Participants of the projects focused on economical initiatives and small businesses in the municipalities of Copan Ruinas, Santa Rita and Cabaňas, elaborated their business plans during a workshop. Business plans were elaborated for bakeries, small super markets and tailor shops with the objective to make them as economically feasible as possible. The plans were the products of a process of analysis and data collection. Important factors were taken into account as for instance marketing, production, organization, the financial state of the business. In order to make a truthful analysis of the current situation, these elements are vital. The workshops were guided by the Small Business Facilitators of OCDIH in Copan Ruinas.

mujer chorti On the fourth of July 2009, in the municipality of Copan Ruinas (Copan) the Maya Chorti population organized a protest. The Maya Chorti are organized in the organization called CONIMCHH, which is the national council for Maya Chorti in Honduras. The peaceful protest started at the archeological park and ended at the central park in which their official position and opinion about the current democratic crisis - guided by the current president Roberto Michelletti Bain - in our country was expressed. It is important to repeat that the Maya Chorti population does not sympathize personally with president Manuel Zelaya. But they do sympathize wholeheartedly with the democratic processes in Honduras en the Latin American region.

Due to the earthquake on Thursday night - 7,1 on the Richter Scale - at the north eastern coast of Honduras, various communities in the different OCDIH sectors have been affected. There have been serious damages in the sectors of Chinda and Ilama in Santa Barbara, Copan Ruinas and Lepaera in Lempira. The latest information shows that there is a loss of 120 houses due to collapsed walls. Other houses are now causing extreme danger to the families because the earthquake caused serious cracks in the walls. The affected families are living in great uncertainty. The majority is now staying at their neighbors or families. But these are just temporal solutions.

The Christian Organization for the Integrated Development of Honduras (OCDIH) organized on the 3th of April a regional forum on the food crisis with the participation of the farmers of Western Honduras, affiliated organizations, local governments and representatives of the media and journalists. Awareness raising amongst these various groups about the impact of the food crisis on the poor families, rural and urban, is the objective of a campaign that OCDIH is implementing in order to search for alternatives and solutions.  

´What we are looking for with this initiative of a regional forum is to combine two campaigns in order to have a bigger impact: OCDIH´s campaign on the food crisis, and the campaign that we, as part of a coalition of various civil society organizations (with the support of OXFAM), are pushing named ´Vamos al Grano´. There is an obvious link between the objectives of the two campaigns:

• A bigger investment of public and private funds in the small scale agriculture:
• More participation of the small scale farmers in political decision making processes and institutions like BANADESA, SAG and other governmental programs:
• Changes and adjustments in agricultural policies which benefit the small scale farmers and give them more access to means of production´,

explained the communication officer of OCDIH.  

The forum started with a participative quiz in order to bring back the knowledge gained during the workshops that were organized in preparation of the forum and in order to involve the participants. After the quiz started the forum, facilitated by our OCDIH colleague Oscar Danilo. The participants of the forum were: Edgar Bueso (BANADESA), Ena Gamez (Unidad Territorial Transfronterizo Lenca Presanca), Maritza Perdomo (UNIFEM) and Carlos Melara (OCDIH). The presentations given led to a lively discussion about the food crisis, the Access to credits and the needs and possibilities of the farmers.  

With the support of the director of the theatre group La Sembra, Delmer López Moreno, a socio-drama was developed which reflected passionately the thoughts and feelings of the farmers about the current reality in their communities due to the food crisis. After the socio-drama the public reflected upon the roles and responsibilities of the various groups looking for possible solutions.  

Juan Bustillo (ASONOG) presented shortly the campaign ´Vamos al Grano´. And the singer Maria Martha Caranza, who wrote a song specifically for this regional forum, closed the forum.  

OCDIH will continue with the two campaigns trying to generate changes and more support for the small scale farmers.

En Trinidad, Santa Bárbara, a village of stilts and dreams, a ´Say NO to Garbage´ was the start of a new street theater play called the Six R´s: recycle, reduce, re-use, refuse, repair and responsibility. The idea is to educate the people on the importance of a good use and processing of garbage, that will not only reduce the amount of garbage in the environment, but also create alternatives and generate income.

La Siembra, a theater group from Trinidad, was invited by OCDIH (the Christian Organization for the Integrated Development of Honduras) to be part of the ´NO Garbage fair´. And that is where the cooperation started.

