1.

The Voice of
Programme Insights
Many
Honduran citizens hold
the state to account to
secure farm investment

A farmers market in Copan Ruinas where farmers sell their

produce directly to consumers in the urban area. OCDIH, 2009

Rural communities in Western Honduras have long been

marginalized, suffering high levels of poverty and
inequality. Governments have shown little interest in
smallholder agriculture and as a consequence have
invested little in the region. Following ten years of
action to build civil society, however, communities and
local authorities are now working together to claim their
rights. Working progressively at different levels
community, municipality, regional, and national Oxfam
and its partners have campaigned to promote small-
scale agriculture as a viable means of building
livelihoods and reducing poverty. As a result, new
funding is beginning to have an impact in rural areas.
Introduction
Honduras suffers from some of the highest poverty levels in Latin
America. Of its population of about 7.2 million, 55 per cent of urban
households and 70.8 per cent of rural households live below the
poverty line, and one-quarter of the population 1.6 million people
live in conditions of extreme poverty (UNDP).1 Although it is classed
as a middle-income country, Honduras scores 0.667 on the UNDPs
Human Development Index (HDI), significantly below the Latin
American average of 0.797,2 due to its highly unequal income
distribution.
Although 55 per cent of the population live in rural areas, over the
years the state has reduced funding and technical assistance to the
rural sector (UNDP).3 Instead, governments have prioritized support
to large- and medium-scale commercial agriculture for export crops.
This has hampered the countrys capacity to produce food for
domestic consumption and has increased its dependency on
imported food. With rising global food prices and more land being
used to produce ethanol for fuel, Honduras is increasingly vulnerable
to food insecurity.
Citizens have historically been excluded from decision-making.
Between 1963 and 1982 the country was ruled by a succession of
military governments.4 The 1980s saw a culture of authoritarianism
and party political sectarianism, with violent persecution of those
opposing the government; many leaders of social movements were
killed. While elections have been held more regularly in recent times,
real participatory democracy is still a challenge. Governments have
generally accepted participation that supports the implementation of
their own policies, but have been less accommodating of
participation by citizens when the aim is to bring about real change.
Nevertheless, in 1990 the Honduran government initiated a process
aimed at decentralising decision-making. The central government
retained responsibility for determining policy, but operational
functions were devolved to the municipalities5 and the private sector.
A new Law of Municipalities gave them autonomy to approve
budgets, collect payments for local services, operate public utilities,
and create mechanisms allowing citizens to participate in local
democracy. The municipalities were to fund this new model with the
income they collected, while an additional 5 per cent of national
income was transferred to them from central government (UNDP).6
More additional resources became available in 1999, when Honduras
became a beneficiary of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative.7 In return for debt relief, the country agreed to design a
Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), setting out how funds would be
invested. This provided a policy framework for negotiating new
funds with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 2

Honduras also joined in the global commitment to work towards the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which necessitated
stringent public budgeting. The PRS and the MDGs became reference
points to determine how state income whether from grants, new
foreign debt contracts, or domestic income could be used.
As the allocation of resources and operational decision-making
became increasingly decentralised and the state developed a greater
focus on reducing poverty, so the opportunities for civil society to
influence budget decisions at municipal and regional levels increased
dramatically. Oxfams engagement in the process began in 1999,
through a programme designed to support the development of a
movement of active citizens in Western Honduras.

