CURRENT PROJECTS
 'Community
health, women’s rights, environmental preservation: Strengthening
indigenous capacity in the Miskito rainforest of Honduras:
Indigenous communities in Honduras – like indigenous communities
around the world – are among the most poor and marginalized.
Despite the immense natural wealth of their traditional territory,
the indigenous peoples of Honduras that inhabitant the incredibly
bio-diverse Miskito rainforest, face alarming rates of poverty,
lack of access to education and health care, high rates of domestic
violence, and environmental degradation. In the midst of these crises,
women's voices are not being heard at the community level and they
are being left out of the development process.
While community organizations do exist in this region,
they lack training and capacity to become engaged in active dialogue
and strategic planning for their communities’ development
– the women’s group are very new and exist with no material
or financial support . It is incredibly important that local indigenous
capacity be developed to participate in critical dialogues about
land use and sustainable and economic development in the protected
rainforest area in which they live. It is also necessary that issues
of discrimination against women, domestic violence and women shouldering
the burden of the worst forms of poverty and exclusion be addressed
by supporting these women themselves.
This project, therefore, proposes to develop a strong
network among indigenous communities, educate community members
about women’s rights and engage communities in national level
policy dialogue. CFCA’s local partner in Honduras, Alianza
Verde,itself an internationally respected indigenous NGO from the
Miskito rainforest with excellent project management experience
and intimate local knowledge will lead the project.
The project goals are to:
1) Increase the organizational capacity of indigenous
grassroots organizations to promote human rights and manage community
and environmental development of protected areas;
2) Increase awareness about indigenous rights and
environmental issues in the region; among local and national leaders;
3) Increase participation of indigenous people, through
indigenous organizations,in local management and development.
Contribute to Solutions - Please support this
important project!
HIV/AIDS EDUCATION FOR YOUTH AND MOTHERS IN ROATAN, HONDURAS
Partner: Familias Saludables (Healthy Families)
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here for project flyer
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin
America and it is struggling with growing rates of HIV/AIDS infection.
Familias Saludables (FS) works on the Island of Roatan
in Western Honduras. They operate a training program that educates
youth about the prevention and early detection of HIV and other
Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STDs). They also operate a mother to
child HIV transmission reduction program. With Change for Children
support, FS will be able to create more programs and reach more
people affected by HIV/AIDS on the island.
Project purpose
This project addresses the HIV/AIDS crisis in Honduras
through: HIV education, STD treatment and prevention, advocacy for
human rights protection, and local capacity building. These activities
aim to enhance HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness and they aim to
provide local skills and opportunities. As well, Change for Children's
project mandate is to facilitate Familias Saludables participation
in Honduran, Central American and international networks in order
to assist HIV/AIDS information sharing and to foster a best practice
dialogue.
Project goals
• To educate about safe sex, STD and pregnancy
prevention methods.
• To produce materials and workshops to reduce stigma and
discrimination towards Persons Living With Aids (PLWA) and to provide
them with employment as peer counsellors
• To promote and provide HIV/AIDS testing and to encourage
disclosure of disease status.
• To educate communities, with the participation of local
public figures and government representatives, about the human rights
of PLWA
• To encourage employers to respect the human rights of PLWA
• To build networks between Honduran, Central American and
international organizations with expertise in addressing HIV/AIDS
issues, thus enhancing FS’s capacity to contribute to improving
the situation on Roatan.
Context of Honduras
• Honduras has a population of over 6.9 million
people, growing at a rate of 2.5 percent per year.
• Social spending in Honduras on a per capita basis is the
second lowest in the region at US$58 per person, behind Nicaragua
• Two thirds of the population lives below the World Bank
poverty line of US$2 per day.
• Approximately one in four Hondurans earns less than $1 a
day.
• Chronic malnutrition affects 33% of children under five.
• The average Honduran citizen attends school for only 5.3
years.
• Honduras accounts for 50% of known HIV/AIDS infections in
Central America, while its population is only about 17% of Central
America’s total population.
• The UN reports 3,300 children died from AIDS in Honduras
in 2001. Another 14,000 children are orphans, having lost their
parents to AIDS.
• The Honduran government is anxious to halt the spread of
HIV, but it is hindered by a lack of educated staff, lack of funds,
and a lack of direction. As a result, donated anti-retroviral drugs
from the Global Fund have gone undistributed.
• Poor conditions for PLWA are exacerbated by a lack of adequate
transport routes and health care infrastructure, poor sanitation
and limited access to safe water.
Change for Children’s 2005-2006 CIDA-funded intern, Lynn Sutankayo,
spent six months working with our partner in Honduras and Change
for Children has currently applied to CIDA to have a 2007/08 intern
in Honduras.
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