TRANSFORMING MARKET SYSTEMS ACTIVITY NINTH …

TRANSFORMING MARKET SYSTEMS ACTIVITY

NINTH QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT Quarter 3 – FY 2020

April – June 2020

Transforming Market Systems Activity

Quarterly Report April – June 2020

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TRANSFORMING MARKET SYSTEMS ACTIVITY

NINTH QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT

QUARTER 3 – FY 2020

APRIL – JUNE 2020

This report covers activities under USAID IDIQ Contract No. 72052218D00001

Task order No. AID-522-TO-18-00001

SUBMITTED TO:

Activity Management Specialist

Office of Economic Growth

Contract Officer’s Representative

U.S. Agency for International Development

SUBMITTED BY:

Country Representative

Chief of Party

August 20, 2020

DISCLAIMER

This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States

Agency for International Development (USAID). The author’s views expressed in this

publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International

Development or the United States Government.



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CONTENTS

SECTION I: BACKGROUND ............................................................................................ 1 SECTION II: SUMMARY ................................................................................................... 1 SECTION III: PROGRESS BY ACTIVITY COMPONENT .......................................... 3 COMPONENT 1: VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURE ................................................................................. 3 COMPONENT 2: TOURISM AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES ............................................................ 9

Other Noteworthy Achievements: .................................................................................................................. 18 COMPONENT 3: ENTREPRENEURSHIP ............................................................................................... 20

Other Noteworthy Achievements: .................................................................................................................. 25 COMPONENT 4: BUSINESS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT ............................................................... 28

Other Noteworthy Achievements ................................................................................................................... 32 SOCIAL INCLUSION, ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND COMMUNICATIONS .............. 35

SOCIAL INCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 35 ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE ......................................................................................................... 35

COMMUNICATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 36 SECTION IV: MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING .......................... 37 MONITORING & EVALUATION SYSTEM .............................................................................................. 37 SECTION V: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT .................................................................. 41 PARTNERSHIP AND INNOVATION FUND (P&IF) ............................................................................. 43 SECTION VI: LOOKING FORWARD ........................................................................... 44 SECTION VII: FINANCIAL INFORMATION ............................................................ 45 ANNEX I – TMS PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ..................................................... 47 ANNEX II ........................................................................................................................... 53 ANNEX III ......................................................................................................................... 54 ANNEX IV .......................................................................................................................... 58



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ABBREVIATIONS AGHAS Gastronomic Association of Honduras

ANDE Aspen Network Developing Entrepreneurs

AMCHAM American-Honduran Chamber

AMHON Association of Municipalities of Honduras

BANHPROVI National Production and Housing Bank

BCIE Central American Bank for Economic Integration

BCH Central Bank of Honduras

BEE Business Enabling Environment

CANATURH Honduran National Chamber of Tourism

CCICH Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Choloma

CDCS Country Development Cooperation Strategy

CHICO Honduran Chamber of Construction

CHTC Historical Center of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela

CIES Center for Economic and Social Research

CNBS National Commission of Banking and Insurance

CLA Collaboration, Learning and Adapting

CNI National Investment Council

COHEP Consejo Hondureño de la Empresa Privada

COMSA Café Orgánico Marcala, S.A.

COHONDUCAFE Fundación de la Compañía Hondureña de Café

COR Contracting Officer Representative

COSUDE Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

DO Development Objective

DFC U.S. Development Finance Corporation

DMO Destination Management Organization

FCH Fundación CoHonducafé

FEDECAMARA Federation of Chambers of Commerce

FNAMP Honduran anti-gang Task Force

GALI Global Accelerator Learning Initiative

HOPEH Honduran Association of Small Hotels

IDB Interamerican Development Bank

IDIQ Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity

IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IIES Institute for Social and Economic Research

IHT Honduran Institute of Tourism

INALMA Inversiones Amalgamadas S.A.

INFOP National Institute of Professional Training

LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex

ME&L Plan Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan

MESCLA M&E Support for Collaborative Learning and Adapting

MIPYME Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa

MSAR Markey Systems Assessment Report

MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

OPTURH Honduras Inbound Tour Operators Association

OGD Destination Management Organization

OIJ International Youth Organization for Ibero-America

P&IF Partnership and Innovation Fund

PTTE Temporary Work Abroad Program

SENPRENDE National Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses Service

SME Small and Medium Enterprises

SNA Social Network Analysis

TMS Transforming Market Systems Activity

UNAH National Autonomous University of Honduras

UNDP United Nations Development Program

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNITEC Central American Technological University

USAID United States Agency for International Development

VAA Value-added Agriculture

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SECTION I: BACKGROUND

Through Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract No. 72052218D00001, dated April

13, 2018, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded ACDI/VOCA

the Transforming Market Systems Activity (TMS, or, the Activity) with an ordering period through

April 12, 2023 and a performance period through April 12, 2025.

The purpose of the Transforming Market Systems IDIQ is to foster competitive, resilient, and

inclusive market systems that provide increased economic opportunities (jobs and income) that

incorporate poor, marginalized Hondurans and reduce incentives to migrate.

TMS prioritizes investments based on U.S. Government strategic interests, objectives, and ongoing

investments, as currently defined in the USAID/Honduras Country Development Cooperation

Strategy (CDCS) and as based on continuing learning being undertaken on U.S. Government efforts

to counter illicit migration to the United States.

Task Order No. 1 of the IDIQ (No. AID-522-TO-18-00001), dated April 16, 2018, covers the

development of the Activity’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (ME&L Plan), the

execution of actions under this ME&L Plan, and implementation of all Collaboration, Learning and

Adapting (CLA) activities, including analyses, studies and pilots throughout the life of the IDIQ. This

Task Order also covers the implementation of an Inception Phase, comprised of a series of formative

consultations, assessments, and analyses with the purpose of developing Life of Activity Action Plans

for priority economic sectors and their corresponding strategic areas for intervention, including

improvements in the business enabling environment, with an emphasis on actions where USAID can

have a competitive advantage. Task Order No. 1 was amended on October 29, 2018, February 24,

2020, and April 16, 2020, to incrementally fund the contract.

This document presents the quarterly progress of TMS covering the second quarter of fiscal year 2020

(the ninth quarter of Activity implementation), encompassing activities from April 1st to June 30th,

2020.

SECTION II: SUMMARY

“Two secretaries of state and several senior managers from the private sector

have indicated that there was no other organization that would provide

business information during the crisis, neither the National Institute of

Statistics (INE), nor the Central Bank (BCH) or any other entity – TMS’s

Enterprise Resilience Analysis is an incredible contribution."

-

Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (IIES) from the

National Autonomous University of Honduras

May 16, 2020

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The most significant developments and accomplishments resulting from TMS implementation during

the reporting period include the following:

In the past quarter, TMS facilitated 251 events benefitting 10,287 participants. This included

9,797 individuals from 150 municipalities representing 18 departments as well as 490

organizations from 17 different economic sectors. Sixty-nine percent of participants directly

assisted were from vulnerable groups including, 36% youth and 57% women.

TMS provided assistance to 4,859 direct participants employed in food services and restaurants

(as part of the food system for reporting under E.G. 3-2). TMS facilitated training to these direct

participants in biosecurity measures to support this critical end market segment for local food

production which was significantly affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

In the past quarter, partners co-invested $185,825 bringing total co-investment total to $778,459

life of activity. This means for every $1 committed, TMS has managed to leverage $0.89 from

its principal partners. Note that co-investments from secondary partners will be collected as part

of the annual survey process and reported in the annual report.

TMS conducted two panel studies of the Business Resilience Analysis in association with the

Institute of Social Research (IIES) of the National University of Honduras (UNAH) and the

Honduran Council of Private Enterprises (COHEP), the National Chamber of Tourism

(CANATURH), the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FEDECAMARA) and 24 local

chambers of commerce. The first panel collected information across 1,173 enterprises in 16

departments and 17 different economic activities in Honduras. The second panel received

responses from 1,330 companies from 15 economic sectors, with the largest representation from

micro enterprises with 1,049 of the total 1,330 responses.

TMS facilitated the national response to COVID-19 through active engagement in 5 ad-hoc

Sectoral Dialogue Tables, namely the tables for National Tourism Emergency; Micro Small and

Medium Enterprises; Governance; Competitiveness; and Office for Coordination of Presidential

Affairs.

TMS obtained eligibility and facilitated the start of loan application process from the U.S.

Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on 3 new Honduran private sector investments for a

total of over $16 million.

TMS completed the co-creation process for 26 new Fixed Amount Awards (FAAs) which

involves 11 second-phase activities by existing alliances and an expansion of 15 new

partnerships.

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SECTION III: PROGRESS BY ACTIVITY COMPONENT

COMPONENT 1: VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURE

This quarter, in the wake of COVID-19, TMS concentrated its value-added agriculture efforts on

proactively supporting its partners to maintain their business operations and adapt to the new reality

by facilitating access to new markets through e-commerce platforms, substantially increasing

financial options for the agricultural sector, and by facilitating linkages to new buyers. These adaptive

actions have been critical to mitigating the impacts of the crisis and preserving jobs at the companies

by allowing them to maintain revenue, stay afloat and keep payroll.

Alliances and current results:

Innovative Supply Chains - Industrias Amalgamadas S.A de C.V. (INALMA)

TMS and Inalma held a Pause & Reflect session after completing the first year of joint implementation

of the “Rapid Generation of New and Better Jobs through Added Value in Short Cycle Crops”

initiative. The scope of this initiative is to increase the footprint of small holder farmers in Inalmas’s

supply chain and accelerate job creation in rural areas through a more inclusive out grower program

with a timeframe of three years. The session provided initial evidence that TMS and Inalma are

achieving results on the total area planted with plantain, cassava and sweet potato; that local growers

are accessing premium prices; and that Inalma is in fact providing technical assistance through cost

recovery at time of purchase and new innovative outsourcing models. Further, Inalma reported an

increase in production investments and new sales. More importantly, the alliance has promoted a

groundbreaking pathway for small farmers access to credit.

The COVID-19 pandemic closed most of Inalma´s international food service marketing channels,

which forced them to temporarily shut down their cassava processing line. TMS facilitated the

negotiation of a new contract with a local plantain chip processor, Dinant, which allowed Inalma to

maintain operations and keep most of its workforce employed.

In addition, even in the middle of COVID-19, Inalma completed the installation of a new peeling

facility for plantains and sweet potatoes (the second unit as part of the alliance). The facility is now

fully operational and is processing an estimated 150,000 lbs. of product weekly. Of the total output

of peeled products, approximately 17 percent is also sold to Dinant, who further processes sweet

potato skins into Zambos Chips. This new facility has allowed Inalma to replace weekly imports from

Nicaragua of up to 52,000 lbs. of plantain and sweet potato, which came with the additional problem

of being transported pre-peeled, which represents twice the weight.

Inalma's concern regarding raw material availability due to COVID-19 grew over the quarter. In

response, Inalma increased their plantain planting from 10 to 15 hectares per month on their own

farms, but the increase was estimated insufficient in the long term. To address this concern, TMS and

Inalma facilitated access to credit for their independent suppliers to accelerate new plantings utilizing

the new resources made available by the GOH through the National Production and Housing Bank

(BANHPROVI) and its financial product Agrocredito 8.70. On May 20, intermediary bank Lafise

approved the first loan agreement for 5 million lempiras (approximately $204,000) which will allow

plantain growers to expand crops by 50 new hectares. This adds to the pool of financial options that

the alliance is making available to growers through Cooperativa Usula, Inalma’s employee’s

Cooperative and now Banco Lafise.

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Based on these results, TMS and Inalma completed the co-creation of the second phase of the project

via a new Ficha that builds on this momentum and expands Inalma’s outsourcing to 240 additional

hectares (108 ha of plantains and 132 ha of sweet potatoes). This new phase is projected to generate

over 4,000 direct and indirect additional new jobs, both at the farms and at the processing plant, and

add $7 million in incremental sales.

Youth Coffee Microenterprise Model - Café Orgánico Marcala, S.A. (COMSA)

On April 23, COMSA officially completed the first phase of the Youth Coffee Enterprise Model

initiative which encompassed providing business development services to a total of 68 youth

entrepreneurs (33 men and 35 women) over the course of the activity. COMSA delivered training in

business models, cost structure development, and market feasibility analyses.

Building on these results, TMS and COMSA co-created the scope of the second phase of the

partnership to incentivize specialty coffee production in 50 farms owned by young producers,

continue strengthening the new ventures created during the first phase and add at least 35 youth or 15

new business enterprises, increase sales in over $340,000, and facilitate social inclusion through

supporting 25 women-owned businesses related to organic vegetables and coffee.

Investment and Export Promotion – JJ Agro

JJ-Agro, like most businesses across the world, faced enormous disruption at the onset of the COVID-

19 crisis. Last quarter, TMS reported about its rapid response mobilization to link JJ Agro with Pyflor,

a Tegucigalpa-based produce delivery service, thus rescuing JJ Agro’s inaugural strawberry harvest.

Through continued collaboration, this quarter TMS and JJ Agro were able to secure a second

distribution channel for the San Pedro Sula region: retail company Yojoa Foods. The connection with

Yojoa Foods was possible because Yojoa Foods is one of the hundreds of companies that has recently

migrated to e-commerce through the training and online transaction platform provided by TMS

through its Entrepreneurship Component.

JJ-Agro was able to maintain and grow strawberry sales through these services, avoiding product and

job losses and opening relationships and growth pathways.

JJ Agro is currently one of Walmart's largest suppliers of potatoes and cabbages (cabbage, broccoli,

and cauliflower) in Honduras, and although it already has a pool of 25 to 30 small producers that

supply the Walmart contract with potatoes, they could easily double their volume of deliveries to the

formal and informal markets if they could manage to integrate a larger group of small producers into

their supply chain, ensuring quality, competitive costs, and on-time deliveries throughout the year.

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For an anchor firm like JJ Agro, expanding its pool of small producers, despite being an

administrative, safety and quality assurance challenge, represents an opportunity to leverage

additional resources through land, labor, and cash investment, and thus more quickly expand the

planting areas required to meet market demand. This would not be possible under a vertical

integration model due to the financial constraint of needing to buy more land to expand production.

Likewise, an integration model with small farmers helps the anchor company to mitigate several of

its risks, such as pests, diseases and drought by having the crops dispersed in several regions, in

addition to a high probability of being able to reduce the production costs given the peculiarity of the

cost structure in small farmers who use family labor.

TMS and JJ Agro completed the co-creation of an expanded partnership to leverage the experience

and access to the formal and informal markets of the company at the national and regional level to

integrate at least 75 new young farmers (25 percent women) into JJ Agro's supply chains in a

sustainable manner, ensuring their access to technical assistance, training and information systems

that will allow traceability throughout the chain. At the same time, the initiative will facilitate access

to financing to small integrated producers. The goal of this new partnership is to create 500 new and

better jobs and increase sales by $3 million.

Nestlé Global Youth Initiative - Fundación CoHonducafé (FCH)

The main TMS objectives with this alliance are to facilitate the adoption of solar drying technologies

by smallholder coffee growers and expose youth to opportunity-based entrepreneurship training.

TMS and CoHonducafe initiated co-creation of a second phase of the initiative that aims at facilitating

installation of 700 new coffee solar dryers; support at least 6 local ventures that provide services

gradually complementing and replacing the work of FCH in the solar dryer program; put in operation

3 new training centers; and train at least 2,500 young people. In total, the partnership will generate

an estimated 1,490 new or better jobs over the next 12 months of implementation.

