Improving the implementation of public policies through constructive engagement.

IMPROVING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC POLICIES THROUGH CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT. A

C O L L E C T I V E

C A S E

S T U D Y

Programa Impactos – Promoting Citizen Participation, Transparency and Social Opportunities,implemented in Honduras by Counterpart International Impactos Program Director - Honduras Counterpart International Dina Elisabet Eguigure Operations Director (CPRG) Nury Alvarado Operations Director (CAP) Judy Donaire Developed by: ANED Consultores Impactos Program Review team Dina Eguigure Nury Alvarado Judy Donaire Ileana Morales Lizeth Coello Claribel Posas Design and Layout Bricelda Contreras briscont.bc@gmail.com Location Col. Lomas del Guijarro Sur, Calle Viena, Ave. Berlín, Edificio Plaza Azul, Sexto Piso, local N° 67 T: 504 2239 2856, 2239 6892, Tegucigalpa MDC, Honduras C.A. http://www.programaimpactos.org The development of this document, “ Improving the implementation of public policies through constructive engagement . A collective case study ´´, was made possible through the generous support of the people of the United States of America through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content of this document is reponsability of the Impactos Program and it does not neccesarily reflect USAID nor the United States government point of view.

Contenido 9

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

11 INTRODUCTION 13

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

13

What is a case study?

13

What is public policy advocacy?

14

What is constructive engagement?

17

CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES MADE AVAILABLE BY IMPACTOS

23

Constructive engagement experiences at the national level (CPRG Component)

36

Experiences of constructive engagement at the local level (The CAP Component)

45

THE IMPACTOS PROGRAM AND CSOs WHICH PARTICIPATED IN CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES

48 CONCLUSIONS 48

Regarding the issues addressed

48

Regarding situational action

49

Regarding the participating CSOs

50

Regarding political advocacy

50

Regarding political will

52 BIBLIOGRAPHY 54

Annex A- Impactos Program Policies Influenced

STUDY CASE ASOCIACIÓN PARA UNA SOCIEDAD MÁS JUSTA 62

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

63 INTRODUCTION 65

CONTEXT AND PROBLEM

66

TRANSPARENCY IN TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEXTBOOKS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

67

LEGAL ANTICORRUPTION ASSISTANCE

69

IMPACTS ACHIEVED REGARDING PUBLIC POLICY

71

ASJ AND ITS ADVOCACY METHODOLOGY

72 SUSTAINABILITY OF THE ADVOCACY ACTIONS AND CONTRIBUTION BY PROGRAM 73

CONDITIONS WHICH ENABLED CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN ASJ AND THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

73

BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED

74

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS

76 BIBLIOGRAPHY STUDY CASE PASTORAL SOCIAL CÁRITAS DE HONDURAS 82 INTRODUCTION 84

CITIZEN OVERSIGHT AND CONTROL OF THE INTERNAL MANAGEMENT

OF THE SPECIAL HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE BELONGING TO THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

87

SOCIAL AUDIT OF THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN IN THE GENERAL ELECTION PROCESS FOR 2013

89

COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN FOR THE TRANSPARENT ELECTION OF MAGISTRATES OF THE NEW SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE

91

IMPACTS ACHIEVED IN TERMS OF PUBLIC POLICIES

93

CONTRIBUTION OF IMPACTOS PROGRAM

94 CONDITIONS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC

ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CARITAS AND THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 96

BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED

97

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS

99 BIBLIOGRAPHY STUDY CASE ASOCIACIÓN PROGRAMA AMIGO DE LOS NIÑOS – CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL 103

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

104 INTRODUCTION 106

ESTABLISHING THE BASIS TO INTERVENE IN COMMUNITIES WITH HIGH RATES OF VIOLENCE

107

APAN-CI AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY CAPACITIES TO PREVENT VIOLENCE

113

IMPACTS ACHIEVED REGARDING

113

MUNICIPAL PUBLIC POLICIES

114 116

CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE IMPACTOS PROGRAM CONDITIONS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC COMMITMENTS BETWEEN APAN-CI AND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

117

BEST PRACTICES, LEARNED LESSON AND RECOMMENDATIONS

119

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS

120

INFORMATION SOURCES

CENTRO DE PROMOCIÓN E INVESTIGACIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS 125

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

126 INTRODUCTION 127

PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY CIPRODEH

130

CIPRODEH’S INTERVENTION

134

CIPRODEH’S METHODOLOGY FOR STRATEGIC ACTION

139 CONCLUSION 140 BIBLIOGRAPHY STUDY CASE FORO SOCIAL DE LA DEUDA EXTERNA Y DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS 145

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

146 INTRODUCTION 147

PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY FOSDEH

148

FOSDEH’S INTERVENTION

153

ADVOCACY EFFORTS IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS

156

OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS

162 CONCLUSION 163 BIBLIOGRAPHY STUDY CASE FUNDACIÓN NACIONAL PARA EL DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS 167

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

168 INTRODUCTION 169

THE CONTEXT OF THE WORK

171

SELECTED COMMUNITIES

171

FUNADEH’s INTERVENTION

175

STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL ACTIONS

182

RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

184 CONCLUSION 185 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH ADELSAR ALAC

ENGLISH Agencia de Desarrollo Estratégico Local de Santa Rosa de Copán Centro de Asistencia Legal Anticorrupción

ADELSAR ALAC

Local Strategic Development Agency of Santa Rosa de Copan Center for Legal Anticorruption Assistance

AMHON

Asociación de Municipios de Hondura

AMHON

Association of Honduran Municipalities

CAP

Oportunidades Sociales

CAP

Community Action for Prosperity

CARSI

Iniciativa Regional de Seguridad para Centroamérica

CARSI

Regional Security Initiative for Central America

CASM

Comisión de Acción Social Menonita

CASM

Mennonite Social Action Commission

CDH

Centro de Desarrollo Humano

CDH

Human Development Center

CEPROSAF APAN-CI CIPE CIPRODEH CMCSC COALIANZA

Centro de Promoción en Salud y Asistencia Familiar Asociación Programa Amigo de los Niños – Children International Centro de Investigación, Planeamiento y Evaluación Centro de Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos Consejo Municipal de Convivencia y Seguridad Ciudadana Comisión para la Promoción de la Alianza Público-Privada

CEPROSAF APAN-CI CIPE CIPRODEH CMCSC COALIANZA

Programa Municipal de Infancia, COMVIDA

Adolescencia y Juventud: Programa de Participación Ciudadana para una Gobernanza

CRC

Comité de Revitalización Comunitaria

CRG CRPS DEI

Subvenciones para la Revitalización Comunitaria Comisión de la Reforma de la Seguridad Pública Dirección Ejecutiva de Ingresos

COMVIDA

Social/ Programa de Infraestructura de Iniciativa Comunitaria

Friend of Children Program Association - Children International Center for Research, Planning, and Evaluation Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights Municipal Council for Coexistence and Citizen Security Commission for the Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships Adolescents, and Youth – Communication and Life

CPRG

Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance

CRC

Community Revitalization Committee

CRG

Community Revitalization Grants

CRPS DEI

Fondo Hondureño de Inversión FHIS/CLIP

and Family Assistance

Municipal Program for Infants,

Comunicación y Vida CPRG

Center for the Promotion of Health

Commission for the Reform of Public Security Tax Administration Honduran Social Investment Fund

FHIS/CLIP

– Program for Community-Initiative Infrastructure

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SPANISH

ENGLISH Federación de Organizaciones No

FOPRIDEH

Gubernamentales para el Desarrollo

Honduran Federation of NonFOPRIDEH

de Honduras FUNADEH IAIP

Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo de Honduras Instituto de Acceso a la Información Pública

Governmental Development Organizations

FUNADEH IAIP

National Foundation for Honduran Development Institute of Access to Public Information

Impulsando Participación Ciudadana, Transparencia y Oportunidades IMPACTOS

Sociales

IMPACTOS

INE

Instituto Nacional de Estadística

INE

ISAG ISCPG IUDPAS

Subvenciones de Asistencia y Fortalecimiento Institucional Subvención de Fortalecimiento Institucional y Participación Cívica Instituto Universitario en Democracia, Paz y Seguridad

ISAG ISCPG IUDPAS

Promoting Citizen Participation, Transparency, and Social Opportunities

National Statistics Institute Institutional Strengthening Assistance Grants Institutional Support and Civic Participation Grant University Institute for Democracy, Peace, and Security

OSC

Organización de la Sociedad Civil

CSO

Civil Society Organization

RDJ

Red de Jóvenes

RDJ

Youth Network

SDA

Solicitud de Aplicación

RFA

Request for Application

SEFIN

Secretaría de Finanzas

SEFIN

Ministry of Finance

TI

Transparencia Internacional

TI

Transparency International

USG

United States Government

YNSG

Youth Network Strengthening Grants

USG YNSG

10

Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América Subvención para el Fortalecimiento de Redes de Jóvenes

INTRODUCTION The basic question that this case study aims to address is: What was the nature of the constructive enagegment implemented by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that work as partners of the Program Promoting Citizen Participation, Transparency, and Social Opportunities (Impactos)? And what was the programmatic result obtained?

In order to respond to that question, Impactos prepared a case study, using the methodology specified in the corresponding bibliography as a collective or multiple case study, which is in fact a synthesis of individual case studies. From the wide array of civil society organizations (CSOs) that received grants and technical assistance from Impactos, six cases were chosen because of their highly illustrative value as examples of the application of the public policy advocacy strategy, called “constructive engagement”.

Impactos is implemented in Honduras through Counterpart International, an experienced development organization, an American company operating worldwide, financed by USAID. Impactos counts with two closely related projects: 1) Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance (CPRG) and 2) Community Action for Prosperity (CAP). The first one aims to increase transparency and accountability in public institutions through the support of initiatives led by civil society organizations (CSOs); the second one promotes citizen participation in violence prevention, the generation of social opportunities for youth, and empowerment at the community level.

Impactos developed a grant component to provide technical and financial assistance to Civil Society Organizations. This mechanism allowed the program to develop and/or strengthen CSOs’ capacities to do public policy advocacy, using a constructive engagement strategy approach to promote the strengthening of the public institutional framework. In order to implement the constructive engagement strategy, Impactos developed mechanisms to provide guidance and technical assistance to CSOs; combining the following key elements: 1) strengthening CSOs’ institutional and functional capacities; 2) promoting formal and informal networks; 3) establishing learning communities; 4) facilitating opportunities and platforms for dialogue in which national leaders and decision makers participated and then agreed to incorporate the constructive engagement approach in their political advocacy actions in order to improve governance both at the national and at the municipal level.

The application of the logic of the constructive engagement model was implemented through projects funded with grants implemented by CSOs. This model allowed for the revitalization of public policy advocacy initiatives both at the central government level and in other branches of government, as well as at the local and municipal levels. The cases chosen for this study are only examples of the types of experiences which occurred and the lessons shared throughout the five years that the program has been in operation.

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Each study case aims to illustrate through examples the different ways in which CSOs use resources, how they generate lessons learned, how they create and handle their relationships with social actors, how they carry out political dialogue, and how they have strengthened their own capacities to have a positive impact on public policies that have a strong effect on important issues such as access to public information, transparency, accountability, citizen security, and violence prevention.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK What is a case study?

A case study is a research design used to carry out an in-depth analysis and understand the multiple phases of a complex issue within its natural environment.

The basic principle that serves as the engine of a study case is the in-depth exploration of a phenomena and its environment. As Robert Ying has pointed out, case studies try to respond to the questions relative to the “How?” and “Why?” things happen and the way that they happen.

According to Robert Stakes’ famous classification, there are three different types of case studies which can be identified: 1) The intrinsic case study whose objective is to understand a phenomena which is unique in its own nature; 2) The instrumental case study, which refers to a single case developed with the objective to illustrate arguments about general theoretical issues, and 3) The collective case study, which is a type of instrumental case study implying the use of multiple case studies simultaneously in order to obtain a broader understanding of a specific topic.1 In that same line of thinking, Robert K. Yin has made a differentiation between single case studies and multiple case studies. The first one is applied to a single case study and the second one to several case studies handled jointly2.

What is public policy advocacy?

Public policy advocacy refers to the interactive process between the powers of government and organized civil society groups who demand the efficient approval, modification and/or execution of the governing process. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) do not have the authority which government entities have when it comes to public policy decision-making, because this is a responsibility of the branches of Government. However, they “can provide information, exercise pressure and find ways to persuade the public and decision-makers to actively influence the orientation, representation and effectiveness of public policies”3.

Public policies are government actions that mobilize human, financial and institutional resources to resolve problems of a public nature. They may be in the form of laws, programs and projects, the assignation of resources for public expenditures or the imposition of taxes, or they may take on the form of regulations through civil and criminal statutes.4

1 2 3 4

Robert Stakes, “Estudios de casos cualitativos” in Norman Denzin and Ivonna Lincoln, Estrategias de investigación cualitativa. Volumen III, Editorial Gedisa, Barcelona, 2013, pp. 158-16 Robert K. Ying, Case Study Research. Designs and Methods Sage, Thousand Oaks, California, 2009, p. 19 Mónica Tapia Álvarez, et. al., Manual de incidencia en políticas públicas, Alternativas y Capacidades A.C., México, 2010, p. 13 Ibidem, pp. 12-13

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In order to understand the nature of the constructive engagement established by the CSOs and the representatives of public authority, it is necessary to understand the public policy cycle. Three phases have been distinguished in the public policy cycle: 1) Policy-making; 2) Implementation, and 3) Evaluation. The policy-making phase includes the identification and definition of the problem that is being resolved, it’s inclusion in the public agenda, its consideration by public authorities and the issuance of a law, a program or a project to carry out the public policy decision.

The implementation is the enforcement phase of the approved public policy. As its name indicates it, evaluation refers to the assessment of the results obtained from the enforcement of the public policy.5 In this context, it is not unusual to see that a strategy such as constructive engagement for the efficiency of public policy, frequently begins with an assessment of the practices or the public policy whose implementation we want to influence through advocacy. This path is the opposite of the path that is followed when the aim is to achieve an acknowledgment of rights and there is a struggle to place the problem in the public agenda to achieve the issuance of a law or the creation of a program or project to implement it. As has been repeatedly pointed out, the implementation stage of public policies represents the most critical moment of the public policy cycle in Latin America6. In this sense, the constructive engagement strategy works as an antidote against the deficiencies in the implementation that have characterized public policies in Latin America. The process begins with the assessment of the public policy or practice for which we want to advocate, at the central government level or in some other government agency which acts at the national level. At the local government level, as can be seen in this work, the approach is more flexible and variable.

What is constructive engagement?

Constructive enagement is a public policy advocacy approach aimed at establishing a reciprocal relationship between civil society and government institutions. These relationships must be based on mutual respect, trust, legitimacy, transparency and stakeholders’ capacity to participate in a dialogue. CSOs have a wide range of knowledge and experience in terms of finding solutions for development issues and innovative solutions which can be applied by government institutions.

In this interactive process, CSOs represent one way or the other, the voice of the men and women who builds up the nation. Constructive engagements which are made by both sectors of society represent new ways of dialogue and deliberation

5 6

14

Regarding the cycle of public policy, see for example, Equipo Pueblo, Estrategia de incidencia de las OSC en las políticas públicas, México, 2011, p. 50 y ss. See also José Javier Gómez, El ciclo de las políticas públicas, CEPAL, Antigua, Guatemala, 2010 See Mario Waissbluth, “Déficit de vitamina i”. Available at: http://www.sistemaspublicos.cl/wp-content/files_mf/ 1276472323Notas-de-Opinion-o-Documentos-de-Trabajo-Vitamina-I.pdf

between the State and society as a whole. The experience gained up until now indicates that in order for this engagement to be constructive and meaningful, it must be regulated and institutionalized, the necessary information must be shared among both sectors and the exchange of perspectives and knowledge must be in both directions.

Constructive engagement in the case of the advocacy initiatives supported by Impactos is seen as an element that sustains the effective collaboration between government institutions and CSOs. The latter should not see constructive engagement as a way to support the government or to become some sort of technical arm of the government. Deep down, it’s about a commitment with citizens’ interest by taking on the responsibility of improving the efficiency of the State’s institutional framework and contributing to the idea of helping to build a more democratic, fair and equal society7.

7

Commonwealth Insights, Constructive Engagement. Available at: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/ commonwealth-insights-constructive-engagement. See also, Constructive Engagement: Context and Concept.

PowerPoint presentation. Available at: http://www.asianfarmers.org/afatrainingmaterials9863asgl/constructiveengagementandpolicyadvocacy/Session%202%20Definition%20of%20Constructive%20Engagement-revised.pptx

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CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES MADE AVAILABLE BY IMPACTOS Throughout its five years of operations, Impactos awarded 102 grants for an equal number of projects implemented by partner CSOs, under the constructive engagement strategy. Under the CPRG component 57 grants were allocated and technical assistance was provided to 18 CSOs, which carried out advocacy work for 31 public policies nationwide8. At the local level, through the CAP component, 45 grants were allocated to 12 CSOs which carried out community empowerment and violence prevention activities in 40 communities, in 7 cities and with 2 community associations in Honduras9.

Impactos, along with the CSOs funded through El compromiso constructivo en el marco the grants, mapped out a path for advocacy de las acciones de incidencia apoyadas actions related to public policies for critical por Impactos es visto como un elemento issues in the country, from a comprehensive que sustenta la colaboraciĂłn efectiva and multi-sectoral perspective, in which entre las instituciones del Estado different organizations had an influence, with y las OSC their capacities and competencies, ranging from national, to regional and local levels, and from general (for example: transparency in budgetary line items) to detailed and specific (for example: access to transparency and public information for the handicapped population).

In all, 31 public policies were targets of advocacy efforts on issues related to transparency, accountability, and leadership strengthening through the building of networks and alliances, to cite just a few of the learning activities through which a dynamic, coordinated system of social forces was assembled to drive the efforts in a single direction, in support of democracy, the Rule of Law, citizen security, and the fight against corruption.

Through the grants, Impactos promoted the understanding, effective application, and in some cases, the reform of fundamental laws for public accountability and social welfare, such as the country’s General Budget Act, Public-Private Partnership Law, Political Organizations and Electoral Law, and the legislation regarding Public Security, Public Procurement, Development NGOs, Transparency, and Access to Public Information Act, among others.

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See Annex A- Impactos Program Policies Influenced.

Counterpart International Honduras. Local Office Capacity Statement. Available at: http://es.slideshare.net/RonaldGlass/counterpart-honduras-preliminary-local-capacity-statement. See also, Programa Impactos. Proyectos Subvencionados. Available at: http://www.programaimpactos.org/nuestro-trabajo/participacion-ciudadana-y-transparencia/ proyectos-subvencionados-2/2/

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CSOs received grants to advocate on common issues from their own perspectives; below are some examples of those advocacy actions:

• FOSDEH worked intensely for transparency and access to public information in public budget development and monitoring, promoting regulations for multiyear plans, the revocation of secrecy clauses, access to information regarding debt and public investment figures, award of trust funds, and public information campaigns on those topics; • ASJ promoted citizen scrutiny in the recruitment of teachers by the public education system; as well as in the procurement and distribution of school textbooks and the transparent procurement and distribution of medicines in hospitals and health centers; • FOROSIDA promoted public scrutiny in the use and management of cost recovery fees contributed by users of hospitals in the public health system and changes in the law to allow free access to treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS; • CIPRODEH contributed to police reform efforts with a human rights approach, providing technical assistance to the Commission for the Reform of Public Security (CRSP), it carried out a social audit to promote transparency in the use of public subsidies granted to Congressman by national Congress for projects in the home districts, and in the training of Congressman regarding Parliamentary Law and political negotiation and by addressing the issue of people being displaced by violence in the country.

• C-Libre carried out citizen mobilizations using investigative journalism for citizen oversight regarding the collection, distribution and effective investment of the security tax. Based on their long experience with freedom of expression issues, they were able to facilitate the design of a new methodology, with qualitative and quantitative indicators, to evaluate transparency websites belonging to public institutions; and they successfully developed a municipal transparency rating system; • FOPRIDEH led the dialogue processes covering the transparency and anticorruption agenda in the 2013 pre-electoral period, it was also able to obtain the approval of the Special Promotion of Development of Nongovernmental Organizations Act (DNGOs Act) and its regulations and has continued to promote the approval of a differentiated tax regime for that sector; • EROC was able to develop, from a broad citizen platform in the Western region, social oversight regarding the use of the public budget in the construction and maintenance of the C-A4 Road, developing complementary tools to backup citizen oversight on this issue and bringing the topic to the national public agenda; 18

• FDsF implemented research regarding citizen perceptions of corruption in national public entities and later on developed training and technical assistance plans for public officials who have shown a commitment to ethics and accountability best practices; • FUHRIL used social awareness and its capacity to communicate with the hearing impaired persons to create new sign language symbols in Honduras, incorporating the terms of corruption and accountability; it also carried out public information campaigns nationwide regarding the rights of handicapped people to participate and trained government officials dealing directly with the public in the use of sign language; • CNA created a virtual platform for citizen complaints regarding acts of corruption and it developed a public information campaign nationwide to reduce citizen tolerance towards corruption and to promote reporting of corruption, using for this purpose contributions from news media companies as a part of their corporate social responsibility programs; • CARITAS implemented research and social audit processes at the Special Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office to verify the use of international standards and jurisprudence in the management of human rights violation cases; as a result of the research, it developed training processes with prosecutors, it provided them with reference documentation to be better able to manage cases, basic infrastructure for file protection and they reported the findings and recommendations to improve the Prosecutor’s Office performance to top government officials.

• ALD developed a public information campaign to promote the right to freedom of association to implement actions carried out by FOPRIDEH regarding the application of that regulation for the DNGO sector.

• Children International extended the coverage of programs financed through international sponsorship of children to cover cases of citizens who are vulnerable to violence and crime, carried out advocacy actions for stronger government presence and municipal investment within target communities.

• FUNADEH broadened its scope of action going from offering training and technical assistance services in the private sector to developing violence prevention and community development interventions, promoting increased involvement of municipal governments and the private sector to prevent violence and to create social opportunities for youth; • CASM promoted violence prevention initiatives in impoverished-urban zones in the city of San Pedro Sula and led the design and validation of a self-regulation system for Honduran DNGOs. The system was validated and is operating under the guidance of a Follow-up Committee consisting of organizations from different regions of the country; 19

• CDH linked the violence prevention actions with its urban work platform and the application of its local financial development strategy to strengthen the leadership of youth networks as key stakeholders to advocate with municipal governments for the application of municipal policies to favor youth, particularly those at risk.

• C-Libre, CNA, FDsF, FOSDEH, and ASJ, among others, joined forces to promote the application of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information and the strengthening of the IAIP. • FOPRIDEH, CARITAS, ASJ, FDs, and CNA, as members of the Technical Committee, promoted the participation of the CSO sector and the private sector in the development and subsequent monitoring and evaluation of the Second Open Government Plan under the OGP initiative.

• FOSDEH, FOPRIDEH, CASM and CIPRODEH led the learning community to share experiences, best practices and lessons learned in public policy advocacy issues to improve the rule of law, democratic practices and public management transparency.

• Without a doubt, the grants fostered an enthusiastic political and social response from citizens, visible to a political analyst in hindsight, who stated that the projects that were developed affected the authorities, but above all, they affected consciences; and that the projects carried out advocacy in public institutions, but especially impacted in citizen organizations; and that it enriched the speeches, it supported them with proof and arguments, as a result of the research and analysis for which Impactos provided resources, and therefore the lessons learned are considered a legacy for citizenship building.

As was already pointed out, CSOs with a long history in the country fostered the creation of learning communities, they multiplied their knowledge through other CSOs and they looked for different ways to strengthen the public institutional framework for the common good. The richness of the experiences achieved in the five years that Impactos has operated is extensive, so much so that it is next to impossible to prepare a case study for each one, in fact, all of the CSOs deserve recognition as a part of the invisible alliance that made them witnesses and participants of a new force to build democracy.

From that set of experiences, Impactos selected six cases for its study as examples of the success of the constructive engagement strategy for advocating for public policies10. This case study complements the quantitative indicators contained in Impactos’ Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (MEP) with qualitative elements. Of the cases that were selected, four belong to Citizen Participation and Transparency 10

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Results Indicator No. 1.1 - Number of policies which have been influenced by the CSOs which received support for the government of the United States of America.

(CPRG), which carried out public policy advocacy at the national level; and two experiences are within the social opportunities component (CAP) which developed the community-based violence prevention model.

The following chart illustrates the selection of case studies.

CSOs SELECTED FOR CASE STUDIES CSO

Characterization of the CSO

Advocacy areas funded with grants

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND TRANSPARENCY COMPONENT (CPRG)

Association for a More Just Society, ASJ

This is a coalition of civil society organizations created in 1988, focused on getting the government system to work and to be just, especially for the most vulnerable citizens.

ASJ implements its advocacy actions with the support of two national networks: 1) “Transformemos Honduras�, with the participation of 12 civil society organizations, and 2) the Partnership for Peace and Justice (APJ in Spanish), with 30 Honduran civil society institutions and organizations.

Transparent management of school textbooks in the education sector; Transparent management of medications within the health sector; Center for Legal Anticorruption Assistance (ALAC)1.

Public Security System reform process; Transparency and accountability in the National Congress; Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights, CIPRODEH.

Social Forum on Foreign Debt and Development of Honduras, FOSDEH

This is an organization promoting human rights through awareness, citizen training, research, political advocacy, dissemination and technical advisory processes.

This is a team specializing in macro and micro economics and in the design and implementation of fiscal policies, and it is well known and respected. They carry on technical-political dialogue with government and other CSOs to influence the design and execution of public policies.

Weapon Carrying and Ownership Act - regulates access to firearms; Training for Parliamentary Law and political negotiation for new Congressman; Attention for displaced persons due to violence and service protocols for returned migrants.

Budgetary transparency processes and identification of expenditures without budgetary allocations.

Acknowledgment of floating debt and its inclusion into the total public debt.

Transparent management of PublicPrivate Partnerships.

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CSOs SELECTED FOR CASE STUDIES CSO

Caritas Episcopal Conference of Honduras, CARITAS

Characterization of the CSO

This is a humanitarian organization belonging to the Catholic Church, committed to building societies with more solidarity, justice, democracy, pluralism and participation.

Advocacy areas funded with grants Social oversight and control of the special human rights Prosecutor’s Office internal management performance; Social audit of election campaigns during the 2013 general elections; Public information campaign to make the election of magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice for a more transparent Honduras.

SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES COMPONENT (CAP) Incorporates violence prevention as a pillar of its programs, broadening the base of its beneficiaries at the community level; Friends of Children Program Association – under Children International

This is an organization committed to the generation of real and lasting changes in the lives of boys, girls, and young men and women who live in poverty. It is an agency under Children International which manages the sponsorship of boys and girls throughout the world.

Violence prevention as a community responsibility; Creation of linkages between youth and adults within communities, based on violence prevention issues; Development of community organization capacities for violence prevention efforts; Learning to advocate with local government so that community plans and proposals can be included within municipal policies;

National Foundation for Honduran Development, FUNADEH

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This is an experienced organization with a social vision, consisting of business men and women, aimed at promoting nationwide training seminars to contribute to streamlining technical and managerial competencies in the private sector. In its social action field, it aims to improve the quality of life of vulnerable citizens through human development programs.

Violence prevention working directly in the communities and with young men and women; Political influence with municipal governments for the allocation of resources and assistance for violence prevention efforts.

All of the CSOs implementing Impactos’ grants have good reputation, capable staff, and decades of experience, which allowed them to perform well in their activities based on their original expertise. The new elements in terms of the use of methodologies, tools and strategic analyses, facilitated the adoption of innovative ways to advocate politically and to foster the quality of governance at the national and municipal levels, through the application of the constructive engagement strategy, and the newly added knowledge and lessons learned derived from their relationship with Impactos.

Below is a description of how the CSOs that were chosen were able to achieve the practical application of the constructive engagement strategy to advocate for public policies. Examples of the processes established in different case studies are used to show the complexity and versatility of the conditions in which they operated, but without pretending to cover all of them, and even less to develop them comprehensively.

Constructive engagement experiences at the national level (CPRG Component) The thematic focus of the case studies was to explore which were the success factors of the experiences implemented by the CSOs to build constructive engagementswith key State stakeholders, other civil society networks, and the private sector. A key issue was the identification of the lessons learned and best practices in public policy advocacy, identifying the contributions of CSOs in advocacy actions in the improvement of the rule of law, democratic practices, and public management transparency.

The scheme of the analysis of the selected cases and the results of the application of the constructive engagement strategy for the achievement of the public policy indicator, certainly requires a review of both internal and external CSO elements and the articulation points among them: 1. Strengthening of CSOs’ organizational and functional capacities; 2. Creation of efficient networks; 3. Generation and strengthening of learning communities; 4. Facilitation of opportunities for dialogue and working platforms to promote the participation of national leaders and decision makers, proposing mechanisms for “informed decision-making”.

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Strengthening of COSs organizational and functional capabilities Development and strengthening of internal systems At the close of Impactos operations in 2015, a total of 13 CSOs had applied the Organizational Development methodology (DO)11. The application cycle of this methodology begins with the preparation of a diagnostic study regarding the situation of the La investigación incluye análisis e organization in its 6 functional areas, going through interpretaciones del contexto social, the planning of internal improvement actions, the económico, criminal o de violencia, implementation of these, and finally the evaluation cultural, etc., que rodea a las temáticas of the results and progress. When contrasting sobre las que ponen sus ojos las OSC, the results of the initial organizational diagnostic y es un paso previo a otras acciones study and the assessment of the implemented más directas con las instituciones action plans, important improvements are seen in públicas con las que se relacionan. La the CSOs’ internal systems. The documents and investigación produce evidencias; el practices implemented revealed that accounting análisis e interpretación, conduce a management is carried out in an efficient manner, soluciones. Juntas otorgan credibilidad a achieving a transparent operation, creating useful and practical systems meeting international standards of la incidencia política excellence, without altering their mission, vision, or their organizational identity.

Development and strengthening of planning capacities and skills Once Impactos gained the trust of the CSOs funded through the grants, little by little they adopted a work dynamic that facilitated the internal development of capacities aimed at planning programmatic actions with the identification of cash flow impacts, progress in technical and financial monitoring, and on-going validation of evidence regarding actions taken. The evolution of regular reporting to Impactos shows the progress achieved by the CSOs. These capacities were shared in turn with other CSOs on which they had influence or with whom they worked in their working networks and partnerships at the regional and national levels.

Development and strengthening of research capacities In order to learn what goes on within the public institutions we want to change, first it is necessary to investigate how they operate, what are their weaknesses and limitations, their management capacity and efficiency and what can be recommended for improvement.

Research involves analysis and the interpretation of the social, economic, criminal or violence and cultural context, etc. surrounding the issues targeted by the CSO, 11

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With the technical and financial support of the Impactos Program, the organizational development methodology created by Counterpart International was shared with the member CSOs (who now manage it themselves). This methodology is based on strengthening six functional areas: 1) Leadership and Strategic Administration, 2) Program Administration and Quality Control, 3) Accounting and Financial Administration, 4) Financial Sustainability, 5) Human and Material Resources and 6) Public Relations.

and it is a required step prior to taking other more direct actions with the public institutions with which the CSO works. Research produces evidence; analysis and interpretation leads to solutions. Together, they provide credibility for public advocacy.

The level of success achieved by the CSOs funded by Impactos in public policy advocacy efforts is shown in the more than 30 national level policies where advocacy activities were implemented. For those efforts, the CSOs had to play their roles as expert informants, mediators, trainers and also as lobbyists executing activities together with the decision-makers. In order to fulfill their roles, the CSOs used research processes which allowed them to have a solid foundation for their advocacy initiatives. The investigations were carried out by expert professionals (generally subcontracted for those purposes). The investigations provided input to: identify the main issue for the advocacy action, establish the level of contribution (indicators based on evidence), assessment of the opportunities and risks, mapping of partners, stakeholders and opponents, among others, in accordance with guidelines established by each CSO. The investigations carried out made it possible to prepare documents that are becoming part of a broad set of references, for example: • Academic documents, such as the ones prepared by FOSDEH in budgetary and fiscal policy; • Documents of a teaching nature, to be used with other CSOs, such as the social audit toolboxes prepared by FOSDEH, CIPRODEH and FDsF; • Institutional strengthening documents, such as the investigations prepared

by Caritas for the Special Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office or by ASJ for the Ministries of Health and Education, regarding the management and supply of medications and school textbooks, respectively; or the ABC teaching series prepared by C-Libre for the application of the municipal transparency index; • Teaching documents for community leadership, partnerships and networks such as the ones developed by EROC for the road infrastructure issue or violence prevention materials such as those prepared by ADELSAR, CASM and CDH. The organizations based their advocacy strategies for public institutions on a technical-argumentative approach which supported their actions. In other words, CSOs funded through Impactos grants did not make any denunciation, demand or request without all of the background information and above all, proposals for positive action in response to the main problems identified. Investigation definitely became or was strengthened as a condition to underlay the constructive engagement strategy which leads to the selection of the present case studies.

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Development and strengthening of strategic capacities needed for advocacy The consolidation of the CSOs’ installed capacity to conduct research and planning contributed new elements to debate, propose and be positioned as a leader and source for consultation for the topics which they specialized in and opened new avenues for proposal-based dialogue, instead of using confrontation and dismissing others without arguments. This means that the CSOs incorporated methodological processes and applied adequate tools to carry out their public policy advocacy processes; understanding this advocacy as a positive influence for change not only in terms of the public institutional framework but also in terms of other citizen organizations. All of the case studies revealed this dynamic for different purposes: FOSDEH to demand budgetary transparency; CIPRODEH to reform public security; CARITAS to verify the transparency of the electoral process; ASJ to prevent corruption in health and education services; C-Libre to verify the application of the Public Transparency and Access to Public Information Act at the municipal level and in the management of the Security Tax; ADELSAR for the approval of the policy for participative budgets municipal; among others.

