Think Creative - Issue 2

(Left) Juan Escobar and his wife Juana Mercado Pineda grow squash and other vegetables in a small garden plot.

The dry season stretches from December to April and is marked by strong winds that worsen the drought.

Juan Escobar tests out the hand pumps on his newly installed water harvesting and irrigation system. Photo by Amalia San Martín.

The couple’s children and

Juana Mercado Pineda makes tortillas over her wood-burning stove.

grandchildren gather in their open-air kitchen.

tive of ACS-PROSASUR, which is working in 12 municipalities in the southern departments of Choluteca and El Paraíso to improve liveli- hoods and build resiliency for 6,000 poor and extreme poor families. The project is implemented by Creative Associates International in partnership with INVEST-Honduras. It is one piece of the larger Dry Corridor Alliance and receives funding from the World Bank through the Global Agri- culture and Food Security Program. The project will help families develop business and food security plans and provide farming tools like biofuel systems, complete small household projects such as installing clean cook stoves and laying concrete over dirt floors, and offer trainings and technical assistance. The project seeks to refine farming practic- es, diversify crops and connect smallholder farmers to markets to both raise incomes and improve health. More than 3,000 families will receive water har- vesting systems like the one at Escobar’s home, for a total of nearly 1,000 hectares of irrigation. Rony Alvarez, a technicianwho has beenworking closelywithEscobar, says the project is reaching families that have often been overlooked.

young people don’t have to migrate and can stay in the region,” he says. Helping families plan for better futures In addition to installing the water harvesting system, the project is giving Escobar other tools to help him improve his yield. He received assistance planting his corn more efficiently this year, is experimenting with different types of corn seeds, and will continue learning new practices to be more productive. ACS-PROSASUR is focused on “smart” agricul- ture – practices that take the weather instability into account and allow a family to be resilient in the face of dramatic changes in climate they will see throughout the year. Poor and extreme poor families that meet cer- CreativeAssociatesInternational.com | 17

“Assistance sometimes has stayed within a privileged group and hasn’t reached those who really need it. I’m someone who thinks that we’re in a country where a few people have a lot and a lot of people have little,” he says. “That’s why I like this project, because we’re coming to help the people who are most in need.” The Dry Corridor region of Honduras struggles with compounding challenges like food and wa- ter scarcity, poverty, illiteracy and high levels of migration. Alvarez says he thinks putting change inmotion at the household level can start to turn things around for families like Escobar’s. “We believe that by establishing land parcels that can be planted all year round, we can generate jobs and help people stock up for household consumption, as well as to sell their excess crops and generate incomes, so that