Market Opportunities in Non-Traditional Crops - EFI Solutions

On May 21, TMS and EFI Solutions held a Pause & Reflect session on the first year of the partnership

which integrated 66 cardamom, ginger, and lemon grass growers to the company’s supply chain. The

most innovative part of the alliance has been the consolidation of five local satellite companies that

manage the majority of EFI Solutions’ supply of raw materials with growers. The new sourcing model

strengthened the "buy local" concept through the identification and empowering of local

entrepreneurs that added value to growers in terms of volume aggregation, technical assistance, access

to financing through local bank BANRURAL, and processing. Further, formal intermediation

services created a direct trade mechanism with high value markets.

TMS and EFI Solutions completed the co-creation of the second phase of the alliance projected to

integrate 75 new growers with a target of 420 new or better jobs and $572,000 in incremental sales

in an 18-month period. This phase will increase the planted area with vetiver, ginger, black pepper

and lemongrass from 14 hectares to approximately 700 hectares and will facilitate the inclusion of

Garifuna communities in the Atlantic coast into export market systems through the production of a

pilot project for 15 hectares of vetiver that will be processed into essential oils. Moreover, EFI

Solutions plans to invest in additional top certifications to access new markets including organic,

Mabagrown and Nelixia Unique.

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New Partnerships:

Employment and Income Impact of Cacao - Fundación Chocolats Halba

Chocolats Halba (CHH) is a Swiss company over 80 years old, part of the COOP supermarket chain,

with more than 1,500 supermarkets that record sales of more than $30 billion annually. CHH is

dedicated to manufacturing high-quality chocolates with a strong focus on ensuring social and

environmental responsibility, using organic certification and fair-trade processes to share benefits

with producers. CHH initiated operations in Honduras in 2009 - representing the only country outside

of Europe where CHH has invested directly, creating Chocolats Halba Honduras, S.A. in 2012, to

develop their cocoa supply chains.

To address the low quality of cocoa in the country, CHH invested in collection centers to process

high-quality cocoa which has generated international recognition for Honduran cocoa. As part of this

quality standard, CHH has invested in certification processes, achieving organic certification of more

than 1,300 producers and 4 organizations in organic and fair trade, allowing the export of certified

cocoa with prices that are more than 65% higher than the international market price. CHH maintains

a strong commitment to cocoa producers in seeking alternatives to improve the income of families.

In addition, CHH plans to expand the portfolio of products to be marketed in the future which can be

produced in association with cocoa (e.g. dehydrated pineapple).

The economic feasibility of the crop for Honduran farmers is not clear due to recurrent low yields

resulting in a weak response of growers to the high-priced markets, like the one offered by CHH.

TMS reengaged with CHH after stopping initial conversations in 2019 due to the temporary

suspension of USAID funding. With this partnership, TMS aims at responding to a fundamental

question: if the price CHH offers is higher the price compared to the conventional market, why have

farmers not responded to this signal? TMS and CHH will collaborate to create the necessary

incentives for growers to engage in this market. Further, TMS seeks to ensure the participation of

young farmers, which could result in a fast expansion of the crop by taking advantage of the full

Honduran potential, in terms of soil and climate conditions.

The goal of the partnership is to upgrade 80 hectares of organic/Fairtrade certified cocoa production

among 4 grower’s groups into a new agroforestry model called dynamic agroforestry systems (DAF),

to increase yields from 5.3 quintals/hectare to 10 quintals/hectare in three years. TMS plans to then

use this pilot to document the changes needed at the grower’s level to make the crop feasible and

attractive to new investors for scaling-up, with a focus on the incorporation of young entrepreneurs

into the sector.

Improving Agribusiness Competitiveness Through Renewable Energy - IBS

Since 2008, Innovative Business Solutions (IBS) has provided renewable energy solutions based in

Tegucigalpa. The company specializes in biogas, solar energy, and energy efficiency. From 2013 to

2020 IBS developed projects for the commercial, tourism, and agro-industrial sectors and consulting

for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) with funds from the German

Development Bank (KfW) and the European Union.

As articulated in the TMS Markey Systems Assessment Report (MSAR), the Honduran agro-

processing sector holds significant potential for job creation, export revenues, and incomes.

Discussions with agro-processors highlighted several problems holding back the sector's

competitiveness. One of the key constraints and challenges is in the cost of energy. Most agricultural

enterprises pay retail energy rates because their energy demand tends to peak seasonally. Current

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grid-costs are around $0.21/kWh. Regulatory and structural issues in Honduras suggest that these

costs will most likely increase in the short-term. TMS has partnered and co-created a pilot activity

with IBS to address this issue. Off-grid alternative energy is a rapidly evolving sector and current

energy costs show payback periods of 4-5 years for solar systems for individual enterprises. These

systems have the potential to significantly reduce operating costs for Honduran agro-enterprises,

increasing their competitiveness and ability to compete regionally.

The alliance with IBS plans to conduct at least 40 feasibility studies in key agroindustry clusters such

as coffee, cocoa, fruits and vegetables, livestock, and food processors and implement at least 25 solar

energy projects. The projects will include a workforce development component that will train 10

young technicians to operate the systems at the enterprise level. TMS plans to support IBS to design

tailor-made products to facilitate engagement with the private sector “end users” of solar energy. The

completed studies will be made available to all TMS anchor firms to learn about the impact on cost

reduction in each sector. The project contemplates engaging financial service providers to increase

lending in solar energy projects. In the long-term, this project will help TMS to conduct a more in-

depth analysis of the state of Honduras’ renewable and off-grid energy sector, including where there

may be workforce development or skills gaps, supply chain and installation logistics, and any

potential negative externalities as the sector grows. Additionally, TMS plans to build on this study,

strengthen the reach, and increase competitiveness and inclusivity of the renewable energy sector.

Adding Value Through E-commerce - Passion Coffee

Passion Coffee is the leading brand of specialty coffee in Honduras. They are experts in supplying

high quality roasted coffee and facilitating and advising entrepreneurs and large companies for the

establishment of new coffee shops as well as providing equipment and services to a larger market of

the food service sector. Passion Coffee works with more than 50 coffee growers who earn a 25 percent

premium price (above market conventional price) based on quality, generating 300 direct jobs in the

fields and 30 jobs in processing, sales, and administration of the business. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic, local sales dropped by 50 percent. TMS considered this as a great opportunity

to partner with such a lead actor in the coffee sector to be disruptive and launch an export program

for roasted coffee to the U.S. market through an e-commerce platform.

This digital commercialization of roasted coffee and related products initiative will include creating

unique products and developing a targeted data driven social media campaign that will spearhead the

opening of the market for many other Honduran coffee roasters and traders through a scaling-up

model and replication plan. This represents a great opportunity to add more value, innovate the sector,

and adapt to the business necessities presented during COVID-19.

The partnership will develop a business-to-client (B2C) model through e-commerce to sell and deliver

specialty roasted coffee in the Honduran and U.S. markets. Additionally, the partnership plans to

make 4 trial shipments of roasted coffee to the U.S. and document and socialize the experience to

facilitate crowding-in with other market actors.

Integrating Producers to the Sustainable Organic Coffee Chain - BonCafé

BonCafé is a coffee exporter based in San Pedro Sula which started operations 20 years ago and now

sells around 150,000 bags1 of coffee per year valued at $33.7 million, specializing in certified and

specialty coffees, which accounts for more than 50 percent of their exported volume. Their inclusive

1 The exact unit of measure is 69-kilo bags

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business model for certified coffee and direct trade made them an appealing partner for the benefit of

Honduran farmers.

BonCafé submitted a project proposal to partner with TMS with three goals: to increase farmers'

incomes by adding value through direct trade and organic and Rain Forest Alliance (RFA)

certifications; improve the availability of new genetic materials that facilitates adaptation to climate

change and market requirements; and to standardize the processing of organic fertilizers.

The partnership targets at adding 900 additional hectares of organic and RFA certified coffees to

BonCafé’s program by integrating around 250 new growers into this market system. Next, the

partnership plans to provide direct technical assistance to farmers in organic agriculture; diversify

sources of income with new crops such as Hass avocado, plantains, and honey; improve the quality

of coffee through the installation of a new processing/drying equipment; and finally standardize the

production of organic fertilizers using state of the art technologies.

TMS Finance Transaction Unit

This quarter, TMS obtained eligibility and facilitated the start of loan application process to the U.S.

Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on 3 new Honduran private sector investments for a total

of over $16 million:

Ticket Purpose Amount Expected impact

INALMA Farming operations in

vulnerable and poor areas of the

country.

Equipment at processing

facility to increase production

capacity and competitiveness of

Honduran products.

Debt readjustment to strengthen

cash flow.

$4.055 MM

Debt readjustment $1.7 MM

Farming $1.2 MM

Equipment $1.155 MM

Secure 2,160 current direct

and indirect jobs.

Generate up to 6,000 new

direct and indirect jobs.

Reduce imports of plantains

and cassava from 70 percent

to less than 20 percent.

JJ AGRO Increase hydroponic

strawberries by 30,000 M2

Increase potato plantation by

100 hectares per year

$4.7 MM

Strawberries $1,2 MM

Potatoes: $1,1 MM


R&D $100,000

Generate at least 8,000

permanent jobs, benefiting a

high percentage of women

and Lenca indigenous

people.

Initiate export to regional

markets

Reduced cost of Goods Sold

from 60 percent to 48

percent.

Honduchips Double actual production

capacity from 60 to 120 full

container loads per month

$8.2 MM

Processing equipment $3.9 MM


800 to 1,000 additional new

direct jobs

Based on DFC prioritized sectors, TMS is working on five additional tickets with strategic partners

in the productive infrastructure, meat, renewable energy, oil refineries, and avocados sectors.

In addition, through at least 20 meetings, TMS conducted initial scoping for a second pipeline of $295

million for USAID consideration to start the DFC eligibility process.

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COMPONENT 2:

TOURISM AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

This quarter, TMS advanced a national tourism response and recovery agenda with principal national

tourism authorities and stakeholders, enabling a comprehensive COVID-19 crisis management and

mitigation of its effects. TMS facilitated recovery and preparedness of regional tourism chambers,

destination management organizations (DMOs), associations, and their enterprises for the restart of

the tourism industry. TMS support included participatory development of biosecurity protocols for

restaurants and hotels; digital training workshops for the application of these and other biosecurity

measures, development of post-confinement tourism products, and direct technical assistance for the

conceptualization, negotiation and application of government alleviation measures such as

BANHPROVI's financial products for tourism and a Solidarity Support Fund for suspended tourism

employees. TMS also worked at the destination level, facilitating the creation of post COVID-19

economic development agendas for three prioritized tourism districts: the Jewel of the Lakes District,

the Valleys and Mountains District, and the Lenca Maya District, and supported promotional

activities for the restart of the tourism industry.


Advancing a National Tourism Approach & Recovery Agenda

The COVID-19 health crisis has had economic repercussions globally and across sectors, especially

for the tourism sector. There are tremendous implications for international tourist arrivals and

expenditures as a result. According to the UNWTO, the crisis could lead to an annual decline of

between 60 to 80 percent depending on the easing of travel restrictions. TMS's latest COVID-19

Enterprise Resilience Analysis, shows that 73 percent of tourism enterprises suspended their

employees, as 85 percent of businesses are not generating any sales since the confinement period

started.

TMS mobilized quickly to be part of the leading response efforts through the Ad-hoc National

Tourism Emergency Table, beginning on April 8, recognizing that this emergency requires collective

public-private interventions, as well as business model re-adaptations. Proposals built by the

discussion table focused on the three stages for tourism recovery: crisis management and impact

mitigation, accelerating recovery, and preparing for restart. Issues addressed included a review of

taxes, charges, incentives, and regulations impacting tourism to formulate recommendations to

incentivize job recuperation and retention.

National Tourism Emergency Table At the invitation of President to

provide high-level input to address the COVID-19 crisis and

input for economic relief policies for the sector, the ad-hoc

National Tourism Emergency Table convened for the first time

on April 8. At this meeting TMS presented the Enterprise

Resilience Analysis for Tourism, conducted in partnership with

the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FEDECAMARA),

the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATURH), the

Honduran Council of Private Enterprises (COHEP), and the

National University of Honduras (UNAH), along with 15

regional chambers of tourism. National Tourism Table

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Several three- and four-hour sessions were held afterwards from April to June (April 9, 10, 11, 13,

21 and 23, May 14, 20 and 16, and June 3 and 9), which focused on analyzing the projected effects

of the crisis on the tourism economy and on the development of proposals for the reactivation of the

industry with the aim of reducing the economic impact on the more than 500,000 direct and indirect

jobs generated by tourism enterprises.

The first proposed measure: “solidarity support”, was approved on May 4 by the National Congress,

for more than 150,000 employees whose source of income was paralyzed by the shutdown of the

country's tourism activities. Starting on May 18, tourism employees could apply for the funds, and at

quarter's end, 67 companies representing over 645 jobs successfully applied for relief support through

http://CANATURH.org/aportacion-solidaria/.

Applications received from enterprises 149

Employees registered 2,346

Approved enterprises by the Ministry of Tourism 67 in verification process

Employees approved 645

Approved funds to de disbursed L. 2,257,500.00

Counterpart funds from the private sector L. 1,612,500.00

However, it was determined that this alleviation support did not satisfy the needs of employers as the

qualification process was slow and complicated, and most applicants did not qualify for the alleviation

funds.

To make sure tourism business owners were aware and knew how to take advantage of the alleviation

measures, TMS also supported CANATURH and the Ministry of Tourism (IHT) to organize webinars

via Zoom and Facebook Live, where legal experts advised enterprises on the application and use of

the temporary benefits and to explain the temporary financial products that were available for tourism

companies and its application process through the financial system.

Webinar Date Participants Women Men

1 BANHPROVI's financial products for tourism 6/2/2020 336 186 150

2 Solidarity support fund for the tourism sector 5/28/2020 253 157 96

3 Workplace suspension 5/5/2020 350 229 121

Another challenge that TMS addressed, which was caused by the COVID-19 crisis, was access to

credit. Tourism enterprises need fresh operating resources to ensure their resilience and permanence,

renegotiate current debt, and make new investments to implement the biosecurity measures required

to resume services. However, the financial solutions presented by BANHPROVI did not fully address

micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) needs because these funds could not be used for

refinancing current debt, and because their access depends on credit policies and ultimately the good

will of private banks. Therefore, TMS supported the development of a financing strategy through

international bilateral and/or multilateral financing entities that included debt restructuring, grace

periods, and longer loan terms for tourism enterprises. The strategy included four main components:

i) a deeper, individualized consultation about the financial struggles that tourism companies were

facing in retaining jobs, ii) identification of bottlenecks and barriers to submit loan requests in the

financial system, disaggregated by tourism subsector, iii) negotiation guidelines and illustrative work

http://canaturh.org/aportacion-solidaria/

11



plans to help entrepreneurs successfully readjust their financial obligations and access fresh resources,

and iv) an analysis of the accessibility of financial relief products currently available through financial

institutions.

A first approach in the development of this strategy was made through the National Commission of

Banking and Insurance (CNBS), who expressed their commitment to work alongside the tourism

sector on the development of a sector-wide proposal to launch specialized financial products to keep

businesses afloat and prepare their recovery. On June 16, CANATURH, with TMS support, presented

an analysis of the importance of tourism on the national economy, the impact of COVID-19 on the

sector, and therefore in the general economy, and a quick look at the necessary financial support for

tourism MSMEs through working capital, low interest loans, and grace periods.

Accelerating Recovery On May 19, the Minister of Tourism, the President of CANATURH, and representatives of 14

regional chambers and 6 associations agreed to move forward with the economic reactivation

planning, including the readjustment of products and promotional campaign plans.

