Work Areas

Protected Areas Management

Volunteers in this project help improve farming and natural resource management practices. They educate individuals about environmental awareness, leadership and organizational skills, and sustainable farming techniques to increase and diversify production.

Business Development

Volunteers assist people in the poorest communities by increasing economic opportunities, improving business management practices, and training micro-entrepreneurs in basic business skills. Volunteers provide consulting services to strengthen the marketing, administration, and management of organizations, including local chambers of commerce, community banks, nongovernmental organizations, youth groups, and educational institutions.

Volunteers also create programs to teach business skills to young people. Increasingly, Volunteers are becoming involved in training individuals to use information technology, including the Internet.

Municipal Development

Volunteers work to improve the delivery of public services provided by marginal municipal governments to improve the quality of life of their constituents. They also train municipal employees and authorities to manage municipal government services.

Volunteers working in municipalities that have begun to include computers into their management and planning schemes assist in developing strategies for expanding the use of information technology.

Health

Volunteers collaborate in the national effort to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS prevention and child survival services at the community and institutional levels. Volunteers respond to the need for community-based health education by training community members and local health providers on basic knowledge, skills, and resources that can be used to improve conditions.

Three target populations are considered for the HIV/AIDS prevention component: youth, Garifuna (Afro-Hondurans) and people living with AIDS. Volunteers not only provide education on AIDS prevention, counseling, and reproductive health, but also teach life skills such as leadership, self-esteem, decision-making, negotiation and communication.

A comprehensive intervention targeting children under five and their mothers helps to increase the local knowledge and response to diseases of high prevalence and mortality such as pneumonia and diarrhea. Hygiene, nutrition education and counseling, promotion of breastfeeding and improving housing conditions are also included in the work of Volunteers as a way to improve the quality of life of people living in poor communities in the country.

Water Sanitation and Health

Volunteers provide education and technical assistance to rural community groups and individuals to increase access to potable water and improve sanitation conditions.

Some Volunteers train community plumbers to operate and maintain the systems, and community treasurers to administer and manage the systems. Other Volunteers develop and teach environmental education and health courses that promote watershed management and an understanding of water and sanitation and its relationship to community health.

Youth Development

The youth development project seeks to empower youth, raise awareness of youth development needs among adults, and strengthen Honduran organizations and institutions that serve young people.

Volunteers focus on leadership development, gender equity, and increasing all types of opportunities for Honduran youth. In collaboration with the government of Honduras, nongovernmental organizations, and the communities they serve, Volunteers engage youth in programs and activities that stimulate and develop their abilities to make good decisions and be active citizens.

Last updated Sep 27 2008