Empowering citizens in Western Honduras

In the country as a whole, rates of illiteracy range between 50 per
cent and 70 per cent, and malnutrition, poor housing conditions, and
limited health services mean that diseases such as polio and
tuberculosis are rife (FAO).8 Western Honduras, comprising the
departments of Lempira, Copn, and Ocotepeque, has experienced
particularly acute problems of poverty, exclusion, and
marginalization. The six departments of Honduras with the lowest
HDI rankings are Lempira, Copn, Ocotepeque, Intibuc, Santa
Brbara, and La Paz, where the population is mostly of indigenous
origin (Lenca and Maya Chortis ethnic groups).9
Initially the focus of Oxfams intervention was on creating space for
citizens to participate and engage in dialogue with those who
governed them, with the aim of finding ways to tackle the root
causes of poverty. However, it was also clear that improving the
capacity of rural people to generate income was critical in
overcoming poverty and exclusion. Oxfam introduced a programme
under its Global Agricultural Scale Up Initiative (GASUI), which
consisted of two key components. First, the programme aimed to
demonstrate the viability of agriculture as a livelihood activity that
could link rural people to profitable markets (see Box 1); second, it
engaged in advocacy and campaigning work that would be critical in
changing local, regional, and national policies on agriculture and
creating an enabling environment to support smallholder farmers.

Box 1: Demonstrating the viability of smallholder agriculture: small

farmers and their businesses lead the way
Oxfam has been working with local partner the Christian Organization for
the Integrated Development of Honduras (OCDIH) since 2006 to
demonstrate the viability of small-scale agriculture as a profitable livelihood
option. This means turning small family plots used to grow basic grains into
integrated, diverse farms producing a range of fruits, vegetables, and
livestock for consumption and for market. The model also aims to
demonstrate the most effective and profitable ways of investing in the
sector. In particular, the programme has supported:

3 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

Improved natural resource management: Through the development of
irrigation systems and farmer-to-farmer training programmes, the
programme has reached over 20,000 beneficiaries increasing yields of
corn by 54 per cent from 2006 to 2010 and incomes by 27 per cent in the
same period. Farmer training programmes and demonstration farms have
encouraged farmers to diversify the crops and livestock they produce, as
well as to adopt new soil and water management practices that reduce the
need for costly inputs, such as fertilisers.
Access to credit: Poor access to credit hampers the ability of farmers to
invest in their farming activities. Formal financial institutions offer credit at
extremely high interest rates. The programme has established over 90
savings and loan community funds (cajas rurales); in 2008 these had
accumulated capital of $294,370 and over 2,000 beneficiaries, 48 per cent
of whom were women. Lower interest rates for women have improved their
access to loans and their ability to repay them, and have also increased
their ability to make autonomous decisions about the use of credit.
Linking to new markets: As well as boosting production, the programme
has supported farmers to develop agriculture through small businesses in
order to access new markets and achieve better prices. It has contributed
to increasing producers sales by $150,000 in the past year in municipal
farmers markets and through wholesalers and supermarket chains. The
number of women who have access to goods and agricultural inputs and
are active in the market has now reached 31 per cent, far greater than the
1 per cent recorded in 2006. As a result, the base line of the Economic
Justice programme reflects an increase in the contribution of women to
household income from 10 per cent in 2007 to 20 per cent in 2008.

The first phase of work to influence policy and investment took place
in 19992000, and was aimed at building active citizenship in the
Western region. In 1998 the Association of Non-Governmental
Organizations of Honduras (ASONOG) carried out an assessment on
democracy and citizen participation in the region. Oxfam agreed to
work in partnership with ASONOG on a process aimed at closely
linking citizen participation with human development, in a way that
would change the political culture in Honduras.
In that year Hurricane Mitch struck the country with devastating
force, leaving 5,000 people dead, most of its crops destroyed, and
damage estimated in the billions of dollars (World Bank).10 In the
aftermath of the disaster, ASONOG supported municipal authorities
with training in relevant municipal laws, planning, budget
formulation, tax collection, and resource management. It also
provided them with funds to develop small projects of social benefit
for the poorest and most excluded people, after consulting with the
communities themselves about the relevance of each project.
The programme began at the community level. Oxfam and ASONOG
set out to engage with citizens and to encourage them to take action
to claim their democratic rights. Successful strategies included:
Using theatre, traditional dance, music and poetry festivals, and
radio and TV programmes to educate people about the