TMS supported national tourism authorities to review

protocols to be adopted by tourism service providers to

ensure the enhanced safety of tourists and employees in a

COVID-19 scenario and build capacities through training

programs to enable MSMEs to adapt their tourism services

to the new reality.

At quarter's end, TMS had revised the following six

biosecurity protocols for the industry together with IHT,

CANATURH, the association of small hotels (HOPEH),

the association of inbound tour operators (OPTURH), and

the gastronomic association of Honduras (AGHAS):

No. Protocol Status

1 Restaurants Approved by the Ministry of Labor

2 Small Hotels Approved

3 Grand Hotels Approved

4 Tour Operators In final revision

5 Complementary Tourism Activities In final revision

6 Tourism activities in Natural and Protected Areas In final revision

Specific biosecurity trainings to increase the capacities of the tourism workforce through online

programs were co-designed by TMS, and carried out by CANATURH, IHT, AGHAS, and the

National Institute of Professional Training (INFOP). TMS also participated in the writing and overall

BIGOS, El Patio, Matambritas/Coco Baleada´s staff receiving the biosecurity webinar. These restaurants are

members of the oldest and more important Honduran food franchises.

, President of

Honduras, announces the new relief

measures for the tourism sector

12



development of the Biosecurity Manual for Restaurants and Cafeterias with delivery and take-out

services.

Webinar CANATURH # Participants Women Men

1 Biosecurity Protocol for Restaurants and Cafeterias 4,738 2,865 1,873

1 Biosecurity Protocol for Hotels 492 284 208

Total 5,230 3,149 2,081

Restaurants and Cafeterias were prioritized considering that food and

beverage services were among the first to start the GOH’s intelligent re-

opening pilot. The food industry in the country is estimated to generate

100,000 direct jobs and is mostly made up of small and medium national

enterprises. On May 7, in order to start a gradual opening of food and

beverage establishments, CANATURH, AGHAS, IHT, and COHEP, with

TMS support, delivered a pilot test with 11 establishments in the cities of

Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, to restablish partial income to restaurant

owners and to save as many jobs as possible after the confinement

measures. This work was well received by the GOH and the companies were the first to start operating

again through delivery and takeout services.

Preparing for the Restart On June 3, TMS facilitated a Table meeting with the presidents of tourism associations and 16

regional chambers of tourism to discuss a timeline and specific actions for medium-term reopening

plans by subsector. The industry depends on setting a date to lift mobilization and domestic travel

restrictions, as well as the opening of borders, to start promotional campaigns and tour distribution.

TMS supported a scenario planning which included early engagement and training of workforce and

support tools to tourism MSMEs to adapt to the new reality of the tourism and travel sector in

anticipation of a gradual opening of services to domestic and foreign travelers.

With the economic reactivation that began on June 8 in Honduras, the sector began implementing

actions to support opening the industry's initial subsectors, including a panel discussion on prospects

for intelligent reopening. Further, there were presentations of destinations to international travel

audiences programmed by OPTURH in collaboration with the Association for Culture and Tourism

in Latin America (ACTUAL), aimed at professionals and authorities from more than 22 countries

featuring attractions from Honduras’s five priority tourism districts, as follows:

No. Date Presentation Audience

1 June 8 Country Presentation by the Minister of Tourism, 2,400 views

2 June 9 Destination Roatan by - Mayan Princess Beach Resort 1,600 views

3 June 10 Destination Copán by / Chamber of Tourism Copán Ruins -

La Casa de Todo 1,400 views

4 June 12 Honduras' Secrets by - Honduras is Great Blog 2,100 views

Also, as part of the reinvention of tourism products, TMS, in conjunction with the Central American

Technological University (UNITEC), the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, IHT, and

CANATURH held a webinar called "Tourism Product Development (post-confinement): Challenges

and Opportunities" with the facilitation of two Spanish experts in recreational tourism and planning.

The workshop included the exchange of strategies and considerations based on Europe's experience

with tourism reactivation and had an attendance of 253 participants (181 women, 72 men).

13



At the destination level, following the Destination Competitiveness Diagnostic (Travel and Tourism

Competitiveness Index (TTCI)) completed by TMS and IHT last quarter, TMS continued the work

with three prioritized Tourism Districts: the Jewel of the Lakes District, Valleys and Mountains

District, and the Lenca Maya District. This quarter, the 3 strategic economic agendas were completed

with an average participation of 35 organizations per district. The prioritized actions are included in

Annex IV of the report.

Marketing and Promotion The COVID-19 crisis has affected travel demand and patterns, caused countries to revisit priority

markets, and forced promotional campaigns to readjust activities based on available resources and

the new reality of the outbound markets. Further, marketing actions must now be oriented to build

destination confidence, prioritizing domestic and intraregional (Central America) tourism which is

expected to catch up faster than international travel.

This quarter, TMS started to build the knowledge base for subsectors to forecast future demand

patterns and design an effective promotion and commercialization strategy with priority markets and

products.

TMS worked alongside IHT and OPTURH to reassess (once again) the image of Honduras as a

destination on the internet and across social media, based on new traveler trends as a result of COVID-

19, focusing on the outdoors and nature-based products, which are the segments expected to recover

more quickly.

TMS and IHT worked on the identification of key improvements for the country's most important

websites: honduras.travel and hondurasisgreat.org, etc., to redirect sector-wide campaigns that

capitalize on the most frequent keywords and search patterns of international tourists, aimed at

maximizing traveler confidence once international travel is resumed.

As the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic have caused a spike in e-commence activities,

TMS continued to disseminate, through INFOP, the successful "Web Presence and Social Networks

for Businesses" training (developed in 2019 by TMS and CANATURH) to improve internet presence

and reputation management of tourism enterprises. The workshop transitioned to be a complete online

course in early 2020 due to the great demand by chambers of tourism at the national level. The

National Institute of Professional Training (INFOP) made this course available to all Hondurans

through its online education platform beginning on May 4. The dissemination of this training served

to introduce proposed activities and share best practices on digital marketing with key tourism

stakeholders and to accelerate e-commerce solutions adoption and innovative digital marketing

activities among enterprises in tourism and other sectors seriously affected by restricted circulation.

The tools provided through the course helped tourism companies and other companies to easily adopt

marketing and adaptation techniques for their products, and thus also take advantage of the increased

and consistent contact with social platform users. With this digital workshop TMS also reached

MSMEs in small destinations at a more profound level.

14



During this last session, delivered on June 17, at the request of

HOPEH and IHT, hotel entrepreneurs (47 participants, 31

women and 16 men) learned about the importance of social

networks in the hospitality sector, keeping clients informed

about cleanliness and sanitization measures, and compliance to

government safety standards in order to regain their client's

confidence. Participants completed a three-stage practical

exercise on preparations to reopen: i) confinement, ii) low

demand reopening, and iii) top-of-mind brand marketing plan. These activities contributed to further

improving the web presence within main tourism destinations at a national level, one of the top TMS

systemic change objectives for tourism.

Urban Revitalization and Creative Industries – Nat. Identity Foundation (MIN)

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked the massive closing of all

activities in Honduras, especially those related to tourism,

recreational, and creative services. The alarming increase in the spread

of the virus in Tegucigalpa forced the local and central governments

to increase the restrictions in the city. Given such dramatic

circumstances during the April-June trimester, TMS reviewed the

direction of the Naranja Republik project activities and created new

plans to be able to comply with the established targets of the project.

A large proportion of time was dedicated to administrative tasks

necessary for the adequate articulation of all activities.

This quarter's main activities included:

1. Online interactions about COVID-19 with creative services

subsectors for ecosystems and business communities that regrouped

and came together to share their problems, ideas, and plans related to

the pandemic. Over the past quarter, TMS and partner MIN co-created

Instagram Live events that enabled a space for stakeholders to report

their current situation, exchange ideas, and make plans for alliances to

support and alleviate some of the short-term needs of creative

industries. It was also reported that several projects have been

postponed or canceled. One of the participants for the cinema sector,

Mexican actor , said that while one of his plays was

postponed through August, rehearsals continue through virtual meetings with impressive results. A

global message was given about the importance of unity within the guild, so they can capitalize on

the opportunity presented by unexplored digital media that provides a great possibility of developing

content that people will not find in other forms of entertainment.

N° MIN Livestreams Date # Viewers

1 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects gastronomy 5/6/2020 36

2 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for cinema 5/13/2020 50

3 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for fashion 5/20/2020 917

4 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for editorial sector 5/27/2020 989

5 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for performing arts 6/3/2020 815

6 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for music 6/10/2020 784

15



7 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for urban tourism 6/17/2020 601

8 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for heritage sector 6/24/2020 1,300

9 Before, during and after the crisis: Future Prospects for technology sector 7/1/2020 1,400

Total 6,892

Common takeaways from these discussions were that the crisis also

provides an opportunity for improvement; that this is the best moment

to ‘deviate’ from old practices; implement biosecurity protocols, and

that there is a reinvigorated awareness and appetite for online tools,

courses, webinars and exchanges that can help solve current and

future problems. Conversations within the cultural tourism

entrepreneurs revolved around understanding the mentality of first

travelers, highlighting that next steps are: i) to focus on "low contact"

experiences, and ii) tourism "with a conscience."

2. The Naranja Republik baseline study was granted to ESA CONSULTORES to assess the initial

situation of the target population, the dynamics of the Honduras creative ecosystem and its

relationship with the rest of the urban fabric of the capital city, as well as the non-controllable risk

factors that can condition the impact of the project, the construction of statistical instruments, and the

review and measurement of final indicators, including its development, impact, and effects.

3. Negotiations with TMS partner Alterna, for the execution of the Project Cromática in Honduras,

finished. Alterna will develop a campaign and call to identify at least 180 creative ventures and to

train 90 of them to be accelerated.

4. TMS concluded the co-creation of a 3-month cultural-creative advancement program with different

universities. The draft of the Terms of Reference for the upcoming bid was concluded.

5. TMS, with Naranja Republik, led a new initiative for job creation through

a digital skills training. In order to design effective remote work programs

that prepare Hondurans for high-demand roles, the project signed a

partnership with the Tesserakt Institute, (a nonprofit organization founded in

California with the vision of transforming underserved communities by

strengthening the organizations that drive them through talent and

technology) and successfully completed the preliminary analysis on the

Honduran youth workforce. The main goal of this report was to assess the

immediate potential of the Honduran labor force as job seekers and job

creators, internationally. This study mapped the main challenges and

opportunities for the population, describing knowledge gaps in research and

strategic priorities for enriching the creative and technical workforce through

a pilot in Tegucigalpa that lays the foundation for nationally scalable infrastructure. The results

showed that microworks (Microwork breaks down business processes into small, distributable tasks

that can be completed by remote workers via the internet) combined with now widespread mobile

device use and rising literacy rates across Tegucigalpa's population, creates an unprecedented

opportunity for the people and economies of countries like Honduras, as their low cost of living

provides a unique competitive advantage in global labor markets that seek affordable, digitally native,

high-quality creative and technical talent. For Tegucigalpa’s young people, microwork can create

new economic opportunities by catalyzing mass job creation and income generation due to the on-

demand nature of tasks, ease of enrollment, and sense of freedom that comes from the lack of

commuting or attendance at a workplace.

16



The study results also showed that Honduras has distinct advantages in countless microtask areas

such as translation related services, due its nearshore dynamics, like the number of annual bilingual

graduates. Other examples included content moderation, user research, media labeling, or sentiment

analysis. These tasks can be easily completed by young people in Honduras due to their digital skill

set and native familiarity with the internet, access to digital infrastructure, and time availability due

to unemployment or underemployment and the current pandemic.

Microwork has significant employment potential for young people in the country, while generating

catalytic value creation for the larger economy through the formalization and growth of a high-tech

workforce. To take advantage of this potential, Naranja Republik began exploring the deployment of

a skills-based mobile platform that will enable Hondurans to earn while they learn. For example, by

completing employer certified coursework, users unlock paid projects and higher-value opportunities

like full-time employment, access to exclusive competitions, or startup support that could enable more

than 2,500 young people to access economic opportunities in the technology and creative industries.

6. Through the Urban Innovation Laboratory (Naranja Urban Lab),

a Request for Proposal was launched to present initiatives for the

adaptation of public spaces in the Historic Center of Tegucigalpa

and Comayagüela (CHTC) to adapt to the new normal by applying

the methodology of co-creation, continuous feedback, testing,

evaluation, and the measurement of results. Also, as part of this

pilot project, the aim is to (i) inform and train people and business

owners in the area in biosecurity measures, (ii) implement

temporary elements in the streets that facilitate social distancing

and (iii) to plan a calendar of artistic activities in this area for the

time when mobility is not restricted. This work will be carried out

with the support of the Central District's Mayor's Office (AMDC)

and the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History in August

during a three-month implementation phase.

7. The second phase of the Nighttime Economy Strategy, as part of

the Urban Lab initiative, was placed on hold due to COVID-19

confinement restrictions. Expert led a new

diagnostic to characterize creative services, employment, income,

and needs of 22 creative entrepreneurs. Among the main findings, it is notable that most enterprises

characterize themselves as micro, 50 percent 1-5 employees, more than 50 percent have been in

business for more than 10 years and offer their services mostly in cafes, restaurants, bars, theaters and

other entertainment centers (56 percent). Regarding COVID-19 crisis necessities, the entrepreneurs

mentioned the need to implement fiscal alleviation measures and employment insurance options.

8. Through the Honduras Digital Challenge COVID-19 Contest, the following projects were

supported with seed capital: Flemm System, Alerta Honduras, Algorithm, and Finde.

9. Guiran; a local volunteer group of architects was assisted with tech support and training through

Casa Quinchón- its 3D printer and TA, for the manufacturing of 3D printed facial masks for medical

and front-line personnel.

Before and after proposal for

Gutemberg Avenue by Bertha Visser

17



10. Naranja Republik’s Urban Lab, a space to search for urban solutions through experimentation, in

alliance with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) and the Urban Mobility

unit of the Central District Municipal Government (AMDC),

began implementing the first ciclovia (bike pathway), a pilot

project in downtown Tegucigalpa. The first stage of the pilot

project includes nearly 4 km of 1.5 m wide bicycle pathways

paint-marked and demarcated by vertical signs along existing

roads, which will include bicycle parking in public spaces and

safety through Urban Mobility agents and the National

Police's Feasibility and Transport Department. It is expected

that this initiative will encourage sustainable urban mobility

that is also compatible with social distancing transport

recommendations.

Temporary Foreign Work Program – Ministry of Labor

Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, the promotion of the

Temporary Work Abroad Program (PTTE) has been in stand-by,

waiting for the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs to release a

travel protocol for foreign workers; however, TMS continued

preparing promotional materials and supporting the U.S. visa

applications in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor for C1/D,

H2-A, and H2-B workers related to food supply, considering the

recent POTUS executive order to restrict entry of certain temporary

H2-B workers for 2020.

This quarter, six Honduran workers, a symbolic first group after the

COVID-19 pandemic was declared, traveled to the United States on

June 18 to report to their temporary employers as part of PTTE. This

group has an initial six-month contract in Wisconsin, focused on

several activities including game assembly and disassembly, cleaning

of equipment, vehicles, booths, facilities and land, ticket box, and

collecting fees from customers, among other assignments.

