2023 Agenda

Want to beat the morning rush and grab your badge or printed program early? Do you need help activating Whova, this year’s networking app? Are you interested in signing up for a site visit, breakfast session or lunch session?

Stop by our registration desk the day before CADF kicks off and chat with our friendly staff.

Join us at the Marriott hotel bar from 7:00-9:00pm for drinks to unwind after a long day of travel. A perfect way to meet and catch up with other participants before CADF 2023 begins. Pick up your CADF badge first from the registration table to grab a free drink!

Welcome to CADF 2023! Let your first stop be at our registration desk, where you can pick up your badge and printed program. Do you need help activating Whova, this year’s networking app? Are you interested in signing up for a site visit, breakfast session or lunch session?

Stop by our registration desk and let our friendly staff help you prepare for a productive three days at #CADF2023.

Too many models of migration root causes programs, including the U.S. government Root Causes Strategy for Migration, fail to center the negative impact of weak and unresponsive national and local institutions. Greater philanthropic investments are needed to strengthen, accelerate and scale-up promising approaches to citizenship strengthening and genuine localization processes that increase access to public services and public investments for the most vulnerable urban and rural populations. This breakfast panel will showcase how increasing responsiveness and coordination with national and local institutions is essential to addressing the systemic root causes of migration.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

This session will highlight the innovative partnership strategies of 3 out of the 9 USAID MujerProspera Challenge projects working to advance women’s economic security, including: 1) New Sun Road Guatemala, which has established women-managed digital community centers in remote indigenous communities; 2) Muchas Más El Salvador, which provides STEM training and job placement support to underprivileged girls; and 3) ODEF Financiera Honduras, which is piloting an intra-household dialogue methodology among women entrepreneurs and their male partners. Rather than focusing solely on women beneficiaries, WEE programming engages new partners (e.g. indigenous elders, global technology firms, or male family members) to achieve greater sustainable impact.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Legal empowerment is a powerful, people-centered strategy to meet community needs and drive lasting social justice. Panelists will share their experiences applying and scaling legal empowerment approaches in Central America, drawing on their respective roles as frontline defenders, network conveners and funders. We will explore the broad range of issues for which legal empowerment approaches can be relevant (such as gender-based violence, the right to health, migration and labor rights) and consider different models for increasing the reach of this critical work. Panelists will also offer reflections on the role of donors in the legal empowerment movement, and how support for legal empowerment can fit into and complement existing funding strategies.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Civil society organizations based in Costa Rica are a major effort in the fight for liberty in Nicaragua, as many Nicaraguans work resolutely to restore justice, liberty and democracy in their home country. In recognition of these efforts, the Puentes for Development in Central America Foundation and the Central American Association for Development and Local Democracy Network invites CADF attendees to visit their open exhibition in the Fortuna Room to better understand the efforts of Nicaraguans in rebuilding and mobilizing the fight for justice, rights and dignity.

Join Adriana Beltrán, Executive Director of Seattle International Foundation, as she welcomes our audience to the 13th annual Central America Donors Forum. As we gather in Costa Rica for the first time in the event’s history, Adriana will open CADF 2023 and invite you to take your seat at the table during three days of discussion on development, justice and equity in Central America.

SIF’s Executive Director, Adriana Beltrán, will engage in a fireside chat with Enrique Bolaños, Rector of INCAE Business School. They will discuss the important challenges and opportunities for a better future in Central America and the role the private sector can play in creating equal opportunities for all, generating sustainable development, decent employment, quality education, good governance and public ethics.

Central America is characterized by its cultural diversity, natural beauty and rich history, but it is at a crucial moment in its development. The region has immense potential but faces significant challenges such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation and limited access to opportunities that limit a prosperous future for all inhabitants. Panelists in this session will delve into how the region and international community can address these challenges from various perspectives and discuss how each can contribute to regional well-being, growth and sustainability to promote inclusive and sustainable development.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

One-fifth of the world’s 110 million forcibly displaced people are hosted in the Americas, a region marked by violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and a deteriorating human rights situation in Nicaragua that has uprooted over 1 million people. Mexico and Costa Rica recorded 118,800 and 129,500 new asylum claims respectively. Significant cross-border movements of Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans continue to be reported, further straining asylum systems. Through a lens of protection and mitigation, UNHCR and partners will share insights from local pilot programs modeling the power of socioeconomic inclusion, and changing the refugee narrative toward that of catalytic potential for host societies and global development in a world short on peace.