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 4

 importance of democracy and about what being a citizen
involves;
Developing advocacy schools for different population groups,
offering citizens training in advocacy and campaigning. These
schools brought together different groups, leading to a collective
dialogue and analysis of the situation in Honduras and the
formation of networks;
A training of trainers model for communicating knowledge.
Local leaders who received training committed to pass on what
they had learned within their own communities or social
organizations.
Combining recreation and education was a very efficient way of
overcoming the apathy felt by many citizens towards the democratic
process and of promoting an attitude of collaboration. In particular,
collaboration on small community projects made it possible to lay the
foundations for a more transparent use of municipal resources, as
community members were informed about the quality and costs of
materials and contracts agreed for machinery and equipment.
This set the stage for the next level of citizen participation, which saw
the programme focus its efforts at the municipal level. In response to
legislative changes introduced in 2002, which reduced the role of
civil society in the countrys Departmental Development
Commissions,11 ASONOG worked to support the mancomunidades
(associations of municipalities). The mancomunidades were born out of
a joint planning effort between civil society and municipal
government, and are made up of representatives of each. They
already existed when ASONOG began its civil society participation
programme in 1999, but at that time had achieved only low levels of
co-ordination and joint management.
Efforts were also focused on the patronatos (community councils);
these involve community members in decision-making at the local
level and raise funds to implement small-scale projects. Associations
of community councils (asociaciones de patronatos) were set up to
create alliances with municipalities in order to raise funds jointly.
ASONOG also built up the social network by integrating member
organizations (17 NGOs and farmers associations) into its training
and education programme. The programme also built the capacity of
partners to mainstream gender, for example by including gender
indicators in their planning processes and monitoring the progress of
economic empowerment of women in the region. Womens increased
influence in decision-making in the use of municipal funds in the
Western and Central regions (Intibuc and La Paz) is evident in the
increased allocation of special funds for womens projects. Ten per
cent of the PRS funds, the equivalent of about USD 8000, was utilized
for projects run exclusively by women.

5 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

The programme reached the next level when in 2005 a regional-level
co-ordination council the Western Regional Platform of Honduras,
or EROC was established, consisting of equal numbers of municipal
mayors and representatives of civil society.12 EROC acts as a channel
for political discussion with the central government about
development issues in the region. It represents a cultural change at
the local level, fostering collaboration between actors with different
political and party affiliations. The creation of the council was
fundamental in enabling the development of a specific PRS for the
Western region and in securing additional funding from central
government to implement it (see Box 2).

Box 2. A critical moment: the development of a regional PRS

Hondurass first national Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) was ratified by
the government and the IMF in 2001, even though the proposed draft
neglected many of the concerns voiced by civil society. In Western
Honduras, dissatisfaction with this national plan was channelled into the
positive process of creating a regional PRS of its own. Led by EROC, the
design of the Western Region Strategy began at the community level and
involved thousands of individuals from community associations, womens
groups, and municipal authorities. In 2006, the initiative was launched as an
alternative to the national PRS.
There are key differences between the two. For example, while the national
PRS proposes extractive industries (mining and timber exploitation) as key
areas for economic growth, civil society in the Western region (represented
by a coalition of 120 national organizations leaded by ASONOG and
13
FOSDEH, the Social Forum on External Debt and Development )
proposes as key actions environmental protection and recovery, the
conservation of water resources, and reforestation. While the national PRS
proposes tackling food insecurity by increasing food imports, civil society
believes that the emphasis should be on access to credit to enable farmers
to improve production for domestic consumption. The official PRS proposes
distributing debt relief funding according to size of population (which would
favour large cities), while civil society in the Western region proposes
distribution based on poverty indicators.
The central government originally refused to recognise the validity of the
Western regions PRS, but two important factors forced it to change its
mind. First was the fact that municipal authorities had been strongly
involved in the design of the strategy and were publicly committed to it.
Second was the national-level lobbying carried out by civil society in
partnership with other networks such as the CCERP (Consultative Council
for Poverty Reduction), with the support of the international development
community and the World Bank, which publicly recognized the quality and
validity of the Western Region Strategy.