Destination Management Organization (DMO) Atlántida

TMS facilitated a strategic agreement between the Atlántida Destination Management Organization

(OGD-Atlántida) and Banco BAC Credomatic (BAC), to promote 'book now, do later' tourism

vouchers as a strategy to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Through BAC’s “Mi Promo” online

platform, Atlántida tourism enterprises began offering travel coupons at a 50 percent discount. The

promotion allowed customers to purchase vacation packages in La Ceiba and Tela at low costs during

the trimester, in anticipation of tourism activities reactivating under new biosecurity measures. The

promotions included land transportation, hotels, canopy, rafting, visits to natural protected areas and

natural low impact zones. The promotion is valid for one year, is early funding alternative for

enterprises, and is going to be replicated by other destinations in Honduras.

Cyclovia route in Comayagüela,

Honduras.

Source: Tiempo Newspaper

18



The campaign was launched as part of the International Friendship Carnival 2020, renamed this year

as "Pandepiña" (a wordplay in Spanish between pandemic and pineapple bread, a staple within the

Atlántida region) which was held virtually for the first time from May 26-30, with 2,100 viewers.

Online activities included tutorials to dance Punta (a traditional Garifuna ethnic dance) and a parade

of floats, which takes place every year.

Other Noteworthy Achievements:

TMS provided technical assistance to the National Board of Tourism for the design of a national

tourism commercialization strategy that includes new multi-stakeholder collaboration mechanisms

for the development and promotion of packages for the domestic market, with an emphasis on remote

and nature-based products, and identifying possible tourism products and services that would meet

the interest of select source markets - e.g. thematic markets such as meetings and conferences, health

and wellness, and senior tourists; or specific geographic targets such as neighboring countries or

expatriates living in the country or region.

TMS also facilitated a memorandum of understanding between CANATURH and the Technological

University Centre (CEUTEC), a university with national presence, to aid 15 tourism companies and

organizations as a pilot ‘smart reopening’ project. Technical assistance offered included business

planning, human resources development, packaging, pricing, marketing, and financial planning.

New Partnerships:

COVID-19 Emergency Response – Network of Women Without Barriers

In early April, TMS and CANATURH responded to a request for support

from a group of approximately 50 women in the Rivera Hernández

neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, affiliated with the Network of Women

Without Barriers who had developed a project to produce personal

protection supplies in their houses for distribution and sale to help prevent

COVID-19 in their communities. TMS designed a rapid response activity

with partner CANATURH, to connect the current medical supplies

shortage that is threatening to collapse the health system with this local

group, which can help to create redundancy and flexibility in the supply

chain of medical facilities to better respond to COVID-19 and also generate

a strong relationship and business opportunity for families that depend on a

daily income.

From left to right: ,

Deputy Director of CANATURH

and , from the INCP

Medical Association.

19



The Network of Women Without Barriers works with the primary

objective of preventing violence and changing the stigma faced by

women, supporting livelihood and employment initiatives to break

the cycle of violence and emigration in their neighborhoods.

The first two batches of disposable masks (totaling 10,000)

manufactured by the group were donated in June to the National

Directorate of Roads and Transport (DNVT), and the National

Cardiopulmonary Institute in the city of Tegucigalpa. The initiative

includes the production of a total of 25,000 masks and 5,000 kits

which include caps, shoe covers, and gowns that will be donated in

alliance with the National Risk Management System (SINAGER)

to different centers and institutions that need them for their daily

work. Through these donations, the network will generate

commercial relationships in the personal protection equipment

supply chain for medical facilities and employees in the tourism industry.

Social and Economic Reinsertion of Returned Migrants - Fundación AVINA

In 2019 alone, more than 100,000 Hondurans were returned to Honduras from abroad. Some of the

key issues faced upon their arrival are the need to access clinical care, a lack of regional migration

policies, lack of communication between civil society and the public administration, care dependency

on charity, stigmatization, and a lack of reliable information and data for case tracking.

Established in 1994, Fundación Avina is a Latin American foundation focused on producing large-

scale changes for sustainable development in the region by building collaborative processes between

actors from different sectors. Avina is composed of 13 legal entities and has a presence in 19 Latin

American countries, where it has cultivated a network of more than 8,000 global partners including

social entrepreneurs, leading NGOs, grassroots organizations, local and national governments,

regional cooperation agencies, companies, and social movements.

TMS carried out a co-creation process with the AVINA foundation, aiming to establish an articulated

system for the attention, fostering, and integration of returned migrants to the Honduran economy.

The project proposes to benefit at least 1,000 returned migrants through an employability program

that includes certification of labor skills acquired abroad in tourism and construction by

CANATURH, the Honduran Chamber of Construction (CHICO), and INFOP. To generate awareness

and improve the attention and integration system, TMS and AVINA plan to launch a communication

campaign explaining the services provided by the Reception Center for Returned Migrants and

regarding the importance of social inclusion. The partnership's goal is to create a synergy between

the institutions that support the integration of these Hondurans within the 24-month implementation

phase.

Expanding Workforce Development – COSUDE’s ProJoven activity

According to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (COSUDE), in Honduras,

unemployment is concentrated among the youth; out of the country's 291,048 unemployed, 49.4

percent are young people under the age of 25. The urban open unemployment rate is estimated at 8

percent and the rural rate is at 2.7 percent. Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula have the highest

unemployment rate with 9.3 percent and 7.8 percent respectively. However, a significant problem

within the labor market is not just unemployment, but invisible underemployment, which amounts to

Donation event with representatives

of CANATURH and the DNVT

20



48.6 percent of the total population, and is associated with low incomes and with low-productivity

jobs. According to TMS’s Market Systems Diagnostic, there is a need for faster productivity growth

in Honduras, especially for low-income workers, if the quality of work is to be improved and poverty

reduction is to be accelerated.

ProJoven is a COSUDE-funded program in its second phase which has been working with the private

sector for almost seven years, aimed at meeting the needs of the labor market through training of

young people to be ready for employment. The scope of the program is in Tegucigalpa, Comayaguela

(the Central District), Atlantic, Gulf of Fonseca, and Mosquitia. ProJoven addresses two key

objectives: 1) to achieve greater at-risk youth insertion into the labor market by improving their skills

through vocational training processes, and 2) to support public and private institutions and productive

sectors so that they can provide relevant training appropriate to the labor market and facilitate the

labor and social integration of trained youth.

TMS carried out a co-creation process with Swisscontact, ProJoven implementing entity, joining

efforts with the aim to improve the employability of prioritized sub-sectors for the next 10 months.

Through this partnership, TMS will support the preparation of the youth labor market using

mechanisms that link the labor needs of the private sector with the competency training offered

through the national education and technical training system (EFTP). The development of

employment skills will help young people in the lower economic strata to compete in the market. The

articulation of efforts between two international cooperation initiatives allows for the amplification

of impacts and an increase in efficiency and resource utilization.

Through this activity, the partnership will aim to train at least 2,000 young people, in addition to

carrying out a methodological transfer of TMS's entrepreneurship programming to partners of the

ProJoven activity. The goal of the partnership is also to mobilize at least $100,000 in investment by

the private sector and international donors.

COMPONENT 3:

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the entrepreneurial ecosystem nationwide. In this quarter, more

than ever, Honduran entrepreneurs showed resilience and ingenuity to reactivate their ventures, pivot

their business models, help their communities, and keep and create jobs. Entrepreneurs were not alone

in this challenging journey as business development service providers, donors, and other key actors

were strongly committed to providing advice, tools, and financial resources to help reactivate

businesses and the economy. TMS continued to facilitate, guide, and provide technical assistance and

financing to this critical sector to alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 and prepare for the eventual re-

opening of the economy.


E-Commerce for All – SUBE Latinoamérica

This quarter, 3 new Business Service Providers (BSPs) installed the e-commerce platform designed

under the partnership: Voces Vitales, Inversiones Mamma Mia, and the Chamber of Commerce and

Industry of Santa Barbara. This brought the total to 11 BSP promoting the platform nationwide. Voces

Vitales is an institution dedicated to supporting female entrepreneurs in early stage ventures.

Inversiones Mamma Mia is run by an engaged female restaurant owner who has experienced firsthand

the benefits of taking your business online, and she expressed wanting to help fellow restaurant

21



owners in their business digitalization processes. She earned certification as an e-commerce technical

advisor by the E-Commerce for All initiative and showed determination to onboard more restaurants

from Tegucigalpa to help them secure jobs and reactivate their sales.

The project reached two other important milestones: First, 100 technical advisors earning a

certification in e-commerce and FinTech, which enables them to give technical assistance to MSME

owners in developing their online presence, the best use of social media to bring customers to their

websites, and the use of the payments platform. Of the enrolled participants in the program, 50 percent

are women and 43 percent are youth. These newly learned skills also enable them to create a new

revenue stream since they can sell e-commerce memberships and make a profit for their institutions,

or for themselves, if they chose to enroll in the program as freelance advisor.

Second, 200 MSMEs connected to the e-commerce tools and digitalized their businesses to start their

first online sales. By the quarter's end, enterprises from 10 departments and 22 organizations from

DO1 and DO2 enrolled in the project (25 percent were youth-led, 42 percent women-owned, 15

percent were within the tourism sector, and 7 percent were within the agriculture sector).

Medium and large-sized businesses also began transitioning into digital sales channels including

renowned firms like canned goods wholesaler Diprom and retail distributor Yojoa Foods. Moreover,

small and medium-sized businesses and family owned restaurants like TipiKtracho in La Ceiba, Las

Brasas in La Esperanza, and the Hacienda Real Group (owner of brands like Carl´s Junior, Hacienda

Real Restaurant, and a supermarket chain in San Pedro Sula), have also started reinventing themselves

by enrolling in the program and started using the e-commerce platform. These types of businesses

had not made a complete digital leap before the pandemic, and as a result, they needed to reorganize

their business models to improve sales continuity and job retention.

While COVID-19 made adapting new technologies into business models an obligation, a lack of

resources and knowledge made this a difficult task for Honduran business owners and customers. The

digital barrier proved difficult to conquer, and trust in online transactions continued to be a work in

progress. TMS found education to be the most powerful tool to combat these barriers by empowering

people and pushing them into technology usage. To address this gap, TMS and Sube Latinoamerica

began a series of webinars that started on April 8. The webinars were structured as interactive

discussion spaces, to allow questions to be answered in real time, which was applauded by

participants and motivated increased comfort with technological tools. As a result of the participants

enthusiasm about participating in an ongoing support educational system, Sube Latinoamerica

launched the first Honduran e-commerce online community whose purpose is to reinforce knowledge

through sharing experiences and providing ongoing technical assistance.

Building on the successful first phase, TMS and Sube Latinoamerica completed co-creation of a

second scale-up phase that will begin in September 2020, with the objective on engaging 1,000 new

enterprises and eight new business service providers from DO1 and DO2 areas. The Pause & Reflect

session conducted last May, provided valuable findings including: i) Fintech and eComm education

empowers enterprises and users to trust online sales channels, ii) 60 percent of participating

enterprises have closed their first online sales, ii) COVID-19 has forced businesses all over the world

http://www.diprom.net/

https://www.yojoafoods.com/

https://www.tipiktracho.com/

https://www.alasbrasashn.com/

https://www.alasbrasashn.com/

22



into digital channels but the majority of Hondurans business owners remain skeptical and reluctant

to migrate their businesses online. These key findings were instrumental in cocreating a more broadly

impactful second phase.

An entrepreneurship module will be added to the educational component to help enterprises achieve

significant growth through online channels platforms and markets. Additional technological resources

will be made available online and enterprises will be assigned a technical advisor to guide them

through a clear road map on how to digitalize their ventures and sell online.

An Enabling Business Environment for FINTECH – Central Bank of Honduras

TMS, the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH), and the Commission on

Banks and Insurance (CNBS) continued in the effort to create an

enabling environment for the Financial Technologies (FINTECH)

sector. Unfortunately, meetings of the Financial Innovation Table

(MIF) came to a hold since the pandemic started. There were different

efforts from both institutions to reactivate this space, but they reported

that members are not prioritizing the scheduled meetings.

As a result, TMS concentrated on working with FinTech startups

towards articulating the sector, which derived in the creation of the

first FinTech association of Honduras. , Sube

Latinoamérica’s CEO and TMS partner, was chosen as acting

president for the association while they finalize their formalization

process. The newly formed FinTech Association began reaching out

to different actors. BCH facilitated a presentation with the newly

created Ministry of Digital Government, while TMS facilitated a

formal presentation to the national MSME dialogue table and a

meeting with Minister from the National

Entrepreneurship Service (SENPRENDE). From these meetings, the

Fintech Association was officially incorporated as a member of the

MSME Table. The main objective of these meetings was to create

awareness of a capable and regulated FinTech sector to the different

stakeholders, and to create awareness on all the different services

these companies offer, which paves the way towards financial

inclusion.

TMS, BCH, and CNBS also continued their joint efforts to amend the Honduran regulatory FINTECH

framework. All partners jointly developed a process where a request for proposals was launched for

an experienced consulting firm in FinTech regulation to accompany the regulatory institutions in the

revision and amendment of the Electronic Money Regulation (INDEL) and the 2015 E-commerce

Law, as well as the creation of new regulations for the sector. Four proposals were received, one

national and three internationals. After a thorough selection process, U.S.-based EconLEX was

selected. The consulting process will begin early July 2020 and will last four months.

, CEO of Sube

Latinoamérica and President of

the Fintech Association

23



MSME Cultivation - Chamber of Commerce of Choloma (CCICH)

The Choloma Chamber of Commerce and Industry championed

their way into the digital universe. When quarantine started due to

the COVID-19 pandemic, CCICH had minimum online channels

or resources to offer services to their affiliates. They were forced to

completely stop their activities and to create a business continuity

online strategy. TMS worked with CCICH staff over the month of

April to make a complete digital transformation and was able to

integrate all CCICH programs and resources available for

enterprises into an online modality. Not only has TMS's

acceleration program successfully continued as of April 1, but most

programs and chamber services were made available online.

CCICH also began online support for local business adaptation by launching an online motivational

campaign for small and medium enterprises to apply for the enterprise acceleration initiatives through

business resilience webinars. CCICH and TMS also designed new program sessions that inform

entrepreneurs about the government's relief packages.

A successful, completely online, open call for enrollment of interest

campaign was completed, and a second cohort, made up of 50

MSMEs was selected, from which 20 were chosen to take part in

the cultivation program facilitated by TMS. The other 30

enterprises were enrolled in CCICH´s incubation Ruta PYME

program, which will assist them through developing or improving

their business plans and will later give them an opportunity to enroll

back in the TMS cultivation program.

On May 7, CCICH celebrated their first ever online graduation with the first group of 15 cultivation

program participants. Of these MSMEs, one was female-led, and two were youth-led. This brought

attention to an important topic currently addressed by TMS and CCICH. The chamber will make

female-led ventures a target for the third open call for enrollment campaign. As an institution

emphatic on gender inclusion, having so few women apply to the program knowing there are so many

women entrepreneurs in Choloma, was worrisome, and will be addressed through a motivational

campaign this coming quarter.

CCICH continued its institutional strengthening program through different targeted modules to aid

areas like customer relationship management, creating efficient internal processes and schemes, how

to make effective connections between local businesses and anchor firms, how to organize human

resources, and how to identify complementary services for affiliates, among others.

TMS and CCICH also completed the co-creation of the second phase of their partnership, focused on

responding to the economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new phase consists of two key

components: i) establishing a COVID-19 Enterprise Reactivation Seed Fund, with leverage from the

International Community Foundation (ICF), which enterprises can use to cover operations costs and

purchase raw materials, and ii) technical assistance in specialized business development services to

40 MSMEs from the Choloma region utilizing CCICH´s flagship Ruta PYME or Enterprise

Acceleration/Linkage programs. The reactivation of these local enterprises will facilitate increased

sales for over $400,000 and help stabilize the local business environment.

