In Central America, Luxembourg remains an important partner in the Central American Integration System (SICA), particularly through a regional project for the promotion of female entrepreneurs with the centre for the promotion of micro and small business (CENPROMYPE). This is a key project dedicated to gender equality and the promotion of women’s economic rights. As part of the project, CENPROMYPE and Luxembourg Development Cooperation have set up the Female Entrepreneurship Fund, an investment vehicle dedicated to female entrepreneurs in Central America. The fund was officially launched in San Salvador on 21 June 2024.
The Forestry and Climate Fund (FCCF), an impact investment fund launched in 2017 as a Luxembourg-led public-private partnership, continues to promote sustainable timber use and associated value chains in Central America. Luxembourg Development Cooperation supports the FCCF through LuxDev’s technical assistance to the fund’s investee companies, as part of a project focused on sustainable forest management.
Since 2019, Luxembourg has supported the NGO Front Line Defenders in its work to protect human rights defenders in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The project’s current phase runs until the end of 2025 and provides support for personal and professional (cyber-)security measures and emergency evacuations and contributes to the legal and medical costs of human rights defenders who are at risk. In January 2023, Luxembourg Development Cooperation launched a regional project with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean, which aims to implement innovative financial inclusion strategies in the region and foster knowledge sharing in this field, with a focus on digital financial services, inclusive fintech, national inclusive finance plans (especially in Costa Rica), green inclusive finance and gender-inclusive finance. A new project was launched in 2024 with the NGO IDEA International, during Luxembourg’s presidency of the IDEA Council of Member States. The project aims to strengthen democracy in the Northern Triangle by supporting civil society and independent media.
Other projects include a project for the protection of migrant women with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a project with UN Women to work on the financial inclusion of women in the Northern Triangle and a project with UNFPA seeking to reduce pregnancies among teenage girls in Afro-descendant and indigenous communities on the Caribbean coast.