As explained by the director of La Siembra, Delmer López Moreno: ´We are honored to support OCDIH artistically and to be part of their awareness raising strategy in rural and urban populations´. The theater group focused on the design of the theatre, music, clothes, attributes and make up. Thanks to the motivation of Igmarrey Pacheco (Chili), this effort was strengthened by a study which made the entire play anthropologically and esthetically sensitive.

In this theater, the spectator finds a personality given to the garbage. This contributes to the awareness raising, since people will understand that they need to ´treat better´ their garbage. It´s not only that you put the garbage in the dedicated spaces and not on the street, but also how you can use it so that it will still be useful. ´To really live up to the philosophy of the six R´s, should not be seen as something impossible for the people of Honduras. It has been shown in other cultures that with organic and non-organic garbage the productivity can be increased, accelerating human development in harmony with nature,’ explains Delmer López Moreno. ´We know that having fun during education is the most effective way to get to the people. And showing something, like a theatre play, really contributes to positive changes in behavior and attitude´.

The play about the Six R´s, shows what to do with garbage and gives an impulse to the creativity of the people. The campaign of OCDIH ´NO Garbage´ does not only motivate at the people in Western Honduras, but also this specific theatre group: ´To be honest, this theme was never part of our artistic focus but ever since we have been working on it, it has become a very important element of our identity. And we will keep on educating the people at the most important festivals and carnivals in the country´.

OCDIH continues with the ´No Garbage ´campaign, always looking for alternatives to educate and raise awareness with different social actors. We are very grateful to the street theater group La Siembra for their creativity, dedication, and commitment to the struggle for a clean, healthy and green Honduras.

´Also in garbage you can find beauty´

Thanks to: Delmer López Moreno     

Worldwide, we are facing an energetic crisis and severe consequences of the climate change. Therefore, the Christian Organization for the Integrated Development of Honduras (OCDIH) in cooperation with other organizations like Heifer Project International (HPI), are looking for solutions and energetic alternatives. In OCDIH´s sector Protección and Naranjito, Santa Barbará, the Association of Producers is implementing bio-digesters for the production of natural gas.

In 2009, OCDIH and the Association of Producers, with the support of HPI, established 8 bio-digesters in the region. These bio-digesters run on the fermentation of organic materials.  The gas, which is the product of this process, is transported into a bag where it is collected and stored. After that, the gas is pushed through tubes made of the material PVC towards a stove where it can be used.

OCDIH is an organization that always looks for alternatives that are environmentally friendly. Within its component ´environmental management´, OCDIH promotes institutional activities that protect the environment. The bio-digesters are an example of alternatives for clean energy that really benefit: 

• They reduce the quantity of harmful gas that negatively affect the environment
• They minimize the use of wood for cooking. This will reduce the deforestation in these areas and will minimize the damage done to the natural water wells; which are the natural sources.
• It is a technology which is easy to use, los cost and easy to maintain. 
• This technology produces ´bio fertilizers´ which can be used in the productive areas and will increase the quality of the products.

Besides being a technology to counter climate change while looking for clean energy alternatives, this activity of OCDIH will be used as an instrument for awareness raising and knowledge sharing on the environment and a sustainable use of our resources. OCDIH works with the slogan: ´The climate is changing, why aren’t you? ´

15 years ago, the night set in on the Mountain Carmelo, where Edgardo Chévez and Francisco Machado were reflecting upon the great work of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) that support the traditionally excluded communities, upon the economically and politically difficult situation in the country, the consequences of the neo-liberal system and how a new way forward should be pushed in order to counter the situation of extreme poverty in which many people find themselves. It was at this moment, where Francisco Machado and Edgardo Chevez came up with an alternative and started their NGO.

Acknowledging these challenges, they continued and started changing the reality of numerous families supported in the North Western part of the country during 15 years of development cooperation, promoting change processes. If God allows, the story will continue for many more years to come. 15 years of social cooperation has not been easy, but it´s a definite source of happiness. That is why this special day has been celebrated at the OCDIH office in La Entrada, Copán. Present were all OCDIH´s employees with their families, members of the Board, ex-employees, representatives of other organizations and journalist and media organizations. The celebration was a very warm and open event.

Nelson García, the president of the Board of OCDIH, opened the event by praising the extraordinary work of all the people that work, or have been working, at OCDIH. Furthermore, he stated that one of the goals of OCDIH is to increase the human quality of people. Of course, thanking the Lord for having been guiding the organization for the last 15 years.

