The international crisis of unaccompanied migrant children from Central America has its roots in the inequality of their societies and the institutional failure of the corresponding governments. These countries suffer from a system failure.
To bring permanent solution to the problems of these societies we believe in slow change over a long term in which their own citizens exert the change. As we see in nature, only small changes over a long time get fixed.
Following this approach, we have created an strategy to help in solving the structural problems of these nations. Numerous organizations including the US government are implementing programs to help the migrant children and to invigorate the governments of Central America, in particular the governments of the so called Northern Triangle that include El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. These three countries are the source of most of the unaccompanied migrant children.
According to the testimony of William R. Brownfield, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere (Washington, DC April 30, 2015):
“Falling under the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America, the ongoing Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) is a key component of the U.S. implementation structure for United States citizen security assistance to the region. INL works in close partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other departments and agencies, particularly the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Defense, to reduce levels of crime and violence, build the capacity of law enforcement and rule of law institutions, and support prevention programs for youth and in communities at-risk of crime and violence.”
As stated in the testimony, these efforts provide assistance in matters of law enforcement, legal system and some are initiatives to provide opportunities to the young people in most risk. The efforts sponsored by the United State are described by the secretary as “short to medium-term sustainable impacts”; the question is how to implement a long term solution to this problem. Perhaps the key to answer this question is provided by the secretary as well when he said that “Experience has taught us that achieving sustainable and meaningful reform is only possible when the host government takes ownership of solving these issues”. What if the ownership experience is extended to the base of the society, at the level of the individual. At Ingear.org we believe that our program has the potential to bring the change that is needed by the nations of Central America. Therefore, we are targeting the nations of the the so called Northern Triangle. Who better to own the solution than the future experts of these countries in every possible field of science, technology and arts.
To this end, we are approaching under graduate college students from these countries to light in them the idea of getting a graduate degree in the United States. And, by making the students part of a community, in the long term, we envision a solution with regional flavor.