HONDURAS — According to The World Bank, Honduras is a low- to middle-income country wherein 66 percent of residents live in poverty. Sadly, many Hondurans suffer through these conditions, and in rural areas, one in five people experience the most extreme poverty, living on less that $1.90 per day.
Major challenges to the country include holding the highest level of economic inequality in Latin America, high rates of crime and violence amongst young people, and decreased crop exporting which is detrimental to the agricultural sector. Additionally, Honduras is susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
On its own, the country has achieved many successes in improving poverty and life for the population. Disadvantaged communities found education coverage with the Project for Education Quality, Good Governance, and Institutional Strengthening. The Nutrition and Social Protection Project through the government helped more than 36,000 at-risk children avoid food insecurity.
The Rural Competitiveness Project created more than 9,000 jobs in 2016 and increased small business productivity. These are only a few ways conditions in Honduras are getting better, but there are many resources and organizations that suggest how to help people in Honduras persevere despite serious poverty. Here are just three:
1. Water.org
Since 1990, Water.org has worked in Honduras to construct a community water system as well as health and hygiene education. The program aims to provide more than 3,600 people throughout two communities with improved access to water. Water.org focuses on the working families of rural areas who make only enough money to feed their families, with none to spare.
The program seeks to help Hondurans overcome the water sanitation and accessibility issues that cause 800,000 people to lack safe water access. So far, Water.org has reached 13,000 people with the help of one program partner. It also accepts donations from people around the world to help reach more people in need of improved water quality.
2. Save the Children, Honduras
Save the Children is a program that works globally to protect children in crises. In 2016 alone, Save the Children, Honduras provided vital nourishment to 10,575 children, helped 10,500 families feed their children, provided 14,900 children a healthy start to life and supported 12,316 children in times of crisis. The program works primarily in early childhood development centers, gives children nutritious snacks and fosters a fun, safe and hands-on education.
Save the Children recognizes the urgent need to focus on hungry and impoverished kids who might otherwise lack support or resources because Honduras does not grow enough food to support the entire population. Through this program, though, one can sponsor a child or donate to the cause to help reach more children in other communities.
3. Children International
“Team Honduras” for Children International consists of a large community of volunteers, grad students, interns and a dedicated community coordinator — all of whom work hard each year to help the country combat its major challenges. The program educates children on the benefits of good hygiene and emphasizes that sanitation is a crucial element of a healthy life, as 69 percent of 9- to 10- year-olds are infected by parasites from poor sanitary conditions.
Children International also combats youth gang violence and the highest murder rate in the world by implementing support groups and a Youth Council. The focus of this council is to give kids more opportunities and keep them away from heavy-crime areas.
The country’s large gender wage gap is another focus component of the program’s support. Girls rarely have fiscally fruitful futures because at least 30 percent of women make less money than men when doing similar jobs. The program’s Youth Health Corps and Into Employment initiative aim to empower girls to stay educated and give them the tools to graduate with jobs by equipping them with learned skills for life in the working world.
Children International provides many opportunities to visit Honduras and volunteer, or sponsor a child from home by donating and spreading the message of being a leader in the fight for change. There are multiple beneficial ways to help Honduras alleviate its socio-economic burden — by volunteering, researching, donating money and materials, and through heavy and dedicated activism, the entire population can receive the kind of support and care needed to make real improvements.
By learning more about how to help people in Honduras, anyone can be a powerful force for good.
– Olivia Cyr
Photo: Flickr