Mexico

Eri Cifuentes leads a cooperative that has allowed the local coffee growers to get fair market prices with an emphasis on quality and organic methods. Photo by Hilda M. Perez for CRS

Eri Cifuentes leads a cooperative that has allowed the local coffee growers to get fair market prices with an emphasis on quality and organic methods. Photo by Hilda M. Perez for CRS

Despite Mexico's status as a middle income country and the second largest economy in Latin America, over 47 percent of the population is poor while 4 percent is extremely poor (living on less than $1.25 per day).

The most prominent socio-economic factors of concern in Mexico include significantly increased violence; growing abuse of migrants, women and workers; and a lack of sustainable employment and livelihood opportunities, especially in rural areas.

The lack of employment opportunities has provoked thousands of Mexican workers to migrate to the United States every year to work under the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Visa Program. This is often plagued by abuses by unscrupulous job recruiters who charge them illegal recruitment fees.

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Stats

Population:114,975,406 (July 2012 est.)
Size:761,600 sq mi; about three times the size of Texas
People Served:301,275 (2012 est.)

History

Catholic Relief Services opened an office in Mexico City in 2010, after nine years of implementing the program from Tucson, Arizona. The CRS Mexico office is an outreach office of the CRS Guatemala program.

CRS has a nine-year history of working with Mexican migrants, indigenous populations, small-scale farmers and workers. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation remains CRS Mexico's largest agricultural donor in the southern state of Oaxaca, as well as a strong supporter of agricultural guest-worker programs in the northern states. CRS is committed to working closely with the Mexican Church by taking up common issues of interest in peace building, human rights and migration.

Partners

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation

Programs

Agriculture
Civil Society and Governance


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