Honduras Macuelizo
$74,263 needed of $220,000
Implementing Organization
Church World Service (CWS)
Program Summary
Honduras is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, landslides, droughts, and forest fires. CASM is working to reduce the high levels of vulnerability in the department of Santa Barbara. The program aims to promote agricultural production under a sustainable farming approach, increase the protection of forested areas and watersheds, expand access to healthy food, and generate income through the sale of surplus crops. The program also forms local alliances with a wide variety of groups that help to strengthen food chains, increase access to water, organize advocacy efforts that promote the rights of children, and reduce violence in the communities. Program activities are centered around three strategic components: food security, nutrition, and family agriculture; natural resource management and climate change adaptation; and citizenship strengthening and human rights.
Program Update
Success Stories
Always Have a Plan B
Having young children to care for meant Doña Santos couldn’t let grief stop her when she was recently widowed. So, she went from helping sell someone else’s vegetables to having her own cultivation space. Now she has a team of young people from the community who support her in growing and distributing the vegetables she harvests, and she is already planning to open her own small business close to home.
Church World Service and local partner Comisión de Acción Social Menonita (CASM) support local families in achieving nutritional food security through family agriculture. The focus is on health and nutrition training for rural families to strengthen their capabilities and promote their development.
Families like Doña Santos’ receive CASM’s technical support and participate in various production activities, learning environmental sanitation and sustainable agriculture practices. Participants also attend meetings with the local government and engage in activities related to women’s rights, entrepreneurship and self-care. Solutions to challenges around clean-water availability are also part of the program.
After Doña Santos started participating in these training sessions, she learned to use organic fertilizers, improve the quality of her crops and manage her income. She has a chicken coop and is working on a pen for pigs. She said, “I feel happy because now that I’m in this project, I’ve prospered a bit. I don’t have to buy food for my family anymore; everything comes from the land. And I’ve just been with a group of women learning how to make pickles.”
After many years of a grueling daily routine that starts at 4:30 in the morning, Doña Santos’ work has become exhausting for her health. She’s lately developed knee pain which prevents her from doing all the work on her farm and going out to sell her vegetables. She already has a solution. “I plan to open a mini market to sell my things, get more help with planting and harvesting, and keep reinvesting the income back into the business,” she said.
Honduras Macuelizo Program
Led by Church World Service and local partner Comisión de Acción Social Menonita (CASM)