Acting as a channel of communication between the region and the ISSA General Secretariat, the Liaison Office for North and Central America gathers information on the interests and needs specific to the countries of the region and collaborates in the design of a tailored capacity-building programme for these countries.

With a population of about 550 million people, the region includes both advanced and developing countries, and this diversity is reflected in their social security systems. As a whole, the programmes of social security in the Central American countries, like those of many others, have shown considerable development in recent years.

Coverage of the self-employed as well as of persons working in new forms of work represents one of the main challenges for the region. Some countries need to adapt their legislation to include independent workers and some are looking into ways to include all workers regardless of their employment status.

Internal and international migration also poses significant challenges in the region, as migrants may be denied or have limited access to social security coverage in their host country because of their status, nationality, or the insufficient duration of their periods of employment and residence.

Technology is playing a key role in expanding social security in this region, and both social security institutions and people are benefiting from the advances in ICT, which provides the basis for new services and service delivery channels.

The number of people covered, the level of the benefits and the ability to guarantee the sustainability of systems are challenges that countries in the region will continue to face in the coming years.