Dr. Phil Gordon, National Security Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, Meets With Partnership for Central America Partners to Discuss Progress and Opportunities to Scale Efforts
Guatemala City, Guatemala, November 27, 2023 - Dr. Phil Gordon, National Security Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, engaged in a roundtable discussion with CEOs that lead companies within the Partnership for Central America (PCA)—Grupo Mariposa, Corporación AG, and Pantaleon—to highlight progress achieved on their commitments, and identify new opportunities to scale collective action efforts to advance economic growth and prosperity in the region. In his remarks, Dr. Gordon reiterated the U.S. Government’s support for the Partnership and congratulated Grupo Mariposa, Corporación AG, and Pantaleon for their leadership in driving significant efforts to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Guatemala.
In line with the PCA’s objectives of transforming commitments into actions, Juan Pablo Mata, CEO of Grupo Mariposa, formally announced the company’s commitment to the In Her Hands Gender Equity Pledge. This initiative seeks to encourage companies to create and support opportunities for women across Northern Central America by driving immediate impact for the formal economy, creating a sustainable system to support the next generation of leaders, increasing economic productivity and supply chain resilience, and mitigating critical procurement risks.
Grupo Mariposa, as a proud endorser of the UN Women's Seven Principles of Economic Empowerment Initiative, aspires to elevate the representation of women in decision making roles, and pledges to begin measuring diversity in its supply chain in 2024 and develop programs that contribute to enhancing diversity by 2030, with the ambitious goal of achieving gender parity in its supply chain. These programs include the advancement of digital skills and access to credit for women within small and medium-sized companies that market Grupo Mariposa products. Starting in 2024, Grupo Mariposa will also launch a program to ensure a safe work environment for women within its supply chain that offers development opportunities tailored for women.
Recognizing that meeting the Partnership’s objectives and scaling impact requires collective action, Grupo Mariposa also invites other companies to join CAF and the In Her Hands Gender Equity Pledge.
Following this forward-looking discussion, a site-tour to the manufacturing facility took place, and after this Dr. Gordon and the U.S. Government Delegation met with the beneficiaries of PCA member companies Pantaleon, Corporación AG and Grupo Mariposa to hear of their experiences and the impact the initiative has had on their lives.
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The Partnership for Central America is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works with a multi-national coalition of private organizations to advance economic opportunity across underserved populations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Partnership serves as a coordinating body of Vice President Harris’s Call to Action and aims to facilitate and support practical solutions to advance economic opportunity, address urgent climate, education and health challenges, and promote long-term investments and workforce capability in support of a vision of hope for Central America. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to membership@centampartnership.org.
