Think Creative - Issue 7

Dispatches

updates from around our world

Local ownership, lasting legacy

Honduras // Alianza Joven

Arnold and Julia Linares have passed their commitment to the Rivera Hernandez Outreach Center on to their daughter, Sara (right), who oversees the center’s operations as its coordinator. Below: At the Outreach Center, kids and youth of all ages find a safe space to play and learn.

It’s early on a Saturday, but a few kids and volunteers are already at the Outreach Center, sweeping the floor, rearranging chairs and getting started on a game of foosball. They greet Arnold Linares as he unlocks the gym, classroom and computer lab spaces for the day. Linares, a pastor, and his family oversee this busy community center in the Rivera Hernan- dez district, a sector that has made slow but steady progress to reduce the high levels of gang violence that make it notorious. The Outreach Center has been a key part of that progress for more than a decade. Here children and youth find a safe space to build skills like leadership and goal setting, learn a trade, take computer classes, play music, make art or participate in sports. “It’s a great privilege that here, in this sector that used to be very violent, they created what was the first Outreach Center,” says Linares. “Now we have more than 60 Outreach Centers across Honduras.” The Rivera Hernandez Outreach Center was established through a USAID programcalled Alianza JovenHonduras (Youth Alliance Hon- duras). Today there are 68 centers dotted across Honduras’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. And while Alianza Joven helped get many of the Outreach Centers off the ground, the centers have continued to operate and grow in number since the program’s scheduled close in 2017. Their sustained success is thanks to the leadership of the National Foundation for the Development of Honduras, known in Spanish as FUNADEH. “As early as 2012, we recognized FUNADEH’s potential to be a strong legacy partner with the expertise and passion to take over the Outreach Centers,” says Salvador Stadthagen, Director of Creative’s Latin America and Caribbean Strategy and former Chief of Party of Alianza Joven. “We have since seen how they have not just maintained the centers, but continued to evolve, expand and meet the needs of these communities.” Alianza Joven partnered with FUNADEH to develop an Outreach Center in Chamelecón, another high-violence area outside of San

with a unique approach to engaging communi- ties,” says Marco Matute, Deputy Chief of Party of the Genesis project. Since Alianza Joven ended, FUNADEH has expanded the Outreach Centers’ offerings to include additional resources and opportunities for children and youth. It has also developed significant support for the Outreach Centers from local governments and businesses, greatly reducing contributions by USAID. FUNADEH has leveraged $2.7 million in investments frommore than 50 private sector companies. An additional $6.6 million in resources have been mobilized from local and national government agencies, universities and nongovernmental organizations. Looking ahead, FUNADEH is working on cre- ating a National Outreach Center Association to further cement the centers’ sustainability and local ownership, so that Outreach Centers like the one in Rivera Hernandez can continue to serve vulnerable populations. “Outreach Centers have provided immeasur- able benefits to the lives of children and youth living in these communities,” Matute says. “And they are stronger than ever.” n

Pedro Sula. And in 2013, FUNADEH began overseeing seven Outreach Centers in the San Pedro Sula area. From there, the partnership grew and over time, the organization expanded its leadership of the Outreach Centers. FUNADEH later signed a cooperative agreement with USAID and estab- lished the Genesis project, through which it is still running the Outreach Centers today. “FUNADEHwas strengthened with the oppor- tunity of working with Creative as a partner, adopting positive and effective practices in social development and violence prevention,

Photos by Janey Fugate

8 | Think Creative | Spring 2020