Community Crime and Violence Prevention in Guatemala and Honduras - Phase II

The objective of the project’s first component is to strengthen community dialogue mechanisms to include communities and populations underserved by the authorities. Another objective is to enhance the knowledge skills and techniques of specific members of civil society municipal government representatives and community stakeholders to make them aware of available crime and violence prevention tools methods and approaches. The project’s second component involves training locally controlled community policing units to re-establish the citizens’ trust in their local authorities and thus help stabilize the region The International Republican Institute is working in collaboration with two municipalities: Salcajá Guatemala and La Lima Honduras.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased support of Municipal Security Councils (MSCs) to structured dialogue with citizens around prevention of crime and violence and to integrate community policing in its municipal security plan; (2) increased support of citizens with diverse expertise for innovation impact and sustainability on crime and violence prevention; and (3) increased support to municipal government officials for structured dialogue and collaboration with national government officials around community policing as an approach to prevent violence.