In its work in favor of development and social justice, CARE seeks to promote “gender equality” and the rights and empowerment of women, consistent with the framework of its International Gender Policy (2009) and its Regional Program Strategy ( 2010), which aims to increase the opportunities for women to have equitable access to goods, services and means of production, and occupy decision-making spaces, which allow them to raise their voices and improve their position in the economic sphere, social and political.
CARE assumes equality and equity from a sense of justice, which means helping to eliminate the barriers that hinder economic and sociopolitical opportunities, as well as access to basic services (education, health, among others). Thus,
promotes the empowerment of women and girls, and equitable relationships with men and boys to transform unequal power relations and discriminatory social norms based on gender, race and age.
CARE seeks to develop and broaden its approach to gender equality, taking into account specific elements of the context in Guatemala, where ethnic-cultural diversity cuts across the reality, position, and condition of a large majority of indigenous women.
CARE seeks, together with multiple actors, mainly women’s, youth and indigenous peoples’ organizations and civil society organizations, to promote and achieve greater participation of women and greater gender equality in all areas of development. This implies supporting both the agendas of women and their organizations and networks, as well as the mainstreaming of the gender equality approach in mixed organizations and in public institutions and policies. CARE also works with public institutions and government authorities and international cooperation, as a facilitator of processes and dialogues, to promote the comprehensive women’s rights agenda.
Based on the analysis of the effects of climate change on people’s lives, and especially on the poorest and most excluded, CARE seeks to include in its development strategies, the increase in the resilience capacities of people to face, adapt and recover from the various risks and threats in the most vulnerable communities.
In Guatemala and Central America, frequent natural disasters negatively affect people’s lives and livelihoods. The natural ecosystems (forests, mangroves, rivers, lakes, water, crops, soil, animals, coasts, mountains) of poor rural populations that suffer from droughts, heat waves, water scarcity, crop failure, floods are repeatedly violated. and diseases. poor urban populations
who live in marginal areas, are also a highly vulnerable population. By living in inappropriate housing and located in high-risk areas, this population is increasingly affected by landslides, landslides, hurricanes and floods.
The accumulated experience in livelihood security, adaptation to climate change, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction and attention to humanitarian crisis situations, have left CARE important lessons to understand that communities and people can be resilient. Within the framework of these lessons, CARE understands resilience as “The ability of a community to resist, assimilate and recover from the effects of threats in a timely and efficient manner, preserving or restoring its basic structures, functions and identity. A resilient community is able to face threats to minimize their effects and/or quickly recover from negative effects.
CARE identifies poor governance as an underlying cause of poverty and social injustice. CARE recognizes that poverty is created and maintained through unequal power relations and the unfair distribution of resources and opportunities, often with a disproportionate and detrimental effect on women and girls. For this reason, CARE maintains that poverty is an injustice.
Challenging the root causes of poverty and social injustice, at all levels, therefore requires efforts to promote good governance; that is, the effective, participative, transparent, equitable and responsible management of public affairs. The CARE 2020 Program Strategy outlines three elements of CARE’s core approach: l strengthening equity
of gender and the voice of women; promote inclusive governance; and increase resilience.
Promoting inclusive governance is a fundamental part of how CARE works everywhere, in fragile and conflict-affected states and least developed countries, as well as in middle-income countries and the global North. Inclusive Governance is a strategic pillar of CARE, which is implemented transversally in all its initiatives and programs.