13 Honduran Outreach Centers to get financial boost
By Karen IvesJune 15, 2016
Thirteen Outreach Centers catering to at-risk youth will receive $83,000 from the Tegucigalpa, Honduras, government, the USAID-Honduras Youth Alliance program announced.
“The current Tegucigalpa municipal government has made a remarkable improvement to the infrastructure of the capital of Honduras, and also now wants to concentrate efforts in the social development of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.”
The funding will support the Outreach Centers through the 2016 year by enabling repairs and improvements to the buildings, supporting expanded operations and services and increased volunteers, as well as assisting with the implementation of Microsoft Academies.
The agreement was signed by Nasry Asfura, Mayor of Tegucigalpa, and Salvador Stadthagen, Director of USAID-Honduras Youth Alliance, and represents a first step for deeper and longer-term support from the municipal government for Outreach Centers’ violence prevention activities in the city.
“The current Tegucigalpa municipal government has made a remarkable improvement to the infrastructure of the capital of Honduras, and also now wants to concentrate efforts in the social development of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods,” says Stadthagen.
With the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Alianza Joven Honduras uses grants and technical assistance to enable the government, private sector and affected communities to address violence and reform the justice system. Alianza Joven Honduras focuses on six cities— San Pedro Sula, Choloma, La Ceiba, Tela, Puerto Lempira and Tegucigalpa—that are experiencing the most violence. It is implemented by Creative Associates International.
Violence remains a serious issue in Tegucigalpa, where homicide rate in 2015 was 73.3 per 100,000 people. The World Health Organization considers 10 per 100,000 an epidemic.
Tegucigalpa’s Outreach Centers are designed prevent violence by providing support and opportunities to vulnerable youth in the city’s most at-risk communities. Each Outreach Center benefits an average of 300 children and youth and guides them in their transition towards adulthood.
The network of Outreach Centers in the capital is doubling in size this year, as a seventh new building has been developed with support from Price Philanthropies Foundation, a foundation associated with PriceSmart, a U.S. wholesaler with a strong presence in Honduras. Six of the 13 Outreach Centers are currently in development, joining the seven currently operating in the city. The private sector has been an active supporter of the Outreach Centers.
The support provided through the agreement with the Tegucigalpa municipal government, which will be disbursed in two parts in July and October, makes possible the implementation of Microsoft Academies in three of the new Outreach Centers.
These Microsoft Academies and the Outreach Centers themselves give children and youth opportunities for creative uses of free time, as well as academic and career support.
In addition to helping establish Outreach Centers, other programs in the country are focusing on preventing crime and violence, including Proponente Mas and Jovenes Contra la Violencia.
The USAID-Honduran Youth Alliance, has developed valuable and close partnerships for the prevention of violence with the Municipalities of San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Choloma, Tela and La Lima.
Although the USAID-Honduran Youth Alliance had worked with the Municipality of the Central District in one Outreach Center (Nueva Capital), this is the first comprehensive agreement covering the whole of the Outreach Center network in the capital.