The achievement of the Western region in formulating its own PRS is

impressive, but at the national level huge challenges remain. Only a
small proportion of PRS funding is decentralised, and civil society
and the donor community have questioned the governments
distribution of funds. It was originally proposed under the PRS to
invest 50 per cent of available resources in rural programmes to
promote agriculture and micro-businesses, but this has not

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 6

happened. Instead, successive presidents have applied their own
interpretations of PRS principles, making the excuse that small-scale
agricultural production is uncompetitive in markets. During the first
six years of PRS implementation, there was scarcely any investment
in the rural economy, while in 200708 it amounted to just 1 per cent
of the total received in debt relief (World Bank).14
In response to this, in 2009, the Oxfam-supported programme
launched a national advocacy campaign on small-scale agriculture
aimed at leveraging change in policy and investment at the national
level. Its objectives were the introduction of a reform law for the
agricultural sector and a 10 per cent increase in resources for small-
scale agriculture in the national budget. ASONOG is leading the
campaign jointly with two of its member organizations, the Christian
Organization for Integrated Development in Honduras (OCDIH) and
the Organization for the Development of Corqun (ODECO).15 The
campaign is active in six regions of Honduras, and at national level is
linked to the Meso-American campaign and regionally to Oxfam
Internationals Economic Justice Campaign within Guatemala,
Mexico, and Honduras.
The NGOs have gathered evidence on how small producers can be
competitive in markets, generating income to pay taxes and to raise
funds that contribute to the development of their communities. In
2008 four important groups joined the campaign, giving it a
genuinely national reach: the Central de Cooperativas Cafetaleras de
Honduras (National Coffee Co-operatives Centre), the Co-ordination
Council for Small Farmers Federations (COCOCH), and local NGOs
Asociacin Ecolgica de San Marcos de Ocotepeque (AESMO) and
Coordinadora de Mujeres Campesinas de La Paz (COMUCAP), a
rural womens organization.
The campaign was launched nationally in March 2009, with mass
events held simultaneously in six regions of the country bringing
together small producers, academics, and senior government
officials. This level of mobilization was made possible by the
organizational work and capacity-building that had started ten years
earlier. It has paid dividends: recognizing the social force behind the
coalition leading the campaign, the government has agreed to discuss
a potential 10 per cent increase in the budget for small-scale
agriculture. Additionally, the campaign was featured in the national
media for five weeks after it was launched, which helped to generate
favourable public opinion.

Results and achievements

Programming efforts over a period of nine years have led to
significant changes in the political dynamics of the Western region of
Honduras and its ability to access funds from government and other
sources, such as the Swedish International Development Agency

7 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

(Sida) and other NGO and government donors. The participatory
approach taken by ASONOG has proved adaptable and has grown in
scale over time. Starting in 1999 with ten municipalities, ASONOG is
now implementing the intervention with its two partner
organizations, OCDIH and ODECO, in 67 municipalities. As a result
of this work, civil society has been radically changed. At the
municipal level, there are currently more than 400 patronatos able to
act independently of party political interests, 13 patronato
associations, five youth networks, 25 womens networks, and 67
citizen transparency commissions which audit the use of funds by
the municipalities. The intervention has also led to the creation of
EROC, which co-ordinates the efforts of community groups and
municipal authorities at regional level.
The programme has improved the regions ability to secure debt
relief funding. In 2006, a total of $37m of PRS funding was devolved
to municipalities nationwide, but with conditions attached that not
all municipalities could meet.16 The Western region was the first
and so far the only region to draw up its own regional PRS, in a
joint effort by civil society and municipal leaders. In 2006, it received
a total of $8.84m for projects, the highest amount allocated to any of
the countrys five regions. Elsewhere, municipalities did not base
their budgets on PRS funding and civil society was unable to
influence the destination of funds.
As a consequence, Western Honduras has gained greater influence
with the national government. Previously, the region was the most
isolated and marginalized in the country, starved of funds for public
investment and with no civil society representation at national level.
The government engaged in dialogue only with politicians and big
business. Now, however, the region has a voice and is able to present
proposals to decision-makers, who are prepared to listen. EROC has
engaged with the Consultative Council for Poverty Reduction (the
body set up in 2002 to oversee national PRS funding, representing
civil society, donors, and the state) and with the technical unit of the
government responsible for analysing projects and municipal
investment plans, which have gone to the Secretary of Finance,
parliamentary whips, and the President of the Republic himself.

