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.
Further reading
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