Attendees of the first virtual

graduation meeting of the Choloma

Enterprise Acceleration Program

24



Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Table

On April 25th, TMS was formally invited by Minister of SENPRENDE to join the

MSME Table comprised of 22 public and private organizations. The MSME Table was one of the

first ad-hoc groups to start discussions of COVID-19 issues. TMS joined discussions in four areas:

(i) unification of information sources and instruments, particularly the TMS-lead Enterprise

Resilience survey, (ii) creation of a national MSME Observatory, (iii) promotion of e-commerce, and

(iv) financial reactivation of MSMEs.

On June 8, the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (SEDIS) joined the MSME Table

focusing on the role of MSMEs to supply the national public schools’ system. SEDIS is currently

working on a national plan with over 100 mayors and 20 municipal associations (mancomunidades)

with the objective of supporting more than 750 MSMEs in 15 departments who produce shoes,

uniforms, and backpacks. Moreover, the plan also contemplates support for school lunch programs

managed by SEDIS which involve more than 10,000 local producers nationwide from 114

communities.

The MSME Table organized the first Virtual Fair “Honduras Consume Local” which had 513 registered MSMEs from 17 departments, 60

percent of which were women-owned enterprises.

Companies exhibited 9,143 products and services with an average of

2,010 visits per day. Virtual stands reportedly received on average 913

client interactions and recorded a total of 20,102 users who reportedly

generated L. 135,090 (approximately USD $5,500) in sales.

Additionally, during the fair, 5,811 attendees received virtual education

trainings on biosafety protocols and e-commerce.

TMS organized 9 live webinars (totaling 176 viewers, table below) on

important topics such as e-commerce, rethinking business models,

enterprise certification, and biosecurity measures, among others, to help entrepreneurs understand

and access the right tools and advice for their reactivation. TMS also made available, through the

virtual library, the Enterprise Resilience Webinar Series made up of 17 webinars on various business

development topics.

Due to unexpected high demand by both exhibiting merchants, as well as customers, the fair, that was

originally scheduled to be live through June 15-19, was extended and ran through June 26.

During a virtual appearance at “Foro Canal 10” a national TV show to promote the fair, USAID

Director related the fair to the findings of the TMS Enterprise Resilience Analysis: “More than 73% of companies were unable to sell during the

crisis…that´s why USAID supports the MSME table, to help

Honduran entrepreneurs, especially the small ones, to receive the support they need to recover.” Minister motivated

Hondurans to participate: “Let us support the local economy to compensate those jobs that are in grave danger and to motivate

all those who need an opportunity in the market to develop their

businesses.” was joined in this public appearance

by Minister , from COHEP, and

from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of

Tegucigalpa.

, Director of

USAID/Honduras

25



TMS Webinars

DATE TOPIC TOTAL WOMEN YOUTH

June 15 Passion for Entrepreneurship 29 18 1

June 15 Applied Biosecurity 10 7 1

June 16 Reopening with ISO 9001 28 16 0

June 16 Web Presence and Social Networks 4 3 0

June 17 Business Intelligence and its Impact on

Entrepreneurship

38 17 0

June 17 E-commerce tools you can't miss 15 9 0

June 18 Value Proposition and Business Models 11 6 0

June 19 HONDUCOR Services 16 9 1

June 19 Entrepreneurs with Growth Mindset 25 13 1

TOTAL 176 98 4

Other Noteworthy Achievements:

Online Startup Weekend COVID-19. On April 24-26 the first ever Startup Weekend COVID-19

took place in Honduras. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour continuous event where tech entrepreneurs

transform their ideas into tech startups. Young inventors, innovators, developers, and anyone with a

passion to tackle COVID-19 in Honduras came together in this first-of-its-kind Online Startup

Weekend. Eleven teams took on the challenge from Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Ojojona, Marcala,

Santa Ana, Choloma, and La Ceiba. TMS joined forces with the

entrepreneurial community and facilitated mentorship, judges,

local investors, and media outreach for the event. The winning

startup was “Médico en Casa” (Home Doctor), which creates a

platform where doctors can continue their practice from home

and follow-up creating an online medical history for their

patients and connecting them with discounts in pharmacies for

their prescribed medication. The problem addressed was that on

one side doctors were giving out free informal consults through

their phones to patients and on the other side patients weren´t

getting the full medical treatment and attention they required

and their medical histories weren´t being updated.

New Partnerships:

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs - U.N. Women

TMS teamed up with UNWomen this quarter to connect local women entrepreneurs with regional

markets within the framework of UNWomen’s Local Economy and Territories (MELyT) program,

financed by the Italian Development Cooperation Agency (AICS). The economic empowerment of

women is one of the central axes of the mandate of UNWomen and one of the key pieces of the 2030

agenda. Creating the conditions for women to fully participate in all sectors and at all levels of

economic activity is essential to building strong economies, establishing more stable, fair societies,

and improving the quality of life of women and societies in general. Female entrepreneurship is a tool

to boost the economic participation of women, and the generation of new income and employment

opportunities and for the promotion of social, economic, and environmental development in the

territories where they live.

https://covid.startupweekend.org/

26



The initiative aims to promote transformative social impact to advance the economic empowerment

of women to achieve gender equality. The plan is for the participants to receive training through

TMS’s MSME incubation initiatives (implemented by partner ALTERNA). ,

UNWomen’s Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean, highlighted: “with this alliance

the lives of women who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 can be transformed”.

As part of MELyT, UNWomen started a regional project in

2019 called ENLACES (links), to connect companies from El

Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with the potential to

generate impact with local women entrepreneurs in the region,

transforming their products, expanding their distribution

networks, and accelerating their presence in markets, and in this

way, putting them on the radar of opportunities. The

implementer for ENLACES in the region is ALTERNA. The

project plans to strengthen 200 female entrepreneurs and

generate market connections for 5 anchor companies in

Honduras through modern methodologies for doing business.

Under this new partnership, business training and support will

be carried out through ALTERNA and three regional Business

Development Centers (CDE MIPYME): Lempa, Western, and

Gulf of Fonseca.

TMS and UNWomen organized a joint online launch event on

June 23 with the participation of Minister ,

of the National Institute for Women (INAM), and Minister

, of SENPRENDE. Minister said that the

importance of women in the Honduran economy is that they

represent over 51 percent of the total population and yet they

face a higher number of obstacles to accessing and benefiting from economic opportunities. More

than 60 percent of businesses registered at the recent Virtual Fair organized by SENPRENDE were

women-owned enterprises.

Increasing MSME Innovation and Competitiveness - FEDECAMARA

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Honduras (FEDECAMARA) is a non-

profit association with over 50 years of experience supporting economic development nationwide. To

contrast the negative effects caused by COVID-19, FEDECAMARA, TMS and the National

Investment Council (CNI) collaborated through online trainings to certify over 3,000 enterprises in

biosecurity measures advancing their readiness for the national economic reactivation process.

Based on this successful collaboration, TMS and FEDECAMARA decided to partner to create an

institutional strengthening program which will benefit 8 regional Chambers of Commerce from El

Progreso, Santa Rosa de Copán, La Ceiba, Santa Barbara, Gracias, La Paz, Comayagua, and

Villanueva. The project will feature a hands-on technical assistance component to incubate 480

MSMEs from these municipalities and certify over 2,000 enterprises with biosecurity reactivation

measures and starter kits. This new partnership will help create 240 new or improved jobs and

facilitate a sales increase of over $500,000 for local businesses. The project will also help strengthen

the national network of chambers of commerce through technical assistance to increase institutional

capacities.

27



Piloting Urban MSME Adaptation and Reactivation – CCIT

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tegucigalpa (CCIT) is a 129-year-old business network

organization certified under the ISO 9001-2015 standards. The CCIT represents 4,000 affiliate

enterprises and actively represents the private sector in institutions like the Private Contribution

Scheme (RAP), National Institute of Professional Training (INFOP) and the Honduran Council of

Private Enterprises (COHEP), among others.

The current economic situation in Honduras, suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has

forced institutions such as the CCIT to develop early response strategies that include facilitating

technical assistance to its members and establishing a business reactivation fund. Given the structure

of the Honduran financial system, it is significantly difficult for MSMEs to access credit sources due

to a lack of knowledge and experience processing a business loan application, low credit scores, and

other eligibility factors.

To help overcome this, the CCIT approached TMS to co-create a pilot response mechanism whereby

at least 50 affiliated enterprises will receive technical assistance with a main focus on access to

ecommerce markets and platforms as a means of reactivating their businesses as well as seed capital

with funding from the International Community Foundation (ICF). The project will also leverage a

robust innovative service model developed by CCIT in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce

and Industry of Bogota in a novel south-south cooperation triangulation initiative.

Piloting Rural MSME Adaptation and Reactivation – CDE Lempa

The Enterprise Development Center of the Lempa Region (CDE Lempa) is a public-private institution

based on the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) model of the University of Texas. Its main

purpose is to stimulate the economy of the departments of La Paz, Intibucá, Ocotepeque and Lempira

by promoting the creation of new businesses and strengthening existing enterprises providing

specialized business development services.

Most economic activities of the major economic sectors in Honduras have been suspended since

March 16th. Strict measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 from have seriously impacted all

businesses in the Lempa Region. In March-April, CDE Lempa ran an enterprise diagnostic to assess

the economic impact generated by the health crisis. The assessment concluded that 80 percent of

companies did not report sales in this period and were forced to stop production of their goods and

services. Within a short time, these companies will face certain risk of having to cease operations due

to prevailing economic unsustainability.

Leveraging resources provided by the International Community Foundation (ICF), TMS and CDE

Lempa in will facilitate a non-refundable emergency fund for 30 MSMEs in the region. CDE Lempa

will provide customized technical assistance and integrate them into its digital commercialization

platform. A monitoring and evaluation system will be implemented to track and measure the expected

results of the investment in the operations, production processes, technological innovation, access to

markets, and creation of new products and services of the MSMEs. This program will aid the recovery

of businesses in the region, create 100 new jobs and generate over $150,000 in incremental sales.

28



COMPONENT 4:

BUSINESS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Government of

Honduras issued Executive Decree PCM 030-20202 on April 9,

2020, which declared the agroindustry sector and its supply

chains as national priorities and provided measures to ensure

food security and sovereignty.

In Articles No. 16, 20, and 25, the PCM 030-2020 instructed all

organizations assigned with permitting, licensing, and

authorizing agricultural products that they must digitize,

streamline, and simplify their processes to follow one single

procedure with the highest level of automation. Likewise, the

design, financing, planning, construction, and operation of agro-

industrial parks was declared to be of public and strategic interest

for the nation.

Aware of the window of opportunity that this represented to

address both, the country´s immediate economic and productive

systems troubles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some of its long-term market systems

bottlenecks, his quarter, TMS supported the government of Honduras in conceptualizing strategies

and plans to adhere to this decree and take it to implementation.

Promoting an Inclusive Agroindustry – National Council of Investment (CNI)

TMS and the National Council of Investment (CNI) advanced

one of TMS’s flagship business enabling environment projects:

a legislative reform in the agriculture sector through the

“Framework Law for the Promotion of Inclusive

Agroindustry.” TMS facilitated the analysis and drafting of the

reform in 2019, and passed to public-private dialogue and

validation with key stakeholders during the reporting period.

Entities that provided their input to the draft bill included

UNAH, Zamorano University, Plan de Nación Tegucigalpa,

Plan de Nación Valle de Sula, Plan de Nación Comayagua, Plan de Nación Valle de Lean, and the

Ministry of Agriculture’s Directorate of Agriculture Science and Technology (DICTA).

The relevance of the law was heightened by Supreme Decree PCM 030-2020 on April 9, 2020, which

declared both food security and agro-parks a national priority. On May 26, the Minister of

Agriculture, , provided his full support to the draft bill, and committed to discuss it

with President and introduce it to the Honduran Congress as part of the overall COVID-

19 emergency legislation packages.

Facilitating Local Economic Development - AMHON

TMS and the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (AMHON) completed the design of a second

phase of the alliance to expand and deepen the scope of the interventions carried out in the

2 https://www.tsc.gob.hn/web/leyes/PCM-030-2020.pdf

Minister discussing

the Inclusive Agroindustry law

https://www.tsc.gob.hn/web/leyes/PCM-030-2020.pdf

29



Municipalities of San Marcos de Ocotepeque and La Ceiba, through scaling the “one-stop-shops” to

15 selected municipalities (continuing with the 2 initiatives in 2019 and adding 13 municipalities).

This second phase of the project is not intended to generate a simple addition of partial results, but to

become a definitive phase to consolidate the methodologies within AMHON, in such a way that it

can institutionally scale these processes to the 298 municipalities in the country. This will standardize

the use of simplified procedures through ventanilla únicas (one-stop-shops), methodologies, and

standardized models at the national level for the establishment of arbitration mechanisms. Further, it

will establish the creation of local development agencies that are sufficiently competitive to have pro-

tax business policies that are not extractive. These are all fundamental aspects for attracting

investment and to create new companies and development capacities in each municipality.

To choose the municipalities, the following criteria will be followed:

• Confluence of areas of influence of TMS, the World Bank-funded Governance and Local

Development project (GODELH), and the E.U.-funded Eurosan DeL Project. This effectively

unifies all donor initiatives working with AMHON.

• TMS priority sectors (DO2 tourism districts)

• Municipal governments willing to reform their municipal tax plans as part of the new local

development process.

The actions defined in this project are framed in the AMHON Institutional Strategic Plan 2018-2022.

Governance Table

TMS actively participated on two sub-working tables: Food and

Nutrition Security and Municipal Taxes. The Food and

Nutrition Security sub-table held meetings on May 12, 19, 21,

and 27. TMS gave virtual presentations to the table on the study

to "Reform the National Food Quality and Control System," and

obtained broad support to move to implementation. TMS

indicated that it will continue with the series of presentations of

the study and roadmap for implementation with key

stakeholders and will include participants of the governance

table once this landmark reform moves to implementation.

30



On June 1, 4, 9, 11, and 22 work on this sub-table focused on

coordinating the development of a catalog of agriculture

products within each municipality. The initiative has the support

of the association of municipalities (AMHON), Ministry of

Agriculture, Office of the Presidency, Ministry of Government

Coordination, and Ministry of Justice and Decentralization

(SGJD) with the aim of enhancing municipal capacities and

promoting local production.

The Food and Nutrition Security sub-worktable worked on the definition of the catalog’s sections and

continued dialogue to empower municipalities. Discussions moved to focus on the analysis,

evaluation, and determination of the type of technological tool to be used to manage the catalog and

the sources of financing for its implementation.

On June 4, TMS presented to the Municipal Taxes worktable its strategy to strengthen local capacities

to design and apply municipal taxes in alliance with AMHON. The general objective of the strategy

is to characterize the key processes and methodologies for the proper development of the tax functions

of the municipalities leveraged on the standardization, harmonization, and adaptation of the

arbitration plans. TMS proposed promoting a single tax plan design model that is based on the

multiple and different criteria and methodologies currently in place and that are easy to adapt to the

specific characteristics of each municipality. On June 19, the proposal was approved by the sub-

worktable and was well-received by all the participants, which included AMHON, CCIT, SGJD, and

the Honduran Council of the Social Sector of the Economy (COHDESSE).

