Banyan Global was the prime contractor for the Empleando Futuros project under the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) YouthPower indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Contract. The activity targeted at-risk youth living in the five Honduran municipalities most affected by violence and crime. With offices in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Empleando Futuros was engaged in strengthening and expanding current workforce programs, through its programs in high crime areas in five municipalities: Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Choloma, Tela, and La Ceiba. The goal of the activity was to provide realistic, sustainable opportunities for youth employment.

Within this context, the project team developed pathways, partnerships, and instruments targeting at-risk youth. These included an emphasis on positive masculinities to support changes in knowledge, attitudes and practice with respect to gender equality and gender-based violence (GBV) among at-risk youth participants in the program. To develop this approach, the project team implemented the findings of a gender analysis and strategy that Banyan Global prepared to explore societal, cultural and institutional factors that contribute to gender inequalities in Honduras, the disempowerment of women, and the continued high incidence of GBV.