projecthonduras.com is an alternative model of development for Honduras based on using information and communications technology (ICT) to identify, mobilize and coordinate all the available human capital. By "human capital", we mean things such as time, energy, expertise, experience, talent, and contacts... resources that really only have value when people become personally engaged. It is this engagement that is the key to truly changing Honduras for the better because it has the effect of transforming the way we look at human beings in need. It creates an infectious awareness that pulls us, our friends, our relatives, our acquaintances, and our colleagues out of our apathy and isolation. Our sense is that developing countries like Honduras rely too much on seeking the financial sort of capital. We see this process as inherently wasteful, inefficient, and unstable. It assumes that the public institutions tasked with managing and disbursing money function well.
Our model is made up of three parts. First is this website, which serves as our homebase and a clearinghouse of information on those involved in projects to empower the people of Honduras. Second is our online network, which allows thousands of individuals to communicate daily, build on each other's strengths, and avoid recreating the wheel if we don't have to. We are primarily an Internet-based movement. Third is our Conference on Honduras, which allows us to put a human face to our network. We meet annually in the town of Copán Ruinas in the mountains of northwestern Honduras to compare notes and find ways to support each other.
The impetus for this idea came during the summer of 1998 when Marco, a space market analyst with an aerospace consulting firm and Paulina, a strategic planner in the aerospace industry, met and realized their common interest in finding innovative, unconventional solutions to Honduras' problems.