The Municipal Taxes sub-worktable reached an agreement on the approach to reforming the

municipal tax plans, which will now use two tracks: a) Localized agreements, taking advantage of the

work of a separate technical table that involves the Council of Private Enterprises (COHEP) and the

Association of Municipalities (AMHON) to address specific cases in the municipalities of Villanueva,

Santa Cruz de Yojoa, San Francisco Cortés, El Porvenir, San

Francisco, and Tela. b) Build on the second phase of the TMS-

AMHON agreement to promote local economic development

which will strengthen municipal capacities to design and

execute tax plans. This project, scheduled to start

implementation in July 2020, will produce a comprehensive and

comparative study of the current municipal tax plans in 15

selected municipalities and will facilitate the development of a

standardized national model for tax plan design.

Competitiveness Table

On June 8, Vice President organized a virtual discussion to detail changes to

the Doing Business Indicator for 2020-2021 which, this year, will collect data on the impact of

COVID-19. It was also reported that the World Bank is interested in analyzing the measures adopted

by governments to respond to the pandemic challenges. The purpose of this data collection is for

research purposes only and will not affect the country’s score or ranking on the Doing Business

Indicator. The complete list of research questions for each indicator was shared with the different

entities represented at the table. To support this activity, TMS sent the COVID-19 Business Resilience

Analysis, conducted in May, which was annexed to the COVID-19 report as a support instrument, to

reinforce some issues of access to credit and the use of relief measures requested by the World Bank.

The answers to the research questions for each indicator were submitted to the World Bank on June

31



17. Participants included CNI, Ministry of Economic

Development, OCAP, Customs Agency, Office of the

President, Invest-H, BANHPROVI, FEDECAMARA,

Revenue Administration Agency (SAR), Municipality of

Tegucigalpa, Municipality of San Pedro Sula, COHEP, and the

Central Bank of Honduras.

On June 11, the Table had a virtual meeting with ,

the representative of the World Bank in Honduras, and his

staff, and delivered three presentations: (i) Vice President

presented a summary of the draft law on

administrative efficiency and advances on administrative

simplification efforts; (ii) the new Minister of Presidential

Priorities and Innovation, , presented the new

Digital Government Strategy; and (iii) the National

Commission of Banks and Securities (CNBS) and CNI

presented economic actions taken by the GOH to face the

COVID-19 crisis. The World Bank recognized all the efforts

made by the GOH, no t only around Doing Business, but also

in strengthening structures for the country, which create the

conditions necessary to measure growth.

Relevant events for Honduras:

• On May 1, Moody's maintained Honduras’ country risk rating at stable B1, attributed to a

solid fiscal policy supported by the Fiscal Responsibility Law.

• On May 6, Standard & Poor´s also maintained Honduras’s BB rating and stable outlook,

reflecting the GOH’s commitment to fiscal restraint and broad access to sources of financing

and economic recovery in 2021 that will help contain the deterioration of public finances and

external liquidity derived from COVID-19 and the global recession.

• On June 1, the Executive Board of the IMF completed the second review of the economic

program under the Stand-by Agreement/Credit Facility, approving an increase in the fund's

support to $530 million.

Office for the Coordination of Presidential Affairs (OCAP) Table

This table held meetings on April 24 and May 5, 6, and 7 with the aim of identifying the relevant

issues in which the Government of Honduras needs TMS's support. Among the main identified

support areas were digital government, electronic commerce, administrative simulation, and

connection with financial mechanisms.

The COVID-19 crisis forced the adoption of measures that promote the automation of processes and

the digital transformation of the State of Honduras in order to create mechanisms that allow citizens

to access government services without having to personally go to public offices, causing crowds. On

May 16, the National Government issued Executive Decree PCM 044-20203 that created the Office

of Presidential Priorities and Public Innovation. The creation of this new institution facilitated the

work of selecting the support area, which turned all the attention to the digital transformation area of

the government.

3 http://www.consejosecretariosdeestado.gob.hn/system/files_force/PCM%20044-2020.pdf?download=1

32



On June 30, a working meeting was held with Minister and his technical team to

define the areas of collaboration in the digital transformation of the government.

TMS expressed its interest in complementing the efforts that the IDB will make in operation HO-

L1202 "Digital Transformation for Greater Competitiveness", indicating the feasibility of

concentrating work in any of the following areas:

o Services for citizens and

companies prioritized, digitized,

and simplified.

o Back office services, both vertical

and shared, prioritized, digitized,

and simplified.

o Operation of the system for

connection to the payment

gateway of public institutions.

o Development of the project to

update the regulatory framework

for digital government.

o Implementation of the multichannel care model.

Other Noteworthy Achievements

The new cybersecurity resilience during COVID-19. On April

29, TMS participated (as an expert panelist) in the discussion to

counter cybercrime and make its cyber spaces safer to help create

a favorable business environment that drives digital transformation

in the "era" of COVID-19. The event was attended by 125 people

and can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/X0617Am792E.

Digital transformation of the Government. On June 16, TMS

moderated an important forum that featured prominent panelists,

the Minister of Presidential and Public Innovation, the Presidential

Commissioner of the National Registry of Persons (RNP), the

President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of

Tegucigalpa (CCIT), the Director of Territorial Planning from the

Municipality of the Central District (AMDC), the General Manager

of Century TICs of Honduras, , and and the

Executive Director of the National Investment Council, who

announced the new digital government projects in process,

presented the trends and the way forward to achieve an effective

digital government focused on citizens. The event attracted an

audience of nearly 300 people, creating a space for dialogue

between the public and private sectors to identify opportunities in

digital development, the challenges facing the country in technologies, and how to overcome them.

https://youtu.be/X0617Am792E

33



New Partnerships:

Implementation of a New National System of Food Quality and Control –Technical Unit for Food and Nutritional Security (UTSAN)

UTSAN is a unit attached to the Ministry of General Government Coordination through PCM 028 of

June 8, 2015. Its mission is to be a technical body with credibility and recognition in the public sector,

civil society, and with international cooperation agencies, through a solid functional structure that

allows planning, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating and optimizing the efforts and resources of

national and local interventions in food and nutritional security.

Building from the thorough analysis and proposal to reform the national food quality and control

system conducted in 2019 by TMS, this quarter, TMS and UTSAN completed the co-creation of an

implementation phase to support the national government to modernize the food control functions

spread across different institutions while counteracting the impacts caused by COVID-19.

The project aims at the harmonization of the institutional capacities and systems of UTSAN, the

National Service of Health and Food Safety (SENASA), the Sanitary Regulation Agency (ARSA),

the General Directorate for Consumer Protection (DGPC), the General Directorate of Fisheries

(Digepesca), the National Quality System (SNC), and the Center for Export Procedures (CENTREX),

as the key actors involved in food quality and control to generate an efficient and integrated system.

TMS and UTSAN will generate critical awareness and understanding among these institutions, co-

design a governance structure, and promote the implementation of the Single National Import Permit

System that responds to the needs and expectations of public and private actors.

This project is directly related to the simplification of administrative processes at the national level

(TMS’s Systemic Change Objective No. 1 under its Business Enabling Environment component) and

to the reform of laws and regulations that positively impact the national competitiveness (SCO No.

5). Likewise, the initiative will become a support instrument to achieve significant changes in TMS’s

value-added agriculture component.

Successful implementation will keep importers active in their daily work and increase their efficiency,

improving their competitiveness, while ensuring both food imports and products needed for local

production. Similarly, it plans boost the economy as a direct effect of streamlining processes and

procedures, which could lead to a direct increase in local food production of up to 2.5 percent,

equivalent to over $170 million per year (according to current GDP values GDP).

Supporting the National Digital Transformation Agenda – Ministry of

Presidential Affairs and Public Innovation

The Ministry of Presidential Priorities and Public Innovation was created on May 20, 2020, in the

midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among its functions is to advance strategies and action plans

leading to administrative simplification of government entities through alternative electronic channels

that allow better citizen access to government services. The Ministry has the mandate to develop the

necessary regulations to make e-government effective, and to define the standards to which the

information and telecommunications (IT) departments of the various State institutions must adhere

in terms of the use of technology, citizen data protection, cyber security and others, establishing

incentives and sanctions for compliance.

This quarter, TMS and the Ministry of Public Innovation joined forces to co-create a technological

soluton and the accompanying technical assistance to integrate and harmonize the interoperability

framework of the following 15 priority institutions according to good practices and international

34



standards: National Institute of Migration, Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT),

Ministry of Finance (SEFIN), Income Administration Service (SAR), Ministry of Natural Resources

and Environment, My Company Online (MIEL), Office of Contracting and Procurement Standards

(ONCAE), Health Regulation Agency (ARSA), Honduran Customs, Property Institute (IP), Ministry

of Government and Justice (SGJ), Forest Conservation Institute (ICF), Ministry of Economic

Development (SDE), National Banking and Insurance Commission (CNBS) and Ministry of

Education.

Activities under this project will also analyze and improve the National Procedures System

(Sin+Filas) and will leverage resources and learning from complementary work by the Inter-

American Development Bank loan to develop "Digital Transformation for Greater Competitiveness"

(loan operation HO-L12024) for a total of $52.7 million.

Facilitating Regulation of the Customs Agency - Honduran Customs Service

The Honduran Customs Service is a decentralized entity of the Presidency of the Republic with

authority and competence at the national level. Its mission is to optimize the collection of taxes

through the administration, application, supervision, review, and efficient control and enforcement of

collection of customs duties.

This quarter, TMS responded to a request for technical assistance by the Honduran Customs Service

in two areas:

1. Updating the legislation in place through the design of regulations that enable the control of the

Assistants to the Customs Public Function (AFPA) based on the CAUCA (Central American Uniform

Customs Code) and RECAUCA (Central American Uniform Customs Code Regulations), Customs

Law and Tax Code that determine and regulate the existing figures and the degree of responsibility,

activities, obligations, rights, procedures and standards with which AFPAs are aligned with the vision

and objectives of the Customs administration for trade facilitation, administrative simplification, legal

certainty, cost reduction and competitiveness in cross-border trade.

2. Design and implementation of a documentary information system to automate the critical processes

of Honduran Customs and manage the registration, updating and monitoring processes of the Control

and Registration of Assistants (CRA) department, which will allow for improved productivity in the

documentation processes, and objective review of the information and its custody.

These activities are directly related to TMS’s goals for simplification of administrative processes,

improvements in the tax regime procedures, and reforming rules and regulations that positively

impact national competitiveness. The support to this integral project represents the unification of

several Honduran and donor-funded efforts that for a long time have been carried out in isolation

without much success. This new project will support the correct treatment of the 4,176 AFPA

personnel distributed in the different types of auxiliaries: Customs Agents, Customs Depositories,

Inland Customs Carriers, Air Customs Carriers, Maritime Customs Carriers, Special Customs Agents,

Fast Delivery or Courier Companies, Cargo Consolidation or Deconsolidation Companies and Free

Trade Operators.

4 https://www.iadb.org/en/project/HO-L1202

https://www.iadb.org/en/project/HO-L1202

35



SOCIAL INCLUSION, ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND COMMUNICATIONS

SOCIAL INCLUSION On May 27, TMS participated in USAID’s 1st Virtual Community of Practice on Gender and Social

Inclusion. During this meeting, the general situation in Honduras regarding Gender Based Violence

(GBV) and COVID-19 was discussed. It was reported that the amount of GBV cases have increased

during the lockdown due to COVID-19. Actions and best practices to prevent this type of violence

were shared by USAID activities such as Unidos por la Justicia and Asegurando la Educación, among

others.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE This quarter, TMS prepared 22 environmental mitigation and monitoring plans for activity

components. The table below shows the projects and their categorization. Recommendations and

mitigation plans will be shared with partners and field follow-up visits will be scheduled during

implementation.

TMS also designed a COVID-19 prevention flyer for CANATURH and SUBE LATINOAMERICA,

allowing them to share these practices with their beneficiaries.

COMPONENT TITLE OF PROJECT IMPLEMENTER CATEGORY

Value-added

Agriculture

Youth Coffee Microenterprise Model COMSA

Negative

determination

with conditions

Innovative Supply Chains INALMA

Market Opportunities in Non-Traditional

Crops EFI SOLUTIONS

Investment and Export Promotion JJ-AGRO

Integrating Producers to the Sustainable

Organic Coffee Chain BON CAFÉ

Improving Agribusiness Competitiveness

Through Renewable Energy IBS

Nestlé Global Youth Initiative COHONDUCAFÉ

Employment and Income Impact of Cacao CHOCOLATS

HALBA

Adding Value Through E-commerce PASSION COFFEE Categorical

Exclusion

Tourism and

Creative

Industries

Manufacture of Personal Protective

Equipment (PPE) - Women Without Barriers CANATURH

Negative

determination

with conditions Naranja Republik FHIN/MIN

Tourist districts - Second phase IHT

Categorical

Exclusion

Commercial Model Development – Second

Phase CANATURH

Temporary Work Abroad Program Min. of Labor

Alliance for employability SWISSCONTACT

Entrepreneurship

Electronic Commerce for All - Second phase SUBE

LATINOAMÉRICA

Categorical

Exclusion

SME cultivation CCICH

Categorical

Exclusion

Development of the FINTECH Ecosystem in

Honduras

BANCO

CENTRAL

SME reactivation CCIT

SME intermediation model CDE Lempa

Business

Enabling

Environment

National Food Control and Quality System UTSAN Categorical

Exclusion

36



COMMUNICATIONS This quarter, the TMS Communications team audited and provided technical assistance to partner

organizations to maintain branding integrity on all TMS-supported publications.

TMS was also actively involved in the planning and design of the Virtual Fair

“Honduras Consume Local” launch, by creating video, promotional materials,

and a virtual stand which highlighted the multi-stakeholder cooperation of the

National Service of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses. The materials were

widely used by government officials in Honduras and abroad.

TMS worked on different materials under the campaign "Stay Safe, Stay

Healthy" a safe and healthy return to work during the COVID-19, providing

information on biosecurity measures for the ACDI/VOCA Honduras office.

UN Women and TMS

Alliance

Exploring the feasibility of adopting

the Combex-IM model in Honduras

Webinars marketing and

promotion

37



SECTION IV: MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

MONITORING & EVALUATION SYSTEM

COVID-19 Business Resilience Analysis

Recognizing the lack of timely and quality data on the effects of

COVID-19 on the private sector, TMS pivoted its planned Market

Systems Diagnostic to conduct 2 "Business Resilience Analysis"

panel studies in association with the Institute of Social Research

(IIES) of UNAH and COHEP, CANATURH, and

FEDECAMARA together with 24 chambers of commerce.

The first panel assessed the immediate reaction of enterprises to

COVID-19 collecting information from March 30 to April 6 across 1,173 enterprises in 16 departments and 17 different

economic activities in Honduras. The results were cleaned,

validated, and analyzed quickly, which allowed for publication of

descriptive results on April 9.

The second panel conducted from May 7 to 16 assessed how

enterprises were adapting to the COVID-19 crisis and focused on

the priority themes of: 1) biosafety measures and preparedness to reopen and 2) the contribution of

relief measures to mitigating the impacts of COVID-19. The second panel received responses from

1,330 companies from 15 economic sectors, with the largest representation from micro enterprises

with 1,049 of the total 1,330 responses.

38



TMS convened a broad umbrella of organizations for this

initiative. Notably, the formal inclusion of three public

agencies as part of the effort: SENPRENDE, the Ministry of

Tourism, the Center for the Development of Micro and Small

Enterprises (CDE-MYPME), and the expanded participation

of regional chambers from 15 in the first panel to 24 in the

second, including Marcala, Valle, Danlí, Catacamas, La

Entrada, La Lima, Trujillo, Olanchito, and Santa Rita.