Creation of efficient networks Consolidation as leading CSOs in specific topics Through the implementation of its mission objectives, Impactos funded wellrecognized and experienced CSOs with grants using a competitive process. The CSOs that were selected in turn strengthened their capacities as leading citizen based organizations and as legitimate spokespersons and sources of consultation for the topics that are most essential for Honduran society.

CSOs’ positioning in each topic they addressed allowed them to have a dialogue with government, to sign agreements, to agree on agendas, and to incorporate essential elements for the application of public policies and practices to make their actions more transparent, both at the national and local levels, fostering always respect for the law and its proper enforcement.

Through the knowledge assets produced, the CSOs complemented the academic sector (or in the absence of well-known social science or economic leaders as consultation sources, they even substituted for them) and they are - and have been for several years now - a required source of consultation for news media and national and international researchers. Nevertheless, it is important not to take for granted that throughout this journey, some goals were not reached, because they were beyond the possibilities of citizen leadership and in fact beyond the good intentions of different public officials who acted as counterparts.

Openness to new relationships with other CSOs – networks and partnerships A review of the case studies selected, demonstrated that the CSOs began and/ or revitalized their work relationships with other CSOs to foster their advocacy or 26

social audit efforts. Technical assistance, training and the exchange of knowledge tools were provided under that same relationship dynamics, so that they could apply their best practices or create new processes and knowledge based on the lessons learned by others.

The creation of networks undoubtedly improves advocacy quality and coverage, it redistributes the responsibilities and decentralizes them; it multiplies the information and generates a multi-sectoral social backup for topics that concern everyone.

The creation of networks is good not only because it represents a quantitative strengthening of the number of citizens or organizations in favor of a common goal, but also because it covers more extensive and harder to reach geographic areas.

Some examples include: the social audit and oversight for the procurement and delivery of school textbooks, led by ASJ which covered 72 municipalities in the country; the social audits implemented by FOPRIDEH in 32 municipalities through local networks with their affiliates to strengthen accountability and decentralization processes; citizen observatories for economic affairs and budget monitoring led by FOSDEH in 4 regions of the country; partnerships promoted

by SETELEC among citizen commissions for transparency, nationwide, to follow up on the findings and recommendations derived from the audits carried out by the Court of Accounts at the municipal level; the partnerships promoted by ALD with a network of more than 60 radio stations to promote the right to freedom of association within the DNGO sector.

The aforementioned experiences show evidence of the work with networks which strengthens the coordination among nongovernmental entities working on common issues, it strengthens opportunities for dialogue, collective deliberation and the capacity to advocate for change. Impactos also promoted the generation of partnerships among CSOs receiving funds from Impactos and other diverse social stakeholders, bringing participating CSOs to the table along with other CSOs or similar minded institutions, or those with similar agendas for the creation of platforms to agree on actions to confront problems of national interest, such as the electoral process, the fight against corruption, or the election of magistrates to the Supreme Court of Justice.

These partnerships with public institutions, with other CSOs and the private sector lead to the design of strategies to reform or to foster public policies with a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary vision, representing progressive and socially inclusive advances. Among the most relevant partnerships were the collaboration generated between CIPRODEH and CRSP to promote the public security reform process; the agreement obtained by CIPRODEH with cooperation agencies, universities and two citizen platforms, who worked with the National Congress Board to train newly elected Congressman regarding Parliamentary techniques and democracy building; the actions led by EROC to achieve the construction of the Western Region Highway, integrating citizen partnership with more than 52 27

community-based, local governments and private sector organizations throughout 64 municipalities where they have operations; and another alliance worth mentioning is the one achieved by FOSDEH with community-based organizations throughout the country, with at least four public entities and with the Commission for the Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships to prepare an agreed protocol for publicprivate partnerships, incorporating transparent practices contained in the national legislation and meeting applicable international standards.

Creation and empowerment of learning communities Training events (for public officials, CSOs, and citizens in general) Training is not a random act nor is it merely a proper attitude; it is above all a response to the most serious problems and attempts to address these at the core through the formation of human capital. Training activities come about through the identification of needs in those who implement public programs and activities or those who wish to have an impact. This usually involves people who are concerned about a specific problem and take steps to resolve it.

The grants facilitated training activities focused on specific audiences to identify solutions to specific problems. In this way, they provided technical support to the public sector employees involved with the topics of economic and electoral justice, human rights, education, health, transparency, etc., from various parts of the country, to increase their knowledge regarding national and international laws, and the due diligence and accountability required for their application.

The training activities also involved different regions and communities, to empower the citizenry, produce long term benefits, create bottom-up processes, as well as processes such as consultation and feedback which would flow smoothly from top to bottom. An example of this would be the training activities developed as a result of the social audits, which incorporated community participation, and which were an innovation for many of the participating CSOs. Some of the CSOs organized public events (even at the international level) on the project themes that they were involved in, which encouraged the participation of national and international experts who enriched the discussions, exchanged experiences, and introduced new ideas; which resulted in suggestions and proposals which were further communicated and presented in other events and opportunities and adopted in operating plans.

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They also developed public information and education campaigns to provide guidance for community residents, make them aware of key social issues, and create a well-informed base for public opinion.

Some concrete examples of the diversity of these educational activities can be seen in the various case studies. CARITAS trained human rights prosecutors in the area of technical investigation matters and case management for their specific area of interest; FOSDEH trained staff from FOROSIDA regarding the law and budget issues in order for them to lobby for medication in hospitals for patients living with HIV/Aids, based on the support received from the University Teaching Hospital and the Cardiopulmonary Hospital; CIPRODEH organized national and international events and provided training in the area of public safety and security; as did ASJ, SETELEC, FOSDEH, FOPRIDEH, and C-Libre in the area of social audits for citizens transparency commissions; FOROSIDA trained EROC regarding the process for social audits of cost recovery funds for a similar process in the Hospital de Occidente (Western Regional Hospital); CNA and FOPRIDEH provided training in the area of open government; C-Libre provided training in investigative techniques for print and media journalists which they could apply in the investigation of the use of funds generated by the Security Tax, among other cases.

Creation of a toolkit The research, studies, information campaigns, and other grant-funded activities which were intended to benefit the CSOs, public institutions, community leaders, the academic sector, etc., allowed us to create a toolkit in which to deposit the methodologies, tools, and in the end the accumulation of knowledge generated by the total group of CSOs supported by the grants, their members and affiliates.

The toolkit contains information, guidelines, manuals, concept papers on specific topics related to transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and access to public information, among others, all of which have been made available as working documents, some of which are published in digital format (on the web pages of the CSOs) or in printed form as posters, executive summaries, in newspapers, or as position papers, etc.

These toolkits have filled identified gaps in the mandates of institutions (for example, with Coalianza, in FOSDEHs case), and in other cases have been jointly agreed with the institutional authorities (in the electoral case, between CARITAS and the Supreme Court for Elections). Any way you look at it, the work has resulted in the creation of operations manuals, conceptual and operational guidelines, multiple studies and analyses and, in general, protocols to achieve concrete objectives in areas such as audits, formal accusations, procedures, etc., which are the responsibility of citizenbased organizations.

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To list some examples, ASJ developed a manual for the handling and reception of complaints and accusations for the fight against corruption (with an emphasis on health and education), to support the information provided to law enforcement, in compliance with the law; CIPRODEH created another to guarantee National Congress’ subsidies provided for infrastructure projects to be appropriate and also formalized the process for weeding out ineffective or corrupt police officers, a key element in support of the proposals which go to the heart of the issue of the creation of community police. FOSDEH created tools for the audit of public private partnerships and CARITAS developed a methodology to monitor the general election process in 2013 and the process for nominating candidates who would make up the Supreme Court of Justice; FUHRIL created inclusive comic books targeted at people with hearing disabilities; FOPRIDEH produced communication pieces on the topic of open government; CNA developed public information campaigns to promote citizen reporting of instances of government corruption; CDH implemented a public information strategy using alternative media which was carried out by youth networks at the community level; and CASM led the construction of a selfregulation system for Honduran Development NGOs.

Validation of methodologies Once the methodologies had been conceived for application in research, social audits, and public information campaigns, they needed to be tested and validated before they could be applied in practice. In and of themselves, these approaches to learn by doing based on logical steps are a part of the living and learning training process for the technical teams, they keep them up to date for effective work in the field, and revitalize their strategic analysis skills, help to fine-tune the monitoring and follow-up activities, and build increased awareness of the targeted issues. Depending upon the specific issues, this validation may have occurred at the central level within public institutions, regions, and communities. For this topic, the experiences of ASJ, FOSDEH, CIPPRODEH, SETELEC, EROC, and FOROSIDA in their alliances with the regional and municipal transparency commissions provide good examples.

The involvement of the academic sector For a number of decades, the Honduran academic sector has shown little interest in national issues and its support for the transformation of the country has been sporadic. The Impactos Program grants and a favorable environment in the leadership of higher education encouraged a closer relationship among some of the CSOs receiving grants and the universities. CIPRODEH´s case study demonstrates this relationship with the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) and George Washington University (United States of America), in the areas of public security, justice, and democracy-building; the degree in Financial Investigations sponsored by FOSDEH and UNAH; technical assistance which the office for university-society linkages provided to FOROSIDA to audit the use of cost recovery 30

funds in hospitals, and the agreements with FOPRIDEH and public and private universities to incorporate “pro-bono” work in the professional practice period for lawyers are other examples of these linkages.

Durante varias décadas la academia Creation and communication of education products

hondureña se ha mostrado poco reactiva al acontecer nacional y sus aportes a la transformación del país han sido muy dispersos.

The information and educational products and communication pieces designed and developed over the course of the 102 grant-supported projects, have been converted into reference and consulting materials which are shared in training activities, which at the same time generate knowledge (such as assessment studies, methodologies, work tools, manuals). Even after the grants have ended, CSOs continue with their work on the various issues for which they received financial and technical assistance. This is because the complexity of public institutions and the problems tend to persist, and materials are needed to sustain the assessment studies and research which contribute to the creation of new approaches to address the problems. For example, this occurred in the case of CARITAS and the audit of FEDH which they carried out. Once the Impactos Project was over, this CSO followed up on the recommendations of the final report and convened meetings with the new leadership of the Public Ministry to propose the continued implementation of these activities.

Provision of opportunities for dialogue and working platforms to promote the participation of national leaders and decision makers, proposing mechanisms for making “informed decisions” Development and strengthening of social control mechanisms Whether through social audits, oversight, or observatories, the CSOs applied these social control mechanisms to make a more effective appeal for transparency and accountability. These practices have been developed in Honduras starting in the late 90s, in an effort to make the management of public funds more transparent.

It is important to emphasize that citizen complaints play a vital role in the selection of many of the targets for greater oversight, such as the case of the shortage of medicines in local health centers and public hospitals; but there are other targets which are apparently less visible to the general public, such as the electoral process (general or judicial), which are also subject to analysis and control.CSOs play an important role in the areas of education and informing public opinion.

Social overight implies some risks which the CSOs have taken on and have continued to move forward. The cases examined demonstrate that CARITAS, for example, carried out a social audit to assess progress in the justice system, through the analysis of 10 representative cases in the area of human rights, with a focus on improving the performance of the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights.

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CIPRODEH brought up for community discussion, as a part of a social audit, the management of the grants which representatives in Congress receive to implement development projects in their home districts. While it is true that the effort to reform the law governing these funds was not successful, they were still able to carry out a process of oversight and analysis in the communities targeted to receive these funds.

Another specific example of oversight, was carried out by ASJ regarding the procurement and distribution of materials and supplies and the staffing process for the national education system, through which they were able to identify the main weaknesses, incorporate corrective measures, and empower the local communities with monitoring tools.

Audits such as those carried out by ASJ, identified criminal practices within the government in the procurement and distribution of medicines, which were communicated to the public and taken to the responsible authorities. In these cases oversight continues to follow up on the cases of corruption which have entered into the legal system to guarantee that justice will be served.

The development of sustainable proposals The vision of the CSOs goes beyond the examination of social control mechanisms and attempts to create a precedent to avoid the repetition of these errors in the future. This is the case of the elaboration of proposals to make public services more efficient, based upon the deficiencies which were identified and the observation of good practices in similar processes which are applied in other countries.

For example, that is what was done by FDsF when they listened to the perceptions of corruption from the community regarding corruption in public entities and later helped those entities to train their staff members and to organize Committees on Ethics and Honesty in order to control corrupt practices. ASJ, in the case of textbook distribution and the fight against corruption, proposed a mechanism to facilitate the administrative procedures and compliance with the established time frames for the acquisition of textbooks and their distribution to the schools which was later adopted by the Ministry of Education.

Informational meetings and collaboration with the public sector The CSOs selected to participate in the case studies have maintained their independence in the face of a series of governmental regimes. In general, their critical attitudes towards those public actions which are in conflict with the principles they defend. This is precisely how they maintain their credibility, respect, and authority for the areas of their expertise, and maintain their roles as legitimate participants in the dialogue with public officials from the different State institutions or other official representatives. These meetings are generally of an informational nature and the results are subsequently shared with their supporters or with the general 32

public (through feedback meetings, reports, or in the mass media) or they may be collaborative sessions (which result in the signing of agreements and working groups).

In order to follow up on these relationships, some of the CSOs agree with their public sector counterparts to designate representatives who are responsible of coordinating meetings or which allow the organizations to have some representation in such meetings. The cases studied show that within the public administration sector there are champions who facilitate such cooperation and positive interaction and the process of relationship building with the CSOs to reach agreement on some aspects while at the same time being able to express disagreement in other areas.

One example of such positive support from a public sector champion occurred in the case of the Commission to Reform of Public Security, with which CIPRODEH signed a support agreement and jointly advocated for seven reform proposals, a process that included at all times reports to the community members regarding the achievements and the limitations of the process. Another example occurred in the Ministry for Human Rights, Governance, and Decentralization´s case in which the Minister and URSAC´s team worked jointly with FOPRIDEH in the design of an on-line registration system for Development based NGOs and the creation of a flowchart and tools for the correct implementation of the Law on Development NGOs and its corresponding regulations, as a way to create a supportive environment for the Development NGO sector in the country.

The need for public information A fundamental pillar for the construction of democracy and citizenship to strengthen public institutions, is to guarantee the existence of well-informed societies. You can rest assured that there was no work undertaken by the grant-funded CSOs which did not have this basic premise in mind and did not demand access to public information to make the government’s actions transparent and promote good governance. Directly or indirectly they all did this; through efforts to improve the justice system, the model parliament, public administration, public services, etc., etc.

The research promoted through social audits or the development of studies which provide a basis for the creation of institutional change strategies ,when they come upon a public secret that it is a roadblock to further progress. For this reason a number of CSOs – FOSDEH being one of them – insisted on the repeal of Clauses related to the restriction of information which were being promoted by a number of public institutions in order to be able to hide their budgets or their public-private partnership relations and they were able to open some of the padlocks of darkness and to have additional data included in the newly created transparency portals.

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Lobbying De acuerdo con los casos estudiados, Caritas hizo labor de cabildeo con varias instituciones de gobierno para firmar convenios y que la visión ciudadana fuera tomada en cuenta en el accionar público, como lo pone de manifiesto su trabajo en el Ministerio Público y con el Tribunal Supremo Electoral; el FOSDEH también hizo labor de cabildeo –a veces exitoso, otras veces fallido- ante la Secretaría de Finanzas, el IAIP o Coalianza, en su objetivo de transparentar el quehacer institucional. Similares ejemplos derivan del trabajo realizado por ASJ, CIPRODEH, SETELEC, CDH, CNA en mejoramiento de los servicios de salud, educación, acciones legislativas y de operadores de justicia

This is a political activity which has a role in the process, directed primarily towards government representatives who hold the power in their hands to make important decisions for the country, and it can take on a variety of approaches, such as: open letters, the delivery of position papers, requests for appointments, personal letters, forums, open discussions, presentations in the media, awareness campaigns, public accusations, etc. It has as its objective to make the institution, government representative, or representatives, express their agreement with the stated position and decide to cooperate in the effort, and they should then confirm their agreement by means of a signature, a public statement, or a vote.

In looking at the cases studied here, CARITAS implemented a lobbying effort with a number of government institutions to get agreements signed and to have the vision of the general population incorporated in public decisions, as was demonstrated in their work with the Public Ministry and the Supreme Court for Elections; FOSDEH also did some lobbying – sometimes successfully and sometimes not – with the Ministry of Finance, the IAIP or Coalianza, in their efforts to make the institutions more transparent in its activities. Similar examples can be seen in the work done by ASJ, CIPRODEH, SETELEC, CDH, and CNA for improvements in the areas of health, education, legislation, and law enforcement.

Accusations This is one of the practices most often employed by social movement organizations, and it has been strengthened when there are supporting documents (investigations) to back up the accusations, which helps to assure that the government will cooperate or at least will not resist given the strength of the accusations made (especially in cases of corruption). The participating CSOs have also learned that making the accusation is just one step in the process of achieving change. The true skill is in being able to move the accusations through the system successfully and to promote changes in the public institutions in order to have truly sustainable results.

The case studies show that CARITAS remained active in their demands for a clean and fair process for the election of magistrates to the Supreme Court of Justice, a struggle waged against the interests of political parties and other powerful groups, but which gave credibility to this CSO through their accusations and timely messaging; CIPRODEH also made their accusations public, regarding the mis34

management of development subsidies in the Congress; ASJ followed through with legal actions that resulted from their investigations regarding irregularities in the purchasing and distribution of medicines, with public accusations made through the media; and FOSDEH was adamant in their accusations of a lack of transparency in the budget and issues regarding the short-term or floating debt.

Mobilization and citizen participation This is a very broad concept, which cannot be reduced simply to its most visible manifestation, going into the streets to protest Un mecanismo que impulsa la movilización ciudadana y que contribuye a organizar Perhaps the most valuable impact is the least visible: that of ideas, which is to say, to make a las personas, y que fue utilizado en people think differently and cause them to diferentes momentos por varias de las participate. And that can be seen more and OSC subvencionadas fue la participación o more through those who dare to denounce conformación de mesas ciudadanas sobre acts of corruption; to openly show their temas específicos, donde se informa y disagreement with illegal public administration debaten ideas y se formulan propuestas, practices; and finally to achieve a degree of estrategias o acciones de seguimiento, collective indignation and demand changes. como fue la mesa de seguridad, en la It is not easy to measure contributions of que participó el CIPRODEH, la Coalición each individual who makes up a movement of Civil para la Auditoría Social a las APP, outraged protestors12, but without any doubt, impulsada por el FOSDEH o la coalición the accumulation of accusations, reports, ciudadana liderada por EROC para awareness of investigations, impact through gestionar la construcción de la carretera the media of CSOs, and not just the corrupt del occidente del pais practices of the state, have all been significant in raising the awareness and the outrage of the population.

In this sense, the platforms which bring together a variety of citizen initiatives and create a real impact against impunity, corruption, lack of transparency, politicization of government institutions, and demanding accountability, have been important elements; which in turn have been supported by the participating CSOs in terms of creating opportunities for dialogue, legal actions, and their follow-up.

The results of the investigations and social audits facilitate mobilization of the population, because they empower the population that participates in these activities and demand accountability. Such mobilization is made possible when 12

The Protest Movement in Honduras was modeled on similar movements in other countries in the world, to demand a detailed investigation into the looting of the Honduran Social Security institute and the punishment of those responsible. They also demanded the creation of an international commission to fight against impunity, similar to that which is operating in Guatemala (CICIG). This is the initial result of a spontaneous movement of a group of youth, working through social networks, in a number of cities in the country, which was established in 2015 and became visible through a series of weekly protests and a hunger strike, and combined the forces of existing organizations.

Their most relevant achievement is the creation of the Support Mission against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH).

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people become involved in the struggle for their rights; when they look out for civic responsibilities; and when they have available to do so a set of tools which are simple, trustworthy, and easy to use. A well-focused citizen mobilization effort is the ultimate result of a well-constructed culture of democracy.

One mechanism which promotes citizen mobilization and contributes to the organization of people, and which was used at various times by some of the participating CSOs was the creation of citizen roundtables for specific topics, where ideas were presented and debated. and proposals, strategies, or follow-up plans were developed, such as the roundtable on security in which CIPRODEH participated, the Civil Coalition for Social Audits of the APPs, promoted by FOSDEH, or the citizen coalition led by EROC to request the construction of the Western Highway for the country.

Judicial action for the cases The CSOs entered into an innovative phase, in their day to day social activities following on from the accusations of mis-deeds and proposals for public actions, and proceeding to accepting legal responsibility to pursue the crimes or administrative mis-management and fight against impunity. This is a complex task which could only move forward from the platforms occupied by participating CSOs, which also included the active role they played in the fight against corruption.

Looking at a specific case; to achieve having a formal legal case opened up (for example, the malicious falsification in the acquisition of medicines) implies having carried out a detailed, extensive, and complex investigation, following law requirements and – most definitely – having a strategic and constructive engagement to improve the public sector and to Honduran society in general, as can be seen in the case study regarding ASJ.

EXPERIENCES OF CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL (The CAP Component) Strengthening the institutional and functional capacities of CSOs Implementation of a Violence Prevention Model Starting with the strengthening of community-based organizations, it was possible for participating CSOs to develop a violence prevention model proposed by Impactos to promote community revitalization in the selected communities, all of which were characterized by violent environments, where there was virtually no presence on the part of local governments. The fear of gangs was overcome through the use of inclusive tactics, not through imposition; such as carrying out community projects along with the residents, in a framework where, perhaps, the problems couldn’t be addressed directly but where social coexistence could be achieved. The transfer of 36

this prevention model required the participating CSOs to strengthen their own capabilities, to understand Las OSC avanzaron a convertirse the concept and the focus on violence prevention, in en facilitadores y promotores de order to take innovative approaches within their own la participación y organización organizations. With this orientation, CSOs proceeded comunitaria y en acompañadores to become facilitators and promoters of participation técnicos de las organizaciones and community organization and to accompany the locales contando con la asesoría local organizations with technical support while relying que brindó el Programa Impactos. on the guidance provided to them by the Impactos Program. The overlap between the objectives of the CSOs as organizations and the model proposed by the Impactos Program was an important factor in guaranteeing the successful implementation of the work. The empowerment and execution of this model achieved a number of relevant results at different levels in the 40 participating communities, results which can be seen in the case studies corresponding to FUNADEH and Children International.

Consolidation as reference CSOs in violence prevention The direct presence of CSOs (with physical locations and staff members) within the target communities helped to gain the respect of the affected population and to motivate their interaction as a group truly interested in finding solutions to their problems. Due to the lack of any local public authorities which would attack the problems “from the inside”, the CSOs became the mediators between the communities demanding support from the government and those municipal authorities who were willing to listen to them. The case studies show that both organizations, with an extensive social track record, were committed to applying a new, but challenging, approach in their work, which led to their winning even more respect in the communities where they worked and with the municipal authorities and the business men who agreed to join in on this effort. An example, FUNADEH and the municipal Mayor’s office undertook collaborative actions to repair and improve the community infrastructure in response to the priority needs identified by the communities as a part of the implementation of a local plan for coexistence and citizen security. In addition, FUNADEH helped to respond to the training needs identified by young people in the community as a part of their community action plan, through the provision of a number of vocational training courses which included the successful participation of private sector businesses.

Formation of skilled teams The capacities and skills of the human resources on the team are critical factors in determining success; therefore, the proposed model includes a process of training and capacity building for the participating CSOs. The CSOs were also strengthened through the adoption of technical and administrative practices for accountability which were required by the Impactos Program to report on and document the proposed results; documentation for activities, registration and quantification of results, back-up documentation for the processes and for the resources invested.

37

Los casos estudiados muestran que tanto CI/APAN como FUNADEH formaban parte de instancias de mediaciรณn ante los gobiernos locales de San Pedro Sula y Choloma, respectivamente. Esta participaciรณn fue un punto a favor, pues abriรณ nuevas oportunidades a las organizaciones comunitarias creadas para revitalizar los barrios y colonias intervenidos, que lograron incidir en los planes municipales, lo cual se concretรณ con asignaciรณn de presupuestos municipales

The narratives provided by the technical and management staff who were interviewed as a part of the case study process, show how the teams were assembled, how the training was carried out which gave them the necessary skills and knowledge, and how the technical staff took on the necessary commitments which allowed them to achieve the desired results.,

Contacts with local governments

The CSOs served as effective bridges to link the emerging community organizations with the municipal governments (especially with their community participation departments), where they shared information regarding their requests and action plans, to expand their horizons and goals and to achieve the participation and incorporation of the community priorities into the municipal plans (for development, coexistence, and security, etc.). The sustainability of this relationship can be seen when the needs of the communities are no longer just input for the planning process but are formally incorporated in the municipal plans and in the municipal budget, through formal agreements.

The local governments demonstrated their openness to dialogue and made available staff members, to participate in the community processes; in turn, CSOs responded with the provision of training activities for municipal staff and council members on the proposed model for violence prevention.

The case studies show that both CI/APAN and FUNADEH played active mediation roles with the local governments in San Pedro Sula and Choloma respectively. This participation was a point in their favor, since it opened up new opportunities for the community organizations created to revitalize the targeted neighborhoods, and that in turn allowed them to be taken into account in the municipal planning process, which resulted in the assignment of funds for municipal budgets.

Creation of effective networks Emergence and recognition of community organizations

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The creation of the Community Revitalization Committees and Youth Networks is an innovation ,in the model ,which has produced invaluable benefits. It expands coverage for the CSOs to areas where they previously could not go; it builds sustainability to the extent that the actions carried out by the community are done through their own initiative and outside of the budgets provided by the CSOs; and it creates linkages between the youth and adults in the community, contrasting and complementing their different visions.

Los ejemplos son muchos y las In the process of implementation of the model, acciones parecen simples, pero son the formal recognition of the existence of these organizations,on the part of the local vitales y crean vínculos sociales, por governments, is another achievement because it ejemplo, la movilización comunitaria helps the communities start tohave opportunities liderada por los jóvenes de la Colonia for participation, and gives them a chance to Rubí en Choloma para emprender place their own issues such as violence prevention labores de limpieza de la comunidad on the municipal agenda and promote a process es la manifestación del compromiso of constructive dialogue to search for responses para forjar un entorno saludable e and viable solutions. The recognition of the incluyente; el rescate y restauración representatives from the CRCs and the Youth de espacios públicos en la Colonia Networks strengthened the self-esteem of the group members and gave them the opportunity López Arellano es encarna la habilidad to be legitimate voices for their communities. The resiliente de la comunidad que protege a una nueva generación de jóvenes pride of belonging and feeling oneself as a part para que no sea reclutada por las of the wider community is the growth medium from which a spirit of voluntarism can emerge in maras u otras redes delincuenciales. the community, and while they may not receive a salary for their efforts, the payment comes through being able to play without fear in the community play areas which have been reclaimed for recreational use, or being called upon to participate in meetings with the network, with the committee or the local government authorities. Through their actions, these leaders have shown that they can be effective representatives of their communities and establish relationships for building collaboration and impacts with the local authorities and the private sector, to obtain their good will and resources in support of violence prevention and to open up new social opportunities for young people in the communities.

Creation of learning communities Empowerment of communities and lessons learned A preliminary step for the CSOs in the targeted communities was to carry out community assessment exercises in order to improve their own understanding of the community’s dynamics and based on this, reflect a little bit on their own reality, their needs, and their desires; identify them, organize them, prioritize them, and subsequently learn how to get a positive response from the local government authorities or to implement projects through their own efforts.

The community assessment exercises for the neighborhoods of Cristo Viene, Asentamientos Humanos, Sinaí and Seis de Mayo in the municipality of San Pedro Sula; and Éxitos de Anach, and López Arellano, in the municipality of Choloma, were led by the CSOs CI/APAN y FUNADEH, respectively.Among other things, they were key elements in the generation of collective learning not only regarding the geography of the neighborhoods, but also their socio-economic conditions, perceptions regarding security, the aspirations and frustrations of the community 39

members, and the identification of opportunities to resolve common problems through the combined efforts of all of the community members, with a special emphasis on protecting their children, youth, and families from violence. The model proposes specific tried and true interventions which helped to improve the perceptions of the security climate, through the involvement of youth in community development and business activities, the restoration and reclamation of public spaces for recreation and relaxation and a general revitalization of the spirit of coexistence in the communities.

Feeling that you are a part of the community, becoming aware of the problems that affect that community, and being a part of the solution of those problems, is a first step towards community learning and empowerment to then become more involved in the process and move on to the development of proposals for projects to improve social well-being in targeted communities. To compare this to the situation of the development of human beings, it is like opening their eyes and sending them out into the world. Which is to say: identifying and recognizing the problem and then taking action to resolve it.

There are many examples and the actions may seem simple, but they are very important and create social linkages, as an example the community mobilization which was carried out by young people in the neighborhood of RubĂ­ in Choloma for a community clean-up campaign was a demonstration of their commitment to creating a healthy and inclusive environment; the claim and restoration of public spaces in the LĂłpez Arellano neighborhood was a demonstration of the resilient ability of a community to protect a new generation of young people, so that they would not be recruited by gangs or other delinquent groups. This community empowerment also helped to re-establish a level of trust that had been lost among the residents, as they began to peacefully share the reclaimed areas and recovered a sense of social integration through participation in the local fairs which were organized in the public plazas and parks where the young people were able to show off their artistic abilities and their dedication to service in the community as was demonstrated in Choloma and La Ceiba among other places.

Training for action in violence prevention One of the projects findings promoted by the CSOs, was the arrested growth and development of many young people who had interrupted their formal education and had no employment or skills to help them survive. The vocational training activities were put in place as one of the major areas of the community and youth plans, with activities for the short and medium terms. Under these plans a number of opportunities were created which, unlike previous activities of the CSOs in this area, were broader and more inclusive and intended to promote coexistence and move forward to taking action.

The training activities included the development of job-related skills, but also the strengthening of knowledge in a number of basic human development issues such as community organization, violence prevention, the culture of peace, and human 40

rights. In addition, there were a number of multi-sectoral training events (teachers, municipal employees, students, CRCs, YNs, etc.) on the topic of school harassment or “bullying”, a topic which is becoming more and more important in this country and the seed of future violent behavior; and this was combined with presentations on values which need to be promoted such as solidarity, voluntarism, social and personal initiative, etc.

The case studies show how the training for members of the YNs and CRCs in Choloma and San Pedro Sula which were focused on motivating improvements in security also resulted in improved capacities, especially among the youth, for income generating activities to support themselves. One example that we can learn from was the course on baking and pastry which were developed for young people in the municipality of Choloma. These training workshops were implemented in collaboration with a local business, Molino Harinero Sula (Sula Flour Mill), who provided important resources including; instructors, the materials, and the use of their equipment and facilities which allowed the courses to reach a total of 119 participants. Another equally important example, which was the result of requests from the CRCS and FUNADEH, was the support from “Materiales de Construcción Suseth” (Suseth Construction Materials) who payed the value of sales taxes for all of the construction materials needed for the community revitalization projects.

Sharing experiences The various communities which participated in the implementation of the violence prevention model had the opportunity to get to know each other, interact with other communities and with municipal governments and in that way they were able to learn from each other. This created opportunities for awareness building and analysis, which helped to strengthen and to stimulate learning opportunities based on an exchange of experiences. This approach helps to level the playing field for taking action as a result of the collective construction of awareness regarding the social context, the challenges, and the opportunities, taking into account the displays of violence and the collective perception that this causes, which then raises the level of capacities of the organizations and the people in them and moves them to act.

Creation of spaces and opportunities for dialogue for the citizens and civil society to participate with national leaders and decision makers, with a well-informed strategy Emergence of community youth leadership The participating CSOs supported by the Impactors Program were able to promote, establish, and strengthen a number of community-based organizations including 41

youth networks (Community Revitalization Committees, Youth Networks), which affirmed their linkages with their communities in order to re-establish the social fabric which had been damaged by violence, through the creation of viable proposals in the area of security and the reduction of social risk factors. These organizations developed the ability to have access to and dialogue with the local government authorities, and became legitimate agents or representatives of their communities and were thus able to link their priorities in the areas of violence prevention and security with those of the municipalities.

The CSOs served as mediators between the community organizations and the local governments. As can be seen in the case studies of FUNADEH and CI/APAN, it was evident that the formation of the community committees and the youth caused the emergence of leaders recognized by the communities, by the CSOs, and by the local governments, with the ability to plan and develop proposals and to have an impact on the decision makers who now take them into consideration.

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44

THE IMPACTOS PROGRAM AND CSOs WHICH PARTICIPATED IN CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES As has been seen, the logic of the working model which has been developed by Impactos and its partners is based on the strategy of constructive engagement This strategy maintains that: 1) Strengthening CSOs organizational and functional capabilities, 2) Creation of effective networks, 3) Creation and empowerment of learning communities, and 4) the availability of opportunities for dialogue and collaborative working spaces to promote the participation of national leaders and decision makers, proposing mechanisms for “informed decisions”, represent key resources for citizen action. The mobilization of civil society in activities which will have an impact on public policies can bring about positive changes in the quality of governance and democratic practices at the national and municipal levels, to the extent that they are a part of a proactive initiative for the common good under the rule of law, as was seen in the six case studies which are detailed in the annexes attached to this present document.

In FOSDEH´s case, the Impactos Program grants were a key element to carry out the technical operations for the investigation of the targeted issues, for the training of the CSOs and the public sector representatives, the advocacy campaigns, the development of data tracking applications, and the facilitation of negotiations between the public and private participants in the process. The Impactos Program also provided technical assistance to FOSDEH where necessary and political support to facilitate interactions and proceedings with government authorities.