Box 3. Defending smallholders interests at the national level

The capacity of civil society in the Western region to influence national
policy was put to the test when the government of Manuel Zelaya, elected in
2006, rescinded an agreement signed by the previous government, led by
Ricardo Maduro, to direct 100 per cent of debt relief funds to reduce poverty
in the countrys poorest municipalities.
Instead, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering the distribution of funds
according to population density, and redirected Lempira 900m ($47.6m) to
finance current expenses and election campaign commitments, leaving just
Lempira 700m ($37m) to invest in poverty reduction. The decree also

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 8

reduced the role of the Consultative Council for Poverty Reduction by
transferring responsibility for allocation of funds to the National Congress.
However, both provisions were revoked following joint action by civil society
in the Western Region, led by EROC, and national-level lobbying by
ASONOG and FOSDEH.

This unprecedented improvement in its status has put the region in a

much better position to negotiate, and in 2006 it obtained funds of
$8.84m from debt relief and donors to invest in projects under its
own PRS. By working at different levels, it has also proved possible
to leverage resources from other donors. While negotiating on
development issues with regional and national governments, for
instance, EROC has established links with the wider donor
community. In 2008 it obtained $4.76m in funding from the Swedish
government to support projects in 30 municipalities identified as
being the poorest of the 67 in the region. The funds will be managed
by the municipalities and audited by the citizens transparency
commissions. Of these funds, 31.7 per cent was used for
infrastructure projects, which improved access to agricultural
markets, and 4 per cent was invested directly into home-based
agriculture, such as growing vegetables and rearing pigs or poultry.
Meanwhile, community associations have raised funds from central
government and from donors to develop projects that they
themselves have identified as priorities.17 Between 2006 and 2008,
with assistance from OCDIH, community council associations in the
north of Copan and the municipality of Lepaera in Lempira carried
out 16 fundraising missions, obtaining $1.9m to develop 83 rural
community projects. Of this, 15 per cent went to fund community
banks (cajas rurales), agricultural production, and rural infrastructure
projects to improve transport to markets.
The availability of increased resources has had a clear impact on the
livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The funding earmarked for
improving infrastructure is supporting work done under the
Honduras Agricultural Scale Up programme, improving access to
markets for farmers in remote areas. If the national agriculture
campaign builds on its promising start and manages to secure a 10
per cent increase in the national agricultural budget, this will have an
even more significant impact on the lives of over five million rural
Hondurans.

Scaling up and replication

Oxfam and its partners pursued a strategy of scaling up which relied
on their ability to secure financial resources from other actors at
community, regional, and national levels. Establishing and
strengthening community, municipal, and regional institutions for
planning work and transparently managing funds have put in place

9 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

sustainable structures to ensure the appropriateness and
effectiveness of future investment.
Building links between the advocacy component of the programme
and work that demonstrates the competitiveness of small-scale
producers in agricultural markets has been a critical aspect of this
initiative. It has enabled the programme to secure investments far
greater than any that a single civil society organization could have
invested by itself.
The programme has also been strategic in using its positive
experiences at regional level to leverage change at national level. The
development of the national agricultural campaign builds on work
with farmers to support production and market access as well as
capitalizing on the growing influence of the Western region in
national government. These experiences have made it possible for the
campaign to provide both the government and the general public
with real examples of how support to small-scale agriculture can
contribute to reducing poverty and how such interventions can be
managed successfully. The programme also plans to make the most
of opportunities presented by regional and national debates on food
security. Oxfam and its partners will strongly advocate for
investment in smallholder agriculture as an effective means of
providing affordable food for both urban and rural populations.
Another way of scaling up the approach has been to promote
replication of the model in other regions. In 2005, using the learning
gained in the Western region, development organizations Trcaire of
Ireland, DanChurchAid of Denmark, Diakonia of Sweden, and
Development and Peace of Canada began a process to develop
regional poverty reduction strategies in three departments in the
north of Honduras (Atlantida, Yoro, and Colon) and in the Sula
Valley in the south of the country.
However, their success was more limited as they were not able to
invest in the long-term, bottom-up process of building civil society at
the community level. They were therefore not able to address the
allegiances of patronatos to political parties, and ideological
differences hindered them from establishing social alliances and
networks. This meant that differing levels of engagement were
achieved between municipalities and civil society in each of the
regions. With a weaker base, civil society has less power to negotiate
with the state. This only serves to emphasise the value of the process
of building active citizenship that took place in Western Honduras.

