The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act (SFOAA), 2022 (Div. K, P.L. 117-103) directed that $50 million be made available for a program in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, referred to as the Central America Youth Empowerment Program (CAYEP). The goal of CAYEP is to create measurable reductions in migration from targeted communities in such countries by recruiting young people to engage in community projects, while having secondary impacts by channeling additional income into local economies and providing needed skills training for future employment in local businesses. Funds made available to support CAYEP should be matched with contributions from private donors and local governments.
This report is submitted pursuant to Section 7019(e) of the Fiscal Year 2022 SFOAA and the Fiscal Year 2022 Joint Explanatory Statement, which states:
“Not later than 90 days after enactment of the Act, and prior to the initial obligation of funds for the CAYEP…the USAID Administrator shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations a plan detailing the proposed uses of funds, which shall be updated every 90 days until such funds are expended.”
Since Vice President Harris announced the Central American Service Corps (CASC) at the Summit of the Americas in June 2022, USAID has continued to make significant progress on the design and implementation of the overall initiative.1 Programming under this initiative offers youth in areas of high out-migration in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras opportunities to work in their own communities on local priorities such as educational support and tutoring, food security, health education and services, conservation, violence prevention, and other civic engagement activities.
CASC/CAYEP programming is helping address the drivers of irregular migration among those populations most likely to migrate by engaging youth in community service opportunities, mentorships and internships, modest stipends, work and life skills acquisition, and by enhancing young people’s sense of commitment to their communities.
1 As outlined in prior quarterly reports, this report differentiates between the CASC initiative (programs) and the CAYEP funding directive.