In this session, speakers will explore the region’s present and build together a possible future through strategic alliances. The impact of these relationships between the private sector, business associations, multilateral organizations and academic institutions is the key to sustainable development in the region. This conversation will focus on the social progress of women through strategic alliances, based on educational programs for women entrepreneurs by LEADS Mujer and EMPRO, organizations for which this session’s participating speakers have collaborated.

The traditional, default rules of institutional grantmaking were largely designed for and by people in the Global North. As foundations try to pivot to locally-led initiatives, it is likely the longstanding rules defining how to cultivate, secure, and maintain institutional funding require evaluation. This panel will explore the perspective of proximate leaders who regularly navigate the “dance” of institutional funding. Some panelists are new to this role, having taken over from someone from the Global North. Other panelists will be longstanding leaders of community-based organizations. What feedback and insights do they have for foundations seeking to engage directly with them?

Pull up a seat at any lunch table and network with new connections. Find a table card featuring a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that interests you to meet potential allies for your work.

The right to freedom of expression is under attack precisely at a time when the media landscape is changing, particularly considering the expansion of community journalism. Because of its proximity to local actors, community journalism promotes equity and justice from the bottom up. However, community journalism faces attacks on freedom of expression and other challenges due to its form. This participatory lunch strategic roundtable session will analyze the contributions and challenges of community journalism to better position its work, while also seeking new solutions to strengthen community journalism as a whole in the region.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

218 million women around the world who want to avoid or delay pregnancy are not using modern contraceptives. Central America presents its own unique challenges, such as high rates of teenage pregnancy, maternal and neonatal mortality and migration. A revitalized transformational partnership, FP2030, brings renewed attention to family planning, spurring countries, donors, CSOs and private sector to assess their progress, set bolder goals and identify opportunities in fulfilling their promises to women and girls. A panel of FP2030 partners will introduce the partnership, present the current realities of family planning in Central America, and highlight the strength in diversity of partners working for a shared vision.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

The Puentes for Development in Central America Foundation offers CADF participants the opportunity to engage with a diversity of voices, including victims, civil society actors and committed donors who courageously and resolutely work in a challenging and complex environment. Victims of nationality deprivation continue to organize and fight for their rights and dignity. Those in exile have united and spearheaded the “Be Human” campaign, which advocates for the release of political prisoners. Persecuted and criminalized civil society organizations are rebuilding and mobilizing in a new context, driven by their fundamental motivation: the restoration of citizens’ rights and freedoms in their country. In turn, donors are creating spaces to co-invest in such efforts. Puentes’ philosophy and guiding principle is to build bridges and foster a convergence of paths and visions in the pursuit of justice and a secure return to a homeland of liberty and democracy. The Foundation has collaborated closely with partners, friends and allies to ensure that a visit to their headquarters will inspire attendees and contribute to a peaceful and democratic transformation in Nicaragua.

Note: Participation in this site visit requires advanced registration. Space is limited. To register for this site visit (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Young women and feminists organizing for climate justice in Central America have taken a step forward by positioning climate change as a gender and human rights issue. They carry out this work based on a critical reading of the region’s socio-political environment, with full awareness of the vulnerability of their territories in the face of climate change, as well as of their bodies in the face of “machista” violence. This session will open a space for youth feminists to talk about their experiences, actions and strategies to defend their bodies and territories, as well as share their critical and creative proposals to confront the climate crisis, gender-based violence, machismo and adultcentrism.

What does it mean for migrants to have adequate access to health care? Addressing administrative barriers is insufficient if the services themselves do not take into account the specific social determinants and health risks faced by migrants, or if the underlying policy framework does not recognize the human right to health. Ensuring that all members of society have access to health services is essential to promoting wellbeing, productivity and social integration. Recognizing this nexus and the positive externalities of improving health access for both migrants and host communities is important in advocating for health programming with national stakeholders and a range of development partners.

This panel on #WomenWhoFight will present different cases involving the criminalization of women who have confronted systemic corruption and impunity in Guatemala. This recurrent practice continues to silence dissident voices that speak out from different sectors, groups and independent journalists in the country. The panel will examine how lawyers, journalists and activists confront this issue.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

When we discuss freedom of speech, or the lack of it, we usually first talk about journalism, persecution of political opponents, or repression of protest; but censorship often happens before the imprisonment or beatings arrive, and it affects everyone. How is public conversation being limited or discouraged in Central America today? How do social movements, human rights defenders, or artists experience the obstacles to participation and expression in the region? What is meant by the expression “closing of civic space”?