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 10

Successes and challenges
A number of factors have contributed to the success of the
programme in Western Honduras. Elements that have worked well
include the following:
The initial investment made in training and education on
advocacy, democracy, and citizens rights was minimal compared
with the impact and reach achieved by means of participants
passing on what they had learned within their communities and
through farmers and womens organizations. This made it
possible to create a mass movement by disseminating skills and
knowledge throughout the population.
The strategy of gradually scaling up the intervention first
through action at community and municipal levels, then at the
regional level, until finally reaching the national level proved
effective. It allowed an incremental build-up of human capital,
stimulating networking amongst civil society and a systematic
weaving of alliances with municipal authorities.
The capacities developed by citizens and the alliances established
with local governments gave the campaign legitimacy in the eyes
of the government and of donors. This facilitated fundraising
activities and helped to progress the decentralizing of resources
in favour of the poorest rural communities.
The creation of a strategic alliance between NGOs, such as
ASONOG, OCDIH, ODECO, and others, and farmers and
womens organizations to promote the agriculture campaign was
a crucial factor. A high level of inter-agency co-ordination
allowed the NGOs to pool their expertise and learning in a spirit
of co-operation. Their proposals were seen by the government not
simply as another demand from the farming sector, but as the
reasoned and articulate response of an alliance of social actors
acting in pursuit of a common goal.
Some important challenges remain, however. Among them are
illiteracy and low levels of education, and actions taken by political
parties and charitable organizations that hinder social empowerment
of citizens for example, badly managed donations that encourage
passive dependency amongst communities and bypass institutions
established to manage these resources.
However, the most significant threat to the programme is the
political crisis in Honduras. President Zelaya was sent into exile on
28 June 2009 amid a power struggle over his plans for constitutional
change. Prior to the coup, most space in the media was taken up by
the activities of the main political parties, which hindered the
programmes advocacy and campaigning, as there was little
opportunity to position other issues on the national agenda.
Following the coup, there was a break in relations between central

11 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

and local governments, over lack of resources and political issues.
What little aid there is has become politicized and centralized.
Following a period of interim government, elections were held in
November 2009. Despite international criticism of the coup, President
Porfirio Lobo was sworn into office in January 2010 as Zelaya went
into exile. Following the coup, the programme strategy has been
redefined to respond to the changing context. A new emphasis has
been put on developing the leadership capacity of youth and
womens groups, to further enable them to develop their own
agendas and their ability to take part in political dialogue and to
contribute to the construction of new state law. However, continued
insecurity and disregard for human rights have resulted in threats,
violence, and political persecution of leaders, so activities promoting
protection have become more key to the programme.

Conclusion
The most significant conclusion to be drawn from this experience is
the importance of the bottom-up process in influencing policy and
investment decisions. It is clear that the work done to mobilize civil
society at different levels was central to the success of the national
campaign, especially as the many efforts previously undertaken in
this area had failed. The impact of the work can be seen in the
relationships established between communities and municipalities
and between municipalities and the national government. As a result
of this engagement, the state is much better equipped to allocate
funding to activities that are relevant and desired by community
members themselves.
The ultimate outcome of the national campaign cannot yet be known,
but its immediate achievements, in terms of the media profile given
to the launch and the willingness of the government to engage with
its proposals, could never have been imagined just ten years ago.

