Colin Beckwith
Director for Central America
CARE
Colin has been involved in international development work since 1983. Beginning as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, Colin joined CARE in 1986 as a Project Manager in Panamá. From 1989 through mid-1992, Colin was a Sector Manager and Sub-Office Administrator for CARE in Honduras. In Panamá and Honduras, Colin’s technical focus areas included community forest management, small farmer agricultural production systems, integrated conservation and development programming, and community organization strengthening.
From mid-1992 through mid-1995, Colin was Assistant Country Director managing CARE Niger’s programming and program support in the south central department of Maradi where CARE was involved in micro-finance, women’s savings and loan, and community forestry and small farmer agricultural production programs. From late-1995 through mid-1998, Colin was an independent consultant in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development and project evaluation.
In August 1998, Colin returned to CARE as a Deputy Regional Director for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region where he provided strategic guidance and backstopping to Country Office operations as well as spearheaded the LAC Region’s development of its management framework as a guide to the organizational change process inspired by CARE’s Vision Statement. In July 2003, Colin was named Director for CARE in Guatemala. In August 2005, Colin was named Director for Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) where CARE is piloting a new operating model as well as a new business model which includes the possibility of setting up a for-profit, social enterprise as a complimentary approach to CARE’s poverty reduction work.
Colin was born and raised in Maine. Colin and his wife Silvana have three children: Jason, 25; Michelle, 23; and Andrés Santiago (“Drégo”), 4. Silvana and Drégo are with Colin in El Salvador while Jason and Michelle are both pursuing their respective careers in the US.