5 Ways USAID Promotes Inclusion in Latin America & the Caribbean

Bringing people from the margins to the center to create opportunity for everyone

Two people from the Indigenous Shipibo Conibo community in the Peruvian Amazon water their plants as part of USAID Forest Alliance’s communal forest management. / Alfred Ruffner for USAID

In Latin America and the Caribbean, USAID empowers local partners to build more inclusive societies, ensuring everyone has access to opportunities to thrive. We work to build a region in which people of diverse identities and experiences can take an instrumental role in the transformation of their societies.

Here are five ways we support bringing people from the margins to the center:

1. Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous communities play an invaluable role in the region, and USAID supports their efforts to promote their cultures and to lead in the protection of their environments and natural resources.

Through USAID’s Forest Alliance project, Cacataibo and Shipibo Conibo Indigenous communities in Peru take the lead on conserving and restoring forests under an innovative public-private management model to encourage inclusive businesses, reduce carbon emissions, and empower local communities to lead.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which can lessen the effects of climate change, but when cut down they release carbon into the atmosphere. By conserving, reforesting, and preventing illegal logging, the project offset more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, over 350 Indigenous families came away with improved skills and livelihoods, such as starting sustainable businesses, planting trees, and farming cacao.

“With the trees, I secure my future,” said Eldivia Gonzales, a Shipibo Conibo woman who benefited from USAID’s Forest Alliance. “I am going to pass down the forest and my culture to my daughter.”

2. Inclusion of Youth

USAID’s Kafe Tyòt se Richès project provides training to farmers to produce coffee, so they can generate income, employ others, and build more resilient communities. / Produits des Îles S.A. (PISA)

Building a stronger future for the region starts with investing in young people from all communities today.

Like many young people living in Haiti, 32-year-old Bichard faced challenges to achieving his small-business dreams. Passionate about coffee-growing and determined to keep his family’s coffee farm viable, he sought training and financial assistance.

Through the USAID-supported Kafe Tyòt se Richès project, Bichard has access to high-quality seedlings and fertilizers, and he receives guidance from skilled agronomists. Bichard has received 1,000 Catimor coffee seedlings for the first season of the project, allowing him to expand his growing area and connect his community with the global coffee value chain.

Bichard’s story is a testament to the fact that, provided with the right economic incentives and support network, young people can make a dignified living from agricultural production.

3. Inclusion of Women

Irma Rebecca Gonzalez on duty as one of the only female firefighters in Mexico. She was selected by USAID’s program with the U.S. Forest Service to participate in an elite “hotshot” firefighting crew in California. / Rafael Flores, USFS Mexico Program

At USAID, we recognize that no country can advance if it leaves half of its population behind. Our work helps create opportunities for women to enter new industries and positions of leadership.

Irma Rebecca Gonzalez was one of the only female firefighters in Mexico. She was selected by USAID’s program with the U.S. Forest Service to train and fight fires with an elite firefighting crew in California for a couple of months in 2018. Rebecca then attended the annual Women in Fire seminar in Arizona the next year.

Inspired, Rebecca returned home and lobbied for an all-women firefighter training. The local government of Jalisco not only agreed to train 30 aspiring women firefighters, they also committed to hiring 13 of the women to full-time salaried positions.

4. Inclusion of People with Disabilities

With USAID’s support, the first birdwatching trail for persons with disabilities was established in South America in 2020. The trail is located in a natural private reserve close to the southwestern city of Cali, Colombia. / USAID

For development to truly be inclusive, it must make opportunity accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

For years, sound designer and accessibility consultant Juan Pablo Culasso’s soundscape recordings have provided audiences in Colombia with natural-world auditory experiences of places they may never see.

Juan Pablo’s recent work with USAID’s Natural Wealth Program in Colombia took accessibility to a new level, combining innovation and inclusiveness to create the first birdwatching trail for people with disabilities in South America.

The birding-by-sound trail that is accessible for people who are blind or low-vision includes a guide with audio recordings of 27 bird species found in the reserve. It has been so successful that other nature reserves in Colombia have replicated it.

In addition, USAID provided ecotourism professionals with training on how to guide people with vision-related disabilities. At some of those workshops, Juan Pablo shared his experience as a blind birder. He hopes his perspective will help people working in ecotourism to create inclusive, accessible experiences.

5. Inclusion of the LGBTQI+ Community

Through compassionate conversations, acts of kindness, and mutual respect, allies can support the LGBTQI+ community and build a society that embraces inclusivity, respect, and equality. / Claudia Calderon, USAID

USAID works to support everyone’s ability to live truthfully and to protect the rights of the LGBTQI+ community in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Honduras has one of the highest murder rates against LGBTQI+ persons in the hemisphere, with an impunity rate for people who perpetrate such violence hovering at around 87% in 2022.

To help spark an honest dialogue about improving inclusivity and acceptance, USAID produced a four-episode series in Honduras on conversations about love, respect, and unity between allies and the LGBTQI+ community called “No Place for Hate.” One episode is a conversation between a gay man, his father, and his brother; one between two sisters; another one with a friend; and lastly one with a trans woman and her school principal.

In a world where hate has no place, allies of the LGBTQI+ community play a significant role in embracing diversity, modeling mutual respect, and advocating for equality.

Learn more about USAID’s inclusion work and impact in Latin America and the Caribbean.

About the Author

Chelsea Milko McAllister is a Senior Communications Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.