Citizen Security in El Salvador: Improving the Effectiveness of International Aid

Abstract

This policy report examines the ways in which the international aid community can better support the citizen security needs of the Central American people. El Salvador serves as an appropriate case study in this context, as it currently has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. While international donors have committed significant resources and developed a wide range of projects in response to the nation’s escalating violence rates, such efforts have yet to produce appreciable results. International donors and multi-lateral banks have thus far indirectly supported the government of El Salvador in its framing of the violence from a national security perspective through direct military support and indirect budgetary support. This has translated to increasingly militarized solutions that are in conflict with the objectives of local community organizations that view the violence as a product of social exclusion and lack of opportunities.