In CIPRODEH´s, Impactos Program provided technical assistance to strengthen their social investigation and social auditing capacities, as well as support in improving the quality of their preparation of technical documents. The technical team from the Impactos Program also supportedCIPRODEH in their role as an ISO13 (Intermediate Service Organization) in the provision of training to other civil society organizations on the topics of citizen security and human rights. One of the greatest contributions of the Impactos Program to CIPRODEH was in the incorporation of quality standards into the training services and in the monitoring of program quality in their interventions at every level of the operation.

As far as ASJ´s activities, the grants allowed them to strengthen their capacities to advocate for public policies and their capacity for innovation. The investigation and advocacy work of ASJ and their proposal for new approaches to the management of educational textbooks – as well as their investigation on the topic of the management of medical supplies have had a great impact in the country. In these areas ,ASJ 13

The four CSOs in the case study, under the CPRG component, played the role of Intermediate Service Organizations (ISOs). The ISOs also led the Learning Community or Practice Community for impact on public policies.

45

has contributed through their documented accusations in placing the issue of public corruption front and center in these two areas of day to day public sector operations. The Impactos Program provided financial support for strengthening the Anticorruption Legal Assistance Center (ALAC), an important tool to assist citizens in making accusations or complaints, and in helping to lower the public tolerance levels regarding issues of corruption and impunity. As a result of the actions taken, ALAC now has a standard operating procedures manual to apply in dealing with complaints and accusations; they also have tools and methodologies to use in working with victims or witnesses of acts of corruption; besides that, ALAC has the political and technical support of Transparency International. Technical assistance provided by the Impactos Program to ASJ in their advocacy efforts towards public policies in a wider sense, has gone well beyond the component of grants alone, by providing support for their organizational development processes.

In CARITAS case, of Children International/ Asociación Programa Amigos de los Niños (CI/APAN), and of Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo de Honduras (FUNADEH), the Impactos Program has been able to introduce these civil society organizations to a new field in which they had no previous experience. For CARITAS, a high-level representative of the organization has recognized this by saying, “Impactos came to give us this extra element which we needed because they opened up for us a gateway to other fields in which we were not used to working before. They allowed us to develop relationship skills that we did not have. (…) Our approach to advocacy work before was very crude and through these methodologies and processes and the availability of new tools we have perfected our skills in this area. We have also expanded the scope of our efforts, working in wider public arenas which allow us to have an impact on the broader society”. CI/ APAN and FUNADEH have acknowledged the benefits of the Impactos Program for its work in introducing them to the field of problem resolution through community social action and having given them a model for violence prevention and a work methodology in the area of organizational development, which have allowed them to make major improvements in their internal functioning and improved their competitive position as institutions.

The operational dynamics of the Impactos Program created opportunities and specific reflection spaceson the overall current political situation in the country as a way to incorporate the current advocacy efforts and public policy activities. These opportunities took place in the context of a group labeled Learning Community or Community of Practice. Under the leadership of a facilitator, the members of this community would meet every fifteen days under the umbrella of Intermediate Service Organizations (ISOs)14. One of the basic priorities which united these participants in this learning community, was the need to deepen the common understanding of the varying models of political advocacy being applied in the country, and in general they focused on placing a given theme on the public agenda, to achieve the approval of a law or a program or a project and the most up-to-date model to apply

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14

Intermediate Service Organizations (ISOs): FOSDEH, CIPRODEH, FOPRIDEH y CASM

based on the recognition of the existence of a public policy cycle (design, execution, and evaluation) which can bring about action beginning with the evaluation of their efforts to continue to improve.

The advocacy strategy based on constructive engagement which has been promoted by the Impactos Program through the grants to the CSOs is incorporated in this final model for advocacy for public policies. The Learning Community or Community of Practice was a unique opportunity for periodic examination of the relationships among the social and political forces in the country and the development of a power map reflecting Honduran society.

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CONCLUSIONS Regarding the issues addressed The CSOs included in the case studies, placed an emphasis on the issues closest to their own institutional experiences. These issues share the characteristics of being in the national interest or benefitting a broad scope of community and social interests, since they included electoral processes, the fight against corruption, assurance of the effective provision of services in the health and education sectors, management of the national budget, public safety and security, democracy, publicprivate partnerships, human rights, justice, and community violence prevention with an emphasis on youth.

The common denominator factors which tied all of these issues together include: transparency, accountability, access to public information, a culture of peace, and access to opportunities, citizen participation, and social control among others.

The CSOs provided with grants from the Impactos Program developed a constructive engagement to exert political influence on these issues with the general population, the central government, and local governments, and this process had as central guiding principles, organizational and capacity building for CSOs; the creation of effective networks; the development of learning communities, and creating opportunities for dialogue and participation for ordinary citizens.

The constructive engagement is stronger when participating CSOs have confidence in the benefits produced by the project, a situation which is linked to their experience in the identified issue and their willingness to continue working in that area.

Regarding situational action In Honduras, with the constantly changing nature of the current situation, denoted especially by an increasing political partisanship within the State, the advocacy work carried out by the CSOs goes back and forth between the opportunity to influence changes and the subtle blurring of the spaces and opportunities which make change possible. In this sense, the resources invested may be all for nothing if the constructive engagement fails to take into account the citizenry as the main social actor and the most reliable source of human capital.

When the opportunities for change disappear, CSOs continue their efforts, which mean they need to carefully analyze the results achieved and define the challenges and the possible strategies and scenarios required to work in a changing environment.

That emphasizes the importance of keeping the focus on the construction of a strong citizenry, as an umbrella which can serve to keep hope alive after the storm.

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It is important to keep in mind the current situation as the setting for institutional action in the pursuit of change, which means that analysis of the on-going situation should become a constant effort within the CSOs. But it should also be clear that the changing situation should not be ruling over the day to day activities of the institutions, and that there are some such circumstances which will be short-term, but not completely unexpected (for example the primary and secondary election cycles) and the CSOs need to be prepared to deal with these situations.

One risk which may occur when grant funds are received for situational processes, (elections, for example), is that this may affect the institutional rhythm and cause the CSOs to skip over steps in the normal process in order to address immediate pressures or to fail to pay attention to other projects or activities. One contribution of the Impactos Program is that it lightened this burden in a number of cases through the permanent guidance and support of the program advisors and the transfer of tools for monitoring and follow-up.

Regarding the participating CSOs The projects and activities implemented by CSOs with grants provided by the Impactos Program allowed them to enrich their institutional experiences, not only as national leaders in the issues which they addressed, but also within their own organizations. The development of a constructive engagement– whether they achieved 100% of their targeted goals or not – leaves these organizations with a valuable asset in their possession, which they were able to use in dialogue with other CSOs, the development of methodologies, the greater penetration of investigations, the capacities to analyze and interpret real life situations, accountability to the organizations which provide project financing, etc.

The CSOs maintained their critical independence in the issues which they addressed, even while working closely with public institutions and strengthened their relationships with the staff of those institutions. The investigation of strengths and weaknesses in the internal functioning of the institutions, and of their services or processes, provide the support they needed to evaluate them objectively and propose changes or make recommendations to improve their efficiency or to further enhance democratic processes in them. This can reaffirm the respect of the citizens and even of the government itself. The benefit, in terms of social progress, is greater if the CSOs work through dialogue and seek consensus, than it would be through an isolated and confrontational approach.

Young people emerged as fundamental social actors in community violence prevention, thanks to the special organizational methodologies which were put in practice by the participating CSOs from the CAP Component, which has proven to be an important contribution for disproving the myth that poor youth in vulnerable areas are the main cause of violence and insecurity.

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Regarding political advocacy Political advocacy efforts are strengthened through the integration of CSO networks and institutions (governmental or non-governmental) which are linked to or interested in common issues, where they collectively debate and reflect upon these issues, and exchange experiences and alternative points of view and agree to promote joint agendas based on consensus, without undermining the efforts of the individual institutions. An additional benefit of these alliances is that the citizenry takes note of the stronger and more unified efforts of oversight regarding processes which affect everybody collectively.

Political advocacy tends to be more effective with local governments, because it allows for a more direct working relationship among the authorities, the CSOs, and community leaders. But a mediation role is absolutely essential in order to convince the municipalities of the benefits which can result for the municipalities from such a social inclusion process.

Lobbying is a tool which was used by CSOs to influence changes in political processes.

This included a number of steps, starting with approaching the municipalities to make them aware of the potential benefits which could be achieved; the agreements; the implementation of investigations or audits; the formulation of recommendations and solutions; and – in a number of cases – the direct participation of the CSOs in the execution of the solutions (training workshops, infrastructure improvements, methodology designs, etc.). Future projects then should reflect the extent to which the CSOs were able to become directly involved in the execution of solutions to public institution issues.

Regarding political will Political will should not even be a valid concept, to the extent that there are laws and institutional mandates which ought to be automatically fulfilled by governments and government officials. And the CSOs did not infringe upon these mandates in any of their lobbying efforts with government and public officials. Never the less, political will is a factor which does exist and which – just like situational circumstances – may be favorable or unfavorable. And it is a problem – which is also real - CSOs have agreed to accept this risk. Under these conditions, the case studies clearly show that in some circumstances, the success or failure of the grant-funded projects was subject to the political will of the government bodies.

Two similar but not equal concepts which can be seen in the case studies are: political will and the open-ness of the government representatives. The first concept seems to be linked more with an overall sense of the government or public institution and the second relates more to a momentary favorable situation or a particular personality (those champions who happened to be in specific positions of authority or who were members of a particular working group or team). Political will is associated with the higher levels of government and with the open-ness of 50

the intermediate levels. Political will promise changes, while open-ness, more than anything else, offer dialogue. When there is open-ness in the higher levels, but no political will, what you get is called demagoguery. The ideal situation (when the law itself is not enough) is political will, because this can open the doors of the institutional environment, even though some people want to keep them closed.

Political will and the open-ness of some government officials can take on some very peculiar characteristics, even contradictory ones, and even within the same government. In terms of the interests (private or institutional) which are addressed by the CSOs, some public institutions have closed their doors while others remain open, allowing spaces or situations for changes to occur, such as when the IAIP felt that their sphere of activity was affected by the National Commission for Security and Defense which imposed the Secrecy Law, or when SEFIN also saw their authority reduced through the approval of short-term debt instruments on the part of COALIANZA.

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Annex A- Impactos Program Policies Influenced YEAR 2 & YEAR 3 Policy

CSO

Advocate for the adoption of a multi-year planning 1

policy for the implementation of the General Budget of

FOSDEH

the Republic 2

3

General Regulations of the General Budget of the Republic for FY13 Repeal of the secrecy clause in the approval process of the National Budget of the Republic

FOSDEH

enforce the reporting acts of corruption ( in Health and

6 7

Improvement in the processes of teacher recruitment and procurement of textbooks Adoption of international standards to manage cases of human rights violation

Finance Ministry of Finance Access to Public Information

ASJ/ALAC

Education sectors) 5

Ministry of

Institute of FOSDEH

Effective Implementation of the legal framework to 4

Institution

ASJ/TH CARITAS

Reform of the Departmental Social Funds Managements CIPRODEH

Public Prosecutors Office Ministry of Education Public Prosecutors Office National Congress 4 municipalities:

Advocate for the compliance of the Access to Public 8

Information Law at a municipal level (Transparency

La Esperanza, C libre

Index at a municipal level)

Gracias, Puerto Cortés, and Siguatepeque The National Council on Defense and

9

Law of Commission of Reform of Public Security

CIPRODEH

Security by means of the Commission of Public Security Reform

10

Regulation of the Recovery Fee for outsourced service from HEU and State Procurement Law

Public Prosecutors FOROSIDA

Human Rights

Advocate for the adoption of a participatory fiscal 11

policy in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Copán

Office / Office of

Municipality of ADELSAR

Santa Rosa de Copán

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Advocate in the adoption of the budget for the 12

Honduras 13

ASONOG

construction of a new CA4 international road, in western Advocate in SOPTRAVI to Promote Mechanisms for allegations of Corruption in the Public Sector

SOPTRAVI EROC FDSF

Transparency and Access to Public Information Law 14

Enforcement through management of organizaed

Institute of CDH

communities and the involvement of youth. to Public Information Law” with special attention to

Access to Public Information

Advocate for state agencies to comply with the “Access 15

SOPTRAVI

Institute of FUHRIL

persons with disabilities

Access to Public Information

Advocate in the Supreme Court of Accounts (TSC) 16

effective role in application of recommendations made as a result of recurring audits performed to the Alcaldia

SETELEC

High Court of Accounts (TSC)

Municipal del Distrito Central

YEAR 4

1

2

Policy

CSO

Budget Policy and Public Debt

FOSDEH

Local Development and Youth Employability Policy for Violence Prevention

OGP

Citizen Security with a Focus on Human Rights

Finance Municipality & National Congress

ASJ/CAN/ CARITAS/GSC

4

Ministry of Central District

CIPRODEH

FOPRIDEH/ 3

Institution

CIPRODEH

Presidential Transparency and Modernization State Office Ministry of Security Unit for Registry

5

Enabling environment for CSOs- application of the ONGD Law

FOPRIDEH

and Monitoring of Civil Society Organizations

6

7

8

New Rescue Plan in response to HIV/AIDs- PENSIDA in favor of the vulnerable and minor groups Implementation of the LAIP and accountability of National Congress Electoral Law and political organizations

FOROSIDA

CONASIDA Institute of

FDSF

Access to Public Information

CARITAS

National Electoral Tribunal (TSE)

55

COALIANZA Implementation of the APP Law in the infrastructure

9

sector (

EROC

and Public and Private Alliance Superintendancy

Implementation of security tax according to OGP

10

principles

Ministry Security Institute of

Compliance of the LTAIP- from civil society´s

11

C-LIBRE

C-LIBRE

perspective ( alternative assesment)

Access to Public Information

New Law for Gun Control , Munitions Explosives and related products

12

CIPRODEH

National Congress

YEAR 5

1

Policy

CSO

Public Investment, functionality of the Trust

FOSDEH

Technical Committee, the gaps, contradictions 2

and ricks of PPA´s legal framework.

Public Investment, Contracts, PPA´s and functionality of

3

Institution

COALIANZA, , SAPP, SEFIN, CNBS, TSC

the Trust´s technical committee

(Footnotes) 1

The ALACs are centers designed by Transparency International (TI) to provide guidance to victims and witnesses

in corruption cases.

56

57

58

Case Study

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Case Study ASOCIACIÓN PARA UNA SOCIEDAD MÁS JUSTA ASJ

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH

62

ENGLISH

ALAC

Centro de Asistencia Legal Anti-corrupción

ALAC

Center for Legal Anticorruption Assistance

APJ

Alianza por la Paz y la Justicia

APJ

Alliance for Peace and Justice

ASJ

Asociación para Una Sociedad ASJ Más Justa

Association for a More Just Society

FETCCOP

Fiscalía Especial para la Transparencia y Combate a la Corrupción Pública

FETCCOP

Special Prosecutor’s Office for Transparency and the Fight Against Public Corruption

IHSS

Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social

IHSS

Honduran Social Security Institute

MP

Ministerio Público

PP

Public Prosecutor

OSC

Organización de Sociedad Civil

CSO

Civil Society Organization

TH

Transformemos Honduras

TH

Let’s Transform Honduras

TI

Transparencia Internacional

TI

Transparency International

UNOPS

Oficina de las Naciones Unidas de Servicios para Proyectos

UNOPS

United Nations Office for Project Services

OPS/OMS

Organización Panamericana de la Salud/ Organización Mundial de la Salud

PAHO/ WHO

Pan-American Health Organization / World Health Organization

INTRODUCTION The Association for a More Just Society (ASJ) is a civil society organization (CSO) created in 1998 with the mission of “working for a society where justice prevails, especially for the most vulnerable, through fair legislation, and equal enforcement and the participation of church, society and state”1.

ASJ is comprised of fifteen organizations, whose vision is “to be a group of brave Christian leaders aiming to make the governmental system work properly and to be fair for the most vulnerable members of our society”.

Its philosophy on advocacy translates into getting public institutions to function, to achieve that, it is necessary to free them from corruption, improve their policies and practices in terms of how they manage resources, in order for them to reach people, especially the poorest. That is, more action at the macro level, to “try to change and create laws, policies and structures that facilitate a comprehensive and sustainable improvement of the quality of life of the most underprivileged”2.

ASJ’s institutional architecture has a peculiarity in the sense that it is a binational entity: A Honduran organization established in 1998, and another in the United States of America, established in the year 2000. Both organizations work for the same objective in Honduras, playing different and complementary roles. ASJ Honduras focuses its actions on advocacy to fight corruption and impunity; ASJ in United States - and also a new branch of the organization that has been established recently in Canada - work to support the actions being carried out in Honduras, such as resource management and mobilization, public awareness, etc.

In 2010, ASJ, along with the churches, CSOs and some individuals, established a network called “Transformemos Honduras” (Let’s Transform Honduras) (TH), which they founded themselves as a social movement working on the topics they considered the most relevant ones for the country: education, health, security and justice, and transparency as a cross-section in all of the areas of their work.

In 2012, they also promoted the foundation of Alianza por la Paz y la Justicia (Alliance for Peace and Justice) (APJ), “an alliance of civil society organizations and networks carrying out social auditing, political advocacy and generating inclusive Citizen Engagement opportunities to promote an effective and efficient functioning of the Justice and Security System of Honduras”.

On the other hand, ASJ also serves as the national chapter of Transparency International (TI) in Honduras, and in October, 2014 they signed a Collaboration and Good Faith Agreement for the Promotion of Transparency, the Fight Against Corruption, and the Strengthening of Systems of Integrity with the Government 1 2

See, http://asjhonduras.com/webhn/sobre-nosotros/ Ibid., ASJ’s origins.

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of Honduras, becoming in that way the overseers on behalf of civil society of the agreement that the Government established with Transparency International, focusing on Education, Health, Public Security, the primary Mayor’s Offices, the Property and Real Estate Institute, and the Court of Accounts (Government of Honduras / TI, 2014).

ASJ disseminates its work, mainly through Revistazo.com, an alternative digital media source which researches and publishes information regarding transparency, corruption, the use of public funds, and human right issues which are essential for Honduran citizens, but many times these topics are not covered through traditional news media. Furthermore, its representatives have strong credibility and are well known throughout the national news media, which is why their statements and activities are widely disseminated.

CONTEXT AND PROBLEM Corruption, influence peddling and the lack of transparency corrode the trust in institutions and weaken the regulatory system of society, which results in a breeding ground for criminal violence. When corruption takes on a systematic nature, it affects the stability of democratic institutions, it undermines the rule of law and it inhibits economic growth and competitiveness.

The weakness of the public institutional framework and governance is reflected in Transparency International’s rank, where Honduras held position 126 in 2014, out of 175 countries worldwide, and 29 within the Latin American region (32 countries).

In 2015 Honduras was number 112 in the world and number 31 in the region.

Nevertheless, it still is one of the most corrupt countries in Latin America and in the world, as ASJ said: “a lot has been done but it is not enough and there is still much more to be done, this is merely showing that where there is more corruption there is also more violence”3.

In Honduras, public services for the underprivileged population - more than 70% of the population - are also seriously affected by corruption, which generates supply shortages, insufficiency of services, and the use of employment opportunities for political patronage, among other problems.

In education and health services, this situation is manifested through the chronic shortage of supplies and the personnel gap, despite the fact that substantial resources of the national budget are spent through closed bidding, or direct purchases - waiving transparent competitive processes -, on purchases of school materials and medications.

In addition to the above, there is much negligence reflected in the loss of supplies and inputs due to poor warehousing practices. In this way, basic public services are the causes of poverty, instead of being alternatives for a more decent quality of life.

It was in this context, where ASJ implemented their grants from the Impactos Program, under the Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance project (CPRG), to support the creation, operation, and strengthening of the Center for Anticorruption Legal Assistance, (ALAC), and to increase transparency in teacher recruitment and the distribution of textbooks in public education in Honduras. The interventions which were supported were: • The Center for Anticorruption Legal Assistance, (ALAC), for the creation and start-up of ALAC from 01 February through 30 November of 2012. Strengthening and consolidation of the ALAC in Honduras, through the installation of an office in San Pedro Sula, from 27 October, 2014 through 26 April, 2015.

3

http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/923736-466/honduras-sube-14-posiciones-en-el-%C3%ADndice-de-percepci%C3%B3n-de-la-corrupci%C3%B3n

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• A new agreement between ASJ and the Impactos Program was completed on 30 June, 2015. The goal of this agreement was to give continuity to the capacity building activities for the ALAC; and in this way provide a safe space for the community members to make citizen complaints with the support of a qualified professional team. The operational model of the ALAC/ASJ collaboration provided timely legal assistance for witnesses and victims in the process of presenting the alleged cases of corruption to the authorities. The ALAC also carried out institutional strengthening activities and provided guidance and support to the Public Prosecutor’s office to assure the proper execution of the process and the fulfillment of their responsibilities as law enforcement officials.

The focus was primarily on transparency and the fight against corruption in order to help to restore a sense of confidence on the part of the population in the credibility of government institution and in the rule of law.

• A social audit was carried out from August, 2012 through August, 2013, in order to make the processes for contracting teachers and the distribution of text books in the Honduran Public Education sector more transparent.

TRANSPARENCY IN TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEXTBOOKS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR The development of the social auditing and oversight project was a participative training and planning process, which involved people from different grassroots organizations, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, which carried out citizen oversight processes for the distribution of textbooks in 178 schools from 76 municipalities.

In order to carry out the social audit, ASJ worked together with the “Let’s Transform Honduras” (TH) network and trained a total of 315 people: 186 men and 129 women who were members of community-based organizations (Citizen Transparency Councils, Parent Groups, Citizen Boards (Patronatos)), etc.) from 76 different municipalities. The process was implemented in the states (departamentos) of Ocotepeque, Lempira, Copán, Intibucá, La Paz, and Comayagua.

The methodology of social audits and the management processes for the purchase and distribution of school text books were validated with the community leaders and the Ministry of Education, with whom a number of meetings were held at the national level as well as at the state (departamento) level in the Ministry of Education offices in each of the 6 states listed above.

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The results of the audit were presented to the government authorities, and the main findings were used as the basis for the development of the proposed “Mechanisms to Improve management Capabilities and Increase Transparency in the Provision of School text Books in Honduras”. The authorities from the Ministry of Education received the proposal and committed to its prompt implementation, given that it had been previously validated. The educational authorities also requested continued technical assistance on the part of ASJ, in order to assure an incremental implementation of the proposal.

The main results identified, which demonstrate the impact of the social audit that was carried out are the following: • Identification of managerial weaknesses throughout the purchasing and supply chain of educational text books being sent to the schools.

• Measures which originated at the community level to improve the management mechanism for the delivery of school materials were produced and implemented.

• A proposal for management mechanisms was prepared to improve efficiency of the Ministry of Education’s strategy for the purchasing, distribution, control and use of school textbooks. The recommendations considered best practices being implemented in other countries, particularly Mexico4.

• Verification of the criteria for transparency in the competition for teacher recruiting for the public education system, since the year 2011.

• The Ministry of Education’s transparency website was enhanced, to allow them to receive requests for information and complaints related to the purchase and distribution of school materials and contracting with the suppliers.

• Empowerment of the communities with a tool that allows citizens to monitor teacher recruitment and school supply distribution.

LEGAL ANTICORRUPTION ASSISTANCE The Legal Anticorruption Assistance Centers (ALAC) function following the model program designed by Transparency International (“TI”), whose objective is to advise victims and witnesses in cases of corruption throughout the world, providing the necessary tools to follow up on their cases5.

In 2012, ASJ began the implementation in Honduras of ALAC center number 52 in the world, with methodological support from Transparency International, technical and financial assistance from the Impactos Program, and resources from 4 5

ASJ. Mechanisms for the Improvement of Managerial Capacities and Transparency in the Supply of School Textbooks in Honduras (final draft), undated. http://asjhonduras.com/webhn/tag/centro-de-asistencia-legal-anticorrupcion/

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ASJ, contributed under the concept of cost sharing. One of the most important results of this process was the production of a procedures manual to support the operation of the ALAC Honduras in processing complaints from the moment they are received, and moving forward throughout their internal processing, and through the remaining steps of the process to place duly documented complaints before the authorities, within the national legal framework and in accordance with ASJ’s operational procedures.

Within its actions, ALAC includes the identification, registration and verification of all acts of corruption reported by citizens, and we must highlight the fact that complaints or accusations often come from civil servants who disapprove of the acts of corruption happening within the institutions where they work, especially in the Education and Health sectors.

A representative example of the activities of ALAC was the incorporation into the national public agenda of the issue of the procurement, warehousing, and distribution of medicines by the Ministry of Health. The accusation initially arose from the concern among the population regarding the permanent shortages of medicines in health centers and hospitals, in contrast to the millions being spent on procurement with no effective system for accountability.

The process began with an exhaustive investigation in 2011, which involved a study regarding prices carried out by means of a survey which collected information regarding the suppliers who participated in the bidding cycles between 2005 and 2010. The study revealed evidence of serious irregularities, such as the purchase of over-valued medicines which failed to meet the required quality specifications.

This investigations the revealed additional irregularities in the Central Medicine Warehouse of the Ministry of Health. In this warehouse, the investigation followed up on the receipt, storage, and distribution of medicines. The evidence collected was sufficient to bring legal charges against some of those who were directly responsible and these individuals were eventually imprisoned. The case is not yet closed as a number of cases are still pending follow up in the judicial system6.

The main results were: • Identification and reporting of criminal practices by pharmaceutical providers in collusion with health authorities. • The warehouse was taken over, to determine administrative and criminal

6 a) b)

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For additional details regarding this process, refer to the following links: Intervention of the Central Medicine Warehouse http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/index.php/nacional/itemlist/tag/ Almacen%20Central%20SS?start=10 A summary of the case against the Director of the Medicine Warehouse http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/index.php/ nacional/item/617-jefe-de-almac%C3%A9n-de-medicinas-no-renunciar%C3%A1

responsibilities; a prosecutor’s injunction was filed against six people, which contributed to the reduction of impunity related to fraudulent purchases and procurement.

• The crimes committed were registered following due process to support the actions of the Public Prosecutor.

• ASJ was invited to participate as a member of the commission of observers for the medication procurement process, which represented 350 million Lempiras, through a trust fund under the responsibility of the United Nations (UNOPSOPS/OMS).

In a another area of investigation, denunciations were received and processed by ALAC regarding acts of corruption at the Real Estate Property Institute, (IPP), and these charges were sustained through investigations that led the corresponding authorities to make the decision to suspend five IPP unit directors due to irregular actions, based on irrefutable evidence.

With technical and financial assistance from the Impactos Program, ALAC extended its coverage to 17 out of the 18 geographical departments of the country, to satisfy the demand for support from people affected by corruption. The denunciations were received through telephone lines, the webpage, or in person. The guidebook which was developed defines the procedures to be followed in each case. ALAC, in addition to receiving the accusations, documents the case facts and when the evidence is deemed sufficient for prosecution, provides the results of their investigations to the respective authorities. The investigative work is complemented by follow-up activities regarding the cases which are brought to trial, following the development of the proceedings in the national courts.

IMPACTS ACHIEVED REGARDING PUBLIC POLICY Regarding the Ministry of Education ASJ influenced the Ministry of Education to apply the policies and practices contained in their internal regulations for the procurement and distribution of school textbooks, and to expedite implementation of mechanisms to fight against corruption.

Advocacy was extensively applied at the Ministry of Education, both at the central level as well as in the different municipality and department offices, regarding the application of the law on government procurement and the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information throughout the school textbooks and supply procurement process for the public school system.

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An observatory was established and is operating, to monitor the purchasing procedures for school textbooks, applying the mechanism proposed by ASJ and institutionalized by the Ministry of Education.

Regarding the Ministry of Health The authorities defined new procurement procedures for medications under the current legislation for public administration, with preferences for reduced prices and more streamlined and transparent mechanisms.

Control mechanisms for the procurement, storage and distribution of medications were enhanced.

As a concrete example of the extent of the achievements and the prestige earned

by ASJ, this CSO was invited to form a part of the Commission of Observers for the process of the procurement of medicines which reaches a total amount of 350 million Lempiras (about USD $16 million) under the mechanism of a management trust which was instituted under the responsibility of the United Nations (UNOPSOPS/OMS). This experience the resulted in the implementation of a new system for purchasing medicines in the public sector.

Regarding Public Administration in General ASJ/ALAC have contributed to the institutional strengthening of public entities linked to the procurement, warehousing, and distribution of goods. These entities have demonstrated a tendency to improve their internal processes and controls in order to fight against corruption and promote transparency.

Advocacy at the highest political level of the Public Prosecutor influenced efforts so that the Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption was transformed to become the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Transparency and the Fight against Public Corruption (“FETCCOP”), as of the 14th of January, 2015. This Prosecutor Office’s financial crime investigation processes have been strengthened, through the training of 50 prosecutors by international consultants; furthermore, this office has received logistical and technological support for the investigation of corruption networks.

The social benefits of the effective application of the rule of law at the national level to respond to citizen accusations regarding acts of corruption have been demonstrated, and this in turn has allowed a smoother functioning of the administrative processes and more timely compliance with the deadlines for processing complaints.

ASJ has worked closely with the Public Prosecutor, lodging complaints, carrying out investigations of high impact cases, and collaborating in the prosecution of cases which are brought forward to follow the required steps: and at the same time promoting the institutional strengthening for 70

the Ministry. In order to do so, ASJ/ALAC led the way in the development of training modules specially directed at FETCOOP, supporting the design of a strategic plan, and its communication and application for new investigations.

They also have a group of financial and informational auditors who are well versed in the key aspects of forensic audits and the investigation of financial crimes.

The current level of cooperation between the two groups has resulted in the start of a coordinated campaign to promote the reporting of abuses, and a system designed to receive complaints, which is audited by ASJ as a representative of civil society.

ASJ AND ITS ADVOCACY METHODOLOGY ASJ through its years of experience in the country, has been able to consolidate its advocacy approach which, in general, follows these steps: • Social, financial and criminal investigation: it produces evidence to advocate for the desired policies or practices.

• Campaigns: release of the information and investigations through Revistazo. com, conferences and press releases.

• Citizen/Public involvement: both at the national level and with CSO’s participating within their scope of work. The platforms established by TH and PPJ are worth mentioning, because they sustain the implementation of citizen processes to channel advocacy actions which demand the resolution of cases and the enforcement of the criminal justice system, putting a halt to impunity.

• Active participation in opportunities for dialogue at the highest level with authorities from all three branches of government, which allows ASJ and its support networks/platforms to be recognized spokespersons and to advocate effectively on issues of national interest.

• Legal actions, which are undertaken through administrative or judicial proceedings, supporting plaintiffs and witnesses when the case is being prepared; this is an effort of constructive collaboration based on dialogue and deliberation with the Public Prosecutor, which goes beyond simply pointing out investigative gaps or the sluggishness in the prosecution of perpetrators.

• Pursuit of penal or administrative sanctions for those accusations which resulted in prosecution, which in turn leads to advocacy with the Public Prosecutor, who according to the law has a monopoly on penal actions.

The design of advocacy strategies is deliberative, with the extensive participation of both networks: Let’s Transform Honduras - which includes the participation of 12 CSO’s - and the Alliance for Peace and Justice, which includes participation 71

of 30 CSO’s and institutions. ASJ leads advocacy actions and the representation as the main voice in the public opinion arena, playing the role of the trustworthy and legitimate informant as a result of its public actions, and the achievement of agreements and widely disseminated results.

The organizations which participate in the networks play active roles, mobilizing their own networks and community organizations, which gives life to a citizen movement for advocacy. This practice was important, for example, during the social audit process for school textbooks, where community organizations linked to education throughout all 72 municipalities this in the country, became involved.

SUSTAINABILITY OF THE ADVOCACY ACTIONS AND CONTRIBUTION BY PROGRAM ASJ’s governing bodies, both in Honduras as in the United States, play an important role in the operations and political actions. Every two years, the boards of directors meet to follow up on the actions, and recommendations, and guidelines derived from those meetings for their strategic planning.

Every five years, ASJ Honduras and ASJ United States, define the parameters for expenditure, which set the resource management goals. According to the financial statements that ASJ publishes on their website, they have a structure which allows them to have an assured funding stream from a variety of different sources.

ALAC was co-financed by the Impactos Program and funds from the ASJ Foundation in the United States, which allows them to assure follow-up and monitoring of the actions being jointly promoted by ASJ and the Impactos Program. The technical and financial assistance from the Impactos Program has allowed, essentially, capacity building and the introduction of innovations into the institution.

The extent of ALAC’s coverage allows for legal assistance in cases of corruption in a decentralized manner, and it opens the possibility of service to other sectors. This contributes to ALAC’s sustainability as it permeates throughout the citizenship a culture of denouncing acts of corruption, and as the ALAC’s Manual methodology is institutionalized in practice.

Just as important for the sustainability of ASJ’s efforts, is the participation of community organizations in social audit activities through protocols that have been validated and widely communicated. It is also important to actively maintain the networks which were created to support investigation and advocacy activities, such as the APH and TH, along with their external linkages for technical assistance and financial support.

One basic aspect of the ASJ advocacy strategy, which received timely support 72

from the Impactos Program, is having a direct, proactive, and constructive relationship with public institutions, while maintaining their independence as a Civil Society Organization able to exercise their roles of social oversight, citizen-based accusations, and the promotion of justice.

CONDITIONS WHICH ENABLED CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN ASJ AND THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK Sound and constant lobbying with government through news media, which maintains the pressure to achieve proposed objectives.

Documented denunciation of corruption cases which leads to government deciding to collaborate, or at least offer no resistance Ability to bring proposals before public institutions to correct problems found and to enhance their performance. This is evidenced both through the improvement of procurement, storage and distribution control mechanisms for medications by the ministry of Health, as by the procurement and distribution procedures for school textbooks by the ministry of Education.

Political analysis regarding the context, the stakeholders and the alliances to be established, which has allowed ASJ to recognize that the advocacy targets are the systems and the institutions, and not the persons.

