At a glance: Honduras

The big picture

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This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

Sixty-eight per cent of Honduran families are poor, mainly in rural and periurban areas. There are significantly more poor families in rural areas (75 per cent) than in urban areas (57 per cent).

In 2001, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 2.6 per cent compared to 2000. External debt accounts for 82 per cent of GDP and 72 per cent of imports. Unemployment accounts for 16 per cent of the economic active population, a figure that fuels the informal economy. A total of 384,832 children and adolescents aged between five and 18 years work.

The percentage of social spending accounted 40 per cent in 2001. Some 90 per cent of health and education expenses, although increasing, are devoted to salaries. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, envisaged for mid-2003, could be delayed due to failures to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions.

Honduras has reached 13 of the 27 World Summit for Children goals and has enacted the Children and Adolescents Plan of Action (Plan de Acción Nacional de la Niñez y la Adolescencia - PANNA). Child mortality rates fell from 50 per 1,000 live births to 34 between 1990 and 2000. Under-five mortality rates fell from 65 per 1,000 live births to 45 per 1,000 live births in the same period. Pre-school coverage is 35 per cent and primary school 86 per cent.

 HIV/AIDS is a serious challenge.

UNICEF priorities

UNICEF’s work is reinforced through:

• Intiatives linked to the demand for, promotion and guarantee of human rights,
• Actions for promoting and supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and
• The involvement of civil society.

A concerted effort will be made to increase the linkages between the different programmes, concentrating efforts in priority rural and urban areas. In addition, collaboration will be strengthened between UNICEF and other United Nations organizations, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The main country programme strategies include:

• Advocacy to increase political will and financial resources to sustain past achievements and to advance towards full attainment of commitments of the World Summit and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• Social mobilization and communication to create public demand and participation, at all levels, but with special emphasis on municipal-level actions as part of the Municipal Pact for Children and with families;
• Capacity building to strengthen the process of decentralization and local/municipal involvement in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of child- and adolescent-focused interventions (including government and NGO counterparts); and
• Developing and disseminating inclusive and sustainable service delivery models, developed at local levels and projected for national implementation - to reach and respond to the most excluded children.