HEKS in Honduras
Alan Meier
Honduras

Strengthening self-determination and autonomy

Honduras Country Programme

In southern Honduras, HEKS/EPER supports projects for the development of rural communities, the protection and defence of human rights, as well as disaster preparedness programmes. HEKS/EPER works with local partner organizations to enhance their capacities and effectiveness through basic and advanced training.

Context

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Some 65 per cent of its people live in extreme poverty. Yet many have still not lost the hope of a future in dignity in their country. In village communities they are working with commitment and creativity for a better future. People are coming together and striving to solve problems jointly. HEKS/EPER is banking on people's motivation, in the conviction that there are ways out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Objectives and priorities

HEKS/EPER focuses its activities on rural communities in southern Honduras. Central to the programmes and projects being supported by HEKS/EPER are the development of rural communities, the protection and defence of human rights, disaster resilience as well as preparedness to provide emergency aid. HEKS/EPER works with local organizations and offers basic and ongoing training designed to enhance their efficiency and capacities.

HEKS in Honduras
Alan Meier

Activities

HEKS/EPER assists people such that even from largely barren soil they are able to produce enough food for their own needs and for sale locally. Through practical courses, smallholder families learn about crop diversification, preserving indigenous seed varieties, building simple irrigation systems as well as reforestation to improve water management, among many other topics. These families display great motivation in passing on their knowledge to others. In addition, HEKS/EPER promotes an agricultural policy in Honduras that revolves around the needs of small farming families.

Yet another HEKS/EPER priority in Honduras is the protection and defence of human rights. Threatened and endangered persons and groups must be protected from repression. Support is given to threatened rural communities such that they can become active citizens and independently claim and defend their rights.
Another priority is disaster resilience. Honduras is highly prone to hurricanes, flooding and drought. Yet there are ways of protecting against these disasters and at the very least, considerably limiting the resulting damage. It is possible to prevent fertile soil from being washed away by floods through simple means like terracing the land or practicing organic farming with as much crop diversification
as possible. HEKS/EPER builds the knowledge and capacities of its partner organizations for coping with the dangers of potential natural disasters.

More information...

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