Grab dinner and network with other CADF attendees at La Cartonera, a unique cultural market that brings together a community of gastronomic entrepreneurs, producers, artisans and local artists. Our top recommendations include: La Pulpería, Boca e Jarro and La Sucursal Limeña.

Complimentary transportation will depart on a rolling basis between 5:30-6:00pm from the Hotel Marriott.

Estimated cost: 8,000 – 23,000 Colones (USD $15 – $43)

Address: Mercado cultural La Cartonera, Parque Empresarial Lindora, Lindora, Santa Ana

This breakfast gathering will be open to CADF participants addressing educational inequity, whether funders, NGOs, or advocates. In much of the region, educational access and quality, as well as attendance, continue to lag, with insufficient political will to “build back better” from the pandemic. This generational crisis has fallen hard on girls, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, rural and peri-urban students in particular, and it is linked to other issues like economic insecurity, migration, health, and violence. We hope this space enables participants to share their work, learning and ideas related to education.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

In an increasingly challenging environment of closing civic space and anti-gender/anti-rights movements, the human rights and LGBTIQ+ movements in El Salvador are diversifying their actors and uniting different factions of traditional, emerging, and under-represented actors for effective advocacy and solution building. Counterpart International and Partners El Salvador seek to share their collaborative experience co-creating and supporting innovative partnerships in defense of human rights in El Salvador. With a panel of local partners representing a new generation of defenders, these actors will share how capacity strengthening and co-creating safe spaces are integral to identifying practical solutions to racism, patriarchy and oppression.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

This session will bring together diverse leaders from Guatemala supporting indigenous peoples, from Honduras supporting defenders of territories and human rights, and from El Salvador supporting ecofeminist community organizations. Expert speakers will discuss their experiences with local development initiatives that feature such genuine intersectionality. This dialogue will revolve around research from “Life Between Damage & Loss”, developed to show evidence of the climate crisis in Central America and its implications for the lives of women and human rights defenders. Additionally, speakers will analyze other community-based research to consider local proposals anchored in the sustainability of life and territory.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

UNICEF and Parque La Libertad have partnered since 2008 to promote the rights, development, life skills and future employability of children and adolescents. Since 2018, they have promoted CINNEC, an innovation lab to support youth entrepreneurship based on socio-environmental principles for preservation of the environment. The lab uses human-centered design so that youth can form, develop and test entrepreneurial ideas in a dedicated space with access to technological and social research and mentorship. These youth-led solutions contribute to solving problems related to energy consumption, the climate crisis, decarbonization, access to clean water, food safety and health. Visitors will have the opportunity to see the park, the Center and interact with youth entrepreneurs.

Note: Participation in this site visit requires advanced registration. Space is limited. To register for this site visit (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

While the Atlantic region of Costa Rica is renowned for its abundant water resources, there are factors threatening the communities’ access to water in the quantity and quality they require. Join this site visit to learn how grassroots leaders have come together to establish a Center that provides essential services to community-based water supply organizations, using a social business model that fosters their growth and sustains their social and environmental impact. Explore their operations, motivations for collaboration, and engagement in political advocacy at the national level, which strengthens democratic water governance. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit the majestic Braulio Carrillo National Park, an exemplary rainforest in Costa Rica.

Note: Participation in this site visit requires advanced registration. Space is limited. To register for this site visit (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Following multiple early morning breakfast sessions, join us in the Juan Vázquez de Coronado Ballroom as we kick off the second day of CADF 2023.

SIF’s Executive Director, Adriana Beltrán, will engage in a fireside chat with DAS Jacobstein. They will discuss United States perspectives on existing challenges and opportunities in Central America and how the United States is partnering with regional governments, the private sector and civil society to promote greater economic opportunity, strengthen democracy, and address the root causes of migration in the region.

After serving the position of Vice President of Costa Rica and amidst a distinguished career as an Afro-Costa Rican politician reaching the international scene, Epsy Campbell has since been appointed the first President of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. In the context of her experiences and work with the Global Coalition against Systemic Racism and for Reparations, a platform she founded, Epsy Campbell will reflect on the issue of racism, the conditions of life for Afro-descendants and the actions needed to create actively anti-ractist individuals,organizations and societies.

