Honduras

Innovation in community resilience, early warning systems and response

GOAL is a leading agency in the design and implementation of community/national early warning and response systems. Using this methodology, GOAL has helped the Government of Honduras implement a range of interventions across the country. This includes work with identified stakeholders to produce detailed hazard maps and designate alert levels for varied crisis scenarios.

GOAL is also looking to maximise the potential of new technologies, such as drones, and has adapted these to support risk assessment processes. Another advance has been the Analysis of Resilience of Communities to Disasters (ARC-D) toolkit. Designed to measure community resilience, this innovative toolkit has been verified and validated in rural areas of Honduras, Haiti, Ethiopia and Malawi. GOAL has also incentivised national universities to develop low cost, adaptable and scalable monitoring instruments for meteorological data.

Reducing child and adult morality by combatting water-borne infection

GOAL’s WASH programme in Honduras aims to ensure that vulnerable households have increased, equal and sustained access to safe water and sanitation services. This includes the introduction of water harvesting systems to reach 100 schools and 1,405 homes. GOAL also promotes the dissemination of key hygiene messages and promotes improved hygiene practices in both rural and urban communities. Where appropriate, GOAL supports Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to build community ownership of local WASH interventions.

GOAL also works closely with national institutions to build capacity and promote innovative new solutions to improve access to basic services. This includes an ongoing focus on malnutrition in children, with the team working to address behavioural causes, treatment and management of the condition.

Improving access to markets

Large social gaps in Honduras have increased incentives to migrate, especially since 2020. The LAC Region comprises some of the most unequal countries in the world (according to the World Economic Forum GINI Index), including Colombia, Honduras and Haiti. The poverty rate in Honduras has reached 54% of households and even more in rural areas. 

The Honduran economy has shown signs of recovery since mid-2021, however it is still important to commit to a better economic model that includes institutional strengthening, greater social inclusion, and advances in productivity, and technology and innovation in order to achieve high and sustainable economic growth to benefit more people.  

GOAL drives market access for small businesses, producer associations and cooperatives. In 2022, GOAL supported 400 MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) in Honduras to improve and diversify their business operations and to come together in 10 business networks. Over 100 businesses have collaborated to establish a multi-service business which provides business development, supply chain and marketing services to their members.

This is done by building sectoral alliances to analyse and map targeted market systems and create new linkages to jobs. We also collaborate with vocational and professional training agencies to help individuals develop market-facing skills, provide technical support in the design and implementation of high-quality business plans, and facilitate credit access from appropriate financial institutions.