Catholic Relief Services and YouthBuild International are implementing an integrated program called Jóvenes Constructores de Centroamerica. The effort supports enterprise development and employment opportunities for youth in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.
Working with at-risk and gang-involved youth is a dynamic process that requires a thorough understanding of the context, the youth, the communities and multiple actors. This case study identifies numerous promising practices.
To respond to the OVC crisis in Rwanda, CRS and our Caritas partners implemented a five-year program that provided caregivers and children a range of services: education support, health care and HIV education, protection, psychosocial support, food security and nutrition assistance, and economic strengthening. Interventions examined here include vocational training, savings and internal lending communities, biointensive gardens and small-animal husbandry.
This project was designed to improve the economic status, food security, health and psychosocial well-being of out-of-school (or at risk of being out-of-school) adolescents. The assessment evaluates three economic strengthening approaches: (1) vocational training, (2) Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools and (3) Savings and Internal Lending Communities.
This learning paper looks at linking the Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) methodology with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) programming in Rwanda. CRS Rwanda introduced SILC to help households headed by OVC to build financial assets and complement current OVC programming, with the intent to provide OVC households with reliable and safe financial services as well as an avenue for basic financial education.
