About the Central America Monitor Project
Begun in 2016, after the Alliance for Prosperity’s creation, the Central America Monitor is based on the premise that accurate, objective, and complete data and information are necessary to advance justice and security reforms, tackle corruption, improve transparency and human rights protections, and reduce violence. Such monitoring and evaluation can move beyond abstract discussions of reform to specific measures of change in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Brought together by the desire to provide data-based policy recommendations to governments, donors, and civil society, the Central America Monitor is a collaborative project implemented by the University Institute on Democracy, Peace and Security (IUDPAS) of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), the Myrna Mack Foundation (FMM) in Guatemala, the University Institute for Public Opinion (IUDOP) of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) of El Salvador, and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) in the United States.
After substantial adaptation in 2022, given policy changes in the region, the Monitor continues to present robust quantitative and qualitative data primarily obtained through official information requests in the following areas. These data assess advances, setbacks, or stalling on specific human rights and rule of law issues from 2014 to 2021 on our interactive website.
In the context of shifting strategies towards addressing key governance and institutional issues in Central America, the Central America Monitor is working to ensure that U.S. assistance is strategically targeted, wisely invested, and properly implemented, and that the governments of Central America are doing their part to meet key progress indicators for accountability and reform. We are doing this in two ways:
- Monitoring U.S. assistance programs that aim to reduce violence, strengthen law enforcement and the rule of law, combat corruption, and increase accountability and transparency through analytical reports and visual and user-friendly maps and graphs that make it easy to understand where the money is going, for what kinds of programs, and whether they are having an impact.
- Evaluating the progress that Central America is making in eight critical indicators that measure progress in security and justice reforms, improving transparency, and reducing violence through extensive data gathering, in-depth reports, and data visualizations.
