Our projects in Honduras

Central America against Climate Change – Honduras

The project aims to strengthen the technical and advocacy capacity of civil society organisations representing poor and marginalised people – particularly women and indigenous people – to enable them to promote sustainable and equitable management of natural resources, develop strategies to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change, promote food sovereignty, and reduce the environmental causes of poverty and inequality in Honduras.

Duration: 3 years
Start date: April 2010
End date: March 2013

Principal local partners:
Christian Organisation for the Integral Development of Honduras (OCDIH)
Caritas: Social Pastoral - Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán
Popol Nah Tun
Mother Earth Movement

Principal funder(s):
Irish Aid
Waterloo Foundation

RICA objectives*:

Theme 2: Sustainable environment
Goal: Poor and marginalised people will have improved quality of life through more equitable and sustainable management of natural resources, especially in the light of climate change and resource scarcity.

Objective 2.2 Sustainable natural resource management
To promote sustainable management of forest, coastal and water resources for the benefit of poor and marginalised people.

Objective 2.3 Environmental advocacy
To ensure poor people have sustainable and equitable access to natural resources, including addressing unsustainable patterns of global production and consumption in a context of climate change, resource scarcity and degradation.

Expected results:

Result 1: OCDIH will have developed a communication strategy delivering increased awareness of water rights, food sovereignty, environmental sustainability, climate change, and effective participatory management of micro-watersheds, forests and ecosystems.

Result 2: Pastoral Social Caritas will have implemented an effective strategy for environmental management of watersheds, including enhanced sustainable production alternatives, socio-environmental audits, and awareness of the regulatory framework of environmental laws and policies.

Result 3: Popol Nah Tun will have promoted community participation in environmental governance and land management, and reducing vulnerability to natural disasters.

Result 4: The Mother Earth Movement will have strengthened its organisational capacity and implemented the mobile eco-schools project that promotes family and community involvement in building a sustainable living environment.

Approx. cost p.a. (pounds sterling): £230,508

Building capacity for genuine democratic transformation of Honduras

This project aims to enable people living in poverty and exclusion, especially women, to have a greater influence on decisions and policies affecting them, through participation in democratic spaces supporting the social transformation of Honduras.

Duration: 3 years
Start date: April 2010
End date: March 2013

Principal local partners:
Civil Society Group (GSC)
Center for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of victims of torture and their families (CPTRT) 
Communitarian Alternative Commercial Network (Red COMAL)
Mennonite Social Action Commission (CASM)

Principal funder(s):
Irish Aid

RICA objectives*:

Theme 1: Participation and effective governance
Goal: Poor and marginalised people, especially women, will have greater influence on decisions and policies which affect their lives in order to reduce their poverty.

Objective 1.1: Influencing local government plans and policies
To empower and promote the voices of poor and marginalised communities, especially women, in order to increase local government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to those communities.

Objective 1.2: Influencing national government plans and policies
To empower and promote the voices of poor and marginalised communities, especially women, in order to increase national government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to those communities.

Objective 1.3: Promoting democratic participation
To improve democratic processes and space where major deficits exist, especially in fragile and authoritarian states.

Objective 1.4: International advocacy on effective governance and participation
To achieve strong participation of pro-poor civil society organisations in institutional decision-making processes, in order that decisions are accountable to civil society and prioritise poor people.

Expected results:

Result 1: Organisations supported by the Civil Society Group will have greater institutional, participation and advocacy capacity in order to be able to influence the formation of a proposed Country Plan to 2021.

Result 2:  CPTRT will have designed and implemented an effective strategy for advocating at a national and international level for respect for human rights and the rights of citizens during the process of reconstruction of democracy after the 2009 coup.

Result 3: The partner organisations will have developed a communications strategy to promote the voices of civil society organisations representing poor and marginalised people and communities to decision-makers at a national and international level, so that decisions are transparent and accountable to civil society in the South and give priority to people living in poverty.

Result 4: Red COMAL will have designed and implemented an educational programme promoting a fairer economy, food sovereignty and human rights for the excluded, especially women and youth.

Result 5: CASM will have enabled social movements to contribute policy proposals that address the basic needs of excluded communities in the Colón department and that they have gathered in a participatory manner from the communities concerned.

Approx. cost p.a. (pounds sterling): £312,515

Agroecology and climate change on the south-central zone of Honduras

This project aims to enable citizens to participate in strategies and plans at a municipal level, particularly those relating to agricultural production, in order to promote more equitable and sustainable natural resource management, especially in relation to climate change and resource scarcity.

Duration: 3 years
Start date: April 2010
End date: March 2013

Principal local partners:
COMUCAP: Coordinator of Peasant Women of La Paz
COOMUPL: cooperative of women producers
Nahuaterique Municipal Corporation
ISEN: Financial, Business and Commercial Services Institution (Marcala, La Paz)

Principal funder(s):
Irish Aid
Key Capital
Digicel

RICA objectives*:

Theme 1: Participation and effective governance
Goal: Poor and marginalised people, especially women, will have greater influence on decisions and policies which affect their lives in order to reduce their poverty.

Objective 1.1: Influencing local government plans and policies
To empower and promote the voices of poor and marginalised communities, especially women, in order to increase local government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to those communities.

Theme 2: Sustainable environment
Goal: Poor and marginalised people will have improved quality of life through more equitable and sustainable management of natural resources, especially in the light of climate change and resource scarcity.

Objective 2.1 Sustainable farming
To promote agro-ecology and sustainable, equitable farming approaches and access to markets in order to increase quality of life for poor and marginalised people.

Objective 2.2 Sustainable natural resource management
To promote sustainable management of forest, coastal and water resources for the benefit of poor and marginalised people.

Expected results:

Result 1: Diversified crops in the agricultural sector by implementing environmentally friendly practices, agro-ecological production techniques, organic farming and permaculture, contributing to the mitigation of emissions of greenhouse gases.

Result 2: Established and developed the commercialization process of high economic value crops (incorporating climate change mitigation and adaptation), contributing to a fairer distribution of income and an improvement in the quality of life for families.

Result 3: Strengthened the capacity of partner organisations on the regulatory framework and existing environmental policies and laws, including the issue of climate change, so that they can promote compliance with the laws, and protect and sustainably manage micro-watersheds in the area.

Result 4: Achieved the recognition and legalisation of the Municipality of Nahuaterique so that its inhabitants fully exercise their rights as Honduran citizens.

* RICA (Regular Impact and Capacity Assessment) is our monitoring and evaluation framework. You can read more about how we use this to measure progress and outcomes in our accountability framework. You can also read the ‘route map’ showing the impact and outcomes we are striving to achieve across all of our work, and the indicators and means of verification that we will use to measure our progress.