This panel will address the main challenges to constructing a just and inclusive future, including effective development for Afro-descendant, Garifuna and Indigenous peoples in the region, with an emphasis on women who suffer from layered discrimination of their intersecting identities. Panelists will discuss the oppression and structural violence that these populations have historically faced in an effort to build an agenda for reparations and restorative justice. They will share experiences of struggle and strategies for resistance from the perspective of community organizations, international groups and the State. In short, this session will articulate how to implement and advance racial justice for the defense of the speakers’ territories and for conditions of development that lead to dignified and fulfilling lives.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

Despite exile, closure of civic space and political imprisonment, journalists throughout Central America promote freedom of expression and democracy daily. Examining the case of Nicaragua, this session will explore the challenges independent journalists face as they adapt their operations to exile, develop new journalistic initiatives, and strive to promote sustainable media to provide information to the public. This session will also assess how journalism fills critical information gaps in Nicaragua and shapes public perceptions on human rights, corruption, and accountability. Even through these difficulties, independent journalism remains a foundational pillar for promoting democracy in Nicaragua and throughout Central America.

The canton of La Cruz, Costa Rica is part of the Central American Dry Corridor (an area extremely vulnerable to climate change) and is characterized for having 60% of its territory under a protected area category, 40% poverty rates and low human development index rates (ranking 78 out of 82 cantons). However, community-led conservation approaches have proven to bring economic development. This session will include experiences from young women leaders, government officials, community-based organizations, NGOs and philanthropists to showcase transformational initiatives related to community foundations, rural tourism, service concessions for protected areas, local-women led homestays, private sector involvement and local government planning.

Good jobs enable Central Americans to remain, thrive and invest in their communities. People with secure livelihoods whose rights are protected in the workplace have the stability to be engaged citizens. When workers are empowered, it builds practice of participation, effective mechanisms of accountability and a culture of democracy in the workplace and beyond. This session will explore challenges and opportunities to labor rights and quality employment in the region. It will draw lessons from the Honduran garment industry and explore pathways to spread successful strategies that result in meaningful outcomes for workers through engagement between women-led independent unions, employers, global apparel brands and governments.

Pull up a seat at any lunch table and network with new connections. Find a table card featuring a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that interests you to meet potential allies for your work.

People of the global majority are frequently those most impacted by injustice. This is true in Central America, where up to 73% of the population of some countries is considered to live below the poverty line. These realities aggravate the impacts of climate disasters and combine with violence and racially biased institutions and laws to push many from their lands and homes. Yet, the ancestral knowledge of those who have stewarded the lands of the region offers multiple opportunities to bring stability and sustainability. Learn from funders and practitioners about the complex interconnections of race, climate injustice and forced migration, as well as the lessons that diverse communities in the region offer for a more just future.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Without nationality, stateless people do not have the same protections as individuals who do hold a nationality. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality. Statelessness can also be the result of citizenship stripping, carried out in the name of national security, but often targeting political dissidents and human rights defenders. Using the Nicaraguan case study, this roundtable is an opportunity to engage in a critical conversation about statelessness and to identify actionable solutions that can help protect the rights of stateless people in Central America.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Throughout 2022, Salvadoran artist Renacho Melgar endured an ordeal of tests and consultations, leading to long periods of hospitalization that culminated in a second surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his face. While dealing with the disease, he transformed his journey of pain, sadness, indignation, solidarity and occasionally absurdity into illustrations. His work, now published as a book, is a frank, acute and provocative critique inviting readers to discuss public health in Central America. At CADF 2023, Renacho will share a selection of drawings that were shown for three hours at the Rosales Hospital in San Salvador until the Ministry of Health censored the exhibition.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

As we witness the closing space of civil society in the region, we also witness life-saving strategies led by and for human rights defenders who see protection not as an individual matter, but as a collective one. One example is the IM-Defensoras network, best known for its Feminist Holistic Protection (FHP) framework, which focuses on building strong protective community networks to enhance the resilience of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the region. A key role funders can play is to strengthen the human rights defense ecosystem in the region because doing so strengthens democracy and helps society in general to protect and uplift the important role that human rights defenders play.

