Mesoamerica Program
Why We Do It | How We Do It | Current Partners and Projects | Contact
TWP’s Mesoamerica Program supports communities in Central America and Mexico in protecting their natural resources, territories, and cultures.
We partner with Indigenous and grassroots organizations, helping them to address community priorities while building long-term resilience.
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Why We Do It
Local communities have fought for generations to steward one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.
Today, unequal development of Mesoamerica has left large percentages of the region in poverty, dependent on dwindling natural resources, weak institutions, and disproportionately high exposure to climate disasters.
Grassroots organizations and local communities have always been the leaders of conservation, and we believe they are key to the region’s long-term resilience.
When locals have the resources, support, and autonomy to continue stewarding their lands, communities everywhere benefit.
How We Do It
The Mesoamerica Program connects grassroots organizations with resources, tools, and networks.
Through long-term partnerships grounded in trust and respect, we provide flexible funding, technical assistance, and regional connections.
Ultimately, we help these organizations access the resources they need to sustain their work both today, and for generations to come.
We serve as a bridge between donors and grassroots initiatives: by building long-term partnerships with both local organizations and international donors.
We support local partners’ priorities and projects: through flexible multi-year funding, and collaborative project planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
We help local partners strengthen their organization: by providing tools and processes for strategic planning, financial management, administration, and funding.
We build long-term resilience in the region: through research, exchanges, and advocacy that connect local partners and organizations.
Current Partners and Projects
Current Partners and Projects
Guatemala
Utz Che’ (Asociación de Forestería Comunitaria de Guatemala Utz Che'): TWP began partnering with Utz Che’, a grassroots network of Indigenous and rural communities, in 2012. Our collaboration has supported thousands of families in community forest management, defense of territorial rights and sovereignty, and food security through sustainable agriculture.
FUNDEBASE (Fundación para el Desarrollo y Fortalecimiento de las Organizaciones de Base): We’ve collaborated with FUNDEBASE since 2012 to support forest protection and food sovereignty efforts of Indigenous communities in some of Guatemala’s most vulnerable regions.
Honduras
AHDESA (Asociación Hondureña para el Desarrollo): Our multi-decade partnership with AHDESA has helped them grow from a tiny nonprofit into a leading organization in the improved cookstove sector. Through training of local builders and installation of Justa 3D cookstoves, our partnership has protected local forests and improved wellbeing for hundreds of thousands of rural families.
El Salvador
Asociación Cincahuite and Asociación Mangle: Our collaboration with our newest partners, sister organizations based on the Pacific coast of El Salvador, focuses on coastal resilience through mangrove restoration and household food security.
Regional
Organizational Strengthening Program: supported by the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), we provide organizational strengthening processes – including strategic planning, organizational analyses, and regional exchanges – to annual cohorts of grassroots organizations from across the region.
Alternative Economies in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean: In order to better support grassroots organizations and communities facing a shortage of resources, we’re deepening our focus on locally-led, self-sustaining sources of income. Including a regional study and exchanges including nearly 300 community enterprises, cooperatives, and other groups, our efforts build paths forward in strengthening economic alternatives.
Contact us
On September 18th, we were thrilled to be joined by nearly 30 foundation and donor representatives to discuss the state of funding in Mesoamerica.
This conversation was part of our broader effort, supported by the Ford Foundation, to analyze and support alternative economic initiatives in the region.