The support that ASJ receives, by being a National Transparency International Chapter, allows it to make use of institutionalized opportunities to hold open dialogues with public institutions bound by the agreement between TI and the government of Honduras.

BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED • Investigation is essential, since it produces the evidence for the case for which advocacy is required. ASJ has demonstrated that investigation is the starting point and that it is necessary to do it with quality, applying the required protocols. Without investigation, advocacy is weakened and it will most likely not be credible. • The evidence derived from investigation allows us to show government the factors that affect its performance, as well as accurately detailing proposals to resolve the problems found.

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• The social audit is a tool that shows its capability for engaging and empowering citizens who demand accountability and prepare recommendations to enhance the performance and quality of the services provided by government. In addition to the above, there are proven protocols to replicate ASJ’s practice and its support networks, as a knowledge management best practice.

• The design and application of standardized protocols adapted to the local context, such as ALAC’s Manual for the Management of Corruption Cases, is also a best practice with a proven track record as shown by ASJ’s efforts to plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate its actions.

• Community training and participation through the social audit applied to the distribution of textbooks was an innovation in ASJ’s and TH’s institutional practices, and this approach has empowered community organizations, strengthening citizen engagement mechanisms.

• The organized networks such as ASJ’s internal bodies have allowed us to guarantee a more efficient participation on behalf of partner CSO’s. Both organized networks within ASJ have allowed us to: • Promote advocacy at a national level.

• Implement a better distribution of responsibilities among member CSO’s and the institutional representatives, which allows for extension of the coverage for advocacy efforts.

• Share information generated by the investigations, which has led to filing landmark cases of corruption, such as the one related to the procurement and distribution of medications by the public health system.

• Generate a greater awareness of the actions undertaken, to produce broad social support for the advocacy issues being promoted.

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS The advocacy experience of ASJ and its networks (TH and APJ) shows innovative characteristics within the Honduran civil society spectrum. It is especially worthwhile to mention the combination of methodologies and techniques that range from investigation, to denunciation, citizen or public involvement, social auditing and training, up to the final prosecution of corruption cases in court. This shows the importance of applying a comprehensive approach to corruption, and of having a constructive, strategic engagement within the public institutional framework to contribute with peaceable solutions throughout several spheres of influence.

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ASJ’s experience and its ability to make proposals before public institutions is relevant, because it is also able to accompany that with a creative and thorough application of the national legal framework, which is often not well known, and therefore, many civil society sectors do not make use of the benefits and opportunities available.

The knowledge and use of the legal framework, such as the Public Procurement Act, the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information and the Public Prosecutor Law - supported by accusations and investigations -, provide an irrefutable legitimacy to the proposals presented and they also strengthen the public institutional framework, which may explain in part the achievements accomplished

by ASJ and their supporting networks.

On the other hand, ASJ Honduras, with the technical and financial support of the Impactos Program, made progress in strengthening and consolidating ALAC, demonstrating that citizens participate in the fight against corruption when they have the simple, trustworthy and feasible mechanisms necessary to do so. These processes along with their successes, opportunities and challenges, are contributing to building an anticorruption culture in the country, demonstrating that it is very feasible to reduce acts of corruption within the public sector through investigation accompanied by public denunciation and citizens who have the right support, communication channels, and instruments.

In order to achieve the aforementioned, ASJ’s capability of embracing ALAC’s model and the methodology developed by Transparency International, and going even further, adapting the model to the needs of the country, have played an essential part. This has allowed the establishment of seamless processes which allow citizens, both men and women, to make and follow up on accusations, under the understanding that the fight against corruption will be more effective if all citizens, both men and women, participate actively.

However, ASJ is not only receiving and processing accusations, but rather one of its objectives through the ALAC is to translate them into structural changes, taking on advocacy initiatives to promote reforms within the public institutional framework.

Despite the obstacles and limitations of Honduras’s public sector, following that path, ASJ has been able to advocate within public institutions, to the point of achieving tangible progress in the fight against corruption and impunity, as evidenced by the interventions executed with the Impactos Program.

Throughout this work, ASJ has been able to build and promote alliances with international participants such as Transparency International (TI) and the Canadian and American civil society sectors, which provide sustainability, visibility and credibility to their actions.

Finally, and probably most importantly, is the fact that ASJ and its networks seek to enhance the performance of public institutions and policies without forgetting that their essential purpose is to allow the vast majority of citizens to experiment substantial changes in their quality of life (income, level of education, health, security and justice) and that they can be active participants within the democratic system of Honduras.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY ASJ (2011). Medicamentos adquiridos por la Secretaría de Salud 2005 - 2010.

Tegucigalpa: ASJ. ASJ (2013). Auditoria Social a la Distribución y Uso de Textos escolares de matematicas en 178 Centros Educativos. Tegucigalpa: ASJ. ASJ (s.f). Mecanismos para el Mejoramiento de Capacidades Gerenciales y Transparencia en la Dotación de Textos Escolares en Honduras (borrador final).

Impactos, ASJ, Transformemos Honduras.

ASJ (2013). Manual ALAC. Tegucigalpa: ASJ. ASJ (3 de diciembre de 2014). Revistazo. Available at: http://www.revistazo. b i z /we b 2 / i n d ex . p h p /n a c i o n a l / i te m /9 95 - s e g % C 3 % B A n - t ra n s p a re n c i a internacionalhonduras-mejor%C3%B3-levemente-en-%C3%ADndice-decorrupci%C3%B3n-%E2%80%94pero-falta-mucho-por-hacer ASJ (8 de diciembre de 2015). ASJ. Available at: http://www.asjhonduras.com/ quienes_somos.html Gobierno de Honduras / TI (2014). Carta de Intenciones por la Transparencia y la Integridad Pública. Tegucigalpa: Gobierno de Honduras.

Transformemos Honduras (2013). “Riesgos en la Inversión millonaria en Salud Pública”. Tegucigalpa: Revistazo.com Wielandt, G. (2007). La corrupción y la impunidad en el marco del desarrollo en América latina y el Caribe: un enfoque centrado en derechos desde la perspectiva de las Naciones Unidas. Santiago de Chile: CEPAL. Available at: http://repositorio. cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/6144/S0700964_es.pdf?sequence=1

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Case Study PASTORAL SOCIAL CÁRITAS DE HONDURAS

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INTRODUCTION The Episcopal Conference Caritas (Caritas) is a unit created by the Catholic Church in 1959. Its general principles of intervention address “all pillars with an ecumenical, community, organizational, sustainable and intercultural view, in coordination with other institutions”, and it takes on and promotes “human development as a comprehensive approach to achieve well-being for all people throughout their different dimensions”.

It is one of the longest standing institutions within Honduran civil society, whose institutional work has evolved in accordance with the rhythm of time, responding to the social-political dynamics of the country and to the requirements of the citizens through information and education of people so that they can exercise their right to participate in public life.

Since the 1990’s, Caritas has promoted citizen education processes and campaigns aimed at achieving well-reasoned and conscientious voting, prevention and reduction of corruption and violence, respect for human rights and the environment, and gender equality, among other key issues.

Its work has a national scope, having offices which operate in all nine dioceses distributed throughout the country of Honduras and it also includes an extensive network of priests, pastoral agents, promoters and volunteers who are trained to address topics of interest within the target communities.

Furthermore, Caritas enjoys credibility with decision-makers, civil society organizations (CSO’s) and people in general, and their spokespersons are opinion leaders and a source of consultation for journalists and news media both locally and at the national level.

One of Caritas’ advocacy pillars is the strengthening of the democratic institutional framework, under the understanding that this is the essential structural basis to regulate processes, conduct and relations between the state and society. Without solid institutions, at the service of the common good and abiding by the law, it is impossible to think of a democratic coexistence and even less so to achieve a more just society and respect for human rights. And that is why Caritas believes that it is essential to engage citizens in participation by applying instruments such as social audits and communications campaigns with an extensive coverage.

In response to this priority, with the technical and financial assistance provided by the Impactos Program, Caritas developed three projects within the Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance (CPRG) project.

1. Citizen oversight and control of the internal management of the Special Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office belonging to the Public Prosecutor (FEDH), implemented from the 1st of July 2012 to the 31st of July 2013.

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2. A Social Audit of the electoral campaign during the general election process in the year 2013, executed from the 28th of October 2013 to the 31st of March 2014.

3. A Communications Campaign for a transparent election of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, executed between July and November, 2015.

But what are the impacts achieved through these projects in public policies that were the targets of the interventions? Which public policies have been influenced by the actions and results of the projects? Which factors allowed the creation of constructive strategic engagement between Caritas and the public institutional framework? Which best practices and lessons learned derived from these experiences?

We will try to respond those questions below.

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CITIZEN OVERSIGHT AND CONTROL OF THE INTERNAL MANAGEMENT OF THE SPECIAL HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE BELONGING TO THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR In recent years, all justice and security sector institutions have been strongly questioned for the work they have developed and their inability to respond to the crisis of violence, insecurity and impunity the country is undergoing, and the Public Prosecutor (PP) is no exception.

In order to perform its functions, the PP is made up of a body of prosecutor offices, which includes the special prosecutor’s office of human rights (FEDH), which has also been heavily questioned due to its weak operating and managerial capacity, which delegitimizes this prosecutor’s office before the citizens.

An investigation carried out by specialists supported with grant funds from the Impactos Program established the following among their findings: “Considering that FEDH received, just in their Tegucigalpa office, 548 accusations/ complaints in 2010, 736 in 2011, and 521 in 2012, the staff assigned for this work is insufficient (11 prosecutors, 11 investigative analysts, 1 secretary, 1 office Clerk, 5 drivers, and 2 investigating agents) to provide the necessary coverage and effective services in accordance with the serious human rights situation prevailing in the country, which substantially limits the ability of FEDH to respond effectively to the demands of the victims7.

Given the importance of this prosecutor’s office for the protection and defense of human rights of the citizens, Caritas decided to execute a project through a grant, to contribute to strengthening PP’s institutional framework, improving FEDH’s performance and its response capacity within the framework of its responsibilities.

One of the goals of the investigation and social audit carried out by Caritas at FEDH was to establish, through a sample of cases, the approach used by the team of prosecutors and technicians in light of the application of tools based on InterAmerican standards and justice systems. The investigation established that there is no standard policy to guide the criminal prosecution of human rights violations; nor are there any manuals or protocols to provide guidance or orientation in order to classify these cases using uniform criteria. The absence of a criminal prosecution policy on the part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office based on respect for human 7

See: Informe final. Proyecto Investigación sobre la capacidad de gestión y eficiencia de la Fiscalía Especial de Derechos Humanos. Impactos / Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras, Tegucigalpa, June, 2013.

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rights results in a lack of a uniform vision among the different prosecutor’s offices which would comply with the principal of consistency in the application of the law.

As the previous paragraph shows: The Public Prosecutor’s Office created a Defense of Human Rights Unit to investigate situations resulting from the issuance of precautionary or provisional measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (ICDH) or the Court for InterAmerican Human Rights (IDH). Of the 426 measures identified as of August or 2012, FEDH had recognized 50 (12%) of which 15 had been incorporated into the law and 35 were in the investigation stage, while the remaining 376 (88%) were still on hold.

The investigation also established: The Defense of Human Rights Unit has only a single prosecutor responsible for approximately 40 cases regarding protective measures and around 165 files for other cases. They have just 2 analysts, 1 for cases of the defenders and 1 for other cases, but they are only available for 3 days out of every 15 days. They do not have any technical staff in the areas of information technology or communications nor do they have any independent investigators. They do not have a vehicle to carry out assignments even though many of their cases are from other regions of the country8

The main results from the Caritas support were the following:

• In-depth research regarding FEDH’s management abilities and efficiency which permitted the identification of management weaknesses, positive aspects and opportunities for this unit, and a social audit regarding its response in relation to a sample of 10 representative cases, as well as recommendations to enhance their performance.

• The presentation of the results of the investigation and follow-up on cases of human rights violations with the Intervention Commission which was appointed in 2013 by the National Congress in order to apply any necessary corrective measures to improve the performance of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The results were also presented in the media and in 2 public forums held to inform the population in general.

• A follow-up report on the findings and recommendations of the social audit after discussions with the Intervention Commission.

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8

Idem.

• A training plan was prepared for 35 prosecutors of the FEDH nationwide staff to strengthen their technical, investigative, computer, and managerial skills9, in order to incorporate international standards and the corresponding judicial practices involved in case management.

• FEDH was provided with software to register the reports of human rights violation cases and a private office was set up for meeting with human rights violation victims.

In the first quarter of 2013, the context under which the project began had changed radically. Due to the accelerated deterioration of the PP’s performance, the National Congress established a Special Security Commission that presented its report on the 17th of April, regarding all of the irregularities found, and on that same day, the Legislative Branch approved decree number 59-2013, a special law to reform the Public Prosecutor10, through which an Oversight Commission was created with the mission to prepare a comprehensive assessment of the institution and proceed to carry out “a prompt and effective assessment and reform of all of the structures of the Public Prosecutor” within sixty days, this included of course, the rotation, appointment and/or selection of new staff.

This new situation meant for Caritas a redesign of the advocacy strategy, since there was a need to restart the talks with the PP’s new authorities, especially with the Oversight Commission, which on the 30th of April 2013 received the final draft of the social audit report. The Oversight Commission decided to incorporate the report presented by Caritas by annexing it to the report that the Oversight Commission presented before the national Congress on the 10th of June 2013.

Results from the CARITAS investigation and social audit identified institutional weaknesses in the area of criminal prosecution, specifically regarding human rights violations, which served as a basis for the operations of the Intervention Commission at the Public Prosecutor’s Office; Never the less, in spite of the interest generated by this investigation among international cooperation agencies, especially the United States Government through USAID and other government representatives, at the present time many of the findings and recommendations are still awaiting final decisions and the application of the recommended corrective actions.

9 10

Idem.

Published in La Gaceta, number. 33,101, April 17, 2013.

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SOCIAL AUDIT OF THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN IN THE GENERAL ELECTION PROCESS FOR 2013 Every four years, during the development and completion of the electoral processes, both citizens and political parties prepare accusations of all kinds, primarily through the news media, and file their complaints before the Supreme Tribunal of Elections (TSE”), for alleged acts of fraud and irregularities during the electoral campaign, and the voting and vote scrutiny process.

These complaints are rarely resolved to complainant’s satisfaction, that is why the results of the elections at all three levels (Presidential, Congressional and Mayoral) are more and more often seen with greater distrust on behalf of citizens and independent observers. Without a doubt, this undermines the legitimacy both of the electoral institutional framework, as well as of the authorities.

As has already been explained, electoral processes have not been left out of Caritas’s efforts, and that is why this project was developed, aiming to oversee and monitor the actions on behalf of the political parties and the TSE regarding the 2013 electoral campaign regulations, to propose or suggest measures and tools that help to strengthen the rule of law.

Caritas led a process of citizen oversight which took advantage of important lessons learned such as: • Use of a methodology with tools based on the electoral act articles which regulate political campaigns. This was agreed upon with the TSE for its application.

• Validation of the methodology and tools to train the members of electoral campaign monitoring teams in La Ceiba, Choluteca, San Pedro Sula, and Tegucigalpa.

• Presentation of the final monitoring reports to the TSE and CSOs. • As unplanned results, we have awareness activities with CSOs through a proposal of specific reforms for the Electoral and Political Organizations Law (LEOP) and an educational video that has been very useful for diocesan teams in their citizen education efforts throughout different parishes and communities11 .

11

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See: Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras, Hacia procesos electorales más democráticos y transparentes. Informe de monitoreo a la campaña electoral 2013 y propuestas de reformas electorales. Impactos, Caritas, Tegucigalpa, February, 2014.

This process allowed the identification of important challenges in the electoral process, for the general population and organized civil society groups to define joint actions which will help to strengthen democratic practices that go beyond the role of just casting a vote which ends on Election Day. The identified challenges remain and are there to be tackled by the CSOs. Among the most important ones are:

1

Overcoming partisan political, and therefore, sectarian, visions. One immediate challenge is to build a common, coordinated agenda around basic and specific aspects, in order to lay out a successful plan for advocacy with the Government, some of the political parties, and the elected representatives of the National Congress.

2

A first step would be identifying the basic points for the agenda and deciding how to organize the advocacy strategy starting with existing movements such as “Honduras Debate”, “Alianza por la Justicia” (Alliance for Justice – APJ), and “Hagamos Democracia” (Let’s Build a Democracy), among others. Based on Caritas’ judgement, the issues addressed would be: the Fiscal Crisis, Electoral reforms, and Security.

3

The CSOs should develop educational activities and campaigns to encourage the general population to take on the electoral reform issue and help them to see that it is not a topic exclusively for political parties and the National Congress.

4

5

In view of the current situation, provide opportunities for analysis, debate, and reflection regarding the Ley Electoral y de las Organizaciones Politicas (Law for Elections and Political Organizations – LEOP) and the institution of elections in general, in order to develop consistent and realistic proposals that would contribute to transparency and legitimacy in electoral processes.

As a part of this debate, it is important to establish a strategy to avoid the counter-reforms to the LEOP and the Constitution – such as those that occurred in 2007 – 2008, and which could occur at any time for some of the reforms currently being proposed in the National Congress.

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COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN FOR THE TRANSPARENT ELECTION OF MAGISTRATES OF THE NEW SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE In accordance with the law, in January 2016, the new Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) will take office for a period of seven years. All 15 magistrates will be elected by the National Congress, through a process that formally began in July 2015, when the National Congress summoned the organizations which make up the Nominating Committee. The responsibility of the Nominating Committee is to select a roster of 45 candidates who meet all of the requirements to take office, and from which the National Congress will elect 15 magistrates.

Throughout history, the Supreme Court of Justice has been elected as a result of negotiations and interests of both traditional The Supreme Court for Justice (CSJ) political parties, the Liberal Party and the National is the main institution responsible to Party. That way, depending on the party leading assure that the Appeals Cortes and the executive branch, eight magistrates belong to the local courts and judges apply the the party in power and seven are from the minority party, and therefore, it becomes impossible to law in specific cases, that they make guarantee the independence and transparency of judgements and carry out sentencing. the decisions of this highest body of the judicial It is their obligations to guarantee that branch. there will be no impunity, as well as to insure that justice will not be a serpent which bites on those who have no shoes.

This allocation of quotas between the political parties -responding to pressure from powerful people and groups, is what has brought a disparagement of the Supreme Court, and of the justice administration system as a whole, since the decisions made by the magistrates are bound to the orders of those who placed them in such high positions.

In 2015, Caritas identified within the process of selection of magistrates for a new Supreme Court of Justice, the opportunity to strengthen this mechanism of participation which was envisioned to democratize the election of the Supreme Court of Justice12. For this purpose, through the technical and financial assistance provided by the Impactos Program, Caritas launched the campaign “Let’s change the history of justice in Honduras”, whose primary objectives were: 1. To promote transparency and public scrutiny during the process to select the candidates for magistrates, to prevent or reduce the risk of pressure and interference from political parties and financial groups that may taint the process from the very beginning.

12

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In the year 2000, as a result of intense internal and international pressures, the national Congress approved a thorough reform of the judicial branch, which included a new mechanism (the nominating board made up by different sectors) for the election of magistrates of the Supreme Court of justice.

2. To promote debate among the different sectors of civil society through forums and discussion groups regarding the need for a democratic, transparent and participative process for the selection of magistrates to the Supreme Court of Justice.

The campaign included two phases. The first phase was to create awareness and inform the public –through educational booklets, brochures, social networks and radio and TV ads - about the importance of an independent judicial branch, the composition and responsibilities of the nominating committee, the ideal profile of future magistrates and the need for greater transparency and accountability in the decision-making process by the nominating committee. And the second one, still underway, as of January of two thousand sixteen, to influence public opinion, congressmen and congresswomen, so that the election of magistrates is carried out in a transparent manner13.

Among the main programmatic results, these should be high-lighted: 1. Drafting, production and dissemination of an educational notebook, a brochure, two radio and TV spots, and messages conveyed through the institution’s website and social networks.

2. Nine regional discussions were held 14 with community and civil society organizations. In these discussions -using guidelines entitled, Election of the new Supreme Court of Justice: an opportunity to recover the independence of the judicial branch, participants were able to prepare their conclusions and recommendations which were delivered to the nominating committee and to the news media.

3. A news release entitled “A new justice system is an imperative and urgent need”15, summarizes Caritas’s position regarding the process and compiles the conclusions of the regional discussions. This press release was disseminated by the primary news media outlets with national coverage and it opened new opportunities for the institution’s representatives to communicate Caritas’s perspective on the election process for the new Supreme Court of Justice.

4. Alliances with other CSOs and networks, such as the case of “Hagamos Democracia” (Let’s Build Democracy) to advocate collectively before the nominating committee and to hold regional discussions, for example in the cities of San Pedro Sula and Santa Rosa de Copán along with APJ and the Association of nongovernmental organisms ( “ASONOG).

13 14 15

See, Pastoral Social Caritas. Estrategia de Campaña de comunicación para contribuir a una elección transparente de los magistrados y magistradas de la nueva Corte Suprema de Justicia. Tegucigalpa, August, 2015

Forums were held in the following cities: Tocoa, Comayagua, Trujillo, La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula, Santa Rosa de Copán, Choluteca and Olancho.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras. “Un nuevo sistema de justicia es una necesidad impostergable”, Press Release, January 6, 2016, available at: http://www.caritashonduras.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=663:comunicado-&catid=38:fp-rokstories

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IMPACTS ACHIEVED IN TERMS OF PUBLIC POLICIES Regarding the Public Prosecutor Caritas continues to follow up on the recommendations of the project’s final report, even now that the grant has finished; for this purpose, the project coordination has held meetings with the new authorities of the Public Prosecutor to promote the implementation of the recommendations contained in the final documents of the investigation and social audit that were implemented. Below is a brief description of some of the tangible impacts that have a direct influence on FEDH’s performance: • Two rooms were opened to improve services provided to victims and witnesses.

• The control, management and security system for the files was improved through the provision of file cabinets, software, and other registry and control measures for information and files.

• Began an internal restructuring of FEDH, in response to the recommendations proposed by the investigation carried out by Caritas (redistribution of workload (case files) among prosecutors, redistribution of physical spaces, improvement of workplace environment, etc.).

• FEDH’s current chief official was one of the prosecutors who participated in all of the training seminars provided through the grant project.

• A very important element that produces long-term impacts is the improvement of the technical abilities of the Prosecutor’s Office Personnel: 27 prosecutors and auxiliary staff (14 men and 13 women) from the offices in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba, who were beneficiaries of the training seminars regarding due diligence in human rights violation investigations, enforcement of international human rights protection systems, and control of and compliance with human rights conventions and accountability.

Regarding the Supreme Court of Elections Given the characteristics of the Supreme Court of Elections (TSE in Spanish) and the seasonality of electoral processes, the identification of impacts in related public policies is not immediate. In this case, the impacts are described as longer-term processes, where multiple stakeholders, contexts and interests intervene.

However, with this audit of the 2013 electoral campaign, Caritas positioned itself even further as a leading organization in citizen monitoring and oversight of electoral processes matters, gaining in this way the trust of the electoral body and the CSOs working on this issue. Caritas’s track record, without a doubt, made it possible to 90

sign an agreement with the TSE in a relatively short period of time to implement the electoral campaign audit.

In view of the importance that this entails for the legitimacy of electoral processes, and considering the installed capacity that was generated through the process, Caritas now has with the tools, methodology, experience and trained staff to design a proposal that surely would be very useful in the next electoral process, would be more ambitious timewise, and aimed at generating a culture of citizen denunciation and rejection of electoral crimes.

The reform of the Electoral Law is something that is just barely starting to be debated in the country, and that is why the proposal presented by Caritas has great potential which must be considered in order to articulate actions, analysis and discussions that will involve and affect many other stakeholders and interests.

During its research process, Caritas reaffirmed its commitment to this issue that is essential for representative democracy, that is why it aims to advocate by all means and at every moment with decision-makers to promote the necessary reforms, and this is why their proposal is resonating within different sectors in the national spectrum16.

In the aforementioned writings and other related documents, Caritas makes a sharp criticism, of the political parties, the National Congress, and society itself for their indifference regarding political reform, combining in that way a well substantiated criticism through constructive proposals. In this way, it maintains the topic of political reform within its agenda, warning about possible new scenarios.

Regarding the nominating committee in charge of nominating candidates to the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) From the very beginning of the campaign, Caritas, much like other CSOs, has kept the discussion going regarding the election of the best suited candidates at local and regional levels, and even at national level. All of these advocacy efforts had a positive influence so that the nominating board could prepare and approve an internal regulation policy to govern its operations. Furthermore, more so than in previous processes, it issues reports on its actions and has promoted the participation of CSOs in public hearings held for candidates.

In that same spirit, coordination with other entities such as “Hagamos Democracia” (Let’s Build Democracy) and the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) has made it possible to have joint meetings with the nominating board. The initial meeting was for informational purposes only, and the second one was held to learn about the difficulties and limitations faced in their operations, in order to offer support and collaboration.

16

For example, see: Pastoral Social Caritas, “¿Cuándo llegarán las reformas políticas?”, Apuntes, electronic bulletin No. 131, year 13, 16 December, 2015.

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As in the previous case, Caritas has continued on with the campaign, despite the fact that the grant was finished in November 2015. The objective is to implement actions of dialogue and consultation with congressmen and congresswomen, so that they can commit to elect magistrates based on ethical and professional merits, and not based on partisan or individual pressures.

Therefore, Caritas has continued to influence public opinion obtaining specific results, such as the dissemination of a press release on January 6th, followed by a personalized letter to each congressman and congresswoman, to let them know about the importance of their decisions, which are subject to public scrutiny prior to the selection of the legislative branch17.

CONTRIBUTION OF IMPACTOS PROGRAM The Program (Promoting Citizen Engagement, Transparency and Social Opportunities, or simply Impactos Program as it is known locally) contributed through grants - equaling 80% of the total cost - to finance three projects18. Caritas contributed between 20 and 25% of the total investment under the concept of cost sharing. In addition to the monetary value of Caritas’s contribution, other contributions are greatly appreciated. For example: • The grant mechanism established short implementation periods (between 7 and 12 months maximum), and this changed the internal dynamics of the institution, which was used to implementing longer-term advocacy processes. The project coordinator, Carlos Patiño, acknowledges that “(…) We have to make changes in order to have more aggressive planning, with more effective responses, with quicker alliances, pressuring ourselves in terms of the pace and rhythm of the work”.

• Caritas also recognizes that the permanent participation, guidance, and technical advice by the Impactos Program team improved the quality of their processes, methodology and tools as they were made available to the grant projects. This participation also contributed to the generation of permanent feedback and critical analysis processes to make quick decisions about the direction of the Project. Caritas values the Program´s contribution to the improvement and refinement of their monitoring and follow-up tools, as part of the Organizational Development Strategy promoted by the Impactos Program.

• On a more strategic level, the contributions made by the Impactos Program generated new ways to advocate and to extend the influence beyond the municipal and departmental scope. The executive Secretary, P. German Cálix, 17 18

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Interview with P. German Cálix, in Tegucigalpa, on the 10th of January, 2016.

Impactos Program contributed HNL 942, 609.00 for the FEDH Project and HNL 640,182.50 for the 2013 electoral campaign audit.

stated that the Program opened the possibility for them to work in other spheres where they were not used to working before: “We developed liaison capacities that we did not have...our ways of advocating were to a certain degree very rustic, and we have improved and refined them through these processes...we also extended the context of our operations, advocating in bigger public spaces which allowed us to obtain results that impact throughout society” (P. German Cálix).

• Other benefits recognized by Caritas derived from the relationship with the Impactos Program, included the facilitation of encounters between CSOs implementing grantees to define a common agenda for civil society, through dialogue and collective deliberation. This is a process that has only just started, but it requires technical assistance, strategic guidance, and financial support.

CONDITIONS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CARITAS AND THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK Promoting Changes to Improve Conceptualizing the public institutional framework as an entity that can be strengthened through proposals from the civil society to enhance its performance and contributing to good governance. This is the baseline used by Caritas in its relationships with national, municipal and local public institutions. This allows Caritas to address authorities with proposals on hand, with methodologies, tools and resources to prompt the necessary changes to enhance their performance in favor of the common good, which in turn generates trust on behalf of the authorities.

Engagement The above goes beyond understanding the many limitations with which the staff members of many of these offices work; this is facilitated through good assessment, such as the one that was carried out for the special human resources prosecutor’s office. A thorough assessment is the all important first step to be able to draft adequate and precise recommendations to respond to the needs of institutions and therefore, to advocate for public policies with a vision towards the accompaniment of processes of change.

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Contributing with New Knowledge and Resources This was very evident in the case of FEDH, where after identifying the gaps in terms of staff capacities in the performance of their tasks; a training program was implemented covering the key issues for the personnel. Equipment and infrastructure was also provided, which enhanced working conditions and improved the quality of the services being provided to victims and witnesses.

Ownership Caritas tries to align its interventions with adequate context readings, citizen demands and institutional dynamics. As a consequence of this alignment, Caritas has developed precise and adequate processes to implement projects and proposals in different arenas of action: At the FEDH, since time and later events proved the need to strengthen this prosecutor’s office and the usefulness of the assessment performed to include its arguments in the restructuring process in which the Public Prosecutor was subsequently involved.

Before the electoral body: decisions regarding Caritas’s proposals are still pending, the topics remain valid today in the political parties’ agendas, the electoral administration, and the public, so that as the next electoral process nears, these issues can be looked at once again.

And finally, working with the nominating committee, Caritas has acted diligently in view of the urgency of the situation, but above all, responding to the relevance that the election of magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice has in a context of institutional fragility and disparagement of the administration of justice.

Flexibility It is important to recognize and to make good use of the changing dynamics of the situation, in order to always keep in mind the objective of advocacy actions.

It is obvious, for example, that the situations regarding the PP and FEDH changed drastically during the time that the project was being implemented, which was not an obstacle for Caritas and the partner organizations to redesign the advocacy strategy and to concentrate their actions on the Oversight Board and in the new authorities of the PP, which means that the efforts and resources invested were not lost, but rather they adapted to the new needs of the political context with constructive and coherent proposals.

Sustainability It is very difficult to build constructive strategic engagement if public institutions and CSOs are not sure if the benefits of that relationship will continue on after 94

the project ends. That is why there is a need to follow up and monitor the results with a long-term vision in the design and sequence of the interventions in the permanent pursuit of sustainability. It is evident that Caritas can do it, since they have demonstrated a continuous commitment over time regarding the issues being addressed through their grant projects.

In other words, their experience and knowledge management in electoral matters, human rights and justice administration affairs, generate confidence and trust on behalf of public institutions, community organizations and other CSOs, and make it possible for Caritas to move forward towards more enriching, constructive and participative proposals.

BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED Within best practices: • Lobbying with authorities in order to formalize the commitments with public institutions: agreements were signed to formalize the relationships of cooperation and to achieve the products planned through the advocacy process.

• The pursuit of alliances with other civil society organizations and platforms where Caritas has an active participation. For example, in the Public Prosecutor, advocacy actions through the organizations that are part of the Alliance for Peace and Justice (APJ in Spanish); the electoral reform issue is still being promoted through the Center for Democracy Studies (CESPAD for its initials in Spanish), consortium Hagamos Democracia (Let’s Build Democracy), and the group named Active Citizens Dialogue (Grupo de Diálogo Ciudadano Activo in Spanish), civil society bodies that maintain permanent dialogue with the Commission for Electoral Reform under the supervision of the National Congress.

And the alliances with local and national CSOs and networks to promote the debates about public information and lobbying at the National Congress for the final selection of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.

• Training, engagement and mobilization of citizens in regions and communities as was done with that campaign for a transparent election of the Supreme Court of Justice - it is a best practice that contributes to generate broader agreements about advocacy issues, it empowers citizens and produces long-term results.

• Generation and sharing of new knowledge through assessments, methodologies, working tools, training processes, and by publishing and distributing educational materials and reports, which are later on incorporated into the reference and consultation material repository, covering the essential topics being supported by the Impactos Program.

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On lessons learned, the one that may deserve the most attention is precisely the one that represents the weakest link in this experience. Initially, Caritas had proposed to reactivate a Citizens Council19 which Public Prosecutor Law establishes, but this is not possible due to a variety of factors; among others, the weak political will of its members and of the Public Prosecutor’s authorities, but also due to the political context at that time.

The efforts initially promoted by Caritas reduced the interest of the Public Prosecutor’s oversight board. This board considered that it was more feasible to reform the Public Prosecutor Law, including the articles aimed at democratizing and broadening the participation of civil society in the citizen’s board. However, this challenge still exists today, proving that before the signing and proposing this type of results, advocacy initiatives must continuously read the context and the correlation individual elements to determine the course of action and adjustments to the working plans of the initiatives being promoted.

Therefore, it is evident that projects such as these require political will and openness on behalf of public servants in order for them to be successful. In the case of the experience with FEDH, it was demonstrated that frequently the most important political will does not come from the highest levels, but rather from intermediate levels; in fact, it was the front line prosecutors who demonstrated the highest level of will and interest when it came to receiving the services offered by the project. The lessons learned in this case indicate that public servants in front line positions are key stakeholders to generating sustainable changes in the behavior and practices of public servants.

In summary, in order to be successful with advocacy initiatives, traditional ways do not always work in advocating for decisions at the highest decision-making levels.

It is essential to establish trust between the government entity, civil servants and the CSOs. Furthermore, it is essential that the information that is generated is never used to destroy or point out personalized accusations, but rather to strengthen the institutional framework.

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS This case clearly shows that an advocacy pathway aimed at building constructive strategic engagement is an effective approach, which due to its characteristics, is innovative within the Honduran context.