Special thanks were given to the members of the Board and the first employees of OCDIH. Later on, the visitors walked around the area to see some expositions on the work of the organization made by the various OCDIH sectors. Edgardo Chévez, general coordinator of OCDIH, closed the event by thanking the staff for its great commitment and dedication to the organization.

The farmers organizations that this Wednesday, the 25th of March, presented the campaign ´Vamos al Grano´ in five cities in the country, asked for an increase of the national budget dedicated to the agriculture.  

The objective of the campaign, that was launched simultaneously in five regions (Santa Rosa de Copán, Valle de Aguán, La Paz, Olancho and El Paraíso), is to modify the agrarian policies and recognizes the importance of the small scale agriculture as an instrument to reduce food insecurity and rural poverty in Honduras.  

“What we want is that this initiative leads to an increased support for the small scale agriculture during a time in which the impact of the food crisis accelerates, which is creating conditions for more hunger”, assured Santos Chirions, the president of the Board of COCOCH.  

In Honduras, where the families living in poverty are dedicating 70% of their income to food, which is the highest percentage in Latin America, the risk of a food crisis is huge. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) announced that 21% of the population is suffering from malnutrition and that 15 people die daily because of this. Furthermore the FAO claimed that this number could double this year.   

As a matter of fact, yearly the number of deaths caused by a lack of food in the country is 5,460. These facts are even more alarming since they top the number of deaths caused by violence (according to official information this number is 3,418 in 2008). 

“Our goal is that the international cooperation, donor agencies, as well as the national government of Honduras, dedicate more funding to the small scale agriculture and recognize its potential to reduce the risk of a national food crisis”, claimed Sonia Cano, the director of Oxfam International in Honduras. 

“To us, what announced the World Bank is key; that the governments that did not abandon their agriculture are in a better position to fight the food crisis, and that countries need to increase their investments in the small scale agriculture to reduce the effects of the global food problems and a possible hunger crisis in Honduras”, mentioned Sonia Cano. 

We have been informed that the minister of the Secretary for Agriculture, Héctor Hernández, recommended at the Presidents meeting (which was held at the end of April in Trinidad Tobago) that they dedicate 10 percent of the budget to agricultural production in order to counter the food crisis in the country. Dagoberto Suazo, the president of the Central for Coffee Cooperatives in Honduras, announced that the leaders of the campaign ´Vamos al Grano´ will attend a meeting on the 31th of March with the minister of Agriculture, in order to exchange opinions and look for cooperation on these issues, emphasizing the needs and demands of the small scale producers in the country.  

The Christian Organization for the Integrated Development of Honduras (OCDIH) is one of the seven organizations that together organized the campaign ´Vamos al Grano´. OCDIH, together with the farmers from the target communities, marched in Santa Rosa de Copán under the slogan ´Strengthen the production, in order to guarantee our alimentation (Fortalezcamos la producción, para asegurar nuestra alimentación)´.

We are part of a social movement, in which we always look for an improved cooperation with other organizations, and at times we take a hold and look back, reflect, and learn. For this reason, the Christian Organization for the Integrated Development of Honduras organized a meeting for various organizations on the 12th of March in Tegucigalpa, the capital. Eleven representatives of different donor-agencies shared their experiences and knowledge with three representatives from communities in which OCDIH has presence, and with seven representatives of OCDIH itself. The progresses on the central themes of the meeting (gender, associations, food crisis and Maya farm) were discussed in an open and creative atmosphere.

OCDIH presented their experiences in its 15 years of commitment to development on two specific themes: gender and the association of small community banks. The representatives of the communities presented the progress made and the difficulties ahead, as well as their ideas on how to move forward. As one of the representatives of Oxfam commented: ´OCDIH is one of the organizations that has really implemented gender as a cross cutting issue in its work. I congratulate you!

Furthermore, OCDIH used the meeting to share its 4 important proposals that contribute to an inclusive, equal and sustainable development on the before mentioned themes. Because when one looks back on its experiences, one always finds new challenges. In the case of Lepaera, Maximo (one of the representatives of the communities) explained very clearly about the process of forming an association of community banks: ¨We have made a lot of progress, and have seen significant changes in our communities, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing left to do or that we don’t need any more support. Maybe we even need it more now´.

The event was used for reflection and learning in a creative environment. Above that, it was a meeting in which people got the change to get to know each other better, to understand each other better, and to look for a shared future while strengthening the cooperation for development.