SEA Reimagining Intersectionality for Development

The USAID/Honduras Activity "Sembrando Esperanza" (SE) aims to reduce high levels of violence as a risk factor to dissuade irregular migration intentions by using evidence-based decision-making through with a localization approach. In this context, SE developed an innovative way to utilize the intersectionality framework, traditionally used for gender inequality analysis, to identify different intersections of social identities (such as age, gender, education, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc.) that deepen vulnerability to various forms of violence and increase the propensity for irregular migration. This approach required rethinking how intersectionality analyses had been previously applied and how they could be expanded not only to men and women but also to groups in extreme vulnerability, such as youth, members of the LGBTI+ community, and human rights actors defenders. Additionally, the limited data available in Honduras on this subject posed a considerable challenge, necessitating not only the extrapolation of existing data sources but also the generation of hypotheses and collection of primary data from populations in SE's municipalities. This required adapting the analysis approach and conducting focus groups with diverse compositions, as well as interviews with key civil society actors, state officials, and community leaders. SE operates under the consortium modality by implementing field actions through three partner organizations. Considering the localization approach under which the actions are adapted to the reality of each municipality, and the consortium model under which SE operates, consortium organizations were responsible for supporting the information collection and co-creating the analysis results, conclusions, and recommendations. This process identified 20 basic identities and 5 composite identities with high vulnerability profiles to violence and irregular migration. While the analysis is still being disseminated, the results have garnered significant interest from a variety of actors in Honduras. The findings identified obstacles for youth in overcoming risk factors in violence prevention and irregular migration, improving access to care services and capacity building.