Regarding the FEDH, Caritas identified the problem and did not simply criticize or denounce things from outside, but rather it decided to engage by contributing knowledge and abilities to enhance their performance and efforts.

19

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Established under Article. 79 of the Public Prosecutor Law, with consultative and supporting functions aimed at strengthening institutional performance and management.

To achieve this, Caritas approached the Public Prosecutor authorities and through lobbying efforts, persuaded them regarding the benefits that citizen oversight and control would contribute in favor of FEDH’s internal management.

After signing off on the cooperation agreement, Caritas identified a consultant who met the ethical and professional characteristics required to lead the process, in close coordination with the institutional coordination team.

The following step was to prepare a thorough investigation of FEDH’s management capacity and efficiency, from which weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities were identified for that unit; at the same time, a social audit was developed regarding its response to ten representative cases. These were the two instruments that allowed the team to prepare recommendations to enhance its performance.

Caritas didn’t just identify problems and propose recommendations, but rather it also provided solutions. On the one hand, by developing a training process for prosecutors regarding key issues for their performance, and on the other hand by facilitating some types of equipment and infrastructure improvement, in order to improve case file management and improve the quality of services being provided to the users.

In terms of auditing the 2013 electoral campaign, it also identified the problem and approached the TSE with a methodology, techniques and the tools to show the infringements committed against the electoral law, both by way of the actions on the part of political parties, and the omissions on the part of the electoral authority.

This audit led to an educational video to communicate the experience, and to a very precise proposal to reform the LEOP - within which the citizenship building or citizen engagement at the polling stations or MER as they are known in for their initials in Spanish - was aimed at strengthening and legitimizing representative democracy.

In the case of the election of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice a well-known problem - the process was made visible through a communication campaign which at the same time, empowered citizens on that topic, through the reflection and discussion in regional meetings, which have led to proposals and recommendations incorporating citizens’ expectations. But it also made specific proposals to enhance the work done by the nominating board, as well as to improve citizen performance: To avoid a repetition of this situation, citizens and civil society organizations need to oversee and demand transparency throughout the whole process, so that the nominating board and the National Congress make it possible for the judicial branch to be truly independent. The work of the news media will be very important in this process20.

20

Pastoral Social Caritas. La elección de nueva Corte Suprema de Justicia: una oportunidad para recuperar la independencia del Poder Judicial.Caritas, Impactos Program, Tegucigalpa, September, 2015, pp. 9-13.

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And the three experiences have built alliances with CSO platforms, through which they continue to advocate and to move forward in the achievement of the proposed changes. In this way, the project strengthened public institutions’ abilities, gained new knowledge, methodologies and working strategies, and continues to position itself before the public institutional framework as an actor who knows how to dialogue and propose solutions in the pursuit of good governance for the common good.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Mejía, J. (2013). Investigación sobre la capacidad de gestión y eficiencia de la Fiscalía Especial de Derechos Humanos. Caritas, Impactos Program, Tegucigalpa.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras (16 de diciembre de 2015). “¿Cuándo llegarán las reformas políticas?”, en Apuntes, boletín electrónico No. 131, año 13.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras (agosto de 2015). Estrategia de Campaña de comunicación para contribuir a una elección transparente de los magistrados y magistradas de la nueva Corte Suprema de Justicia. Caritas, Impactos Program, Tegucigalpa.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras (septiembre de 2015). La elección de nueva Corte Suprema de Justicia: una oportunidad para recuperar la independencia del Poder Judicial. Caritas, Impactos Program, Tegucigalpa.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras (2014). Informe Narrativo Final. Proyecto Auditoría social a la campaña electoral. Tegucigalpa.

Pastoral Social Caritas Honduras. “Un nuevo sistema de justicia es una necesidad impostergable”, Comunicado del 6 de enero de 2016, disponible en: http://www. caritashonduras.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=663:comun icado-&catid=38:fp-rokstories.

People who were interviewed P. German Cálix, Executive Secretary - Pastoral Social Caritas Carlos Patiño, Caritas-Impactos Program Project Coordinator Danilo Puerto, Caritas Director in Choluteca.

Hugo Zelaya, Caritas Director in Juticalpa Javier Zelaya, Human Rights Coordinator, member of “Red Hagamos Democracia” (Let’s Build Democracy Network) Celia Casco, Coordinator of the Citizenship, Human Rights, Justice and Peace Pillar, Caritas 98

Vanesa Mejía, NDI.

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Case Study ASOCIACIÓN PROGRAMA AMIGO DE LOS NIÑOS – CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH

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ENGLISH

APAN - CI

Asociación Programa Amigo de los Niños – Children International

APAN - CI

Friends of Children Program Association – Children International

CAP

Proyecto Oportunidades Sociales

CAP

Community Action for Prosperity

CASM

Comisión de Acción Social Menonita

CASM

Mennonite Social Action Committee

CIH

Children International Honduras

CIH

Children International Honduras

COMVIDA

Programa Municipal de Infancia, Adolescencia y Juventud Comunicación y Vida

COMVIDA

Municipal Children, Adolescent and Youth Communication and Life Program

CRC

Comité de Revitalización Comunitaria

CRC

Community Revitalization Committee

PMIAJ

Programa Municipal de Infancia, Adolescencia y Juventud

PMIAJ

Municipal Children, Adolescent and Youth Program

LAPOP

Proyecto de Opinión Pública de América Latina

LAPOP

Latin America Public Opinion Project

OSC

Organización de Sociedad Civil

CSO

Civil Society Organization

RDJ

Red de Jóvenes

RDJ

Youth Network

IUDPAS

Instituto Universitario en Democracia, Paz y Seguridad

IUDPAS

University Institute for Democracy, Peace and Security Studies

USAID

Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

INTRODUCTION Asociación Programa Amigo de los Niños - Children International (APAN-CI)21 is a civil society organization (CSO) whose mission is to produce real and lasting changes in the lives of boys, girls and youth who live in poverty.

Their work strategy concentrates in the area of personal development of their beneficiaries; in that sense, it enables and creates conditions so that the young men and women, on their own, can develop activities aimed at improving their wellbeing and their own communities.

Their financing comes essentially from resources provided by Children International’s main office, which raises funds through individuals from different countries who sponsor the children. In this way, APAN-CI maintains a constant availability of services for sponsored children. The sponsorship system consists of the provision of free services such as medical and dental treatment, nutritional assistance, educational support, family support, clothing, school supplies and uniforms, and shoes, among others for the boys, girls, and youth who are covered by the program.

For 25 years now, APAN-CI has been implementing programs within the Rivera Hernández sector in the city of San Pedro Sula, specifically in the community Asentamientos Humanos, through a community center located in this sector and known as the Neal Community Center, which was built and administered by Children International and includes playgrounds, classrooms, medical and dental offices, lecture rooms, and sports facilities. This sector is one of the most violent places in the city. Rivera Hernández is center stage for the violence and crime22 being reported out of San Pedro Sula in U.S. media on a daily basis and official statistics confirm this reality.

According to figures from the observatory of violence (IUDPAS-UNAH), this suburban sector, located northeast of the city, with 39 neighborhoods and an approximate population of 150,000 inhabitants, reports more than 50 violent deaths per year. According to National Police statistics, these deaths are directly linked to the presence of organized crime in the area. It is estimated that there are six criminal groups operating in the Rivera Hernández sector, dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, murder-for-hire or assassinations, car theft, illegal trafficking of weapons, sex slavery and assault. These criminal groups are known to recruit young men and women and children and force them to participate in criminal activities.

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For more than thirty years APAN, has served as a legal and operational platform for the actions of children international in Honduras. Since then, APAN is known by that name.

Massacres, genocide, police confrontations with criminal groups, gang member arrests, search warrants, extortion, illegal possession of weapons, drug confiscations, among other violent incidents.

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Several studies show that limited social participation and cohesion makes citizens more vulnerable to criminal behavior (LAPOP, 2014) and that youth who feel disconnected from their communities and excluded from social activities, are more prone to participate in gangs and criminal activities.

In this context, APAN-CI observed how the sustainable growth of violence became an obstacle to achieving their objectives, so strengthening the social fabric for the violence prevention became an urgent necessity.

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ESTABLISHING THE BASIS TO INTERVENE IN COMMUNITIES WITH HIGH RATES OF VIOLENCE In 2012, CIH began to implement a community-based violence prevention model with the Community Action for Prosperity Project (CAP) of the Impactos Program in the communities of Asentamientos Humanos, Cristo Viene, 6 de Mayo, and Sinaí, all of them located in the Rivera Hernández sector.

APAN-CI was able to implement the model through Community Revitalization Projects for Violence Prevention, whose overall objective is to contribute to promoting a peaceful and democratic social coexistence as a lifestyle and to generate social opportunities within target communities. The Project was based on the establishment and strengthening of grassroots organizations, such as the Youth Networks (hereafter simply “YNs”) and the Community Revitalization Committees (hereafter simply “CRCs”).

The CRCs and YNs developed their own activities based on the training which they received in areas such as: a culture of peace, human rights, design, management, and monitoring of community-based projects; violence prevention and gender equity, among others. The new skills acquired by community leaders enabled them to promote processes of linkages with other CRCs and YNs in order to carry out advocacy and funding campaigns for their communities with NGOs and local governments. One example of the results attained was the support received for community health campaigns, clean-up activities, community fairs, and community mobilization efforts for the benefit of all of the residents in the participating communities.

Carrying out actions to prevent violence in a conflictive environment is an important achievement, especially in communities where intervention on the part of local government is almost nonexistent and there is basically no presence of any other CSO working to prevent violence, due to fear for the physical integrity of the process facilitators.

The construction and operation of the Neal Community Center sponsored by Children International in the community of Asentamientos Humanos, has given a tremendous boost to the collective sense of motivation and self-esteem, considering the social delay and stigma associated with the conflictive and violent environment which surrounds the Rivera Hernandez sector of San Pedro Sula – which has without a doubt resulted in the absence of public investment and private cooperation.

The functioning of the Neal Community Center has also provided a comparative advantage for Children International / Honduras, which has allowed them to open up their services in violence prevention and primary care to the community in general and not only to the sponsored population. Having such high quality community infrastructure has been one factor in the success of attracting youth and 105

involving them in the violence prevention activities. This is the place where training workshops and meetings take place for the members of the CRC and the Youth Network members as well as other activities from the violence prevention model.

The Center offers a safe environment in a strategic location, with easy access for three of the four targeted communities.

In this way, Children International has gained the respect from criminal groups which are active in their neighborhoods, due to the work that it develops and continues to develop in the area, and they allow them to do their work. Furthermore, the leaders of the communities are willing to work to try to reverse the conditions of violence and to prevent youth from joining those groups.

The prestige of Children International in the sector is the result of more than two decades of continuous service and physical presence in the zone. All of these elements represent an indisputable strength and a very positive element which contributed to the success in recruiting and maintaining the participation of the community leaders and in the high degree of acceptance of the activities implemented in the framework of the violence prevention model proposed by the CAP Project.

APAN-CI AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY CAPACITIES TO PREVENT VIOLENCE For many years, Children International’s work approach concentrated on the sponsored children, and the scope of their activities was limited to the personal development of only that population; despite having the infrastructure with direct presence in the community, the interaction with the community was limited to the development of activities within their own facility, providing the sponsored community multiple services related to health and personal development.

How is it then that APAN-CI is able to finally expand and strengthen their community work to prevent violence and establish relationships with the local government?

Below is a description of the most important milestones in their achievements.

Establishing Violence Prevention as a Programmatic Pillar and Broadening the Beneficiary Base APAN-CI’s traditional work strategy has been based on a set of programs to support youth in health, education, financial development and participation. In order to strengthen the political empowerment of youth, it promotes organizational processes

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through the establishment of Youth Councils23; nevertheless, these organizations were only made up of sponsored youth and their links to the communities were not very strong.

In order to extend the services to reach the population that does not benefit from sponsorship, in the year 2011, APAN-CI created the Human Development Department, in charge of managing resources to implement specific projects. In parallel to this, they decided to include violence prevention as a programmatic axes, taking into account that:

“Violence is one of the critical areas in the country, especially in the area of Rivera Hernández. The parents of our boys and girls have been victims of violence...Due to the insecurity it was even difficult for people to move and go to work... Despite the fact that our personnel are respected in those sectors, there’s still a risk for them. Those are the reasons why we gave our consent for the violence prevention project to start working (CAP Project-Impactos Program)”.

Member of the Board of Directors APAN-CI

These changes led Children International to reconsider its actions, develop specific instruments, establish a work strategy and broaden its links with an array of public and private institutions to implement projects that allow the inclusion of other youth and to focus its strategy on violence prevention.

Children International signed a collaboration agreement with the Organized Fans of the Real España Sports Club in Tegucigalpa (BORET in Spanish) which is a non-profit organization that carries out social benefit activities in the name of the Real España Sports Club soccer team. This agreement promotes healthy recreation activities and the promotion of a culture of peace through sports in order to prevent violence and to benefit the youth and adults in the Rivera Hernández sector. The agreement has made it possible to implement recreation and joint activities with a violence prevention focus among children, youth and adults. Through the agreement a number of soccer tournaments have been sponsored in the communities along with the provision of sports equipment to promote sports participation among the youth. These activities were carried out with the leadership cooperation of the YNs. Children International and PASMO signed a memorandum of understanding to work jointly in youth education activities focused on the topics of sexual and reproductive health within the communities of the Rivera Hernández sector.

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The Council is a figure through which CIH organizes sponsored youth through a board of directors with 10 members who are elected by the general assembly, following basic parliamentary norms. These Councils implement actions with a USD $20k financing per year.

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Children International and the Red Cross created an Alliance to carry out training in first aid for the members of the CRCs and YNs in order to support the community organizations in emergency situations. Risk management has taken on greater importance in the communities, as a result of the presence of delinquent groups which expose them to the risk of violent situations where the physical integrity of the residents may be threatened.

Engaging the Communities Within its work strategy, APAN-CI has built a volunteer network (mothers and fathers of sponsored youth) who cooperate in actions proposed by APAN-CI, given that the existing staff capacity to promote processes of change had not been increased.

With the implementation of the violence prevention model, and specifically, with the establishment of the CRCs and YNs, the community social fabric was strengthened, which allowed citizens in those areas to generate self-managed proposals to resolve the problems they face in terms of security.

In addition to developing new skills among the members of the CRCs and YNs to strengthen their organizations, elements were also incorporated in the organizational agendas to promote the sustainability of these groups, building stronger relationships with the community in order to increase the sense of community cohesion, and for these purposes the closer relations, cooperation, and communication among youth and adults has played a vital role.

To achieve this, Children International and the technical team from the Impactos Program implemented strategies designed to promote community participation through healthy cultural and recreational activities, with a social focus which resulted in greater participation on the part of the community residents in the implementation of initiatives such as the clean-up campaigns, sports competitions, or art exhibits in the Neal Community Center of paintings produced by young artists in the community.

APAN-CI’s actions in the communities focused on strengthening their capacity to solve violence related issues, actively participating in their implementation and mobilizing other community actors, despite the limitations generated by the poor security conditions.

“We have worked with the rest of the people, for example we had an activity to clean up the community and 40 people participated, and there were only 7 of us from the CRC, 9 were youth representatives and the rest were people who spontaneously decided to join us in those efforts... We have been able to mobilize and increase people’s participation”.

CRC Member, Community: 6 de Mayo (Ríos, 2015).

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Through these interventions, the stakeholders have understood that while living in an environment still controlled by gangs, their role is not to “break them up”, but rather to promote an environment of inclusion and to increase the resilience of the youth to avoid being recruited by these groups.

“Gang members do not see us as a threat; in a way, they feel respect for what we do for the communities... We are not sending a message that we are enemies; the doors are open also for them to participate in the activities we carry out... Sometimes they are there among us, watching what we do, but even so, little by little, the message will also get to them”.

CRC Member, Community: Cristo Viene (Coto, 2015)

For Children International, the establishment of the CRCs and the YNs is an innovative process that in addition allowing them to broaden their coverage, gives their actions sustainability. This sustainability is created as these organizations carry out actions through their own initiative, which go beyond APAN-CI’s proposals.

“Now we are not only volunteers, we are a committee …. You feel like you have more enthusiasm to support others, you feel like a professor, who serves as an example for the community”.

Member of the Sinai CRC (Enamorado, 2015).

Creating Linkages between Youth and Adults The implementation of the model made it possible to bring youth and adults together in the communities, which allowed them to contrast and complement their visions. The adults had more of a pessimistic vision regarding what can be achieved in an environment that is so permeated by violence. For them, the strength of the gangs is something irrepressible. The inclusion of youth in the decision making process within the CRCs enabled a dialogue and understanding between the youth and adults. Youth, on the other hand, considered that their efforts did in fact represent an alternative to the gang phenomenon. Sharing these visions with the CRC allowed the project to model the expectations of both groups, enhance the leading role of the youth in the community environment, and to create awareness of their achievements, and remove some of the generational barriers which previously constrained their actions: 109

“In the past we did not work together because the youth and the adults are different, but now, with this experience, they have shared their opinions with us and so have we, I believe that by working together we have made a big change and the effort by both organizations is evident; this was not possible before�.

YN Member, Community: Asentamientos Humanos (Campos, 2015).

Children International intentionally promoted joint activities between the CRCs and YNs, especially to conduct social benefit activities with a community wide impact such as youth fairs, camp outings, painting murals in public spaces, soccer tournaments, youth violence prevention campaigns, and community health and cleanliness campaigns. These activities then translated into constructive relationships among the youth who needed positive adult role models in their environment and on the other hand the adults were revitalized with the energy of the youth. Both age groups benefit and grow in a two way exchange which strengthened local leadership as a base for healthy coexistence and sustainability.

Demonstrating Results and Abilities The main role of the CRCs and the YNs consisted in reducing social risk factors that make the communities vulnerable. For this purpose, the efforts of these organizations were outlined in four areas: training; income generation opportunities; linkages with local government and other institutions; and community awareness campaigns.

These pillars were reflected in the community action plans and the youth action plans, in the form of short and mid-term community revitalization projects.

Between 2012 and 2015, a number of projects were implemented, and they included the participation of both youth and adults. CIH was already promoting the implementation of projects through Youth Councils. The main difference between these projects and the ones that had been implemented is that community revitalization projects are broader and more inclusive, and their primary purpose is to promote peaceful coexistence, the generation of social opportunities, mainly for youth, and minimizing the risk factors identified in the diagnoses24.

The community revitalization projects proposed by the communities showed their concern and the priority which the members of the target communities placed on knowledge management, since most of them proposed the development of skills in areas of prevention of alcohol and drug consumption and of violence, as well as work and professional skills and family and community values.

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According to a community assessments (May 2012), the risk factors range from inadequacy of basic services, to family disintegration, irresponsible parenting, machismo (male chauvinism), domestic violence, and adolescent pregnancy, as well as migration and the use of alcohol and drugs.

In order to carry out the community activities, the community centers in the Sinaí and Cristo Viene neighborhoods were refurbished and provided with basic equipment. Vocational training courses were offered in a variety of areas combined with entrepreneurship skills, and there were cleanliness campaigns, and communications sessions in the local schools to promote community values and peaceful coexistence. In all these projects reached a total of 698 participants in the first year and 741 in the second year.

Learning to Advocate with Local Government In coordination with the Mennonite Social Action Committee ( “CASM” 25 for its initials in Spanish), APAN-CI promoted meetings between CRC members and civil servants from the Mayor’s office in San Pedro Sula, specifically on the topic of Public Investment Management and Community Participation and the Municipal Program for Children, Adolescents and Youth (PMIAJ-COMVIDA for its initials in Spanish). These opportunities allowed participants to share information on the actions being promoted both by the community organizations as well as by the municipal departments and to discuss the possibility of linking violence prevention community action plans with community development plans of the municipality of San Pedro Sula.

APAN-CI also carried out advocacy actions so that these plans would be included within the municipal annual citizen security and coexistence plan, which is reviewed on a quarterly basis by the organizations participating in the implementation of the plan, including CIH. Furthermore, a training and knowledge transfer workshop was held including teachers, local government officials and CRC and RDJ members, from both CIH and CASM, on violence and governance with an emphasis on the prevention of school bullying, it’s new perspectives, causes and effects on children and teenagers; the purpose was to promote the personal and social initiative, solidarity and volunteering in community development actions linked to local government, which allowed the creation of an outline of recommendations that can be applied in the community, school, and municipal environments.

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CASM is a CSO that also implemented the CAP violence prevention model with financial support from Impactos Program, in four other communities in San Pedro Sula during 2012 and 2013.

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IMPACTS ACHIEVED REGARDING MUNICIPAL PUBLIC POLICIES The advocacy actions have resulted in concrete achievements. For example, the participation of youth within YNs in the local Youth Public Policy Design process, promoted by COMVIDA, and the willingness on behalf of San Pedro Sula’s Public Investment Management and Community Participation Office to formally recognize the CRCs and the YNs. Furthermore, the inclusion of the CRCs and the YNs in the training courses and activities carried out throughout the different communities by the municipality was agreed to.

Thanks to the initiatives undertaken by the CRCs and YNs, and to CIH’s intermediation, the local governments have developed some new activities in those communities and currently – with CRC and YNs support – they are willing to continue implementing them from the Public Investment Management and Community Participation Office.

(…) Young men and women came from the “Cristo Viene” neighborhood to present their initiatives to clean up their community and they requested access to the garbage truck service... And seeing those boys and girls that are so committed motivated us and we were able to organize the first mega-operation and campaign against dengue and chikungunya... We brought in the machinery to clean the ditches, we brought in medical and dental brigades...Around 480 thousand Lempiras were invested in that campaign, out of which the municipality contributed with 40 thousand and the rest we obtained from the private sector.

Manager of the Public Investment Management and Community Participation Office - San Pedro Sula, 15th of October 2015.

(…) We participated in the “Safe Summer Campaign” promoted by the Mayor’s office in April of this year (2015)... On Saturday we went to the toll booths located at the exit point of the city of La Lima, we spent time there handing out summer kits with medications, T-shirts, sunglasses...and we were all wearing a white T-shirt, with a logo and a slogan that said “Smile with summer”. It was a very nice experience because we felt part of something... We gave people their kits and they seemed grateful.

Member of RDJ – Community: Sinaí.

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All of these actions went from being specific occasional events, to become formal agreements to work in a systematic manner in the communities. These agreements were formalized on the 23 of October 2015, when all four communities and their CRCs and YNs met with the San Pedro Sula’s local government representatives, through the Public Investment Management and Community Participation Office, and they officially recognized the CRCs and YNs as community organizations capable of carrying out violence prevention actions; and the local government committed to support the community strategic action plans provided to them by the aforementioned organizations.

With this, the basis have been set to strengthen the collaboration among CIH, the communities, and the municipality to face the challenges of violence prevention within these four communities of the Rivera HernĂĄndez area.

CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE IMPACTOS PROGRAM The relationship between APAN-CI and the Impactos Program began in 2011 and reached its end in 2015, a period during which a total of 6 grants were implemented, which allowed them to apply the community based violence prevention model proposed by Impactos Program, within the Community Action for Prosperity Project (CAP).

Methodologically speaking, the implementation of this model included the elaboration of participative community assessments, establishing the CRCs and YNs, capacity building in these organizations, creating community action plans for violence prevention and youth action plans, identification, design and implementation of community revitalization projects. This was accomplished through the volunteer work of youth and adults, which came about as a result of the on-going work of APAN-CI to build awareness regarding the issues in the communities and to address these and contribute to resolving some of their social problems.

This also meant strengthening APAN-CI’s abilities to understand the violence prevention concept and scope; facilitating identification and participative evaluation of preventive resources and risk factors in the communities; promoting community organization processes and technical guidance for the organizations; evaluating the progress of their actions and showing evidence of the results. Impactos Program provided permanent technical assistance to APAN-CI during the implementation of the model, and furthermore, the provided advice regarding activity reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.

Complementarily, during the last year of intervention, the Impactos Program supported an institutional strengthening process for APAN-CI. This began with an organizational assessment which reflected their strengths and areas for 113

improvement in 6 strategic pillars: strategic leadership and planning, program management and quality control, accounting and financial management, financial sustainability, human resources and material management, and external affairs and communications.

Based on the findings of the assessment, APAN-CI undertook an improvement plan to overcome their weaknesses in each one of the pillars, and for the construction of institutional policies required in order to be aligned with the challenges and opportunities currently available for the organization.

The Impactos Program also promoted knowledge management mechanisms, such as the implementation of experience sharing among the CRCs supported by APANCI and CASM, and exchanges among the YNs and CRCs in the target communities of San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba organized jointly by APAN-CI and the Impactos Program partner organization in La Ceiba, CEPROSAF. The exchanges provided opportunities to analyze successful experiences, forms of organization and operation of the YNs and CRCs, lessons learned, key results, and recommendations.

According to the staff that participated in the experience26, the main result in the balance of the APAN-CI- and Impactos Program relationship, is the strengthening of the conceptual and methodological approach to violence prevention.

Below is a summary of the contributions made by Impactos Program, by way of testimony:

“With Impactos Program’ support we have been able to learn more about the violence prevention approach which was not being applied to the actions we were carrying out. These actions were aimed more at achieving self-sufficiency for the youth... We have been able to transcend toward community work, and developing the communities has become a priority... We have also been able to extend our actions to other groups and to strengthen our capacity to promote violence prevention processes... We are left with experienced and trained staff...

Impactos Program helped “Children” to take a look into the organization: its strengths and areas for improvement, and that has been used as the basis to strengthen our administrative policies”.

Grant Coordinator, CIH.

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Members of CIH’s Board of Directors and staff directly responsible for the project: Grants Coordinator and technical field staff.

CONDITIONS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD CONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIC COMMITMENTS BETWEEN APAN-CI AND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT A Clear and Precise Strategy The process of engagement with local government authorities requires a clear advocacy strategy, which defines the objectives and mechanisms to be used. APANCI defined as objectives to be achieved, the recognition of CRCs on behalf of the municipal authorities and linking the violence prevention community plan with the main priorities of the municipality.

Thus, coordination actions with local government that were carried out with other CSOs (specifically CASM) were more attractive to the authorities, since they represented a bigger group of grassroots organizations requesting interaction with the local government. This type of experience must continue to be applied while adding more participants to the actions of advocacy.

Demonstrate Capacity to Develop Proposals and to Take Action Communicating clear messages, demonstrating capacity to develop proposals, to take action, and to advocate for a particular interest, those were the factors that helped the YNs and CRCs obtain the needed support of local government, and for APAN-CI’s proposal to have an impact on the authorities.

Generating Opportunities for Dialogue Although for a long time the Local government seemed “listless” regarding the sector’s problems, as one of the persons interviewed mentioned, APAN-CI and the community organizations kept on making efforts to find opportunities for dialogue. These opportunities, which included training activities in which local government representatives participated along with the members of the CRCs and YNs, allowed for the sharing of information on actions promoted both by the community organizations and the different municipal units and the discussion of the possibility of linking violence prevention community action plans with the community development plans developed by the Mayor’s office in San Pedro Sula.

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BEST PRACTICES, LEARNED LESSON AND RECOMMENDATIONS In terms of best practices, it is worthwhile to highlight the following:

• Strengthening of community organizations and organization of youth through adequate methodologies adapted to their ages and interests. APANCI was able to implement the violence prevention model, in part thanks to the establishment and strengthening of community grassroots organizations, such as the YNs and the CRCs. • The promotion of experience exchange among CRCs, YNs, and other CSOs, helped to improve knowledge on the context of violence in a number of countries and to collectively reflect about the best ways to respond. These actions, when carried out constantly and systematically, contribute to enhancing CSOs’ and other community organizations’ staff competencies and skills.

• In order to strengthen the abilities of community groups, it was essential to define the areas to be strengthened: community organization, violence prevention, culture of peace, and human rights.

• These four areas were the common thread that streamlined investments in terms of training.

• The basic principle for collective action is to establish a common vision. In this sense, the prospective planning instruments such as community and youth action plans, helped establish agreements and consensus to create that shared vision, which started with a more in-depth analysis of the reality, through community assessments.

Lessons Learned and Recommendations Capacity building for civil society organizations

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• The implementation of projects, technical guidance and participation of the Impactos Program allowed APAN-CI to become aware of the impact of its actions, especially on violence prevention. It cannot only rely on its institutional strength, but require a joint effort through the independent hard work of the community groups, and coordination with other CSOs. Furthermore, it’s not just about taking on the role of the local government, but rather it is about undertaking their own initiatives and having the community accept its own responsibility to work for the common good.

• Initiatives which promote citizen participation should try to adapt to the new forms of social communication, especially when they include the participation of young people. Given this reality, there is a need to create opportunities for participation using social networks as a means of getting out the message to make people aware of the work of the young people as volunteer leaders and to attract new participants, especially for the Youth Networks. In the same way, in order to promote the involvement of young people in the education and civic participation activities, it is a good idea to incorporate parallel activities that will attract them and motivate their participation such as dances, music, sports, and painting.

• The fact that the objectives of the model proposed by the Impactos Program coincided with APAN-CI’s institutional objectives, represented a success factor in the implementation of the model, because this also, coincidentally, matched internal readjustment process to incorporate violence prevention as one of its programmatic cross-sector themes. One lesson learned is the more the institutions share in the model’s approach, and there is consistency with its institutional mission, the greater the impact and a possibility for the model’s to be institutionalized and sustained.

• A violence prevention model such as the one proposed by Impactos Program needs to be seen as a long-term process. The interventions were aimed at setting the basis for the model and sowing the type of results that can be obtained in the long-term so that, based on that example, the organizations can assess the benefits of the model and choose to implement it on their own. Nevertheless, when establishing cooperation agreements (as the Impactos Program did with APAN-CI and other CSOs in the country), it is necessary to make sure that the organizations are committed to continue the actions in the future on their own. In this sense, technical advice and external guidance process, in addition to assuring the quality of the results and indicators proposed for the project, must also assure that from the very beginning all possible measures are taken to ensure its sustainability.

• APAN-CI’s institutional presence in the communities is also a factor of success.

A 25 year track record within that sector is something that cannot be ignored.

APAN-CI recognizes that in communities with a high concentration of violence, where it has never intervened, it would be very difficult for them to carry out this type of action.

• Human Resource skills were an essential factor in the success of this experience.

APAN-CI put together a project which combined staff with social area training and participants from the community, who also had the ability of getting along really well with people to generate trust. During the process of investigation, signs of esteem and appreciation that the CRC and YN members have for the project technical staff were evident. This is an aspect that must not be underestimated; human resources are the most important resources for the success of this type of initiative, and in communities affected by violence, trust is an essential asset.

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CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REFLECTIONS The relevance of this case lies in the advocacy strategy methodology for violence prevention - whose main target is the strengthening of community grassroots organizations -, as a product of a deep reflection on behalf of Children International Honduras, which led to the transformation of its intervention after more than two decades of working in the Rivera Hernández sector in the city of San Pedro Sula.

In an extremely difficult environment, characterized by violence and local authorities’ indifference regarding the sector’s problems, APAN-CI, with the support provided by the Impactos Program, understood that in order to achieve constructive strategic engagement with the local government, the advocacy pathway would have to be a “bottom up” process.

The above explains why efforts are focused on community revitalization, prompting the construction of two organizations: the CRCs and the YNs, through which young men and women, and adults, strengthened their knowledge and abilities to work in a coordinated way, and furthermore, developed autonomy and the capacity for self-sufficiency in managing the activities and proposals aimed at reducing risk factors that make the communities more vulnerable.

The efforts of these organizations concentrated on four areas: training; opportunities for the generation of income; engagement with local government and other institutions, and community awareness campaigns.

The engagement with the local government was materialized when APAN-CI, the CRCs and the YNs approached them with a clear strategy, defined objectives and specific work proposals.

The process ended in 2015, when the Public Investment Management and Community Participation Office under the Mayor’s office of San Pedro Sula officially recognized the CRCs and the YNs as community organizations capable of carrying out violence prevention actions, and the local government committed to supporting the community strategic action plans.

APAN-CI and other CSOs that also work in the sector with similar objectives were clear on the fact that their efforts were not aimed at substituting the local government, but rather to get the government to commit to perform in accordance with its responsibilities as established by law. In this way, the communities and the local government can join efforts, strategies and resources to contribute to violence prevention, and in so doing so, improve the’ performance of the local authorities.

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INFORMATION SOURCES APAN CIH (2012). Institutional Profile APAN CIH. San Pedro Sula.

Campos, P. (October 10, 2015). CIH Case Study (C. Ventura, interviewer).

Children International Honduras. (2013). Project’s Final Technical Report: Youth Violence Prevention. San Pedro Sula.

Coto, M. (October 14, 2015). CIH Case Study (C. Ventura, interviewer).

Eguigure, D. (2011). Desk Review Report, Proyecto Oportunidades Sociales-Impactos Program.

Enamorado, X. (October 14, 2015). CIH Case Study. (C. Ventura, interviewer).

IUDPAS (undated). Local Violence Observatory Bulletins 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, San Pedro Sula.

LAPOP (2014). Evaluation of the impact of the USAID’s community-based strategy for the violence prevention and crime in Central America: a regional report for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panamá.

López, S. (October 14, 2015). CIH Case Study (C. Ventura, interviewer).

PNUD (2011). Local Citizen Security and Coexistence Plan. San Pedro Sula.

Ramírez, H. (October 14, 2015). CIH Case Study. (C. Ventura, interviewer).

Reyes, G. (May 8, 2014). Revistazo. From http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/index. php/nacional/item/867-entre-el-crimen-y-la-zozobra-seis-bandas-criminalescontrolan-un-sector-de-san-pedro-sula Ríos, J. G. (October 14, 2015). CIH’s Experience Reconstruction Workshop. (C. Ventura, interviewer).

Suazo, H. R. (2015). CRC and RDJ Organizational profile. San Pedro Sula.

