The case of Guatemala Community Protection Approach in Central America
WeWorld GVC has been implementing the project “PROMOTING ACTIVITIES OF CAPACITY BUILDING IN LIVELIHOOD, LEGAL PROTECTION, HEALTH AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE FOR MIGRANTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA” financed by EACEA and in consortium with Acción contra el Hambre y Medicos del Mundo. The aim of the project is contributing to strengthen the response capacities of European and local NGOs providing humanitarian assistance in migration crises.
The first part of this process consist in the adaptation of the CPA in Central America through a need assessment realized in Guatemala to tailor the methodology and the training tools to the local context. Francesco Michele, Humanitarian and Protection Policy Expert at WeWorld GVC participated in a 7 days mission to Guatemala to present the CPA to the regional representatives of the 3 organizations involved in the project. The objective has been to provide an analysis of the protection needs in Guatemala and the gaps that affect the local response system. In particular, this analysis focused on the lack of knowledge of the local organizations on protection issues and the potential of the CPA methodology in resilience building.
The set of tools produced so far by the CPA Task Force has been translating to Spanish as part of the practical implementation of the CPA in Central America. The CPA Overview has already been translated and the first of the three webinars planned to disseminate the methodology was carried out at the beginning of March. Also the Multisector Questionnaire reached the final step of the revision and has been already tested in the field in a community in the Department of Huehuetenango.
The project includes a regional training of local experts representing the organizations involved in the project. The participants are local instructors and multipliers and the training is focused on humanitarian aid. The main topics are the principles of protection, the community approach and the gender focus. The mission of Francesco Michele in October 2018 to Guatemala provided with an introduction on the CPA while in March 2019 Julian Ibarguen, the CPA Data Analyst, carried out a 7 days mission to train the project partners on the MQ and IPSI.
The local experts trained in the previous activity will carry out 4 days of theoretical training and 5 days of practical implementation of the CPA at community level. The participants in these trainings are local organizations and field offices that will be able to use the CPA to work in the field with vulnerable communities. The CPA Data Analyst Julian Ibarguen already trained 10 GVC staff members (8 from Guatemala and 2 from Nicaragua). He carried out a session focused on the MQ and IPSI and a practical exercise of data collection using the questionnaire in the community of Pueblo Viejo in Malacatancito.