TMS facilitated critical conversations and played a convening

role between public and private actors based on the evidence

collected through the analysis to prompt dialogue and

coordinated action in response to the COVID-19 crises. TMS

facilitated special dialogue forums with the National Tourism

Council, the Mesa MIPYMEs, high-level COHEP private

sector partners involving major decision-makers in the

COVID-19 response effort, including the President of

Honduras, , the Minister of SENPRENDE, the Minister of

Tourism, , and the President of COHEP, .

“MSMEs are a national heritage, the effort of generations that have been the livelihood of more than

1.5 million employees. Today those sources of income and employment have not been able to survive

the impact of COVID-19 and more than half a million Hondurans have uncertain employment, an

effort that took the business sector 10 years to build" said .

The exercise revealed some of the fault lines that underlie effective public-private coordination in

Honduras. To one degree, stakeholders recognized the importance of collective action as noted by

Minister "It is necessary to get closer and improve communication so that everyone can

know and adopt the measures, as this is the way to minimize the negative impact of the crisis." While

at the same time, frayed trust and divergent interests prompted several of the actions to subsequently

regress, including several private sector chambers´ decisions to abandon several working tables on

the COVID-19 recovery.

TMS held separate Pause and Reflect sessions with six of the key actors involved in the Business

Resilience Analysis and the subsequent discussions. These learning events highlighted several key

milestones that the exercise provided. First, this initiative was the first to provide timely data during

the COVID-19 crisis. Second, this was the first research initiative that involved such a high-level of

public, private, and academic coordination. Third, it reported as one of the few research initiatives

with such high-level and broad discussion by major actors.

• "In the end it is not only the data that was collected, but the synergy that was achieved with the

chambers that was important.” – CANATURH

• “The relevance of the research is really significant, because it was placed in the public-private working tables that are leading the response to the crisis.” – CCIT

• “Two secretaries of state and senior managers from the private sector reflected that there was no other organization that would provide business information during the crisis, neither the

National Institute of Statistics (INE), nor the Central Bank (BCH) or any other entity - it's an

incredible contribution that this research provides.” - IIES-UNAH

39



COLLABORATION, LEARNING, AND ADAPTING

TMS convened key public and private sector actors and supported three dialogue instances around

the Master Plan for the Palmerola International Airport (PIA) with the purpose of generating

awareness of progress around this pivotal national infrastructure project, and providing unmitigated,

direct access to information for all stakeholders, thus reducing speculation and information

asymmetries.

PIA has enormous potential to generate economic activity and employment through the different

sectors related to transport, hospitality, tourism, and services. Moreover, PIA will boost market access

for thousands of Honduran growers through air freight exports of high value crops.

First, on May 12, TMS and the National Council of Investment

(CNI) organized a Zoom meeting to present the air cargo governance

model of La Aurora Airport in Guatemala with 48 attendees,

including the main stakeholders from the customs and logistic

sectors in Honduras. As a result, TMS and CNI scheduled follow-up

meetings with the Superintendence of Public-Private Partnerships,

PIA, customs, and logistics service providers to place the air cargo

facility at PIA as a top priority on the agenda.

Second, on May 26, TMS and CNI facilitated a meeting to discuss

the draft Framework Law for the Promotion of Inclusive Agro-Industry to the Honduran Ministry of

Agriculture, . Upon completion of Minister review, the law is expected

to be sent to Congress for approval.

Third, on May 27, TMS, CNI and the Honduran Association of Cargo

Agencies (AHACI), presented the potential of PIA to become a hub to

inject competitiveness to Honduras at the regional level as well as the

challenges for the airport and the new reality for global aviation after

the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation emphasized Honduras’s

substantial opportunity to mobilize cargo, for both national agricultural

production as well as international commodities. It also highlighted the

importance of consolidated cold chain and automated and digital

customs processes. In addition, it was emphasized that PIA’s focus on

airport operation is to generate a pleasant experience for clients

(airlines, exporters/importers, and passengers), which will impact the

growth of export and tourism activities in the country. The session, led

by in representation of PIA concessionaire, had 93

participants representing a multitude of public and private

organizations. High level attendees included , Minister

of Customs, representatives of the municipalities located in PIA’s zone of influence (Ajuterique,

Lejamaní, La Paz, Villa de San Antonio, Cane, Humuya, San Sebastián, Lamaní, Siguatepeque, El

Rosario, San Jerónimo, and the Central District), and executives of commercial and cargo airlines

such as Delta Airlines, Copa Airlines, and Avianca, among others.

Enterprise Resilience COVID-19 Webinar Series

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted businesses, resulting in unprecedented sales losses

and uncertainty regarding the future. TMS, in alliance with Thinkers & Makers Honduras, a

40



community-lead creative organization that fosters entrepreneurship, was among the first to respond

to the crisis, launching the Enterprise Resilience COVID-19 webinar series. The 17-webinar series

was delivered nationwide between April 14 and May 7. The webinars provided entrepreneurs with

best practices and online tools to jumpstart their path towards enterprise digitalization. Topics like e-

commerce, how to use social media, digital marketing, business model, design thinking, and legal

were provided as twice-daily live classes for all entrepreneurs to access. The webinars had a high

acceptance rate and a total of 6,138 attendees were trained.

DATE TOPIC TOTAL WOMEN YOUTH

April 14 Value Proposition and Business models in COVID19 times 853 781 37

April 15 Ecommerce, best practices to digitalize your business 685 617 35

April 16 Social Media and Achieving Sales 707 636 37

April 17 Commercial Photograph Techniques 515 448 52

April 18 Instagram and Facebook for business 568 500 37

April 20 Teleworking, tools and advice 284 242 21

April 21 Design Thinking for product design Phase 1 164 137 16



April 27 Advice for winning brands 213 182 22

April 28 Understanding your enterprises finances 215 185 17

April 29 Understanding your businesses financial statements 166 139 16

April 30 Surviving crisis, how to access credit 317 268 17

May 4 Public Relations during crisis 152 125 12

May 5 Emotional Intelligence for businesses in crisis 325 287 11

May 6 Labor Code assessment 411 376 13

May 7 Mental Reengineering: Preparing for the new normal 340 306 18

TMS recognized as thought leader for groundbreaking farmer financial inclusion

After nearly a year of TMS facilitation, on May 20th, TMS partner Inalma and Banco Lafise signed a

loan agreement to provide working capital for Inalma’s supply chain farmers, breaking with a long

history of barriers for farmers to access financing, and addressing one of the key leverage points

identified by TMS to accelerate agriculture growth and job creation. The signing ceremony was

broadcasted via Zoom with the presence of USAID Mission Director, , and the

President of BANHPROVI, , because this loan was also the very first loan channeling

BANHPROVI’s Agrocredito 8.70 funds. praised USAID for

breaking a historic vicious cycle though the engagement of food

processors and exporters that are willing to innovate their sourcing

models, thus increasing smallholder farmers’ footprint on the supply

chains via fixed price contracts, technical assistance and access to finance.

Over the course of the quarter, Banco Lafise signed several additional loan

agreements with agro-processing anchor firms that do not receive TMS

technical assistance, but, because these agreements follow the financial

model co-designed with TMS, Banco Lafise has consistently invited TMS

to witness the signing ceremonies as a guest of honor.

41



SECTION V: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Security During the quarter, TMS continued monitoring closely the rapidly evolving situation with regards to

COVID-19 and implementing its Business Continuity and Preparedness Plan to address the

immediate adaptations required to protect personnel while moving forward with project operations

and fully embracing the use of online platforms.

Based on international literature that emerged on this matter, and the experience that TMS acquired

by supporting the Honduran private sector and key government Ministries to discuss and design long-

term workplace and labor adaptation plans to COVID-19, TMS developed its own comprehensive

Workplace Adaptation Plan to ensure staff protection. This plan was rolled out in TMS’s Tegucigalpa

office on May 21. The plan is comprised of three parts: 1. General Emergency Information, 2. Senior

Management Actions, and 3. Prevention of COVID-19 at home. As of June 30, TMS took the

following steps:

- Equipped the office and each individual workstation with masks, gloves, hand gel, gel

dispensers, disinfectant towels, disinfectant spray, special rugs to disinfect shoes, shoe

disinfectant liquid, and no-contact body thermometers.

- Redesigned workstations through raised cubicle separators with plexiglass to increase

distance and safety.

- Designed posters with sanitary and institutional recommendations for strategic places

within the office.

- Processed transit safe passes (salvoconductos) for staff as required by the GOH as part of

its intelligent reopening strategy - Phase 1.

- Equipped staff with portable Wifi kits and voltage regulator/surge suppressor UPS systems

to ensure adequate remote work conditions for personnel.

- Established a new combined in-office and remote work schedule dividing the staff in

groups of 10 people or less, that will be put in place next quarter.

Staff Expats: continued providing temporary support to TMS to ensure proper

coverage of the Operations teams. To fill the full-time vacant position, ACDI/VOCA completed a

competitive recruitment process, identified six final candidates, and after a unanimous decision, hired

, who will begin his role as Director of Operations effective August 3, 2020.

There will be a comprehensive handover between and between June and

August 14th, last day with TMS.

Local staff: The operations team was immersed in designing job positions, advertising, and the

selection process following the expected activities in TMS’s Task Order 2.

Partners Partner Alterna submitted their third deliverable under their work order 1 and a full budget proposal

in alignment with TMS’s Year 3 workplan in anticipation of TMS’s Task Order 2. Twenty nine (26)

different partnerships were co-created with public private institutions and were sent to USAID for

approval.

Program Management This quarter, TMS did not have any short-term technical assignments due to COVID-19 security

restrictions.

Contractual Deliverables This quarter, there were no contractual deliverables submitted to USAID.

43



TOTAL PARTNERSHIPS

43TMS P&IF PORTAFOLIO

14

11

9

9

PARTNERSHIPS BY COMPONENT

VAA

TOUR

ENTR

BEE

VALUE-ADDED

AGRICULTURE

TOURISM AND

CREATIVE

INDUSTRIES

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS ENABLING

ENVIRONMENT

6

1027

PARTNERSHIPS PHASE

Completed

2nd phase

New

Partnerships

PARTNERSHIP AND INNOVATION FUND (P&IF)

44



SECTION VI: LOOKING FORWARD

The most salient activities planned for the following quarter are:

TMS will launch new activities with 11 private sector partners in the agricultural and food system.

This includes the second phase of partnerships with COMSA, EFI Solutions, INALMA and the

launch of new partnerships with Alimentos ESSAN, Apis Lilian, Boncafé, ChocoHalba,

Innovative Business Solutions (IBS), JJAgro, Passion Coffee and Pyflor. The partnerships this

year will both pilot and scaling new product and market opportunities and technology solutions

with an exciting potential to generate new inclusive job opportunities for producers and wage

workers in supply chains.

TMS will advance the National Tourism Reactivation plan to the next phase in partnership with

CANATURH, HOPEH, IHT and other stakeholders. The next stage includes a focus on

promoting digital content and marketing to prospective visitors in anticipation of reopening and

future visitor arrivals (in which travel decisions are expected to be considered in the near future),

done through a partnership between CANATURH and Expedia. It also includes the promotion of

adoption of biosecurity protocols by restaurants and hotels with the Ministry of Labor to support

intelligent reopening of business.

TMS will launch the flagship cultivation program with Alterna, in coordination with other funders

– including the UN Women and International Community Foundation Grant (ICF) – to cultivate

the next set of small and growing businesses (SGBs), especially women-owned businesses, taking

to scale the pilot done under CCICH. The first cadre of service providers to offer cultivation

services are CCIT, CCICH, and CDE Lempa to scale to other providers next quarter.

TMS will continue to facilitate dialogue on policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis through

critical public-private working tables such as the Mesa de la MIPYME. Through partnerships

with UTSAN and AMHON, TMS will invest in strategic policy initiatives which have been

prioritized through this dialogue process including processes related to food safety and quality

system and municipal tax planning. In addition, TMS will closely monitor and act on other reform

opportunities that emerge.

TMS will launch its internal evaluation process to gather performance-level results from FY2020

– including jobs and sales – and to answer the following evaluative questions: To what extent did

TMS partnerships and interventions result in system-level (or systemic) changes? To what extent

did TMS partnerships and interventions achieve USAID performance results? To what extent did

TMS develop and implement interventions consistent with its guiding principles? To what extent

did TMS make a difference to the identified changes or outcomes?

45



SECTION VII: FINANCIAL INFORMATION

46



47

ANNEX I – TMS PERFORMANCE INDICATORS



48



49



50



51



52



53

ANNEX II TMS IN THE NEWS

The following links correspond to news, articles, and social media featuring TMS during the quarter:

• https://senacit.gob.hn/static/emergenciacovid19.html

• https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/noticias/el-28-de-las-empresas-han-tenido-que-negociar-la-suspension-

de-sus-empleados-por-la-crisis/

• https://www.facebook.com/CANATURH504/photos/a.509071535821755/3135394879856061/?type=

3&theater

• https://www.facebook.com/ThinkersMakersNetwork/photos/rpp.1557042574533597/2594288680808

976/?type=3&theater

• http://sube.la/radar-covid19-para-empresas

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka3dGJxL7qw

• https://www.andeglobal.org/blogpost/920159/346258/Honduran-Business-Resilience-

Analysis-COVID-19

• https://hondudiario.com/2020/04/28/anuncian-capacitacion-de-bioseguridad-para-hoteles/

• https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1378824-410/hoteles-restaurantes-santa-rosa-tienen-

protocolos-listos-covid-honduras

• https://www.laprensa.hn/especiales/coronavirus/1377546-410/tenemos-el-protocolo-de-

bioseguridad-m%C3%A1s-avanzado-en-am%C3%A9rica-latina-presidente-de

• https://hondudiario.com/2020/04/28/anuncian-capacitacion-de-bioseguridad-para-hoteles/

• https://tiempo.hn/sector-turismo-aprueban-subsidio-mensual-empleados-suspendidos/

• https://www.estrategiaynegocios.net/lasclavesdeldia/1374567-330/el-empleo-en-

centroam%C3%A9rica-tambi%C3%A9n-se-contagia-por-el-coronavirus

• https://www.facebook.com/tencanal10/videos/328806338114606

• https://www.facebook.com/ccithn/videos/1327039924171728

• https://www.radiohouse.hn/2020/06/10/en-hora-buena-habilitaran-acceso-especial-para-

ciclistas-en-el-centro-de-tegucigalpa/

• https://www.facebook.com/noticierohoymismo/photos/a.165396876806552/33859456514183

09/?type=3

• https://www.facebook.com/unahoficial/photos/a.262924860387963/4453873894626351/

• https://www.facebook.com/noticierohoymismo/photos/pcb.3405345342811673/34053452761

45013/

• https://hch.tv/2020/06/17/dnvt-recibe-importante-donativo-de-

mascarillas/?fbclid=IwAR2nCqE7mIEFkLr0Q9_6T2FOkOblPQ_KIgFq3cqo8AzQjtfFBFlwg

8Lk2oU

• https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1387991-410/salen-primeros-seis-hondurenos-trabajar-

estados-unidos

• https://www.latribuna.hn/2020/06/17/usaid-y-CANATURH-donan-mascarillas-protectoras-a-

la-policia-nacional/

• https://tiempo.hn/seis-hondurenos-viajaron-eeuu-trabajar-temporalmente/

• https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf8VJ0ndCe/

• https://lac.unwomen.org/es/noticias-y-eventos/articulos/2020/06/alianza-onu-mujeres-

proyecto-transformando-sistemas-de-mercado

http://sube.la/radar-covid19-para-empresas

https://hondudiario.com/2020/04/28/anuncian-capacitacion-de-bioseguridad-para-hoteles/

https://lac.unwomen.org/es/noticias-y-eventos/articulos/2020/06/alianza-onu-mujeres-proyecto-transformando-sistemas-de-mercado

https://lac.unwomen.org/es/noticias-y-eventos/articulos/2020/06/alianza-onu-mujeres-proyecto-transformando-sistemas-de-mercado


54

ANNEX III

OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO BIOSAFETY

MEASURE ADOPTION: PREPARING TO RE-OPEN

RESTAURANTS

"We are safely serving food every day and we urge all businesses to immediately

implement these strict protocols so our economy can start moving again” –

, President of the Small Restaurant Association of Honduras (AGHAS)

As the COVID-19 health crisis enters the 4th month of extreme economic disruption in Honduras, the need to re-

open businesses is dire. The restaurant industry in Honduras is taking the lead through piloting the

implementation of strict biosafety protocols, and it is slowly re-opening its doors.