Central Americans who migrate often seek safer, more productive lives. Meanwhile, an increasing number of migrants from other Latin American and Caribbean countries are crossing Central America with that same hope. And the influx of migrants who return to Central America after undergoing often traumatic migration experiences is also on the rise. This panel will unpack the evident, yet complex nexus between fragility and human mobility in Central America. The panel will reflect on the growing body of evidence on the factors of fragility and instability (e.g., violence, climate change, weak rule of law and local governance, democratic backsliding) that prevent Central Americans from unleashing their potential and fuel irregular, perilous migration. The panel will discuss viable pathways to resiliency in home/host communities in Central America and to enable effective migrant (re)integration, building on the comprehensive framework for migrant-centered responses to fragility and stability laid out in the U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Irregular Migration from Central America and the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.

This session will discuss the growing attacks against independent journalism in Central America and the ways that the Central American Network of Journalists are jointly promoting their work, because silence is not an option. The Network emerged in October 2022 as a joint effort to confront the authoritarian wave that looms in Central America. Speakers in this session include practicing journalists and members of the Central American Network of Journalists, and are convinced that the critical power of journalism is essential for democracy and the construction of more just and equitable societies.

Every year Central America and the Dominican Republic face economic, social and environmental losses as a consequence of hurricanes, droughts and other extreme hydrometeorological phenomena. How can these losses be reduced? Can we transform threats into opportunities? Central America must learn from international best practices and its own experience related to climate change adaptation. Doing so might provide evidence to scale-up initiatives and optimize time, financial resources and effort that ultimately reduce losses and increase economic, social and environmental gains. What are the determining factors to achieve this transformation? Speakers in this session will discuss these topics as experts and relevant actors from countries across the region.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

In the context of the July 2022 launch of the U.S. Government’s interagency Voices initiative to protect, defend and promote civic space in Central America, Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Mileydi Guilarte will discuss the advances and challenges related to civic space in the region and the ongoing agenda to bring together like-minded partners to foster conditions that allow civil society to flourish and ensure governments are more accountable.

This session will present a report addressing the situation of forcibly displaced Nicaraguans in the United States, Costa Rica, Mexico and Spain. The discussion will include an analysis of the violations against human rights in Nicaragua, as well as the obstacles in accessing rights and fundamental freedoms in both transit and host countries, particularly with a focus on economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Additionally, expert speakers will approach this conversation from a gender and generational perspective, and will address the profiles of the victims who have forcibly migrated following April 2018.

On the second evening of CADF, meet up with the fellow attendees at Avenida Escazú in a trendy and walkable neighborhood with a variety of spectacular restaurants, including our three favorites: Filipo, Divina Comida and Terraza Toscana.

Complimentary transportation will depart on a rolling basis between 5:30pm and 6:00pm from Hotel Marriott.

Estimated cost: 10,000 – 25,000 Colones (USD $18 – $47)

Address: Avenida Escazú, Avenida Central, Trejos Montealegre, San José, San Rafael

While their role has evolved in recent years, farmers continue to battle against natural disasters, climate change, water scarcity, soil degradation, and even a lack of technical expertise to address these challenges. Additionally, an absence of opportunities to gain business skills makes navigating the processes to join supply chains that generate fair profits far more difficult. These factors reduce their capacity to offer high-quality products and services in a cost-efficient, sustainably produced manner, and further obstructs their ability to improve livelihoods. However, new integrated solutions that support farmers have provided encouraging evidence which indicate the real possibility to build sustainable food systems that are positive for both people and the planet. This breakfast session will showcase these innovative programs and promising strategies.

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

The digital public debate manipulation industry has a transnational reach and a wide and varied toolbox ranging from automated social media account farms to relationships with powerful politicians. A CLIP investigation with 20 Latin American media outlets uncovered how this business operates: what are their methods and relationships, their objectives and how do they pursue them? What lessons can civil society learn from the findings and methodology of this investigation? What alliances can we make to counteract the actions of this industry?

Note: Participation in this breakfast session requires advanced registration. Breakfast is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Participants will join a 90-minute immersive field visit guided by UNHCR Costa Rica colleagues for a first-hand look into the ecosystems fueling a more comprehensive refugee response in the country. They will have the opportunity to interact with refugee beneficiaries participating in local integration programmes that provide access to the formal labor market and tackle financial inclusion, hear diverse integration journeys from thriving success stories, as well as develop contextual insights from partners in the field who promote and program holistic socioeconomic inclusion for refugees and asylum seekers.

Note: Participation in this site visit requires advanced registration. Space is limited. To register for this site visit (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Welcome to the final day of CADF 2023! Following multiple early morning breakfast sessions, join us in the Juan Vázquez de Coronado Ballroom as we gather for the final exciting sessions of the year.