1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 12

Notes

1
UNDP (2006) Human Development Report, Honduras, p.40.
2
Ibid., p.27.
3
Ibid., p.67.
4
The last Honduran military dictatorship was led by Policarpo Paz Garca,
who ruled from 1978 to 1982.
5
The 18 departments of Honduras are further divided into 297 municipalities.
The municipalities have elected majors and municipal councils rather than
departmental governors who are appointed by the President. Municipalities
vary considerably in size, and their governments are constituted accordingly.
Those with a population of under 5,000 have four council members, those
with 10,000 have six, those with more than 10,000 have eight and a mayor,
and those with more than 80,000 have ten and a mayor. See US Library of
Congress: http://www.countrystudies.us/honduras/88.htm
6
UNDP (2006) op. cit., pp.83-87.
7
This was precipitated by Hurricane Mitch, which devastated the country in
1998. The IMF had repeatedly rejected Hondurass inclusion in the HIPC
initiative, arguing that its economy was healthy. After Hurricane Mitch,
however, this argument was untenable and Honduras was granted debt relief
(Foro Social de Deuda Externa y Desarrollo de Honduras FOSDEH).
8
FAO (2005) Status of Food Security in Honduras, p.35.
9
Around 90 per cent of the countrys population are mestizo (of mixed
indigeneous/European descent), with 2 per cent of African origin and 1 per
cent European (US Library of Congress). According to the Confederation of
Autochthonous Peoples of Honduras (CONPAH), 7 per cent of the
population is made up of indigenous ethnic groups, among them the Lenca,
Chorti, Garfuna, Tolupan, Pech, Nahoa, Miskito, and Tahuaca.
10
Word Bank. Honduras Country Brief. Accessed 21 December 2009.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/HON
DURASEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21035522~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~the
SitePK:295071,00.html
11
President Ricardo Maduro reformed the Decree for the Creation of the
Departmental Development Commissions (CODEP) in mid-2002.This reform
reduced the participation of civil society in decision-making, with increased
responsibility given to Congress and the Governor Coordinator, both political
positions designated by the President.
12 In Spanish, EROC stands for Espacio Regional de Occidente.
13
In Spanish, Foro Social de la Deuda Externa y Desarollo de Honduras.
FOSDEH is a national NGO network created in 1996 by an ASONOG
initiative.
14
According to government figures, in 200002 Honduras received $81.7m
in debt relief and spent $67.2m; in 200305 it received $718.2m and spent
$14.5m; and in 200608 it received $215.1m and spent $141.3m. The main
areas of expenditure were salaries for teachers and police, medicines, and
social protection and infrastructure. Source: World Bank Strategy for
Honduras.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/HON

13 1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011

DURASEXTN/0,,menuPK:295083~pagePK:141132~piPK:141105~theSitePK
:295071,00.html
15
OCDIH (Organismo Cristiano de Desarrollo Integral de Honduras) and
ODECO (Organizacin para el Desarrollo de Corqun) are both members of
the ASONOG federation.
16
At the same time, the Government withheld $104m to implement election
promises and to support charitable causes promoted by the First Lady.
17
Members of community associations have been trained as fundraisers and
supported by OCDIH.

Oxfam GB, April 2011

This paper was written by Sonia Cano. We acknowledge the assistance of Katie
Allan, Emma Donne, Maritza Gallardo, Claire Harvey, Hector Ortega, Kirsty
Wilson, Abigail Humphries Robertson and David Wilson in its production. It is part
of a series of papers written to inform public debate on development and
humanitarian policy issues. The text may be freely used for the purposes of
campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged
in full.
For further information please email [email protected] or go to
http://publications.oxfam.org.uk.
ISBN 978-1-84814-837-6. This paper is part of a set Small Farmers, Big change:
Achieving scale in the development of smallholder agriculture.
This paper is also available in Spanish.

Oxfam GB
Oxfam GB is a development, relief, and campaigning organization that works
with others to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world.
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International.
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1. The Voice of Many, Programme Insights, Oxfam GB. April 2011 14