An increasing gap between rich and poor, weakened democracy and high levels of violence characterize many of the countries in which Norwegian Church Aid is active in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Much progress has been made: military dictatorships have been overthrown and civil wars ended; yet the extremely unfair division of wealth and resources in many countries breeds conflict and threatens democracy and peace.
NCAs activities in Latin America and the Caribbean fall into five main categories:
- Violence and insecurity – with focus on working to combat gender-based violence, human trafficking, the spread of small arms and gang crime
- Conflict resolution and peace – with focus on involving religious actors in conflict prevention and promoting peaceful coexistence
- Water and sanitation – with focus on providing clean water and safe sanitation to residents in troubled areas and following natural disasters, environmentally sustainable water resource management and the promotion of the right to water as a human right
- Hiv and aids – with focus on encouraging church communities to work together with people living with hiv to fight the spread of the virus and ensure that the rights of those living with hiv are met.
- Emergency preparedness and response – with focus on encouraging church-based actors to cooperate through national fora for emergency preparedness, relief activities and reconstruction.
Our priority countries in the region are Brazil, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua. NCA has a regional office in Guatemala that oversees activities in Central America and Cuba. Some support is also given to projects in Honduras and El Salvador.