Economic development and employment: Back, but not abandoned
How young migrants find new prospects after returning home.
Every year, thousands of young people return to Central America from the United States (US) or Mexico – often without any prospects. International cooperation creates educational and job opportunities which enable them to make a fresh start in their home country.
When Irma Rodríguez returned to El Salvador, she found mostly emptiness. After spending a number of years in the US, she came back to a country that she hardly knew. But then she received a telephone call. She was given a place on a training course for commercial employees. The course was organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Salvadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Salvadorian Association of Industrialists. ‘What I loved most of all were the soft skills,’ Rodríguez explains. Today she works in a supermarket in the capital, San Salvador – and wants to stay: ‘Now I have tools and knowledge I can use. This will help me in the future.’
Her story is representative of over 150,000 people who returned in 2023 alone from the US and Mexico to the ‘Northern Triangle’ of Central America – Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Most of them were either deported or had tried and failed to emigrate to the US. Many of them are minors or young adults. The majority never had a chance to build a life for themselves in their home country.
Local answers to global migration
To provide these returnees with new prospects, GIZ worked with several partners simultaneously, namely the development bank KfW in Germany, and the Central American Integration System (SICA) and its social secretariat (SISCA) in Central America. The eight SICA member states had recognised early on that the growing number of young returnees and young people at risk of displacement was creating not only humanitarian challenges, but also social and economic ones. People who do not see any prospects for the future may leave again for another country. SISCA therefore supports coordinated measures to encourage reintegration, with the aim of creating stability and development opportunities in the region.
This is where GIZ came in. In El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, it supported educational opportunities for the young returnees. It ensured that people who had had terrible experiences on their journeys received psychosocial support. And it expanded training geared to the labour market. All of this was done in close cooperation with municipalities, authorities and companies, and tailored to their needs.
What began as a pilot scheme in eleven communities is now being spread across national structures. So far more than 6,600 young people have taken advantage of the advisory services and training programmes. In El Salvador alone, over 2,300 young people (62 per cent of them women) have taken part in flexible learning formats. One key component of the scheme is professional reintegration. Over 1,500 young people have completed practical training courses, with one third of them immediately finding permanent employment.
Pioneering private sector
One of the keys to success is private sector participation. Together with commercial enterprises, the scheme has developed training models geared to the regional labour market. One example is the cooperation arrangement with the Salvadorian Association of Industrialists and the supermarket chain Súper Selectos. Returnees take training courses there, for example in warehouse logistics and customer service, which are supplemented with training in social skills.
Jorge Arriaza, President of the Salvadorian Association of Industrialists, explains: ‘Industry is aware of the needs. We know which occupations are in short supply. That’s why we’re developing tailored training formats together.’ Wilber Alfaro, a returnee officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sees that as a crucial factor: ‘Businesses becoming partners in programmes for returnees is an innovative step.’
Cooperation with the private sector is also bearing fruit in Guatemala. In Quetzaltenango, a community centre and local firms have teamed up to train women returnees for jobs in the beauty sector. Many of them have subsequently started their own businesses as hairdressers or beauticians. In Honduras, the chambers of commerce and industry identify suitable professions and use digital platforms to place job-seekers in appropriate positions. In addition, regional exchange between the authorities in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala enhances both the shared learning process and cross-border cooperation.
European responsibility – concrete results
In Central America, GIZ contributes to stabilisation and social participation – in the interests of both the region and Europe. This is because people who can see the prospect of a brighter future where they are will stay there. And those who return need to feel confident that it is possible to make a fresh start. The impact of international cooperation is two-fold: it improves people’s living conditions and reduces the pressure that drives irregular migration. This not only strengthens the three Central American countries but also enhances communication with other partner countries of BMZ’s Special Initiative on Displaced Persons and Host Countries.