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Case Study CENTRO DE PROMOCIÓN E INVESTIGACIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH ACNUR CAP CCT CIDH

ENGLISH Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados Acción Participativa para la Prosperidad Comisiones Ciudadanas de Transparencia Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

UNHCR CAP CCT IACHR

Centro de Promoción e CIPRODEH

Investigación de los Derechos

CRPS DDHH IDRC IUDPAS HIVOS LGTB

Programa de Participación Ciudadana para una Gobernanza Comisión de la Reforma de la Seguridad Pública Derechos Humanos Centro Internacional de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo Instituto Universitario en Democracia, Paz y Seguridad Instituto Humanista para la Cooperación Grupo lésbico, gay, transexual y bisexual de las Naciones Unidas para los

CPRG CRPS HR CIID IUDPAS HIVOS LGBT

OHCHR

Derechos Humanos OSC PNUD UNAH UNFPA USAID

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Organización de Sociedad Civil Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras- Valle de Sula Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional

Community Action for Prosperity Project Citizen Commissions for Transparency Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras

Oficina del Alto Comisionado OACNUDH

for Refugees

Center for the Investigation and CIPRODEH

Humanos CPRG

United Nations High Commissioner

CSO UNDP UNAH UNFPA USAID

Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance Commission for the Reform of Public Security Human Rights International Development Research Center University Institute for Democracy, Peace and Security Humanistic Institute for Development Cooperation Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Civil Society Organization United Nations Development Program National Autonomous University of Honduras United Nations Population Fund United States Agency for International Development

INTRODUCTION For almost three decades now, CIPRODEH has developed a constructive commitment with different governments, influencing key levels of public authorities to achieve the adoption or reform of security, human rights and transparency policies to benefit its targeted social sectors.

The Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH) began its work in 1989, with the objective of becoming a civil society organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and advocacy in public policies, to strengthen a culture of human rights in Honduras.

During this period, CIPRODEH has developed its work with a variety of organizations and social movements in the country, for which it has provided guidance in their demands and articulation efforts, to comprehensively democratize Honduran society and strengthen the rule of law.

It has also worked with government entities, to advocate for public policies with human rights, justice and human development focus, as a part of the principles that it has promoted.

Following that approach, CIPRODEH has become a nationwide, professional organization, leading human rights investigations, and promotion and advocacy activities.

As is the case with other partner CSOs, which specialize in different areas within the national context, the work performed by CIPRODEH has developed in a complex political, social, economic and cultural context, which it tries to transform. Therefore, the products derived from its efforts in legislative, judicial or security issues have many times had the same fate at the public institutional framework level: they have either been supported as a result of exceptional circumstances or they have faded out, resulting in weak reforms.

An example of the above was the capacity developed by CIPRODEH within the Commission for the Reform of Public Security27 (CRPS), a panel of experts created by the executive branch. This commission was based on the recommendations issued by the Truth Commission, established after the 2009 Coup d’état. CIPRODEH advised the CRPS not only with a human rights approach, but also from the viewpoint of the citizens who were expecting to achieve changes that could translate into more security and less violence,

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The Commission was created on 31 January, 2012 by Decree number 4-2012, as a temporary, independent entity responsible to design, plan, and certify a comprehensive reform process for Public Security which includes the National Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Judicial Branch of government; and to make recommendations for related adjustments in the respective laws and legislation.

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prompting a joint effort to develop seven proposals for reform. Nevertheless, the CRPS did not receive the necessary political support on the part of the executive branch and its fate was doomed from the beginning of the new government in 2014, which dissolved it.

During the period from 2011 until 2015, CIPRODEH received seven grants from the Impactos Program, for a total amount of 415,360 USD, to lobby on issues such as: transparency and anti-corruption (management of National Congress funds, training for Congressional members), public security (supporting police reform, training and personnel evaluation/substitution, firearm controls), and violence prevention (Citizen security, forced relocations as a result of violence, and advocacy on issues related to the regional proposal known as the Alliance for Prosperity).

This brief overview summarizes the strategy developed by CIPRODEH to advocate for the aforementioned topics.

PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY CIPRODEH Although homicide rates, according to official figures, have declined since the year 2013, Honduras is still on the list of the most violent countries in the world, a fact that is reflected in the lack of security which affects citizens, which is a blow to society in general, but more specifically it affects the groups which have been historically excluded.

A total of 47,356 violent deaths occurred during the years 2010 through 2014 which has earned Honduras a place among the most violent countries in the world, with an annual homicide increase which began to decline in 2013, but which still shows alarming levels28.

These statistics document tens of thousands of victims just in this century, “with a sustained increase in recent years without exception� according to the University Institute for Democracy, Peace, and Security, IUDPAS in its 2014 Annual Bulletin, Edition, Number 3629.

Although homicide and the deaths of minors under 18 years old have also increased, it is men in the age group between 25 and 29 years old who are the primary victims of violence.

The following chart shows death related figures.

28

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29

http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/916006-466/honduras-tasa-de-homicidios-baj%C3%B3-30-puntos-en-cinco-a%C3%B1os http://iudpas.org/pdf/Boletines/Nacional/NEd36EneDic2014.pdf

Chart Number 1 Violent Deaths Occurring between 2010-2014 (Based on gender, age range and weapon used) Men

Women

(For Every/100,000 Inhabitants)

(For Every/100,000 Inhabitants)

25-29 YEARS Firearms OLD (%) (%)

YEAR

Number of Violent Deaths

2010

8,944 (+18.5% compared to 2009)

93.8

6.2

20.4

83.4

2011

9,799 (+13.9%)

92.8

7.2

26.8

84.6

2012

10,441 (+6.2%)

91.6

8.4

28.1

83.4

2013

9,453 (-9.2%)

90.6

9.4

28.2

83.3

2014

8,719 (-7.8%)

90.9

8.1

16.6

77.9

Source: calculations from annual bulletins (2009-2014) obtained from the Observatory of Violence of the University Institute for Democracy, Peace and Security IUDPAS/UNAH

IUDPAS has pointed out that “it is important to consider the fact that firearms are present in most of the violent acts and their use has increased”. In fact, more than eight out of ten homicides are perpetrated with this type of weapon30.

As a cause or effect of violence, or hand-in-hand with it, and as a multi-cause expression, the lack of adequate security infringes on fundamental human rights and in the perception of the citizenry, it is designated as the most important problem in Honduras31, above other problems which may be less visible to the average citizen, such as corruption or social inequality, which are tightly linked to it.

A comparative sample of the responses obtained by Latinobarómetro during a ten year period (2004-2015), in surveys of one thousand Honduran citizens each year, establishes that throughout that whole period, citizens coincided in considering crime and a lack of public security as the most serious problem in the country, followed by unemployment as the second problem; and poverty as the third.

A common denominator when following up on the investigations of each violent death, is the blanket of impunity that shields the perpetrators, due to a weak and ineffective justice system which does not produce the results which people hope for and which the citizenry perceive as governed by the rules of political patronage and under the table deals; and a police department that has been deeply criticized and has seen inefficient attempts to reform the staff and weed out ineffective or corrupt officers.

30 Annual Bulletin 2011, edition No. 24 - University Institute for Democracy, Peace and Security 31 http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/index.php/a-fondo/violencia-y-crimen-en-honduras, and http://www.latribuna.hn/2014/11/28/barometro-de-las-americas-2014-honduras-mejora-indices-de-violencia/

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On the other hand, gangs have broadened their control over many areas of Honduras, where they obtain funds through the extortion of small and medium businesses, transportation service owners, families, etc., taking over houses and obliging their owners to abandon them in exchange for sparing their lives.

CIPRODEH argues that “organized crime has infiltrated some sectors of the police department, the political spheres and the judicial branch, and crime grew beyond the security forces capacity to fight against it (...) Extortion activities are carried out in coordination with government officials or the police (...) Due to the lack of trust, only 20% of crimes are reported to the police, of which less than 4% are actually investigated and only 2% are brought to trial, clearly demonstrating the degree of impunity in the country.” (Hacia una Política de Seguridad Ciudadana Integral en Honduras [Towards a Policy for Comprehensive Citizen Security in Honduras], CIPRODEH, 2015).

These issues have been acknowledged in the public/government agenda in recent years, from their own perspectives. The slow and ineffective police reform process has disappointed citizens and social organizations, whose demands and activism has cost them the lives of leaders such as Alfredo Landaverde (2011), or members of the police department itself, as in the case of the director of the Fight against Drug Trafficking Unit, Captain Julián Arístides González (2009). Both of these cases remain unresolved.

Among the direct social consequences of the weaknesses in the criminal justice sector, two are the most visible ones: the emergence of displaced populations due to violence in poor and not so poor neighborhoods in the least secure cities (Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula) and the migratory flow out of the country, mainly of young boys and girls traveling to the United States as was clearly seen in 2014.

Impunity is not only associated with violence and poor security, it also slows down administrative efforts, especially in terms of public fund management, administered with discretion and without accountability to the citizenry as legitimate custodians and beneficiaries.

Among the mechanisms that different government entities appeal to in order to avoid being investigated, controlled or indicted, are information reserve resolutions, opacity or justifications based on disinformation about the security situation.

A look at the Departmental Social Development Fund of the National Congress shows that this public entity has used these mechanisms to control a multimillion Lempira fund distributed among congressmen and congresswomen from the different political parties, primarily for proselytization purposes. Its management is governed by a legislative branch regulation policy that grants broad powers to its president and provides for a discretionary administration of the budget.

CIPRODEH has considered that with this fund the legislative branch strays from its function of legislating and denigrates this function by assigning each regular 128

congressmen “one million Lempiras per year and Deputy congressmen receive 400 thousand Lempiras, plus subsidies, which represent 150 thousand and 75 thousand respectively32”, with no transparency at all.

Below is a summary of the contextual framework under which CIPRODEH worked, supported by the financial and technical assistance and guidance from the Impactos Program.

CIPRODEH’S INTERVENTION Transparency and public safety were the two primary pillars of CIPRODEH’s intervention aiming at public entities, to promote the sound management of funds by the National Congress and an adequate performance on behalf of the new congressmen; and to pursue better security in the country through police reform and human resource training.

Using its institutional and social track record in favor of human rights as a base, CIPRODEH received seven grants in the framework of the Impactos Program, five of these under the CPRG component, and two CAP grants for the areas of governance, transparency, and citizen security, for criminal violence prevention activities in at risk municipalities and communities.

CIPRODEH has combined its social work with advocacy efforts with the Central and Local Governments, which is part of its constructive commitment, that is, cooperating with governments structured to benefit the vast social majority.

Grants provided to CIPRODEH by the Impactos Program, between 2011 and 2015, allowed it to implement advocacy efforts regarding the following public policies: • Transparency and accountability policies, especially at the National Congress level; The ongoing complaints presented by ASJ in 2010 regarding the discretional use in the National Congress of projects designated for the Poverty Reduction Strategy (ERP in Spanish) and the lack of documentation for these expenses or any controls on the part of the responsible entities, created an opportunity for CIPRODEH to investigate and issue an opinion regarding this issue, which resulted in a proposal to reform the Departmental Social Development Fund.

• Security policies through the strengthening of the public security reform process (during the period between the 31st of May 2012 and 30th of April 2013) 32

https://honduprensa.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/ciprodeh-propone-reformar-reglamento-del-fondo-departamental-del-congreso-nacional/

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The reform process for public security, which was focused on cleaning up the ranks of the police and other law enforcement agencies, came about as a result of the murder of two young men by the police (October 2011) and a large amount of evidence showing a corrupt chain of command. These events sparked the creation of the CRSP on the part of the Executive Branch, and opened up an opportunity for CIPRODEH to play a successful role providing guidance and technical assistance to CRSP.

• The Law for Control and Ownership of Weapons, Explosives, and Similar Materials; Statistics provided by the violence observatory at the UNAH and other similar studies have shown the increasing use of firearms in homicides at the national level. CIPRODEH, motivated by a reflective analysis of this situation developed an advocacy proposal to encourage the National Congress to issue a gun control law starting in 2014, but as of the present time it has not yet been approved by the Congress.

The advocacy process for the Law for Control and Ownership of Weapons, Explosives, and Similar Materials was formulated based on the murder of a taxi driver by a congressman with a handgun (June, 2014), which opened up a public debate regarding the need for regulation of gun ownership and acquisition, in order to reduce the number of homicides.

• Policies for the prevention of forced displacement due to violence, including the design of protocols to care for immigrants being returned to the country.

As of the end of 2010, the primary reason to emigrate had been the search for improved individual and/or family living conditions. After that time, insecurity, criminal acts, and violence became the main causes of internal displacement and subsequently international migration for thousands of Honduran men and women. The phenomenon of forced displacement is increasingly having an impact on women and youth, both males and females, especially those who have been victims of violence within their own homes.

In this context, and further aggravated by the humanitarian crisis decreed by President Obama in 2014 in view of the massive migration of unaccompanied minors arriving on their own in the United States, the Honduran government created the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Protection of People Displaced by Violence. The creation of this commission was an important milestone for civil society, since they were actually included as a part of the structure. CIPRODEH took on a leadership role in the development and implementation of advisory and training activities for the members of the commission, through on-going training activities and exchanges of experiences at the national and international levels.

At the same time, CIPRODEH established relationships, collaborations, and associations with the Honduran Civil Society Organizations Network for Forced Displacement and Violence, promoting increased coordination of advocacy activities to change public policies. As a result of the activities carried out, the Network presented a number of

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proposals to the Inter-Institutional Commission to take concrete steps to address the topic of forced displacement and they became actively involved in the activities of the Committee.

Transparency for public funds and capacity building for Congressmen and Congresswomen CIPRODEH held dialogues with Congressional representatives from the National Congress belonging to all of the different political parties regarding concerns about the Departmental Social Development Fund and they sought information regarding funds assigned to the congressional representatives. After a participative process with fifteen Citizen Commissions for Transparency (CCT), social audits were carried out regarding funds managed by congressional representatives, whose results were reported back to Congress, along with a proposal to reform the regulation of the Fund, but at that point it did not move forward due to the political and partisan nature that prevails within the legislative branch. Nevertheless, in 2014 the Departmental Fund disappeared from the agenda and the from the legislative branch budget, and was transferred to the control of the Executive Branch. The decision to reassign the Departmental Fund was made in the final week of closure of the legislative session in January of 2014.

Following CIPRODEH’s background work with the National Congress, and with the financial and technical assistance of the Impactos Program, the CSOs assembled a proposal for an orientation process to strengthen the abilities of 81 congressmen and congresswomen who had been elected for the first time to serve in the National Congress for the period 2014-2018. CIPRODEH agreed, with the Board of Directors of Congress, to hold a certificate course on “Parliamentary Law, Legislative Techniques, and Political Negotiation”, with the academic support of two universities (the National Autonomous University of Honduras and the University of Georgetown, from the United States of America) who certified the course and granted academic credits. Support was provided for this effort by a number of cooperation agencies interested in that topic and citizen groups such as the Partnership for Human Rights and the Coalition against Impunity.

Fifty seven (57) members of congress (31 men and 26 women) participated in the certificate course, “Parliamentary Law, Legislative Techniques, and Political Negotiation”, with and equal distribution among the various political parties represented in the National Congress. The course generated great interest because the new lessons were being presented by national and international experts with impressive academic credentials. The educational activities were carried out in an environment of dialogue, harmony, and respect among the representatives of the diverse political groups within the National Congress, creating in a certain fashion an awareness of the need to maintain constant and fluid communications in order to legislate for the common good.

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The course was a successful experience in so far as the congressmen and congresswomen consistently participated through-out the process, with a total of 52 (27 men and 25 women) completing the full course. As a part of the learning process, a total of 21 proposed laws were developed in a variety of areas, such as: Social Security; Promotion and Development of Youth Entrepreneurs; Transparency and Accountability; Gender Equity; Human Rights; a Law for a Legislative Program for Geriatrics, Urology and Endocrinology. The projects which were presented in full sessions of the National Congress were: Law for the Protection of Maternity, Paternity, and Family Life; Law to Increase the Ceiling on Income Taxes; AntiDrug Law; Law for Ecological Urbanization/Law for Sustainable Urban Development; Law for Sex Education; Law for the Promotion of Values in National Television; Law for Political Participation in Elections; Law for the Analysis of the Administrative Deficit in Public Administration; Law for the Promotion and Development of Youth Entrepreneurs; among others.

Regarding Public Security.

A cooperation and technical assistance agreement was signed between CIPRODEH and the CRPS “aiming to maintain a comprehensive vision of security issues, from a human development viewpoint�, which assigned CIPRODEH a role as a civilian advisor in human rights matters. This exchange made it possible for both groups to define the conceptual and operational basis for police reform.

The goal of the agreement is to define the main areas of action for CIPRODEH in the process of reforming the security situation in the country and working jointly in those areas with CRSP. CIPRODEH provided CRSP with technical support and guidance in the areas of citizen security in which they have several years of experience as well as making available experts from the Central American Region in the security sector.

In the framework of this agreement, CIPRODEH engaged 3 consultants to work on a proposal for the reform of the public security system. This proposal was developed together with CRPS, IUDPAS, and CIPRODEH in a number of consultation forums with members of the national police. The result of these consultations was a proposal for a new training curriculum for Police Education with a focus on Human Rights and at the same time the consultants developed a proposal setting out guidelines for an anti-corruption policy and code of ethics for the national police force.

On 26 October, 2012, CRSP presented President Porfirio Lobo with seven proposed draft laws: a constitutional reform for the creation of a system for selection and evaluation; a proposal for a new National Police Law; a Law for a University Degree for Police Officers; reforms for the Law on Dispute Jurisdictions; reforms to the Public Prosecutor Law; a proposed Law for University Degree for Public Prosecutors; as well as reforms to the Law for the Judiciary Council for Police Education.

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Regarding forced displacement due to violence, CIPRODEH led the strategic efforts to advocate for the adoption of a comprehensive state policy for coordinated and multidisciplinary programs and services to address the impacts of the problem; to propose mechanisms of comprehensive assistance and/or protection for victims displaced by force due to violence and their relatives and to contribute to the generation, dissemination and monitoring of information related to the phenomenon of forced displacement due to violence.

CIPRODEH promoted and achieved the creation of the Honduran Civil Society Organizations Network for Forced Displacement and Violence, made up of a number of different organization from Honduran civil society to work jointly with government institutions as a part of a constructive commitment promoted by the Impactos Program.

CIPRODEH’S METHODOLOGY FOR STRATEGIC ACTION Simultaneous dialogues with public sector and social sector participants, with the support of the academic sector, summarize the essence of CIPRODEH’s efforts to generate knowledge and political advocacy.

CIPRODEH’s advocacy actions with the government have been carried out simultaneously with efforts by social and academic platforms that generate knowledge to substantiate their public demands, as shown by the following methodological mechanisms:

Regarding Transparency.

For the proposal of the reform of the Departmental Social Development Fund regulation, CIPRODEH carried out a study which allowed them to have a greater understanding of the management of these funds on the part of the congressmen and congresswomen. Based on the results obtained, new mechanisms were proposed for an increase of transparency and accountability in the National Congress.

The study complemented some first-hand information obtained in three geographical departments of the country (Francisco Morazán, El Paraíso, and Santa Bárbara) with the participation of 25 CCT33 community and youth network leaders. These leaders carried out social audits regarding the funds obtained by three (3) congressmen, who voluntarily accepted to take part in this citizen oversight process.

33

The Network of Citizen Transparency Committees (CCT) were active participants: 14 CCTs in the Francisco Morazán Department (RECTFRAM), 6 in Santa Bárbara y 5 in El Paraíso.

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CIPRODEH assigned a local team of experts in the field to train and support the CCTs, so that they could exercise their rights as citizens to access the information.

The social audits which were carried out were intended to verify accountability for the investments made by the congressmen in their communities and municipalities.

The process which was applied empowered the participants in the use of a tool to follow up on the oversight processes in order to verify the quality of the projects and have an accurate estimate of the costs of the completed works, especially for infrastructure projects.

The final reports indicated the geographic location of the projects promoted by the congressmen within their corresponding departments, and identified the beneficiaries, the profile of the project, the main activities, and the technical feasibility and time of execution needed, in order to assess, based on the evidence, whether that investment coincided with the funds obtained.

CIPRODEH facilitated the research and analysis to investigate the management of resources from the Social Fund assigned to the congressmen and congresswomen of the National Congress of the Republic.

The entire process was classified by the participants as an exercise that left many lessons learned for all of the stakeholders. Throughout the process CIPRODEH played the role of facilitator in order that the person dealing directly with the authorities would be someone from the local organized citizens group. It was the CCTs who demanded transparency from the National Congress.

Finally, a systematization of the entire dialogue process was carried out by the participants, (CIPRODEH-CCT- Communities-National Congress) to design a proposal to reform regulation of the Departmental Social Planning Fund which is assigned to the National Congress. The proposal was not approved, but the finding of the investigation did set the basis for oversight regarding the management of public funds, leading to multiple lessons learned and contributing to the decision taken by the Congress to eliminate this type of financing under the responsibility of the congressmen and congresswomen.

The proposal was presented at a press conference to the members of the Commission on Ethics and the Commission on Transparency of the National Congress, and they agreed to make others aware of the proposal and to present it to the Governing Committee of the National Congress.

This proposal was then used as input for the development of a comprehensive law to replace the internal operating regulations for congress. In the new regulation which was approved, this type of project financing has been eliminated.

Capacity Building for Congressmen and Congresswomen The design, implementation, and evaluation of a certificate course on “parliamentary law, legislative techniques, and political negotiation� coincided with an interesting 134

situation: the establishment of a legislature which, for the first time, gave the opportunity to two new political parties to counterbalance efforts within the National Congress.

It is worth mentioning, the certificate course created an opportunity for dialogue, interaction and the discussion of differences, which served as a foundation which allowed congressional representatives to come together, even when they belonged to different political parties, at a moment of great tension within Congress.

For this purpose, CIPRODEH signed an agreement with the University of Georgetown, from the United States, and the National Autonomous University of Honduras, involving the academic sector to share knowledge on legislative techniques and political negotiation: another goal of this project was to motivate the interaction of the different civil society organizations and members of the National Congress.

The project was able to work with a number of CSOs34 in order to build awareness regarding the anti-corruption law, and having a number of discussions with the law’s sponsor and the legislative directors of the National Congress regarding the creation of the law.

This experience proved that it is possible to strengthen the social fabric from one branch of Government and to open the door for all political forces in the country to build democracy. It is also important to emphasize the fact that this was the result of a multi-sectoral effort, including the Impactos Program, UNFPA, and the Konrad Adenauer foundation, as the sponsors, in partnership with academic institutions such as the UNAH and Georgetown University from the United States; and it opened channels of dialogue and opportunities to exchange visions among the congressional representatives and other social organizations under the leadership and coordination of CIPRODEH.

Regarding public security.

Upon signing an agreement between CRPS and CIPRODEH, a set of dialogue and management actions were carried out, including the creation of a formal communication and coordination liaison between both entities, which allowed CIPRODEH to open up opportunities for access to the Commission through its work networks in order to promote its efforts in public security; joint investigations were programmed and fostered; CIPRODEH fostered the curriculum reform for the professional and academic training of police officers, as well as the decentralization of the National Police University and the design of a new proposal for a Code of Ethics for the police department.

At the same time, the CRPS provided CIPRODEH opportunities for dialogue with other government entities, which among other results, made it possible to present the President of the Republic, with seven proposals for public security reform as a joint effort with the CRPS. 34

FOPRIDEH, GSC, C-LIBRE, CDH, RECTFRAM, SETELEC, FOSDEH, VISITACIÓN PADILLA, MEDICOS SIN FRONTERAS, CDM, GO JOVEN, FUNDACIÓN FRIEDRICH EBERT.

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The opportunities generated through the Public Security Reform were largely the result of working table discussions within the Commission, to establish cooperation and feedback to the UNAH and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in order to convert the consensus into policy proposal documents.

CIPRODEH developed its own independent dynamic in this topic, fostering - for example - public opportunities for debate, such as the seminar on “Reform of the Security Sector in Latin America with Emphasis on Police Institutions” (September 2013), which brought together international and national experts.

Its engagement in this topic made CIPRODEH an expert in the matter, becoming a social leader on the topic of public security.

Although the work carried out by the CRPS was left unfinished due to its premature termination, the joint effort carried out with CIPRODEH, the academic world and international entities, created the foundation for the current establishment of a new police model based on the community.

The second experience worth mentioning in this matter was the weapon ownership and carrying policy. CIPRODEH carried out an investigation regarding this topic and prepared a draft law to control weapons, limiting the number of weapons available per person and the age of persons permitted to carry weapons.

Its main argument was that “violence and crime... are not the only result of the extensive availability of firearms in the hands of civilians, but it is one of the three structural causes of this problem in Honduras. The other two causes are poverty and the legacy left behind by political violence... Therefore, the Honduran government is responsible to maintain a monopoly on the use of force. By controlling firearms circulation, the elevated risks generated by firearms in terms of affecting health, infringing human rights and threatening citizen security are decreased”.

In the discussion of the firearm draft law, CIPRODEH spoke with the members of the commission preparing the formal opinion for the draft law, whose approval has been postponed several times, never the less, given that it has not yet been acted upon, it remains pending on the legislative agenda.

For the development of the Law for Control and Ownership of Weapons, Explosives, and Similar Materials, there were a number of forums and seminars with topics such as Armed Violence Prevention, which served as a starting point for the drafting of the law with the support of International Cooperation Agencies, Civil Society, the UNAH represented by IUDPAS, the Ministry of Security, the National Police, and members of the National Congress.

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Advocacy campaigns were carried out in full sessions of the National Congress in the 2010 – 2014 Legislature which were later followed by discussions with “The Armeria” (national retail gun seller), hunting clubs, the national shooting federation, as well as the CSOs and international cooperation agencies, and work was done with the security committee of the National Congress, which eventually proposed the legislation, but approval was not possible in the previous legislature.

In the current legislative session (2014-2018) with support from CIPRODEH and Congressman Osman Aguilar, the proposal was once again submitted and assigned to the security committee. With the changes in the Internal Regulations for the National Congress and the creation of a Legislative Administration the proposal has been widely distributed and it is hoped that it will be approved in the near future.

Regarding the topic of forced displacement and migration caused by violence, CIPRODEH promoted advocacy actions at the public level, promoting the design of the work plan for the Inter-institutional Commission for the Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence created by government, with a comprehensive approach and vision of respect of people’s rights.

The strategy to achieve this was implemented in different ways, starting with the representation by CIPRODEH within the Commission, which makes it a civil society leader; but the strategy also included training, exchange of experiences, and document drafting.

It supported opportunities for the Network for the Protection of Victims of Displacement in Honduras through training and public activities. As a promoter of knowledge and analysis, CIPRODEH organized, through the network, a national conference on forced displacements, through which a thorough analysis of this problem in the country was achieved, along with a national statement of citizen concerns and proposals.

It also moved forward into regional reflection opportunities, to articulate mutual efforts of support along with the Northern Triangle countries and citizen organizations from Mexico and the United States, on the debate for a common initiative for all: the Partnership for Prosperity35.

“This is an old issue, which has recently begun to be understood, with which CIPRODEH has been working”, according to the institution (CIPRODEH, 2015).

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The Partnership for Prosperity of the Northern Triangle is part of a regional plan financed by the government of the United States of America, for Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras (2016-2020), which proposes the idea that massive migrations to United States of America are an expression of the challenge to respond to the lack of opportunities; and the need for intervention in education and maternity; improvement of economic growth to overcome poverty; a solution to violence and insecurity; and a need to promote private investment. On the topic of migration, the US government plans to earmark 100 million USD to open and operate returnee centers.

Source: http://www.sefin.gob.hn/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/PPT_ALIANZA_PARA_LA_PROSPERIDAD-Honduras.pdf

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CONCLUSION With these experiences, CIPRODEH has ratified its strategic engagement, which is part of its institutional efforts, but which was strengthened by interventions supported by the Impactos Program. It is important to highlight that CIPRODEH opened this new dialogue and constructive commitment without leaving behind its mission on human rights advocacy, which often has placed it in an open opposition to the government of Honduras after the Coup which occurred on the 28th of June, 2009.

Nevertheless, contrary to other opposition organizations, it chose to keep its links of cooperation with government, built years back, when it became the primary liaison force between civil society and the National Congress, to monitor legislative work. Despite the coincidence of this agreement with the ideological standing that CIPRODEH has made public, it has demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with government in order to advocate “from the inside” in defense of people’s rights.

The sectors of government targeted for direct political advocacy on part of CIPRODEH which were included in this case study were the following: National Congress, the CRPS, and the Inter-institutional Commission for the Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence.

Its links with the National Congress were through direct relations with the Board of Directors, to propose the organization and implementation of the Certificate Course on parliamentary law, legislative techniques, and political negotiation, which lasted two months; and the 57 congressmen and congresswomen who participated from the beginning through the end of the course. Also, three congressmen who voluntarily accepted to undergo the scrutiny of an audit of the funds for projects within their districts.

Along with the CRPS, an agreement was signed with the Commission President in 2012, Víctor Meza, and then that relationship continued through a Center liaison with the three commissioners and the supporting technical team.

A link was established with the Inter-institutional Commission for the Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence, through its representative, which was a strong relationship continuing from the previous government, when the previous Ministry of Human Rights and Justice prepared the first National Plan on Human Rights, for the Executive Branch.

CIPRODEH has been able to advocate in 2011-2015, for the positioning of a broader vision of the policies and the public efforts, which are permeated by a citizen and social vision which legitimizes them. These are not new topics for the institution, but the Impactos Program established a partnership for this work; and although the grants have ended, they are still topics on the agenda, which ensures follow-up and sustainability.

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The intermediary network to transform public policies is and should be vast, and it should not exclude any of its stakeholders. CIPRODEH understood this and practiced it, with its eyes set on the citizens.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ASJ. (September, 2010). Revistazo. See: http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/index. php/a-fondo/subsidios-a-diputados/item/71-copia-de-identidad-un-recibo-y%C2%A1listoobtenga-su-siguiente-subsidio-en-el-congreso-nacional Calix Rogríguez, A. (2006). Base conceptual, politica y progresista de seguridad ciudadana. San José de Costa Rica: FES. See: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ fesamcentral/07605.pdf CIPRODEH. (2014). Plan Estrategico Insitucional 2014 - 2018. Tegucigalpa: CIPRODEH. CIPRODEH, E. c. (3 November, 2015). Case Study. (B. Erazo, Entrevistador) Obtenido de https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10IYLR3y8n6QWVQwXTDp7GcjGP9s J4SX15mMQoRBSLe8/edit#gid=1947781001&vpid=A2 CIPRODEH. Propuesta tecnica-financiera subvencion de implementacion (TIGs).Tegucigalpa, MDC, 16 September, 2014.

capacitacion

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CIPRODEH. Desplazamiento forzado por la violencia – Honduras 2015 .Fundación Frederick Ebert. (29 November, 2015). FES - Honduras. See: http://www. fesamericacentral.org/honduras/seguridad.html IMPACTOS. (2015). Protocolo de Estudio de Caso. Tegucigalpa: IMPACTOS. La Prensa. (November 27, 2015). La Prensa. See: http://www.laprensa.hn/ honduras/905776-410/relator-sobre-desplazados-de-la-onu-concluye-hoy-visitaa-honduras Latinbarometro. (30 November, latinobarometro.org/latOnline.jsp

2015).

Latinbarometro.

See:

http://www.

Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad del Triángulo Norte. Regional Plan – Prepared

by El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras Sánches, A. J. (May, 2015). (U. /. PNUD, Ed.) See: http://www.undp.org/content/ dam/honduras/docs/publicaciones/diagnosticogeneroyviolencia.pdf

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Case Study FORO SOCIAL DE LA DEUDA EXTERNA Y DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH

ENGLISH

APP

Alianza Pública Privada

PPP

Public Private Partnership

BCH

Banco Central de Honduras

BCH

Central Bank Of Honduras

BM

Banco Mundial Contaduría General de la

WB

World Bank General Accounting Office Of

CGR COALIANZA

CPRG

EROC FMI

República Comisión para la Promoción de la Alianza Público-Privada Programa de Participación Ciudadana para una Gobernanza Espacio Regional de Occidente Fondo Monetario

FOROSIDA

Internacional Foro Nacional de Sida Foro Social de la Deuda

FOSDEH

Externa y Desarrollo de

CGR COALIANZA

CPRG

IAIP IMPACTOS PROGRAM INSEP OSC PNUD SEFIN SIAFI SOPTRAVI

USAID

WOLA

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Hospital Escuela Universitario Instituto de Acceso a la Información Pública Impulsando Participación

Servicios Públicos Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Secretaría de Finanzas Sistema Integrado de Administración Financiera Secretaría de Obras Públicas, Transporte y Vivienda Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos

Citizen Participation for More Responsive Governance Western Regional Space

IMF

International Monetary Fund

FOROSIDA

National Forum on AIDS

FOSDEH

HEU IAIP IMPACTOS

Ciudadana, Transparencia y Oportunidades Sociales Secretaría de Infraestructura y

Public-Private Partnerships

EROC

Honduras HEU

The Republic Commission for the Promotion of

Social Forum on Foreign Debt and Development of Honduras Public Hospital School of Medicine Institute of Access to Public Information Promoting Citizen Participation, Transparency and Social

PROGRAM INSEP CSO UNDP SEFIN SIAFI SOPTRAVI

USAID

WOLA

Opportunities Ministry of Public Services and Infrastructure Civil Society Organizations United Nations Development Program Ministry of Finance Integrated Financial Administration System Ministry of Housing, Transportation and Public Works United States Agency for International Development Washington Office on Latin American

INTRODUCTION FOSDEH is a think tank on economic issues advocating for public policies, in partnership with other citizen-based organizations, within a complex public institutional and national context.

Advising social organizations so that they can develop advocacy abilities in the government sphere through the construction of mutual support relationships and participating at the negotiating table with public institutions, so that they can make their actions more transparent, without jeopardizing the credibility, independence or their capacity to question; and to manage knowledge regarding best practices and research - all of this summarizes the experience accumulated by FOSDEH during its twenty year experience.