According to the Business Resilience Analysis Survey, conducted by the USAID Transforming Market Systems

(TMS) Activity, as of May 2020, 50 percent of Honduran restaurants reported to be temporarily or permanently

closed, and 64 percent of all restaurants reported firing or suspending employees. Even more alarming, of the

restaurants that were still operating, 70 percent reported they would not survive past the summer of 2020 without

immediate solutions and relief measures. Restaurants account for roughly 175,000 jobs in Honduras,

representing 15 percent of the tourism value that is added to the national economy. The collapse of this market

has had and will have drastic effects on employment and the food supply chain, which will severely impact the

backbone of the Honduran work force, vulnerable famers.

Adopting biosafety measures is a clear solution that will allow businesses to safely reopen and provide a measure

of stability to a quickly declining economic situation. Overcoming the barriers that prohibit their implementation

has been an issue across the country. The restaurant industry though, with its diverse set of actors, focused its

https://www.laprensa.hn/especiales/coronavirus/1385292-410/hondurenos-retornan-a-la-nueva-normalidad-tras-encierro-por-covid-19

http://cohep.com/resiliencia/



55

efforts on reducing the most common barriers through a collaborative data driven industry effort, and it believes

restaurants can demonstrate what effective and safe operations can look like while the health crisis rages on.

Biosafety Taskforce

Local restaurant business owner and AGHAS member,

, who founded and operates two

successful restaurant chains "Cocobaleadas" and

"Matambritas", employs more than 400 people under his

brands. notes, "We (restaurants) are the food

chain. When restaurants were forced to close everything

was disrupted from produce to poultry. We saw the

government react quickly and harshly because everyone

was unprepared for this. We knew that to open back up we would need to be a part of the solution, because no one

can solve this on their own."

To mitigate this impending economic and food security

crisis, collective action was needed. TMS convened a

taskforce of a diverse set of actors, including: AGHAS,

the Ministry of tourism, National Chamber of Tourism

(CANATURH), Council of Private Enterprises (COHEP),

National Institute of Professional Training (INFOP), Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), and

Swisscontact’s ProJoven project, to collaboratively develop solutions to the barriers that prevent restaurants

from safely operating during COVID-19. TMS has successfully used this facilitation tactic to address systemic

market problems across a variety of Honduran industries, including tourism and agriculture. Collaboration

among public and private actors, who represent different sections of the market, allows for diverse, informed,

and systemic actions to be developed and implemented.

The taskforce has been meeting virtually for months, and it was able to quickly roll out an informed set of

biosafety measures for the industry. TMS provided the taskforce with technical assistance by way of consultation

on the proposed biosafety measures, created a training curriculum to implement the measures, and built a

platform to deliver the trainings.

Barriers to Adoption

Of all businesses in Honduras 9 out of 10 agree that biosafety measures will prevent the spread of COVID-19,

and nearly all of them believe that the public will accept the new safety guidelines. Yet, at the beginning of May,

the median enterprise had implemented only 79 percent of the proposed biosafety measures that had been

released the month prior. An analysis of the barriers prohibiting implementation revealed specific themes around

which the taskforce has focused its efforts: trained staff, knowledge, and money.

The profile of the typical Honduran restaurant owner is a family owned business (80 percent), with a higher

percent chance of being female owned than in any other industry (50 percent), a limited educational background,

and an average of 8 employees. She may sell baleadas on the street corner, operate a café in the front of the

house, or run a franchised location of a fast food chain. Most owners, and therefore their employees, do not have

access to government safety programs, and have little to no money in reserves to combat a crisis of this

magnitude. The taskforce developed solutions to the barriers keeping these restaurant owners in mind, knowing

that their ability to adopt these measures would be critical to success.

Our staff are safely transported home every

day. One in each row and following biosafety

measures established by por

secretariadetrabajohn504 and

@presidencia_hn. We are all responsible for

taking care of our families and diners. God

bless #Honduras

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/honduras?__eep__=6&__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVsY94mfAlNDaef-0e7G5N7QbPt5iJIvZm9uOI4vPnD8u-jfS5wQkSVq1vfUzfv2fCXtJBltaDFzrMz4m1jkGuBVBtAPqI_qTfQ8MOCj8FpDBlqMEKUu7N38dIyVm9PxDCDddKpvt7zjgp4IOrGbS7tWjETdW6CvoB3LvKPmIJopw&__tn__=*NK-R



56

Untrained staff: Most businesses cited the ability to

train their staff as the biggest reason they have been

unable to adopt biosafety measures. In response, the

taskforce, with technical support from TMS, developed

a simple and effective training curriculum and virtual

platform, that could be used for free by all restaurants

in Honduras to train each employee. To date, more than

6,000 individuals and 2,000 restaurants have been

trained via the platform. The training includes general

information about the pandemic and reducing potential

infections, biosafety in the workspace, hygienic

handling of food and how to provide a safe delivery and

drive through service. The training can be accessed on

phones, computers, and tablets, is offered through a

variety of providers, and includes limited text and

several visuals.

Asymmetrical information: With 15 proposed biosafety measures, not all restaurant owners are aware of the

details of each measure and how to properly implement them, particularly in remote rural areas. Additionally,

with each industry segment creating their own measures, there can at times be conflicting or confusing

information. The taskforce recognized the importance of standardizing the measures so they would apply to

every restaurant regardless of size. The trainings provide a uniform method and procedure that everyone can

adhere to. Further, they have posted the measures with several different agencies and across several different

media outlets, so they are widely accessible.

Insufficient investment: Finally, several of the measures require investment and access to Personal Protective

Equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies. Small restaurant owners cannot afford to purchase new equipment, let

alone continue to pay their staff when their revenues are little to none. TMS is facilitating industry dialogue with

government authorities, the Commission of Banks and Insurance, and the State’s Production and Housing Bank

(BAHNPROVI), to demonstrate the critical impact of tourism on the national economy and to request financial

support for small and medium sized tourism enterprises (e.g. restaurants), to provide working capital, low

interest rate loans, and grace periods. As a result, the Comission is now working alongside CANATURH to

design financial products with external funds that will help to cover operating costs where business's revenues

have been impacted by COVID-19.

What Does Safe Re-Opening Look Like?

While business owners strongly believe that society at large will accept the new safety measures, informing the

diverse set of customers about how to adhere to the measures will prevent yet another barrier to implementation.

Included in the training is an orientation around how to promote desired behaviors, like wearing a mask and

social distancing, among both customers and employees. For instance, providing visual cues and enforcing and

modeling desired behaviors will be necessary to continue effective adherence.

Honduran restaurants are piloting some of the most extreme safety measures in the world, including contact

tracing, temperature checks, sanitization before entry, the use of PPE, social distancing, and more. Further, the

contact tracing system will allow individual restaurants to quickly identify any possible employee contamination

and share that data with local officials to further involve multiple actors in preventing the spread of the virus.

Local restaurant chain's Bigos and Frites captured their

training journeys and display the extreme measures they

take each day to ensure safety in compliance with the

new protocols.



57

Reopening is Urgent

The restaurant industry accounts for 62% of the total

number of people employed in the tourism sector, which

directly accounts for 6.4 % of the Honduran GDP, and

indirectly accounts for 11.7%. AHGAS President,

, emphasizes the critical need to re-

open the restaurant industry "40% of poultry in the

country is consumed outside of the home (in places like

restaurants). Restaurants also provide jobs for hundreds

of thousands of Hondurans, which then provide much needed economic stability to millions more."

While there is overwhelming agreement that the

economic impact of the industry closure was profound,

the unprecedented nature of the crisis makes the

possibility of another complete closure a realistic

possibility. believes "With these strict protocols, and the work we did to reduce the barriers to

using them, we know we will capture and isolate any

potential sicknesses before they enter our restaurants.

We are safely serving food every day and we urge all

businesses to immediately implement these strict protocols so our economy can start moving again. We

also encourage the public to support their local restaurants and to see how prepared we are to safely

meet their needs."

The biosafety protocols can be found here and here. The

free training courses can be found here.

We are very happy to inform you that today we carried

out the audit of the biosafety committee of the

government of the Republic and we were approved

in all the required protocols! Many thanks to each

of our customers for their support and messages of

encouragement during this quarantine We are ready

to bring the best of us to your home

http://canaturh.org/protocolo-para-restaurantes/

http://www.trabajo.gob.hn/protocolos-de-bioseguridad-en-los-centros-de-trabajo/

http://apps.cloudtechn.com/bioseguridad/form_matricula/



58

ANNEX IV Prioritized Actions from Destination Competitiveness Diagnostic

Valleys and Mountain District:

Strategic Line 1. Enabling Environment

• Installation and operation of a Business Development Center in the District.

• Establishment of tourist information centers.

• Creation of the destination virtual platform for promotion and marketing.

Strategic Line 2. Policies and Factors that enable Travel and Tourism

• Design of new tourism products.

• Implementation of programs for tourist guides or instructors to provide services that otherwise are not

permitted by operational standards.

• Development of a Tourism promotional plan of the district, with a marketing strategy aimed to increase

penetration in the emerging markets, reinforcing the online presence and branding, and focusing on highlighting the diversity of tourism experiences that the district offers.

• Pilot the collection of statistical information specific to the district.

• Increasing the coverage of drinking water and basic sanitation, and waste disposal in sanitary landfills.

• Pre-feasibility study of sanitary landfills, sewage, wastewater treatment and solid waste treatment.

• Promote a training center for tourism workforce.

Strategic Line 3. Infrastructure

• Manage the road paving of the section connecting Cantarranas and Talanga.

• Placing road and tourist signs in the District.

• Construction of handcraft markets in San Juancito.

• Construction of a public park in San Juancito.

• Improvement of infrastructure of tourist sites (pathways, rest zones, sanitary facilities in Amitigra, Tigra

National Park)

Strategic Line 4. Natural and Cultural Resources

• Feasibility of adventure tourism projects (Activities such as 4x4, ATVs, cycling)

• This list will be considered to prioritize the projects that will be described by means of a project

investment sheet, that will allow for the basic parameters for the management in the Valleys and

Mountains District.

Jewel of the Lakes District


• Construction of the Yojoa CA-5 Regional Hospital to provide better coverage to the population and to

have health facilities in the district.

• Construction of the Macro Police Station to have an Integrated Center of Justice Operators to expedite

processes for tourist and tourist services providers.

• Establishment of the Tourist Police Office in the District's municipalities

• Establishment of a local school hotel (similar to a hotel management institute)

• Creation of a district-level tourism-jobs exchange program


• Projects for the municipalities of potable water, sanitary landfills, and solid waste management.

• Managing biodiversity research to structure policies for the conservation and promotion of the

environment.

• Study of the Ecotourism Route that interconnects the attractions in the district (Development of the Joya

de Los Lagos Hiking Trails).

• Design of the nature and adventure route (including adventure sports in the downstream Cajon area and

the Rio Naranjo area).



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• Design and construction of the Ecotouristic Trail of La Guama - Los Naranjos- Peña Blanca and Los

Naranjos


• Reopening of the Ferry and Local Museum

• Improvement of road sections; Los Naranjos - Peña Blanca, Pito Solo - Zacapa, El Cajón - Santa Cruz

de Yojoa, detour to San Antonio de Cortes, La Guama - Santa Elena - Los Pinos (PANACAM), detour

from Las Vegas to Las Marías, El Bejuco Road which connects Santa Cruz de Yojoa - banana fields.

• Connection road from Taulabe- Zacapa- Las Vegas and Peña Blanca, San Francisco de Yojoa.

• Construction of a municipal dock for public use in El Jaral.

• Construction of piers around Lake Yojoa.

• Tourist and road signs of the district (signs and iconography in the road network attractions and tourist

facilities).

• Tourist commercial area with a boardwalk and a pedestrian walkway at the entrance to an eco-sports

park.

• Studies to build heliports in the areas of Peña Blanca, Campos Bananeros and El Cajón.

• Study for road decongestion measures in the restaurant area of Lake Yojoa on the CA-5.

• Construction of a CANOPY route from Las Vegas and San Antonio Cortés.

• Construction of an amphitheater.

• Construction of tourist information kiosks in the district and a virtual kiosk.

• Construction of a marina in the Jaral adjacent to the Lake.

• Construction of pedestrian bridges over the CA-5; La Guama, Las Flores, Yojoa, Taulabe and Jardines

and over the Canal del Lago between El Edén and Los Naranjos.

• Construction of La Guama Bus Terminal

• Habilitate public parking in the La Guama area.

• Construction of a marina and municipal pier in El Cajón.

• Construction of Municipal Docks that provide connectivity in Santa Cruz de Yojoa - Victoria, Yoro.

• Improve access to the Humuya River.

• Construction of a second bridge for road decongestion in Peña Blanca.

• Installation of speed bumps on road CA-5

• Create direct bus routes: Airport-Joya de Los Lagos District, Taulabe- San Antonio de Cortes and from

the banana fields- El Cajon to Zacapa.

• Improve public lighting in tourism areas in the district.


• Promotion of agro-forestry projects

• Strengthening of MSMEs related to the cultural and recreational services in the district.

• Construction of the district's Cycle Route.

• Construction of the environmental tourist interpretation center of the Joya de los Lagos District.

• Construction of the Pulhapanzak Water Path to Yojoa Sugar Mill Facilities.

Lenca Maya District


• Water and sewerage for priority sectors of the district (Santa Rosa de Copán, Marcala, Copán Ruinas,

Guajiquiro (water), Intibucá, La Esperanza (sewerage).

• Solid waste management.

• Management of water harvesters for human consumption and dual purpose.


• Creation of new tourist products considering the natural, cultural, and historical richness of the district.

• Project to strengthen handcrafts production (definition of local inventory of crafts, new designs, improve

production processes at competitive costs, promotion plan).

• Creation and development of the district’s gastronomic and artisan festival (1 per year).



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• Development of agro-touristic products in the district.


• Roads reconstruction: La Paz- Marcala, Siguatepeque- La Esperanza, San Juan- La Esperanza, Gracias-

Santa Rosa, in addition to the routes of San Pedro Sula- La Entrada, Copán and Santa Rosa- Ocotepeque.

• Road and tourist signs of the Lenca-Maya District.


• Enhance the coffee route in the district. Define a strategy to develop the route of nature and adventure

in the district.

• Create conditions in the tourist attraction "Cerro de los Hoyos" (Intibucá).

• Research and recovery of the Dwarf Forest (La Esperanza).

• Strategy to promote the route of nature, adventure, and cultural activities in the district.

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U.S. Agency for International Development

1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20523

Tel: (202) 712-0000

Fax: (202) 216-3524

www.usaid.gov

Documents

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