U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Cynthia Telles will discuss how the United States is partnering with Costa Rica to ensure our democracies continue to deliver for our people in a rapidly changing world.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Costa Rica and member of the CADF 2023 Honorary Host Committee, Allegra Baoicchi, will open the final day with remarks about the United Nations’ commitment to promoting sustainable and human development, and the importance of investing in Costa Rica and the Central America region.

Renowned journalist and founder of Agencia Ocote, Alejandra Gutiérrez, will engage in a fireside chat with Ximena Andión, Deputy Regional Director for Mexico and Central America at the Ford Foundation, and Alberto Brunori, Regional Representative for Central America and the Dominican Republic of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. They will discuss the critical role that a diverse and robust civil society plays in advancing democracy and development in Central America, as well as growing concerns regarding the closing of civic spaces throughout the region and the role that the philanthropic community and international donors can play to deepen efforts to respond to this challenge.

In Central America, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities are the most affected by the impacts of climate change due to their high levels of vulnerability. These communities are not responsible for global warming; rather, the territories they manage are already contributing to climate resilience, and are essential for a just, equitable and democratic transition thanks to their community governance systems. Sadly, these governance systems are threatened by democratic decline and the deepening of extractivist development models that put these communities on the front line and undermine adaptation capacities in the region. This panel will analyze the factors that undermine climate resilience in the territories (Young Voices) of the Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples of the region who resist and build equitable, democratic and sustainable alternatives.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

Central American countries suffer some of the world’s highest levels of crime. Corruption and poor governance fuel the problem. Yet messages of reform are drowned out by promises of fast relief, and voters are asked to trade democracy for their most urgent need: safety. Iron-fisted strategies, such as President Bukele’s in El Salvador, surge in popularity, despite their dismal rights record. Security experts and human rights advocates in this session will explore ways to address Central America’s violent realities and increase paths to security while protecting human rights. It will connect practical expertise with analysis by academics to help develop an agenda that exposes security forces’ abuses and protects citizens from violence and crime.

Community philanthropy is an effective practice for achieving sustainable development and strengthening civil society that is growing in the region. Foundations and community funds have the power to manage and channel local and international economic resources and other assets. However, to increase the impact of community philanthropy, a supportive ecosystem that nurtures its capacities, capabilities, connections and credibility, while driving transformative partnerships, is needed. This session will be a space of inspiration to empower community philanthropy in the region. Based on the World Café methodology, it will be a facilitated dialogue about the ecosystems that support the development of community philanthropy in countries of the region, the lessons learned and opportunities to adapt the model that has been developed in Mexico, as well as the challenges to catalyze the movement of foundations and community funds in Costa Rica.

This session on the Voices Initiative will feature academics, policy experts and civil society actors. Together, they will share evidence-based approaches to successfully counter authoritarian tactics to restrict civic space that can be applied by diverse actors in Central American to advance democracy and human rights. Panelists will share lessons learned and comparative examples from global contexts on what proven policy, diplomatic, and programmatic tools have demonstrated success that can inspire new solutions to the unique contexts throughout the region. In June 2022, the U.S. government launched the Voices (Voces) Initiative, which is dedicated to protecting, defending and promoting civic space in Central America.

Central America today confronts generational challenges that threaten peace, democracy and overall development in the region. The multiple crises of the pandemic, economic uncertainty, unemployment political instability, growing inequality, mass migration, and democracy under threat exacerbate the depths of violence women and girls face, where activists and human rights defenders are stigmatized, persecuted and targeted by old and new oppressions that undermine opportunities for alleviating and transforming the region’s social problems. Despite the growing focus on Black movements in philanthropy and the need for solutions to be driven by those most impacted, there is a critical gap in understanding the current state of Black Women and Girls in the Americas. This session explores how to build transformative partnerships and drive cultural transformation in Central America’s philanthropic landscape to uplift Black social justice movements led by Black women, generating lasting change and fostering equitable outcomes that honor our inherent power and freedom as Afrodescendent communities.

Pull up a seat at any lunch table and network with new connections. Find a table card featuring a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that interests you to meet potential allies for your work.

