Countries
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Dominican Republic 

Local project partner
Fundación Alemana Servicios (FAS)

German project partner
--

Donor
Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) / KfW Entwicklungsbank

Duration
01.01.2023 - 31.12.2027

The tense economic situation in Central America has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. This is reflected by high unemployment and rampant poverty. Many people are looking for (solo) self-employment as a way out, which mostly starts informally, is not well prepared and therefore less promising. Furthermore, there is a lack of access to risk capital to realise start-up and growth financing. 

The project uses two financing instruments (risk start-up capital and small donations) to support the formalisation of start-ups in order to increase the chances of success of self-employment. The funds will be distributed through a selection process and their use will be tracked over the life of the project. In the course of this, existing, decentralised training centres for micro-entrepreneurs "CDE" (Centros de Desarrollo) are integrated and qualification measures for the target group are realised by means of these. The structure and know-how of the CDEs are also strengthened in the long term. The project operates mainly in El Salvador, but is also active in the other six countries of the SICA region: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Project Tasks

• DSIK takes on the role of organizer for the allocation of funds from the two financing instruments (risk start-up capital and small donations). A market study is made in advance and relevant partners for the project (CDE) are identified.
• After the selection and payment process, monitoring takes place, which includes the adequate use of funds as well as the training of the recipients. Training activities are conducted in close cooperation with the identified CDEs. The allocation of the funding elements takes place in the first two and a half years of the project.
• In the second half of the project period, the support of the recipients, their further training and the monitoring of the use of funds will take place in particular.