang Programs

Focus on Local Government Long-term sustainability Cultural shift, promoting official prevention

policies. Examples

Municipal Partnerships for Violence Prevention – Central America. Encourages sharing of best practices and lessons learned among local officials.

Centros de Alcance strong local government buy-in. Community-based crime and violence prevention – El

Salvador. Encourages problem-solving between communities and local officials.

USAID Anti-Gang ProgramsFocus on Youth

Education: Educatodos – Honduras. Basic education Civic Education and Values for Youth –

Honduras. Participatory citizenship and problem-solving.

COMET. Entrepreneurship opportunities to at-risk youth.

Centros de Alcance. constructive recreation, life skills.

Media OAS – Central America. Teaches at-risk

youth to create and disseminate messages against crime, violence, and substance abuse.

Changing Popular Attitudes: Desafio 10 –Guatemala. Changed

attitudes about ex-gang members. Desafio 100 –Guatemala. Provides jobs

to at-risk youth in large companies.

Why Evaluate Programs? To improve our programs To build support for community-based

crime prevention programs Lack of rigorous evaluation of crime

prevention methodology U.S. Government’s typical indicators do not

measure impact/outcomes Example: # of communities assisted in crime

prevention with USG support

Evaluation Design Random division of 100 similar communities

33 treatment and 67 control communities El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama

3 years – baseline, mid-point and final Multiple methods to collect data Vanderbilt University/LAPOP – AmericasBarometer

Surveys

Focus Groups

In-depth Interviews

Hard Data

Accurate portrayal of community

conditions before and after program

implementation

Evaluation Challenges Significant commitment by USAID

Long timeline Resource intensive

Multiple stakeholders Community selection

Sequencing Evaluation design built alongside program design Baseline before program begins

Scientific challenges Lack of data Selection bias, attribution, spillover, lagged effects

Challenges & Next StepsUSAID Seeks Partnership to: Build and share best practices in monitoring and

impact evaluation as an approach. Develop national strategies and deploy resources

for prevention approaches. Engage municipalities to systematically share

best practices across the region. Identify private sector equities and partnerships. Develop strategies to work with media.

Contact InformationUSAID

Democracy and Human Rights TeamOffice of Regional Sustainable DevelopmentBureau for Latin America and the Caribbean

E. Brennan Dornebdorn@usaid.gov