In this panel, five Guatemalan indigenous women will speak about the importance of promoting indigenous women’s leadership as a fundamental pillar of development and a key strategy to close the social inequality and gender gap as a means to advance towards the Sustainable Development Goals in Guatemala. From their own experience in leadership and decision making positions, these women will talk about positive changes in their economic, health, and the formative and political conditions that have allowed for a greater level of personal, family and community development.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Universities fulfill the mission of creating knowledge, documenting social phenomena, building indicators, recording history and promoting evidence-based public policies. They also have a social action mission. Organizations are nourished by the knowledge produced in academia about their struggles and, in turn, academia is nourished by organizations for their closeness to on-the-ground realities and efforts to defend equality and social justice, despite the challenge of growing authoritarianism emerging in the region. As such, this discussion is essential to reinforce collaboration and coordination between both actors.

Note: Participation in this lunch session requires advanced registration. Lunch is included at no extra cost, but space is limited. To register for this session (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.

Narrative is the aggregation of stories about the world and our place in it, and directs us to how we should feel, think and act. Doing narrative work means expanding the social imagination and inspiring collective action. Since narrative work seeks to create meaning at scale, it is essential that we learn how to build narrative communities and reach new audiences to broaden the base of those who agree with the worldview we want to promote. The challenge for human rights and social justice movements in Central America is to go beyond denouncing injustices and inspire people to use their individual and collective power to create a world that is centered around dignity, interconnections and care—a world that is both desirable and possible.

The push for sustainable development in Latin America will require a major overhaul of the frameworks governing political, social and economic interactions. It is difficult to visualize the region’s increasingly complex economic matrix without a concurrent strengthening of the rule of law. It is in this sense that the effort to improve institutions in the region opens the path to the development of increasingly productive economic activities that, in turn, create better jobs. Such dynamics can no longer be neglected in a region plagued by the human drama of migration and human rights abuses. Relevant stakeholders must reflect on the overlapping themes between the strengthening of the rule of law in the region and economic development.

Nicaraguans are living under an increasingly anti-democratic regime that has deepened the crisis by actions and inactions against the communal and individual rights of the indigenous and Afro-descendant population in Nicaragua. Political violence, elimination of autonomy on the Caribbean Coast and armed violence committed by third parties backed by national authorities have caused an exodus and possible genocide of indigenous communities, particularly of the Nicaraguan Muskitia people. In confronting this situation, communities, social organizations and the Observatory of Indigenous Peoples have developed a strategy of territorial structuring for the joint care of life and common property, a strategy that seeks the regionalization of indigenous resistance.

Network and exchange session takeaways with fellow CADF attendees while enjoying refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

This panel seeks to open a conversation about the increase in (self) censorship and the (self) exile of dozens of journalists, independent justice operators and human rights defenders. This discussion will analyze this common pattern of authoritarianism in Central America, and the impact of denouncing and monitoring violations of human rights, corruption and impunity. Through the experiences of exiled professionals, this session will offer the international community a regional and multidisciplinary analysis using a gender focus to identify the needs and opportunities for support, as well as pathways for cooperation that contribute to the creation of improved outcomes for the freedom of expression and human rights.

As the 2023 Central America Donors Forum winds down to its conclusion, join Adriana Beltrán, Executive Director of Seattle International Foundation, as she reflects on the conversations held and connections made over the past three days, and where we go together next in our efforts to advance development, equity and justice in the region.

In celebration of new alliances made over the course of a successful CADF, join Seattle International Foundation (SIF) in the Porte Cochere area of the Marriott Hotel for our closing reception, featuring talented and local musical guests.

Enjoy a performance by award-winning Costa Rican singer-songwriter and painter Guadalupe Urbina, followed by the interdisciplinary, artivist and feminist group Tocá el Tambó. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Thank you for making CADF 2023 a success!

Meet the entrepreneurs participating in this project led by Cargill’s Nourishing the Future IV Program, in partnership with CARE and EARTH University and hear their stories firsthand. Attendees joining this site visit will travel to farms and a market to hear from farmers and food producers as they share their experiences growing strawberries and vegetables, beekeeping, and creating agricultural projects with added value. Attendees will enjoy a traditional lunch made with fresh produce harvested by the farmers they meet and visit the Poás Volcano National Park before returning to the Marriott Hotel at roughly 3:00pm.

Note: This site visit is not included in the cost of the 2023 Central America Donors Forum, and a fee of $105 will be due directly to Earth University to participate. Participation in this site visit requires advanced registration. Space is limited. To register for this site visits (or other breakfast sessions, lunch sessions and site visits), please visit the registration desk at the Marriott Hotel and our friendly staff will help you. To check if you are registered or waitlisted for this session, please click here.