Remaining legitimate through those efforts is a challenge in such a complex country as Honduras, historically characterized by its weak institutional framework, lack of capacity for public administration, and high levels of political patronage and corruption, which tends to increase social, political, economic and cultural inequality.

The World Bank´s database, updated in December of 2015, shows Honduras at the top of the list for inequality among all of the Latin American countries. “The first five countries in the world-wide ranking for inequality are from Africa, followed by five Latin American countries: Honduras (6), Colombia (7), Brazil (8), Guatemala (9), Panamá (10), and Chile (14).36 Other documents, such as the World Human Development Report issued in 2011 by the UNDP for 134 countries, Honduras is 34th in terms of human development potential lost due to inequality. Within Latin America and the Caribbean region, it is 24th; and in Central America, Honduras is in first place37.

Meanwhile, since its creation in 1995, FOSDEH has been the social leader in terms of economic policy analysis in the country. FOSDEH has earned this recognition through its own day to day efforts, in an environment where events are intertwined with each other, which means that it is not possible to address them in an isolated manner.

As an example, public debt, as a problem in itself, is further compounded

by Public-Private Partnerships, and these in turn weaken the institutional framework of the State, a fact that is also detrimental to transparency and accountability.

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Which are the 6 most unequal countries in Latin America? Marcelo Justo, BBC Mundo - 9 March, 2016 http://www. bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/03/160308_america_latina_economia_desigualdad_ab?ocid=socialflow_facebook UNDP. Report On Human Development - Honduras 2011 -reduction of inequality: an unavoidable challenge. Honduras, March 2012.

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It is this environment of diverse problems in which FOSDEH, a think tank specializing in public policies, has worked at the macro and micro economic levels, and throughout its institutional journey has established links with civil society organizations and networks by participating in their processes, as well as with other public entities and international financial organizations.

Since the year 2000, FOSDEH has taken on with even greater emphasis a grassroots, “citizen-empowerment” approach to policies and practices of public interest, such as the construction and execution of the National Budget, especially for issues such as irresponsible indebtedness and the low or poor quality of public investments, as factors that maintain and deepen inequality in the country.

Its contribution to the debate regarding economic, political and social ideas, analysis and proposals for political advocacy has become deeper and more specialized, backed up by the “Impactos Program” between 2011 and 2015 through eleven grants to provide technical and financial assistance, for an aggregate amount of USD $649,50238.

This summary attempts to explain what was achieved and how it was done:

PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY FOSDEH Scarce to nonexistent citizen participation in the process to prepare and approve the Country’s General Budget; an uncontrolled increase in public debt and shadowy Public Private Partnerships are part of the scenario in the space occupied by FOSDEH’s agenda.

In the month of May, each year, there is some excitement in public institution offices, especially in the administrative offices, because they are required by law to submit their operational plans to the Ministry of Finance in order to consolidate the National Budget which must be sent to National Congress by the 15th of September. The National Congress must receive the proposal for the new budget, once it has been approved by the Council of Ministers.

However, a technical proposal which theoretically responds to economic planning needs, and contains goals, projects and institutional programs, is bottlenecked due to negotiations taking place behind closed doors among government entities that justify the increases in their budgets and a Congress that responds to political pressures or to the need to perpetuate its power by improving its image through welfare projects.

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The costs of grants were co-financed with 80% from Impactos Program (cash) and 20% from FOSDEH (cash and in-kind). Resources contributed by Impactos Program facilitated research, training of CSOs and public officials, advocacy campaigns, development of applications for data capture, and facilitation and negotiation processes with public and private stakeholders.

An Information Reserve Clause for the Draft of the General Budget of the Republic has made it impossible for citizens to have access to it before it reaches the Legislative Branch, so people cannot voice their opinions. Honduras had an Open Budget Index rating of 11%, compared to a 52% average for 94 countries (FOSDEH, 2012).

Once finalized, the budget is approved, but lacking evidence that can effectively indicate the use of public funds due to a lack of information and scattered data.

This is a historic practice which occurs no matter which political party is in power in the government.

A second case, related to the budget, can be seen in the levels of public debt in the country, which are kept hidden in tight secrecy that cannot be accessed even by senior officials in charge of public finances.

And closely linked to the above, the secrecy and discretionary nature of the actions and management of COALIANZA’s resources has been evident, as the entity responsible for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Honduras, which has operated outside of the reach of public controls.

In summary, FOSDEH intervened in a scenario characterized by a lack of transparency and a series of imbalances in the General Budget of the Republic; the uncontrolled increase in the levels of public debt, especially internal debt, and the transfer of public investment responsibilities going from government to the private sector through Public-Private Partnerships.

FOSDEH’S INTERVENTION It is possible to advocate on public policies from a citizen scenario that takes into account partnerships among social sectors and cooperation with the government, to make public actions more transparent.

As a result of its social track record in the field, FOSDEH received grants under the CPRG Program, a part of the Impactos Program, to reinforce, along with other civil society organizations, their advocacy efforts which were concentrated on the following public policy areas:.

• Public Debt • Public Investment • Budgetary Policy • Access to Public Information • Financing for Social Policy 147

Its achievements resulted in the incorporation of work reform articles related to the General Provisions of the Budget approved by the National Congress in the period 2013 - 2015, repealing information reserves to analyze the information related to the PPP’s, reforming the fiscal benefits system, eliminating internal public debt mechanisms, and developing a protocol to make the PPP process more transparent, among others.

If these achievements are analyzed in detail, this political advocacy had the following accomplishments:

Regarding budget transparency Access to SIAFI was reopened as a financial tool that allows public access to budget execution accounts, which had been closed, without any justification. It’s reopening occurred after FOSDEH presented accusations of excessive expenditures with no prior budgetary allocation.

As in the previous case, through FOSDEH’s accusations in terms of the lack of budgetary planning and analysis before being sent to Congress, the Ministry of Finance (SEFIN) promised to request the repeal of the information reserve for the draft budget, so that the IAIP could hear and discuss the issue with citizens, prior to presenting it to the Legislative Branch. However, it was not possible to achieve this goal, because on the 7th of March, 2014, the Law for the publication of public documents related to national security39 was published in the official State Newspaper, La Gaceta, which restored the previous process. A new window of opportunity was opened by FOSDEH by joining other organizations and institutions which now demand its repeal. It was also possible to regulate and limit the budgetary modifications to a maximum of forty per quarter, where these were previously unlimited. This is an important achievement because the problem arises when new expenditures are allocated or when existing lines are increased without having a source of financing, and without taking into account SEFIN’s opinion, when there are overdrafts; or when allocations that have already been approved are cut or frozen due to budgetary modifications.

It is reasonable that during the budget execution stage there are unexpected situations which occur and which justify the modification of the initial calculations.

Legally, these modifications may include the creation of new allocations or the reduction, extension or transfer of resources. That initiative is under the responsibility of the Executive Branch when it does not affect the total amount of the initial budget, nor the amount of internal debt that has been planned, or when it does not transfer funds between the different branches of government.

The President of the Republic can authorize the transfer of funds among Government Ministries, or among the Ministries and other decentralized government institutions.

Ministers can authorize transfers “between specific objects of the expenditure or specific categories within one same program”.

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http://www.congresonacional.hn/index.php/component/joomdoc/marzo/ley-para-la-clasificacion-de-documentospublicos-relacionados-con-la-seguridad-y-defensa-nacional-1-pdf/detail

However, FOSDEH voiced its concern regarding the “extensive discretion in processing budgetary modifications, beyond reason” and about the distortions that this may generate: procurements without bidding; hiring companies or vendors that cannot prove their financial and economic solvency and/or are not professionally and technically competent; procurement without a budget allocation; procurement without itemization; procurement with underpriced costs subject to future revisions; payment of compensation for malpractice, etc.

Budgetary Impunity “Examples of the immeasurable amount of waste of public resources in the past few decades, no matter the color of the political party in charge of the government, seem to be never-ending, nor is it feasible to establish a single figure to represent the total cost of this waste.

Every Lempira stolen or wasted by the government means one less opportunity for development and one additional stimulus for an increase in poverty. For this reason, for FOSDEH it was especially important to stablish within the framework of The Budget Law and its related regulations, mechanisms to fight against budgetary abuses. Following endless meetings with the authorities, among other results, two proposals put forth by FOSDEH were approved for the 2013 budget and they remain in effect in the 2015 budget, and these are: a limit of 40 budget adjustments during each fiscal quarter (previously there was no limit and the budget was adjusted one day after its passage), which provided enhanced control for the budget and for internal planning processes for government agencies. The second change adopted establishes administrative and criminal liability for government agency representatives who exceed their budgetary limits without proper justification.

FOSDEH, in the same way, has presented proposals to limit indebtedness or the creation of discretionary budget line items for certain public institutions, however, these have not yet achieved sufficient political support for their approval. Never the less, FOSDEH´s task is to maintain permanent vigilance regarding the budget, oversee the use of resources, and report all cases of abuse”. (Mauricio Díaz Burdett, FOSDEH Coordinator)

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Regarding expenditures without budget allocations40 Five articles were approved within the 2013 Budget Provisions to prohibit, for the future, expenditures and procurement without budgetary support, as well as administrative and criminal sanctions for officials who abuse their allocations.

Expenses without budget allocations – A new form of corruption?

Daily monitoring of the Consolidated Budget for the Republic allowed FOSDEH to document and show on an annual basis the increase in expenses without budget allocations, which in simple terms are payments made by public institutions without any budget line item that justifies these expenses, they are unauthorized payments, for goods and services for which in most cases there is no information showing for what or to whom they were paid, which creates serious doubts regarding the transparency of these expenses.

These expenses, frequently, are for invoices which have been stored throughout the entire year in the desks of senior government officials and which are sent to the Ministry of Finance at the end of the year to be paid. Given the lack of resources to cover these payments, the government must turn to the use of internal debt to make the payments. Initially, these amounts were small, but in 2013 expenses without budget allocations represented approximately 18 million Lempiras while at the same time, the government temporarily shut down the Comprehensive Financial Administration System (SIAFI in Spanish), which is used to monitor public expenditures, which made the topic of transparency even more urgent.

As a result of the strong criticisms from FOSDEH, the use of the category of “expenses without budgetary allocations” was prohibited beginning in 2014, and the same policy remains in place for 2015; at the same time, administrative and criminal penalties were established for any government employees found to be in violation of this rule.

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Expenditures without budgetary allocation are goods or services that Government pays for with funds that are not contemplated within the General Budget of the Country and which should be declared in the quarterly reconciliation of each public institution. These expenditures are contrary to the principle of universality applied to Government’s budget execution, under articles 362 of the Constitution and 11 of the Organic Law of the Budget, which mandates that “all public expenditures and income must be allocated in the budget”. In addition to infringing on budgetary legality, this causes the government to spend beyond authorized credits. (Source: Impunity, the real budgetary problem in Honduras, FOSDEH, 2012).

Regarding public debt A codified mechanism to obtain public information from the General Accounting Office (CGR) regarding public debt was agreed and implemented, and in practice the concept of expenditures without budget allocations was repealed, because it balloons the public debt.

Thanks to FOSDEH’s advocacy, new public debt mechanisms such as floating debt were identified along with its quantification, use and impact. At the public level, FOSDEH exposed the situation of public debt, both from the qualitative & quantitative aspects, revealing the implications of the liability and asset balance.

The figures issued by the government were used to highlight the overly large debt burden of the country and the social and economic impact that this has.

It was also possible to establish new official sources of public indebtedness registration, such as the General Accounting Office and the Central American Monetary Council, both politically and technically feasible.

Regarding Public-Private Partnerships FOSDEH and participating CSOs actively contributed to repeal the confidentiality clause regarding COALIANZA information, which for this new government has become the mechanism of public investment (and indebtedness) par excellence.

Government’s institutional weakening was demonstrated, since COALIANZA has practically taken on the responsibility of public investment working from a private sector perspective. In parallel to this, a PPP Best Practices Protocol was discussed and approved between civil society and public authorities, which was handed to COALIANZA and SEFIN for implementation. An opportunity was created to allow citizens to monitor and audit PPPs. Procedures and limitations in the budgetary process were established for more transparent management of the PPPs and technical cooperation was provided for the reforms provided for by law.

ADVOCACY EFFORTS IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS Decision makers for public policies, citizen groups and international organisms, those are the target groups with which FOSDEH works, work that is multiplied through social and news media.

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PPPs – a current topic for CSOs “FOSDEH considers as social and political progress, the public discussion regarding PPP by citizens. The topic of PPPs is a new and complex area with many different work aspects to be explored. Never the less, it has been an important step for our organization to bring this topic to the attention of civil society, and to help different organizations to understand the issues, starting with the impacts that it may have in the economic, social, and environmental arenas.

The Protocol, in this sense, is a guide which we have proposed to the government and to the different organizations showing how a mechanism such as the PPPs, when managed correctly, with transparency, and with everyone assuming his or her proper roles in the process, can contribute to the country’s development.

Currently, the government has yet to adopt the Protocol, but we are hopeful that organizations are taking on the leadership for this topic. For example, we see strong campaigns and actions against charging of fees for the use of highways based on the argument that citizens already pay taxes (directly in the form of fuel taxes) and indirectly (in the form of income taxes), and there are groups carrying out social audits for specific projects, as well as complaints and serious allegations regarding the risks of transferring responsibility from health and education to the private sector, and we see all of these as wins.” Raf Flores, Sub-Director of FOSDEH).

ADVOCACY EFFORTS IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS Decision makers for public policies, citizen groups and international organisms, those are the target groups with which FOSDEH works, work that is multiplied through social and news media.

WOLA defines political advocacy as “the efforts of organized citizens to influence the design and implementation of public policies and programs, through persuasion and pressure on government authorities, international financial organizations and other institutions of power. Activities aimed at gaining access and influence on the people who have decision-making power for issues that are relevant to a particular group or for society as a whole”41.

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Washington Office on Latin American Affairs (WOLA). MANUAL FOR THE FACILITATION OF POLITICAL ADVOCACY PROCESSES. First Edition, March 2005. This manual can be accessed by visiting: www.wola.org

In order to advocate at the public level, it is also important to advocate in the social environment, and this is what FOSDEH did by promoting social organization, building partnerships, training leaders, and developing national and international relations to strengthen and empower civil society in issues that are part of its area of work.

FOSDEH quickly understood that in order to influence the actions of government, it was necessary to access news media to influence public opinion, and to generate favorable opinion trends; to develop investigation, analysis, access to information and negotiation abilities, all of that as part of the implication to be able to influence the government’s actions.

During the period of this study, FOSDEH carried out advocacy activities with three target groups: public decision-makers, international organizations and various civil society groups, all of them stakeholders who play different roles to contribute to the reform of public policies in Honduras, from their own perspectives, whether in the political, technical, operational, social or lobbying aspect, both at the national and regional levels (see Figure Number 1).

Figure 1. FOSDEH´s Advocacy Target Groups

Organizaciones Internacionales

Medios de Comunicación

National Scope Regional Scopev

Tomadores de desiciones públicas

FOSDEH Instancias de la sociedad civil Ciudadania

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Different lobbying mechanisms were developed with these groups, among them: • Political dialogues with public officials at different levels, regarding the analyses and technical proposals for the respective work areas.

• Linkages of the working topics with people’s daily lives (the impact of national macro-economy in the social micro-economy) to facilitate the reading of national current events and to open opportunities for citizen participation and their support for FOSDEH’s proposals.

• Technical support to international organisms (bilateral and multilateral) with analyses and proposals.

In parallel to this, FOSDEH has developed a sustained and respectful working relationship with the news media for the broad dissemination of information, a relationship that has allowed FOSDEH to become a leader, for many years now, as the source of information on economic affairs for society.

It is not easy to separate the work done by FOSDEH from each one of the target groups because they are all a part of a comprehensive process, which instead of isolating them, establishes linkages among them. In that sense, it may be more appropriate to refer to the strategies developed around the big topics that have been promoted by FOSDEH. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning FOSDEH’s clarity in identifying the decisionmakers, on whom it has to focus its efforts, taking into consideration not only the prioritized political policies, but rather the weaknesses of the Honduran context itself, as for example in this case, the fragility of the public institutional framework.

That is where doors for dialogue are usually opened more easily, depending on the officials holding the job at the institutions or depending on situations that actually favor dialogue; or sometimes it happens that those doors are closed, arguing the need for “reserved information”.

Leaving these limitations aside, we can state that the government participants with whom FOSDEH has advocated to reach these achievements, are the authorities who have the authority to make decisions in public finances and to approve standards.

Below is a brief description: • Ministry of Finance under the Executive Branch: responsible for managing the financial resources and a member of the Government’s Economic Cabinet.

• National Congress as a Branch of Government that approves the standards that govern the National Budget.

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• Institute of Access to Public Information, which governs compliance with obligations regarding the transparency of information coming from public entities in the application of the corresponding law.

• Commission for the Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships (COALIANZA), government unit under the Executive Branch, responsible for the management of the public- private investment model in Honduras.

In its relationship with other organizations, FOSDEH faced the challenge of breaking down resistances that had emerged since the coup in 2009, and which paralyzed Honduran society and many citizen organizations. FOSDEH decided not to act alone in advocacy actions which were proposed but rather to act as an intermediary service provider to strengthen civil society’s institutional framework.

This challenge led to the establishment of citizen observatories in different regions of the country which allowed FOSDEH at the same time to cover more territory as a think tank opening its doors to bring the focus back to a citizen-based approach” and to contribute to building capacity so that other organizations could also conduct advocacy work.

Not only did FOSDEH break out of the shell of its isolation, it also led the CSOs with whom it had worked to accept the fact that they were weak in their advocacy abilities and that technical assistance and training coming from FOSDEH was timely and necessary.

In that joint venture, the citizen cooperation network broaden between citizens, FOSDEH and the government, an action that seen from today’s perspective in a distant timeline, contributed to helping FOSDEH make progress in its technicalpolitical dialogue with government, so that the proposals they were advancing could be analyzed and discussed more easily and legitimately through the close support of partner organizations and with a good understanding of the country’s economic reality. All of this at the same time helped to preserve its institutional independence.

OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS Operational and strategic actions in FOSDEH’s areas of interest and work with target groups helped to build and rebuild public policies.

Reviewing the specifics of FOSDEH’s work target topics and the target groups with which it worked, the operational and strategic actions carried out were:

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At the Level of the General Budget of the Republic In operational terms, FOSDEH performs a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual monitoring of the public reports of the budget and the main macro-economic indicators.

It also monitors the information on a daily basis (news, commentaries, opinions, editorial reviews, etc.) appearing in the primary news media (mainly written, and when required, radio, television or digital media), on its areas of work and the information sources that generate them.

INCIDENCIA SOCIAL PARA INCIDENCIA PÚBLICA Concebir al FOSDEH como una organización estratégica para hacer políticas públicas es un criterio válido que permitió a las organizaciones fraternas avanzar en sus propios objetivos, como lo muestran las experiencias del EROC y el Foro Sida.

Desde hacía varios años las organizaciones de la zona Occidental del país nucleadas en el EROC tenían como propósito hacer reaccionar al gobierno en su interés para que fuera reconstruida la carretera de Occidente, que conecta al país con Guatemala.

La asesoría del FOSDEH en materia de incidencia permitió que el EROC desarrollara sus propias capacidades y posesionara el tema a nivel nacional, ante las autoridades del entonces SOPTRAVI (actualmente INSEP), el Congreso Nacional, el Despacho Presidencial y SEFIN. El apoyo del Foro al EROC no solo le permitió a éste iniciar las negociaciones con el gobierno, sino también empoderarse de tecnología para poder discutir el tema a través de videoconferencias y evitar a sus dirigentes una movilización continua hacia la capital de la República.

En el caso del Foro Sida, el FOSDEH apoyó a esta organización a interpretar la Ley del Presupuesto y su normativa –con asesoría, asistencia técnica y capacitaciones- para que pudiera incidir en el uso de los recursos que aportan los pacientes a los hospitales públicos.

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El Foro Sida incide en el marco de la promoción y defensa de los derechos humanos para la prevención y atención a pacientes viviendo con Sida. Con el apoyo recibido logró que los pacientes con el síndrome no paguen la cuota por asistencia y puedan recibir medicamentos y practicarse los exámenes de control en los Hospitales del sector público y que los fondos de los aportantes en el Instituto Nacional Cardiopulmonar no se manejen con discrecionalidad y se vuelvan efectivos para estos pacientes, necesitados de medicamentos, reactivos e insumos, sin que la cuota se diluya en otras necesidades logísticas e institucionales.

FOSDEH developed its own digital mechanism (software) to capture daily information regarding budget execution. In implementation of this work, FOSDEH’s work team held periodic internal meetings to interpret and analyze the main economic, political and social indicators of the country and to profile the prospective work scenarios.

In strategic terms FOSDEH carried out research on the amounts and social economic implications of expenditures without budgetary allocation and analyzed the social impact of maintaining under reserve all the information related to the Country’s General Draft Budget and made separate public declarations that fostered and facilitated dialogue with the authorities because they generated an enabling, public environment which required authorities to respond to FOSDEH’s proposals and to facilitate consensus, such as the repeal of the information reserve regarding the budget.

These declarations were also made to international organizations which have financed transparency systems under the budgetary execution framework and technical dialogues were carried out with the work teams that follow-up on Open Government issues and similar topics, at the international level.

FOSDEH prepared a technical document regarding each one of the 220 articles contained in the 2013 General Provisions of the Budget, containing proposals and counterproposals, evidence of contradictions, topic related information and operational gaps. This provided the technical basis for a political dialogue of advocacy with the authorities of the Ministry of Finance, which was held during a number of days and with the presence of those directly in charge of those issues (Investment Directors, Public Credit Managers, etc.) to facilitate analysis and consensus.

A thread that contributed to successfully implementing this strategy was to place this topic in the news media agenda, both at the national and regional levels.

In the Public Debt Framework In operational terms FOSDEH monitors of all the official reports regarding public debt, contained in the official newspaper named, “La Gaceta” (agreements, contracts, laws with public debt implications), from alternative, national and international information sources (CEPAL, risk rating agencies, etc.) and follows up on accusations and reports provided by local news media.

In strategic terms FOSDEH reviewed and contested existing public information in that area and demonstrated the fragility of official figures by establishing that the data sets provided by SEFIN, BCH and CGR (under SEFIN), among others, do not match. With this, FOSDEH fostered a public discussion with the authorities about the real amount of debt of the country, based on official figures, but also through a more comprehensive vision interpreted by the same.

This allowed to generate a technical document which established an estimate of the aggregate amount of public indebtedness and provided information about some of 157

the indebtedness mechanisms being used by State that were not being accounted for by government.

The findings and concerns on this matter were shared in various working sessions (workshops, conferences, and discussion groups) with social leaders, both at the national and regional levels, who also were guided on how to incorporate these issues into their organizations’ work agendas; and in technical dialogue opportunities with international entities (IMF, WB, Risk Rating Agencies, initiative based technical teams such as the Millennium Challenge Account).

A public campaign to improve the understanding of indebtedness was held for citizens, which included a user-friendly version of the technical document and messages regarding the impact of the debt in the lives of people, in terms of health, education, access to services, etc.

In the framework of the Public-Private Partnerships In operational terms, FOSDEH does a daily monitoring of all the information that appears in news media regarding this topic, and all reports related to public investment and the use of public resources on behalf of COALIANZA. Upon defining its political position on this new mode of public investment, which in FOSDEH’s opinion disrupts government’s constitutional role and functions, FOSDEH attempted to place the issue on the news media agenda and generated opportunities for education and awareness building through conferences, workshops, discussion groups, etc.

The implementation of a digital toolbox was an innovation, which systematized and made all the information related to the PPS in Honduras available for the public.

This prior work created the opportunity in strategic terms, for FOSDEH’s internal interdisciplinary technical team to be trained on how PPPs work and to put a team of external consultants together, including experts in PPPs, to advise FOSDEH regarding an objective evaluation of the pros and cons of this investment mode, as well as how to address this issue for its analysis.

In order to generate a technical dialogue, FOSDEH built a map of the actors in the PPP scenario, which allowed it to identify the sectors, institutions, organizations and people (both national and international) which participate in the process (SEFIN, COALIANZA, PPP Supervisory Authority, private bank trust-fund operators, project implementers, professional associations, Chamber of Commerce, citizens, etc.) and implemented an unbiased process of dialogue and informational consultation with each one of them.

Knowledge management as a permanent asset in FOSDEH’s work allowed it to prepare a set of technical documents regarding the positions and the economic 158

and social impact that FOSDEH foresees from this type of investment and which constitute the technical basis for its work in this area. It is worth noting that efforts were made in terms of analyzing the legislation, the PPP contracts and the assessment, up to that point, of the execution of the project under that modality.

A second mapping exercise that began with the projected impacts allowed FOSDEH to identify which are the sectors, the people, and the organizations that are the most affected by this type of investment and to build a Civil Coalition for transparency of the PPPs, with the participation of social organizations (local and national), to develop social audits for public-private investments.

At the government level, FOSDEH established a line of coordination with the IAIP regarding public denunciation of the information reserves granted to COALIANZA and based on technical arguments, the demands for its repeal were strengthened.

Technical-political dialogues were implemented with members of the Corporation, especially multilateral cooperation agencies. The fact that COALIANZA was not being accountable to anyone was brought out, along with the fact that it was taking on public debt ignoring even SEFIN. The proposals documented by FOSDEH were echoed, and the IMF conditioned the signing of the letter of intent for the creation of the PPPs Supervision under the Ministry of Finance, with regulations to open communication channels to provide information about their partnerships. In 2013, part of COALIANZA’s Law was modified to incorporate these changes.

This made it possible, in 2014, as a way to complete this phase, for FOSDEH to learn about and analyze ten COALIANZA contracts, to support the social audit regarding the management of data and funds, and to develop a protocol of PPPs best practices, discussed and enriched by the main participants who intervene in this process, from citizens, to public and private sector entities.

In March 2015, FOSDEH had registered 18 trust fund contracts approved by COALIANZA with participation of five banks (very few of them established from the very beginning with their own resources) and the award of seven public-private partnerships: three executed through concession contracts, and four through construction, operation, operation, and inspection contracts.

FOSDEH warned the management of the trust funds through a technical committee was generating speculation and conflicts of interest, “decisions are not shared with citizens, since they are governed by bank secrecy” and it supported the idea of fostering a Law on Public Trust-Funds “with an exclusive format where all transparency and accountability responsibilities are well defined” (FOSDEH, 2015).

FOSDEH also received internal benefits through being empowered with a planning, monitoring, implementation and follow-up system for the projects, which improved its managerial capacity and it allowed it to reach acceptable levels of implementation with the agreed grants. In the administrative and accounting areas, FOSDEH’s improved records, which have allowed it to meet the requirements to have access to the bidding process for future grants provided by multilateral organisms in which

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it was participating when the fieldwork was being completed, to extend its sources of financial support.

Based on all of this advocacy work in different spheres of the day to day macroeconomic context of the country, the main results of FOSDEH’s work, starting with the support received from the Impactos Program, are primarily in the following areas: Budget Policy: 1. A standard was established for “budgetary modifications”, in order to control the abuse of budget over-runs, provide greater transparency, and improve the budget planning process for government institutions.

2. The concept of “expenses without budgetary allocations” was eliminated, which then prevented the possibility that government officials could make expenses without having an approved budget line item, and at the same time, avoided the increase in internal debt which resulted from this type of expenses.

3. Within the Budget Law – Budgetary Provisions, administrative and criminal penalties were established for government officials who made expenditures over and above the budgetary limit, without the required justification and advance notice.

Public Debt: 1. The official figures for public indebtedness were revealed. A wide panorama of the new forms of national indebtedness was presented (expenses without budget allocations, the purchase of internal debt bonds without converting these to external debt, project offsets for PPPs), which then helped to establish parameters for a realistic valuation of the sustainability of the public debt.

2. The general population were provided with concrete information regarding the amounts and the economic and social implications of public indebtedness.

PPPs 1. The need to analyze and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of investments via the mechanism of public-private partnerships within the country was made known at the level of public opinion, of organized citizen groups, and in the government institutional sector.

2. A good practice protocol was created for the development of PPPs, with the active participation of the main authorities of COALIANZA, the Supervisory Office for Public Private Partnerships (SAAP in Spanish), and Civil Society Organizations.

3. A Civil Society group was created to develop social audit procedures to monitor the policies and projects established by COALIANZA. 160

CONCLUSION As an institution that has historically had a mission of advocating with governments to reform or transform public policies, FOSDEH has enhanced its constructive engagement, preserving its independence. This image of credibility based on objectivity while addressing economic issues, gives FOSDEH the authority for dialogue at the highest public levels.

Furthermore, the dialogue and cooperation with the government must not be seen as a taboo issue to be demonized, when the institution or institutions that create this type of dialogue and cooperation do it to benefit the social groups being represented. And that was the case when FOSDEH, under the umbrella of agreements signed with the Impactos Program, held dialogues with public officials, providing them with technical assistance or training them, seeking to make the management of the public budget more transparent.

In that relationship of cooperation, FOSDEH’s ability to make good use of situation and abilities has been very important, for example, in lobbying SEFIN in favor of regulating the public debt in the hands of the PPPs; or lobbying the IAIP to repeal the information reserve permission regarding the budget imposed by SEFIN. Partners or enemies? In reality, FOSDEH makes use of the free range of ideas and the prevalence of social interest above any individual or institutional interests when these affect the vast majority.

FOSDEH is a social intermediary with the Government, but it is also a constructive intermediary for other partner organizations with less experience, fulfilling in that way its role as an organization supporting other CSOs. This is also part of the constructive commitment fostered under the agreements signed with Impactos Program.

The fact that FOSDEH has acted simultaneously with social organizations to publicly voice concerns through news media has been an important issue throughout this process. In fact, without those components as part of its institutional efforts, along with the academic aspects, it would be impossible to manage knowledge, which is one of its primary duties.

Many things that are not under the control of a constructive engagement, because if there is institutional weakness, the sustainability of accomplishments is also affected. It may actually be worse to turn back on governments and let them act of their own will, with a citizenship that close their eyes. Collaborating means not abdicating, but making it more feasible to achieve progress.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Drucker, P. (1996). La administración. Bógota, Colombia: Norma.

FOSDEH. (2012). Construyendo oportunidades, un país con transparencia y rendición de cuentas. Propuesta de Subvención TIG. FOSDEH. (2012). Transparencia y rendición de cuentas de la ejecución de gastos sin imputación presupuestaria. Propuesta de Suvención TRAG 2012-2013.

FOSDEH. (2015). Informe Estadístico. Tegucigalpa: FOSDEH. FOSDEH. (2015). MEJORES PRÁCTICAS Y LECCIONES APRENDIDAS EN AUDITORÍA SOCIAL AL PROCESO DE ALIANZA PÚBLICO PRIVADA. Tegucigalpa: FOSDEH. FOSDEH. (2015). MEJORES PRÁCTICAS Y LECCIONES APRENDIDAS EN AUDITORÍA SOCIAL AL PROCESO DE ALIANZA PÚBLICO PRIVADA. Tegucigalpa: FOSDEH. FOSDEH. (2015). SISTEMATIZACIÓN, EPXPERIENCIAS, ANÁLISIS CLÁUSULAS CONTRATOS, ALIANZAS PÚBLICO PRIVADAS INCULADAS CON EL ENDEUDAMIENTO PÚBLICO.. Tegucigalpa: FOSDEH.

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Case Study FUNDACIÓN NACIONAL PARA EL DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SPANISH

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ENGLISH

ANACH

Asociación Nacional de Campesinos de Honduras

ANACH

National Association of Farmers of Honduras

CAP

Proyecto Oportunidades Sociales

CAP

Community Action for Prosperity

CDA

Centro de Alcance

OC

Outreach Center

CARSI

Iniciativa Regional de Seguridad para Centroamérica

CARSI

Central American Regional Security Initiative

COMVIDA

Programa Municipal de Infancia, Adolescencia y Juventud: Comunicación y Vida

COMVIDA

Municipal Program for Infants, Adolescents, and Youth – Communication and Life

CRC

Comité de Revitalización Comunitaria

CRC

Community Revitalization Committee

FHIS/CLIP

Fondo Hondureño de Inversión Social/ Programa de Infraestructura de Iniciativa Comunitaria

FHIS/CLIP

Honduran Social Investment Fund – Program for Community-Initiative Infrastructure

FINSOL

Financiera Solidaria

FINSOL

Solidarity Finance

FUNADEH

Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo de Honduras

FUNADEH

National Foundation for Honduran Development

IMPACTOS PROGRAM

Impulsando Participación Ciudadana, Transparencia y Oportunidades Sociales

IMPACTOS PROGRAM

Promoting Citizen Participation, Transparency, and Social Opportunities

IUDPAS

Instituto Universitario en Democracia, Paz y Seguridad

IUDPAS

University Institute for Democracy, Peace, and Security

OSC

Organización de Sociedad Civil

CSO

Civil Society Organization

PNUD

Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo

UNPD

United Nations Development Program

RDJ

Red de Jóvenes

YN

Youth Network

USAID

Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

ZIP

Zona Industrial de Procesamiento

ZIP

Industrial Processing Zone

INTRODUCTION The National Foundation for Honduran Development (“FUNADEH” for its initials in Spanish) is a leader in training in the country, streamlining technical and managerial competencies, and playing an important role in social development to improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable people in the country, through the implementation of human development programs.

How does an institution born in 1984 with the primary purpose of training people and companies, enhancing their abilities to provide financing to small and medium companies, take on the challenge of building social and community capacities for the prevention and reduction of violence in an area classified as a high risk zone?

This is a valid question in the context of a society that since 2006 saw an exponential growth of citizen insecurity, linked to structural inequalities and institutional weaknesses, and that leaves no one without risk.

