📋 Tender Overview
In the Sula Valley of Honduras, many people have suffered displacement, endemic violence and natural disasters.
This area, in northern Honduras near the border with Guatemala, has been struggling with clashes between criminal groups for decades. Therefore, when two devastating hurricanes (Eta and Iota) hit the Sula Valley in 2020, the effect was especially serious. Thousands of people lost everything and many were displaced for the second or third time.
In the Sula Valley, disasters have had consequences that go beyond the material: they have also negatively affected the mental health of the inhabitants. For those who have problems, it can be difficult to know who to turn to.
"In Honduras, accessing mental health services can be very difficult," said Ileana Merino, program coordinator at HIAS Honduras. "So in a context where the state cannot provide this to people, the community can play a fundamental role."
That's where EMPODER comes in. A community intervention implemented by HIAS Honduras , USAID , and FUNADEH , a local organization, EMPODER provided mental health support, gender-based violence (GBV) prevention, and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) to more than 17,500 people in San Pedro Sula. and Choloma between 2021 and 2023.
The project was aimed at internally displaced Hondurans, affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes Eta and Iota, with experiences of forced return from other countries, and victims of violence, particularly gender-based violence.
EMPODER has proven to be especially innovative in improving mental health outcomes. HIAS Honduras worked closely with FUNADEH to identify 30 people who were already leaders or well-known in their communities to become mental health ambassadors.
Participants received training in cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques to provide people with practical tools to improve their psychological resilience and ability to cope with external stressors, without having to unpack traumatic events.
Ambassadors supervised group sessions where people could talk about their experiences in a safe environment and do practical exercises. They also received training on how to identify situations of gender-based violence, in order to connect survivors with specialized services offered by the government and other organizations.
In addition to training ambassadors, HIAS taught more than 100 local government members techniques to provide psychological support to people in their communities.
"Community ambassadors have a greater capacity to intervene in situations that put the mental health of people in their communities at risk than external service providers," said Ely Melendéz, country director of HIAS Honduras. "This is due to the trust already existing between ambassadors and community members."
Community members saw significant improvements in their mental health after participating in the program. 72.3% reported having experienced an increase in their general well-being after completing the group psychology sessions led by the ambassadors, while 95.1% of caregiver participants reported feeling more prepared to face their problems after participating in EMPODER. .
"The most important thing for us was to give communities the tools to be autonomous and determine their own well-being," Merino said. "The ambassadors taught things that other people could replicate in their personal contexts. This gives people the feeling that they can take back control of their lives."
