Stabilizing Families in Central America's Northern Countries

Central America’s “northern countries” - Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala – have long faced the challenges of poverty, violence, food insecurity and economic instability. One in 5 people who flee the region are young, single mothers seeking a better life for their families.  

In response, United Way in Guatemala, Honduras, and FUSAL, an El Salvadorian partner, are equipping 5,000 families from these countries with financial literacy skills, entrepreneurial job training, and parenting classes to help them be successful in their homelands.  

Astrid Martinez, Marlen Amador, and Wendy Pineda are single mothers struggling to raise their children in the region. They’ve been part of Juntos en Casa (Together At Home), a CITI Foundation partnership that helps single mothers train for, and pursue, new economic opportunities in their home countries. The program provides them with the latest information about early childhood development, nutrition, health, and hygiene for their family.  Since its creation in 2021, this initiative has helped 4,000 young children and provided new insights and opportunities for their mothers.  

Marlen, who lives in Honduras, appreciates the parenting workshops. I learned how to console (my son) or identify what might be his feelings when he cries,” she said. “Now I know how to help him better.”  

Astrid, from Guatemala, feels financially empowered. “I can now say that I … strive to achieve my financial autonomy.” She has also observed her son’s developmental progress, staying informed on the milestones he meets through Afinidata, Together At Home’s parenting app.  

I can now say that I … strive to achieve my financial autonomy.”

Together At Home is making parenting less stressful and more fun. As Wendy, who lives in El Salvador, put it: “We play with them. The team shares songs with us to sing with them, we sing with them too.”  

Empowering single mothers to succeed at home is exactly what United Way leaders and partners in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador had in mind when they began scaling up this program region-wide. Together At Home is building community resiliency in Central America by strengthening the family’s roots in the community, which fortifies the local economy and responds to migration trends.

Check out the video below (only in Spanish) to hear Belia Meneses, CEO of United Way Guatemala, and Patricia López, CEO of United Way Honduras, share more about Together At Home.