Honduras
At the request of the Government of Honduras, the EIIP provided technical
assistance to the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing (SOPTRAVI) in
2003. This initial support was aimed at preparing a proposal for the impact
evaluation of the ministry's programme for road maintenance with associative
microenterprises, as well as determining in how far these microenterprises would
be able to provide the required services for the Municipal Kilometre Programme,
which foresaw street paving of the central square in small municipalities. A
third component was to determine the potential of incorporating labour-based
rehabilitation and maintenance methodologies into the Rural Infrastructure
Project (PIR), which was under development and was to be funded with a loan from
the Worldbank.
The EIIP subsequently participated in a number of Worldbank missions for the
Rural Infrastructure Project, raising awareness with respect to the potential
for creating employment using the infrastructure investments planned in the
project, determining the types of activities that could be undertaken using
labour-based technologies, and identifying the rural roads to be included in an
initial pilot phase of the project focusing on labour-based methods.
The PIR will focus on infrastructure development in three sectors: rural
roads, water and sanitation, and electrification. The PIR plans to contract out
rehabilitation and maintenance works to small private contractors and local
communities, wherever possible, with strong involvement of local authorities. It
will be managed and carried out by the Honduran Social Investment Fund (FHIS),
supported at local level by associated municipalities (mancomunidades)
and their technical units (UTIs).
The Government of Honduras strongly supports the use of an employment
intensive approach in the rehabilitation and maintenance activities foreseen in
the PIR (where applicable), and has requested the EIIP to provide technical
assistance during the initial phase of the PIR, which will have a strong focus
on labour-based techniques. An agreement between the ILO and the FHIS is
currently under negotiation.
As part of the Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund (MDG-F) process financed by the Government of Spain, the EIIP programme participated in two thematic windows in Honduras, on “Economic Governance” and
“Culture and Development”. In cooperation with several other UN agencies, concept notes were prepared for joint programmes in both themes, which were subsequently submitted to the MDG-F Technical and Steering Committees for approval. The concept note for the Economic Governance window, promotes the reform of the water and sanitation sector and the prioritisation of smaller towns and rural areas. Under this joint programme, the ILO will focus on strengthening local entrepreneurial capabilities to provide water services, capacity building of the municipalities involved, and the participation of communities and water users in the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure through the use of labour-based technologies. The proposal for the Culture and Development window seeks to enhance the abilities of institutions and individuals to manage cultural and creative development in a decentralized manner. In this joint programme, the ILO will focus on the development of appropriate local planning instruments and the use of labour-based technologies in the improvement of infrastructure and furnishing of public spaces and historic buildings. Both concept notes were approved by the Steering Committee in October, and currently detailed Joint Programme Documents are being prepared for each window. If approved, the Joint Programmes are likely to start in the second half of 2008. Further information can be found on the MDG-F website: www.undp.org/mdgf.
Further reading
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