Western Honduras is made up of the following regions: Ocotepeque, Copán, the South region of Santa Barbara, Intibucá and Lempira. The total surface of Western Honduras is 9 100 km ². The region is known for its many geographical contrasts like mountains and valleys, with soils of strong forest vocation. The average temperature is 18,3 °C, with variations in the highest zones.  A big problem is the loss of forests in the region. This is an increasing problem, mainly because of the lack of knowledge, which leads to the uncontrolled exploitation of the forest, accelerating the process of erosion and the loss of fertile soil.

Western Honduras is a very vulnerable region with a high rate of food insecurity, child malnutrition, a lack of diversity in the diet, low income and  economic development, bad infrastructure and a high rate of emigration of the workforce to other regions in the country or other countries. 45 Percent of the Hondurans that migrate to other countries, come from the Western region: 7.4 percent go to the United States, 4,8% to Canada, 8.9 % to Mexico, 13.9 % to other countries of Center America and 9.8 % to other countries.The current population exceeds 400 000 inhabitants, living in  494 villages and 2099 communities. It is necessary to emphasize that in Western Honduras 14 % of the total population of Honduras lives. 90 % of the population is rural; the education system is failing, having an illiteracy rate near to 60 %, which in some municipalities reaches up to 80 %. The quality of housing in Western Honduras is low: between 72 and 82 % of the housings do not have access to drinking water, between 38 and 51 % are not connected to the drainage system, and between 57 and 86 % of the population doesn’t have electricity. This situation makes is almost impossible to live a worthy life in human dignity.

Economy

The economy of Western Honduras is characterized for being mainly agricultural. In this region 32 % of the national output of coffee is produced. At the same time, cattle like pork, cows and birds are held. Of all the production produced by the families, dedicated to the sowing of basic grains, 90 % of the production is for self-consumption. The industrial sector in this region is almost void and very rudimentary. Found easily in the region though are rural microfinance institutions supporting the transformation of agricultural products as: milk into lacteal, sugar cane into sugar and sweets, tobacco into cigars. But the production is still very little.

The participation of the people in political processes in Western Honduras has been limited by the situation of extreme poverty and social exclusion. But thanks to initiatives of several  NGO`s there has been achieved a bigger participation of the people, and a more open attitude of the local government to civil society.