The first thing in order to accept a new concept and a different practice of “social corporate responsibility” was to consider as inequalities, all of those imbalances that went beyond people’s wills and which are based on a differentiated access to opportunities based on social, gender, ethnic and geographic issues.

The second was to understand the fact that inequality is the source of many social problems and that as a real phenomenon it has a close correlation with educational achievement, disparities in the access to positions of power and authority in society, the increase of social violence and the ability or inability of a community to achieve greater levels of well-being for each one of its members.

Assuming this point of view, FUNADEH came to the conclusion that in order to reduce the impact of these social phenomena, especially in terms of criminal violence, it is necessary to define and implement municipal public policies to improve access to opportunities. Isolated projects that are based on a welfare approach or circumstantial philanthropy had insufficient impact when compared to local, regional and national challenges.

It was also important to understand that no public policy can be sustainable without taking into consideration the people it is supposed to benefit, through their organization and active participation, and without the institutional framework of government, many times absent from the communities that need it most.

With that as a common starting point, which allowed for a dialogue on shared criteria, the Impactos Program, implemented by Counterpart International with funding from USAID, and FUNADEH signed an agreement in 2012 for the prevention of risks and violence in the municipality of Choloma, Department of Cortés, on the basis of a constructive commitment.

How can this constructive commitment principle be applied in an environment of extreme and growing violence, concentrated in a community with rapid and disorderly population growth, such as Choloma?

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THE CONTEXT OF THE WORK With productive ups and downs, the municipality of Choloma, bordering the industrial city of San Pedro Sula, in the northern region of Honduras, became the number one city for manufacturing assembly companies (maquilas), but it also became one of the most violent cities in the country.

Choloma is a municipality in the Department of Cortés, in the northern region of Honduras, with a territorial extension of 471.1 km², located next to the road that goes from San Pedro Sula to Puerto Cortés, with a strategic position for commerce of products going abroad. This is why it represents the second most important industrial municipality in the country, after San Pedro Sula.

Choloma is considered the third most populated city in Honduras. The 2002 Census reported 100,408 inhabitants. For 2010, the estimated population was 276,863 inhabitants and two years later the number grew to 305,272 inhabitants, maintaining a ratio of 53% women to 47% men (Source: calculations with data from the National Statistics Institute (INE for its initials in Spanish), 2010).

Beginning with the inauguration of the Choloma ZIP in 1990, the assembly industry reached its peak in the period of 2003 – 2007 when a total of 69 plants were established. The opening of thousands of jobs increased the attractiveness of the area for internal immigrants who came, primarily, from the Northwest of the country.

In fact, only 44.3% of Choloma residents were born there, while 55.7% emigrated from other areas.

This new industrial movement changed the face of the city, which is made up of 55 neighborhoods and ten districts.

This group of inhabitants, between locals and new arrivals, tended to settle permanently or at least for extended periods in the zone, contributing to a disorderly demographic growth and to the growth of lawlessness and mixed neighborhoods.

Among the newcomers there were promoters of “organized crime”, especially gangs (or ”maras” in Spanish), which soon extended their networks thanks to the large numbers of disaffected youth, the vast majority of the youth in fact, in the community.

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This phenomenon, which was at its highest point in 2011, placed Honduras among the most violent countries in the world and Choloma, an industrial city of about 300,000 inhabitants, in sixth place among municipalities in the department of Cortés, with a homicide rate of 94.5 per hundred thousand residents (IUDPAS, 2011). According to national and local authorities, the causes for so many deaths in this municipality were related to juvenile violence, most clearly expressed in the form of gangs or “maras” that were linked to acts of extreme violence, robberies, extortion, and participation in drug trafficking at the local level. In 2012, when the agreement between Impactos and FUNADEH was signed, the homicide rate at the national level was 86.5 per hundred thousand residents.

Despite the fact that security standards within industrial parks are optimum for those who work in them, outside of those areas violence has spread throughout the country affecting businessmen, executives, and the working class.

The model of a segregated community, with a well-protected maquila plant in the midst of a violent and unprotected community, could not last for long. Businessmen understood that citizen security is one of the conditions needed to achieve better productivity and allow additional investments.

The maquilas’ social context was nothing new to FUNADEH, but learning more about citizen security and violence issues was one of their first steps after signing the agreement. The data revealed a situation of extreme danger in specific areas of the municipality.

The number of violent deaths registered was just the tip of the iceberg, the most nefarious consequence of an underlying phenomenon which was interwoven with multiple factors placing young people in a state of vulnerability; as much to become victims as to become victimizers. It would be impossible to put together a comprehensive list of these factors; never the less, the research which has been carried out in this area offers some clues to help in understanding the phenomenon in a general way. One the one hand there are structural factors such as social exclusion and unemployment, with their concrete expression being a lack of social opportunities for young people; a culture which accepts violence as a valid solution to resolve conflicts and the weakness, disarticulation, and corruption of the judicial system. (Eguigure, 2011). On the other hand, from a community-based prevention focus on delinquency, the proposed theory is that in those communities where neighbors distrust each other and where there is no sense of social cohesion, the population is more vulnerable to delinquent behavior.

The participative assessments which were carried out in the communities (2012 and 2013) included interviews, as well as compiling and analyzing both national and local studies, regarding mortality rates and violence; and existing institutional statistics.

There was no lack of data, but there was a lack of joint efforts and municipal policies to deal with the problems.

The limited presence of state service provider institutions and the absence of a community-based violence prevention model demonstrated the need for the development of coordinated, multi-sectoral interventions in order to rebuild the social fabric of these communities, providing them with the tools needed to carry out collective actions, which would contribute to the generation of an environment of peaceful coexistence, free from violence.

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SELECTED COMMUNITIES FUNADEH chose four communities for its advocacy work: CARE, Éxitos de ANACH No. 1, Colonia López Arellano and Rubí. The communities were selected based on criteria such as: the social risk characteristics defined jointly with the CARSI42 Initiative projects, which at the same time are consistent with what has been established in the proposal’s Social Opportunities Component.

In 2011, the communities of Éxitos de ANACH No.1, Rubí, and López Arellano were included among the 22 communities with the highest homicide rates and the last community (López Arellano) attained the second highest rank in the number of homicides in the municipality43. In the case of the community of CARE, according to information from the Department Police Office in Choloma, a number of known delinquents were identified in the community who were involved in illegal activities such as murder for hire (hitmen or sicarios) and robber44.

Without too much detail regarding each case, we can describe them as communities lacking social services and infrastructure projects because they had been stigmatized as lawless and their youth populations were labeled as criminals. Generally, the communities were threatened by gangs (also known in Spanish as “maras”), who fight for their territories. That is why many families were displaced, abandoning their homes; and those who remained – in general – had very few or no public opportunities for social cohesion.

Some of these communities located in the main commercial, financial and service district in Choloma (such as Éxitos de ANACH No. 1, which is also the most populated area, with 150 thousand inhabitants), did have some basic infrastructure, which was not being used; some of the community leaders had been working for years to reclaim their neighborhoods, through educational, security, recreation and training projects.

FUNADEH’s INTERVENTION Since 1999, FUNADEH established as one of its institutional objectives, support for social development programs aimed at communities with few financial resources.

In the beginning, its support concentrated in the Chamelecón45 sector, and later on their efforts extended to other sectors within the Sula valley, among them Choloma.

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43 44 45

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Criteria agreed with the CARSI group: 1. Average consumption of electric energy in kilowatt hours; 2.Presence of gangs or “maras”/drug trafficking; Total population; Youth population from 12 to 30 years old; Percent of youth population from 12 to 30 years old by education level; presence of community partners; level of risk from natural disasters.

2 More information at: http://www.iudpas.org/pdf/Boletines/Choloma/CholomaEd03EneDic2011.pdf 3 Diagnóstico Comunitario Colonia CARE, 2012, pg. 56. At: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00K4QB.pdf The Chamelecón sector takes its name from the river that crosses the area. It is located to the southeast of San Pedro Sula, and is made up of more than thirty barrios and neighborhoods, it was founded at the beginning of the last century and, given the social composition of the population, it is considered to be among the most vulnerable and least secure areas in the country.

FUNADEH contributes to social and economic development in the areas where it operates, through education, social services and employment programs, implementing pertinent programs and projects in collaboration with community organizations, churches, NGOs, international cooperation entities, and Mayors’ offices. It targets its actions primarily on groups subject to social risks, considering children between the ages of 6 and 12 years old, and young men and women between the ages of 13 to 30 years old, and including single mothers as well.

Thanks to its social track record, FUNADEH received six grants from the Impactos Program, under the CAP Project component.

As a grant implementing organization, between 2012 and 2015, FUNADEH concentrated its efforts on implementing a community-based violence prevention model proposed by the Impactos Program, with an intervention in four 46 out of the 33 most conflictive/violent neighborhoods in the urban area of Choloma.

The violence prevention model included the establishment and strengthening of “Community Revitalization Committees” (hereafter simply CRCs) and “Youth Networks” (hereafter simply YNs), as mechanisms for citizen participation which would permit the development of linkages among them, and with local government and other social stakeholders, including the private sector.

The creation of the CRCs and YNs represents an innovative organizational model, since they allow for an extensive coverage of community action reaching into areas which it would have been previously impossible for FUNADEH to reach; this facilitates the construction of a foundation for sustainability in so far as the actions carried out by the community respond to local initiatives and are supported by the proposals of the CSOs; while on the other hand the CRCs and YNs made it possible to establish linkages between youth and adults, contrasting and complementing their visions regarding violence prevention and community development.

An important element in this process was the recognition of these organizations on the part of the local governments and their involvement as legitimate social partners of the communities which engaged more young men and women in community integration activities, committed to creating safer and more peaceful surroundings.

A strategic methodological-conceptual contribution which was considered to be a good practice approach, was the identification of two key audiences for advocacy: the municipal authorities, as decision makers to define and apply municipal public policies, and organized citizen groups as the driving force behind the establishment of a culture of peace and coexistence in the participating communities. The joint working dynamic between both audiences promoted the construction of a joint vision and practice that resulted in a municipal public policy which was markedly different from what has been done up to now within the municipality.

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Comunidades López Arellano, Éxitos de ANACH, CARE y Rubí.

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The CRCs and YN from the target communities in Choloma making use of the information gathered in the diagnostic studies, developed action plans to respond to the priorities identified by the communities. These plans formed the basis for advocacy activities promoted by the CRCs and YNs who - empowered by their formal recognition on the part of the local authorities took on the task of presenting their plans and proposals for violence prevention to the Municipal Corporation and the Municipal Council for Coexistence and Citizen Security. The goal which drove the CRCs and YNs was to convince the municipal authorities and obtain their political support as well as the assignation of funds required to include their plans within the municipal planning process. The processes of dialogue and fundraising carried out at the municipal level by the local leaders did not always achieve the amounts of financial support that they hoped for, but undoubtedly, these processes contributed to the creation of a positive impression regarding the constructive commitment approach developed by the CRCs and YNs. The implementation of the model allowed for practical applications of the strategy of constructive commitment among the community leaders and the municipal authorities, who agreed to carry out joint efforts of civic participation for the implementation of municipal public policies in the areas of coexistence and citizen security. Surveys carried out by Impactos in 201547 regarding perceptions of security and satisfaction among the participating communities showed relatively high levels of satisfaction when compared with the results from 2011 and 2012, prior to the implementation of the violence prevention model proposed by Impactos.

What was the difference when compared to other prior social interventions?

This process highlighted the need to support and boost the public policy strategy for citizen security that emerged in 2012, thanks to which the “Citizen Security and Coexistence Municipal Council” emerged and which includes two operational subunits: the Citizen Security Committee and the Violence Prevention Committee.

It was precisely in the second unit where all of the organizations carrying out preventive measures in the municipality were integrated, among them the National Foundation for Honduran Development (FUNADEH).

The Mayor’s Office in Choloma carried out an operational planning exercise with the participation of civil society, judicial officials, the private sector, and cooperating agencies who were working at the municipality. FUNADEH took part in the Committee for Violence Prevention and promoted the implementation of the Local Plan for Coexistence and Citizen Security 2013-2018. They also contributed in the identification of possible sources for funding and administrative support in order to achieve an effective implementation of the Plan.

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The perception in the 16 target communities regarding their satisfaction with the local government’s response to the security needs of the residents has improved by 9.5% when comparing to the data from 2015 to the results from 2012 and 2013. – Final report on close-out activities in the municipalities of Choloma, La Ceiba, Central District, and San Pedro Sula, 2015.

The management and leadership of FUNADEH in the Committee helped to achieve the incorporation of a representative from each CRC from the communities of López Arellano, Éxitos de ANACH, and Rubí in the process of developing the Annual Operating Plan (POA in Spanish) – 2013 as a strategic instrument for decision making in the area of social protections, crime prevention, deterrence, and control.

In an environment of a total loss of trust between the citizens and the authorities, conditions were created for better coexistence of all the different sectors, making use of the existing spaces to design actions to enable the recovery of a sense of integration on behalf of all citizens.

To contribute effectively to these results, FUNADEH implemented changes in its intervention strategy in two fundamental areas: first, the approach evolved from one focused on individual development of young men and women evolved into a collective approach that also considered risk factors within the community environment. In this focus, community participation to take action which addresses those factors is especially important.

The systematic view of the community dynamics allowed the redesign of the interventions, which are now aimed at rebuilding the social fabric that sustains and animates the life skills projects for young men and women. This change required an increased presence of FUNADEH in the communities, for that purpose, staff were assigned to immerse themselves in the reality of the youth in their communities, and in this way to establish bonds of trust and empathy with community members.

Second; FUNADEH changed its vision and approach to engage with the local government, evolving from being an information source and occasional collaborator to directly becoming involved in the activities of local government through joint actions in support of community development.

One example of this change of focus can be seen in the collaboration of FUNADEH with the Municipal Mayor’s Office’s needs analysis of the population and its role as the facilitator for the development of local action plans for the implementation of the municipal plan for coexistence and citizen security.

A joint effort was carried out with the municipal COMVIDA program to implement vocational training workshops, violence prevention and gender training for youth, workshops for parents on violence prevention at home, in addition to coordinating the repair and improvement of community infrastructure, among others.

Given the great demand from the youth of the municipality of Choloma, the COMVIDA program continues providing support from the Municipal Mayor’s Office through a number of different free courses for youth on topics such as computer training, English classes, hair styling, and cosmetology skills. In this way, the local government has responded to the needs presented by the youth and to the FUNADEH initiatives by incorporating these development projects and training courses which will help to provide increased opportunities for youth within the municipal work plans.

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The municipality opened the doors to its facilities to the YNs and other communitybased organizations so that events could be held there and also so that they could express their demands, concerns, reflections, and proposals. The local authorities learned to listen, dialogue and work on joint actions and solutions put forward by FUNADEH to support the actions of the communities, making available to them the resources which were available.

In summary, in order to respond to the findings revealed by the diagnostic studies, FUNADEH carried out a number of activities to establish closer communication and coordination with the municipal, local and national institutional authorities, citizens and private businesses, to form, in the end, in a citizen partnership working towards violence prevention.

STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL ACTIONS After rigorous design processes for its operational plan, FUNADEH presented to the Impactos Program a logical and consistent technical-financial proposal to deal with violence and insecurity at the community level which showed a clear understanding of the magnitude of the problem and put forth viable responses which the organization and community leaders would be able to carry out/implement.

Since 2012, when FUNADEH became a member of the CSO team of organizations implementing the community-based violence prevention model, a process of training and guidance began for the technical and administrative team from FUNADEH (composed of 15 persons) in all four of the target communities in the municipality of Choloma. (…) FUNADEH was the largest beneficiary in this process, first because we learned how to work with the communities and how to generate the commitment... Those are tools that we still use. The program may disappear, but we continue to work in those communities at risk… This type of community will always have needs and it is important to teach them to be self-sufficient, to show them that they can do it, that they can prioritize their needs and we can be the catalyst”. José Carlos Morales, Executive Director, FUNADEH From the very beginning and throughout the duration of the work, internally, FUNADEH accumulated lessons learned and abilities (technical and administrative) regarding the operation of grant-funded projects for the achievement of the proposed results, mechanisms for evidence-based documentation, registration and quantification of progress with a focus on management for results and accountability.

The incorporation of the Organizational Development component, carried out with the technical assistance of the Impactos Program, allowed FUNADEH to 174

improve their internal processes in six functional areas48 which, when combined, contributed to enhancing the quality of the processes and the competitiveness of FUNADEH among the Honduran CSOs. Their improved performance also created new opportunities with donors, for example, allowing them to be considered in the category of direct implementers, as in the case of the Genesis project, which was awarded to FUNADEH later on by USAID, a project which has a national scope and has available an increased level of resources.

A BUSINESS TOOL IN THE SERVICE OF CITIZEN SECURITY THAT INNOVATED AND RENEWED FUNADEH’S SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY As a business promotor, FUNADEH ended up being an outstanding partner in the application of the community-based violence prevention model thanks to its managerial experience and abilities. Each grant project was managed by following basic guidelines and standardized procedures under the ISO 9001 system. This is practically unheard of in citizen advocacy work in favor of public policies.

ISO 9001 is an international standard applied to quality management systems and which focuses on all qualitative management elements which a company must have to function as an effective system that allows it to manage and enhance the quality of its products or services.

What did the application of ISO 9001 mean in such a complex social and institutional context as the violence prevention project in Choloma? Basically it meant developing specific competencies focused on social projects and programs, with a technical team which, beyond considering its efforts as paid employment, had a strong social commitment with the community as well.

FUNADEH interacted with multiple social and public participants between 2012 the 2015, including businessmen, CSOs and several public institutions. FUNADEH potentiated its strong linkages with the private sector to access financial and in-kind resources for training or the provision of raw materials and inputs for the initiatives promoted by the CRCs and the YNs. Subsequently, the private sector contributed through the productive insertion of young men and women who had been trained in workshops, contracting them as employees in their businesses.

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The functional areas are: Leadership and Strategic Management, Management and Quality Control Program, Human Resources and Materials, Accounting and Financial Management, Public relations, and Financial Sustainability.

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A good example of the close collaboration between FUNADEH and the private sector for the benefit of the communities and their residents are the training courses in bread and pastry making which were carried out in collaboration with the Molino Harinero Sula (Sula Flour Mill) company benefiting 119 participants.

The company provided instructors, raw materials, and the use of their installations and equipment to carry out the training workshops which benefitted many more people than had been originally planned for.

Another example of the management of the CRCs and FUNADEH was the support achieved from the “Materiales de Construcción Suseth” (Suseth Construction Materials) company. This business provided the total amount of funds required to pay for the sales taxes which were to be paid by the communities, for the purchase of construction materials for the rehabilitation / improvement of community recreation facilities and open spaces.

Operational and strategic activities carried out with communities and youth It is worth mentioning that, although FUNADEH’s strategic engagement was focused on responding to the context of violence and insecurity in the chosen communities, when the time came to begin work in these areas, the data showed a slight decrease as a result of multiple interventions carried out by other public and private institutions; however, there was still distrust among citizens and an ongoing perception of insecurity.

In situations such as these, the concept of “revitalizing communities” as proposed

by Impactos became relevant in order to contribute to stabilizing the situation, moving forward with the achievements to date, and avoiding a recurrence of the same, but above all, to contribute to reestablishing the social fabric damaged by distrust and insecurity, was an idea whose time had truly come.

With a comprehensive vision of multi-sectoral work, FUNADEH took on a progressive process with community members to develop their abilities to prevent violence.

One of the first actions was to prepare a participative community assessment. This generated in participants more knowledge, recognition and collective reflection of their own situation, prompting a better understanding of the causes of violence, which facilitated the identification of opportunities to confront it and it helped them to identify themselves as neighbors and to come together for a common cause.

The interviews, both individual and with focus groups carried out during survey phase of the community assessments facilitated the identification of the fact that there were many young men and women whose education had been interrupted and 176

who were not working, which yielded the need to train them and offer opportunities to reduce their idle, non-productive time through the development of their abilities in vocational workshops and micro-business training (baking, pastry confection, tailoring, graphic design, professional and working skills, etc.). For that purpose, facilities were rehabilitated or remodeled that could serve as permanent training locations (for both formal and non-formal training); computer laboratories were set up; sports facilities were refurbished; green areas were reforested, etc.

The CARE Community As a result of the actions proposed by the CRCs and YNs to the local authorities in the year 2012 – 2013, the communities of CARE and López Arellano were able to obtain support from the Municipal Mayor’s Office to carry out community revitalization projects.

The Municipal Council donated materials and skilled labor as a social contribution to repair a multi-use sports court and refurbish a small park (13 benches, two swing sets, and two public street lights and posts) in the CARE community. The goal of these projects was to provide families in this community and other nearby communities with safe places for recreation activities. Through this effort an atmosphere of harmonious coexistence was promoted through the shared use of the spaces which helped to build social cohesion among neighbors, provide healthy recreation, family coexistence, and strengthen the relations between youth and adults.

In the way the López Arellano community received construction materials and skilled labor for the improvement and expansion of the facilities of the Outreach Center. The expansion provided a larger physical space which allowed the provision of an increased number of workshops and recreational activities for the neighborhood youth.

In the vocational technical courses, 330 people benefited. Among the benefits received were, an improvement in their work related abilities which helped them find employment or self-employment opportunities. Even though the prevention model was not tracking family incomes, the testimonials the participants showed their satisfaction with having additional income available to cover their basic family needs. Likewise, FUNADEH provided technical assistance so that young men and women who received training could prepare business plans. A total of 151 business plans were designed, out of which 26 business initiatives were selected as the best proposals for start-up ventures which were funded with in-kind seed capital (tools, materials and supplies) so that they could be implemented. Given that these initiatives were only recently started, it is not yet possible to provide documentation for this current case study regarding the evolution of their business plans. FUNADEH and the municipal government have agreed to follow up on these business startups in order to measure their potential, their progress, their strengths, and their limitations.

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The training processes which were implemented strengthened civic participation and values such as discipline, commitment, responsibility, and leadership on the part of the members of the YNs and CRCs. The training activities utilized participative methodologies which stimulated analysis and reflection in order to motivate the members of the communities to become involved in the analysis of their own issues and identify alternative solutions to deal with the priority social needs of their communities. That in turn inspired community-based mobilization and the adoption of pro-active approaches expressed through dialogue with the authorities, enabling in this way a process of advocacy originating from the communities and impacting at the municipal level.

The CRCs discussed and generated proposals which they then incorporated into their Community Strategic Action Plans; meanwhile, the YNs gave youth the opportunity to channel their energy and motivation in a positive way, with proposals and actions that they were able to put into their Youth Action Plans.

Based on the proposals of the YNs, a number of actions targeted at community improvement were carried out which sought to enhance coexistence and the common good; for example work was done to remodel community spaces and schools and plant trees in those areas, there were cultural and artistic events, sports competitions, community forums and community fairs, and community clean up campaigns. Alongside these community actions, work continued to strengthen the knowledge and skills of young people through training in self-esteem, ethics, and moral values, among others. In the activities proposed in the youth action plans an average of 150 young people participated, without counting the participation of adults and children who also benefitted from the activities carried out.

The community-based prevention model was I a continual state of strengthening and development as the activities progressed, validating the processes and evaluating the dynamics of the community and the creation of local capabilities. One of the most valuable processes used was the development of plans based on the problems which were identified in the community diagnostic studies. This included working hand in hand with the community leaders to identify and prioritize problems and develop project ideas and initiatives which would motivate the communities through activities which would be quickly accomplished with easily visible results (such as refurbishing green areas or playgrounds, clean-up campaigns, and the organization of workshops, among many others as a way to gain the confidence of the community). This process was qualitatively beneficial due to the many lessons learned which produced results well beyond the counting of physical improvement projects completed.

FUNADEH, as the direct promoter of this organizational initiative, and as a part of the Citizen Security and Coexistence Municipal Council, promoted the revision 178

and analysis of the plans and proposals of the CRCs and the YNs so that they in turn could be integrated within the annual operational plans of this Council. Given that the advocacy activities of the CRCs and YNs are beginning to bear fruit at the beginning of 2015, at the time of writing this document there was not much data available regarding the number of activities proposed by these organizations, which were actually approved at their respective municipal offices.

Among the initiatives proposed by the communities and supported by the Municipal Mayor’s Office was the support provided by the municipal COMVIDA program for youth in the target communities. The institutional responses offered technical and vocational training services in areas such as violence prevention and gender, youth organization and leadership, support for micro-enterprise development, and the provision of funding from the Mayor’s Office for refurbishing community facilities (in the communities of CARE y López Arellano).

Beyond the political-technical support provided for initiatives proposed by the communities, the local government has participated in activities carried out by the community leaders (meetings, forums, public campaigns, training events, and the provision of seed capital, among others), and as a result they have established a closer working relationship with new channels for communication and coordination which then underlie an increased level of trust between the government and the local communities. In addition, they have opened up opportunities for dialogue and the joint implementation of events to encourage citizen participation (forums, meetings, community and municipal planning sessions). On the other hand, the formal recognition from the government, of the community leaders as representative spokespersons for their communities contributes to the sustainability of the Youth Networks through the linkages they have with the municipal COMVIDA program and their involvement in the activities promoted by this program and carried out permanently for the benefit of young people.

At the community organization level, the violence prevention activities promoted by the violence prevention model favored the development of cooperative initiatives among community members building networks of support and protection, and strengthening the local volunteer culture, creating a sense of solidarity and identity as members and leaders within their communities, all these as part of the change processes promoted by the model.

The violence prevention and community development initiatives promoted by the community based organizations brought the youth and the community together; and both of those groups were brought closer to other organizations, including the private sector and the local government. As a result of the constructive engagement which supported the advocacy activities, the ratio of financial resource contributions to revitalize the communities can be registered as approximately 75% provided by the grants component of the Impactos Program; and 25% provided by FUNADEH together with the communities as “cost sharing” contribution, both in cash and in179

kind. The Impactos Program transferred the methodology and the tools to calculate the value of these shared costs to FUNADEH.

With the Municipal Government The Mayor’s Office in Choloma has a long track record of supporting community initiatives which emerge through the promotion of business organizations, professional associations and associations dedicated to protecting the labor rights of maquila workers, in particular, and the people who live in that municipality, especially during the last two decades of the past century. This has been an area supported by initiatives such as the ones being promoted by the Impactos Program.

During the period 2012-2015 the municipality of Choloma established a diverse variety of citizen participation mechanisms in order to improve coordination with the local government. For example, towards the end of 2012, the first “Municipal Dialogue Forum with Youth” took place in the Town Hall Meeting Room of the municipality of Choloma, organized by FUNADEH in coordination with COMVIDA, with the participation of 108 young men and women from all four communities.

The forum was an opportunity for reflection and dialogue between the young men and women and the local authorities. Based on the constructive engagement approach, they analyzed their different perspectives regarding the problems that affect them, proposing solutions at the same time, not only for the benefit of the targeted communities, but with a broader perspective considering coverage and benefits for the other communities in the municipality. Among these proposed actions are technical vocational training, cultural events for the arts and sports, the promotion of youth volunteers and social coexistence, drug and alcohol abuse prevention campaigns, prevention of teenage pregnancies, working skills, youth micro-enterprise start-ups, and community clean-up campaigns, among others.

After this, other efforts were made with the support of the Mayor’s office, such as informational assemblies and the communication of operational plans with COMVIDA; and one first General Assembly with community leaders organized

by FUNADEH with the support of the municipality, later there were community assemblies attended by officials from the Mayor’s office. In all of them, the communities ratified their request to be taken into account in the decision-making processes that affect them.

On the 28th of January, 2014, the YNs of the target communities in Choloma presented their Youth Action Plans to the Municipal Authorities and to the Municipal Council for Citizen Security and Coexistence in a public event carried out at the Mayor’s office. In this event, the young men and women had the opportunity to present their community action plans and ideas for projects. During the event, Mayor, Leopoldo Crivelli, administrated the oath of office to 29 members of the YNs, (9 men and 20 women), recognizing it as a community-based organization.

70 people participated in the event, among them YN and CRC members, municipal authorities, and members of the Council.

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The formal recognition of these leaders represents considerable progress in the consolidation of community-based organizations and the beginning of a more formal relationship with local government authorities, which allow creating conditions to make the local governments more receptive to the needs of their communities. The local government recognizes the efforts carried out at the community level. Furthermore, provides continuity and sustainability for community proposals which complement the municipal programs such as COMVIDA. Besides, taking into account the community proposals, the local government can expand their services in the area of citizen security through the support of other institutions and projects. The local leaders are motivated and increase their own self-confidence when they feel that they are being heard by the authorities and in the process they are empowered as citizens to propose and carry out activities for the benefit of their own communities and the municipality.

2013 was an election year. As in prior periods, the change of government represented a risk in the continuity of the violence prevention and citizen security initiatives in the municipality of Choloma. To prevent this problem, with the financial and technical support of the Impactos Program, FUNADEH, promoted along with other CSOs, the organization of a debate of candidates for the Mayor’s position, who presented their municipal government plans and which concluded with the signing of a municipal agreement where they committed to follow up on the actions and achievements accomplished up to that moment in the municipality,; among them, violence prevention. This agreement guaranteed the continuity of the Citizen Security Local Plan and the actions undertaken by the community based organizations.

Municipal leadership has been consolidated in Choloma along with its commitment to social projects. The local government demonstrated - throughout the entire period that the Impactos Program grants lasted - willingness to dialogue with all community sectors, of all ages, which allowed the training of new leaders. The local government appointed council members and municipal officials to accompany and support this process and facilitated spaces to meet, and it followed up on all of the actions.

RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PROCESS Violence prevention and citizen security actions led by FUNADEH triggered huge subjective achievements and others which are more visible, among which we can highlight the strong constructive community engagement.

It is always difficult to specify or list all of the achievements of this type of project.

The subjective achievements, those that are related to the reassessment of the 181

self-esteem of the people, are visible in the testimonies and in their daily efforts.

For many of those involved in the project, somehow it changed their lives. They stopped considering violence as a destiny, and instead, they took on the conviction that it can be faced. At the objective level, the following results can be highlighted: • Strengthening the focus and the concept of the violence prevention was an essential element to establish constructive commitment among the communities, youth and local government. This constructive engagement can be seen in the activities which promote social development, peaceful coexistence, and violence prevention which have been built through the collaboration among all of the many participants involved.

• The community-based violence prevention model proposed and developed by the Impactos Program demonstrated that it is feasible to the extent that the CSO implementing partners have a strong presence in the target communities.

The model poses big challenges; one of them is the risks that are involved in the context of insecurity within target communities.

• The time invested in operating the community-based violence prevention model proposed, (36 effective months) set the basis for its operation; nevertheless, it required more time and resources to consolidate and extend coverage to new communities and to establish impact measurement with qualitative and quantitative measures of the social processes which sustain it.

• The CRCs and YNs enabled community collaborative work for a common goal.

The smooth functioning of these groups was conditioned for the most part on being able to identify community participants who were willing to commit themselves to violence prevention, while being aware of the risks involved, the proper identification of the problems, their prioritization, and the design of action plans aligned with those priorities. Initially there was a certain degree of distrust among the community members and occasionally apathy and a lack of interest in participation. This required the development of approach strategies for relationship building, a sensitization and motivation process to create awareness of the problem, which would help to gradually increase the participation of an ever growing number of people. Part of the strategy for relationship building implied the identification of key leaders who could identify and motivate other community members to participate in the project. To generate even more motivation and participation, activities were carried out so that would result in quick and visible benefits for the communities.

The evidence documented by the program reliably showed that the work model applied by FUNADEH in partnership with the Impactos Program is replicable in communities with high rates of violence, and can be adopted with minimal changes as a strategy for community revitalization within the implementation of the Citizen Security and Coexistence Local Plan. The initiative to organize the CRCs as spaces of local collaboration and the YNs as spaces for youth expression are efforts that can enhance the work carried out by other CARSI funded projects. This was 182

demonstrated through the complementary work done by other organizations in nearby communities within the focus of CARSI.

CONCLUSION This case study shows through the experiences presented, that it is essential to combine social corporate responsibility, community participation, and the proactive attitude of youth with the leadership of the municipal authority in actions to prevent violence and to guarantee citizen security. In this process there were others who also participated, such as the CSOs present in the communities, the international cooperation agencies, and the public institutional offices with a presence at the municipal level.

Business undertakings are not exempt from the shared responsibility to build a better world, with more harmony and in the long run, more profitable. Social responsibility carries with it at the same time the need for constructive commitments to work with the public authorities and the social sectors.

The community, for its part, has in its hands part of the solution, when it is capable of getting organized, identifying its problems, prioritizing them, looking for solutions, and advocating with its authorities to be taken into account.

Young men and women are a human asset that must not be excluded from these processes, because it is the sector of the population which is more vulnerable to violence, and because it has the capacity to develop initiatives to transform their own communities and themselves, and to generate the opportunities necessary for their engagement as a well-trained productive force in a process of permanent training.

The municipal government is an essential factor to guarantee community peace and harmony. Their openness to the participation of others, to listen to their demands and concerns and to respond to them in accordance with their budgetary abilities, represents - if this can be said within the Honduran environment, which is highly partisan - the most skilled political movement of all, a true reflection of democracy.

In its relationship with the local government of Choloma and the communities where it works, FUNADEH has found a niche to prevent violence and build more democracy. It is not a result imposed through a project, but rather it coincides with its work trajectory for the past 33 years, and functions as the backbone of the organization.

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(Footnotes) 1 For additional details regarding this process, refer to the following links: Intervention of the Central Medicine Warehouse http://www.revistazo.biz/web2/ index.php/nacional/itemlist/tag/Almacen%20Central%20SS?start=10 A summary of the case against the Director of the Medicine Warehouse http:// www.revistazo.biz/web2/index.php/nacional/item/617-jefe-de-almac%C3%A9nde-medicinas-no-renunciar%C3%A1 186