ALIANZA JOVEN HONDURAS - USAID

Technical assistance to strengthen the micro-enterprises of the "For my
Neighborhood" OCs in La Ceiba.
Earlier in this quarter AJH began using an external consultant to train La Ceiba OC
micro-enterprise managers in financial issues, marketing, and administration.
Consultants will also help develop a business plan for each individual microenterprise.
At the date of this report consultants are in the process of reviewing and
evaluating the said plans.
Volunteers
Recognizing the work that volunteers do for the OCs as well as the need to continue
to train them, regional meetings were held in April for volunteers with the double
purpose of motivating and training the OC volunteer corps.
These meetings were held in San Pedro Sula (on April 13th, with 95 volunteers), the
Central District (April 20th, with 45 volunteers), and La Ceiba (April 27 th , with 55
volunteers), for an average of 6 volunteers from each OC. These meetings were
useful to share with volunteers aspects of the OC philosophy and methodology. The
workshops were designed to coach and motivate them to provide better services to
youth at their OCs. Ideas and strategies were shared about computer training, sports
and values, the “Dream my Life Challenge” and others.
The new Virtues Project concept and ideas were presented to volunteers during the
workshops, in order to more systematically promote values at the OCs. Also
emphasis was placed in how to utilize social networks to promote the OCs and to
recruit new volunteers.
The meetings were very well received by the volunteers, because of the novel and
entertaining way themes, ideas and lectures were presented and activities carried
out. The volunteers participated in rallies that had stations which required them to
learn a lesson before moving on to the next station. There was also a “Jeopardy”-
style competition which asked questions about violence prevention as well as the OC
methodology. Finally, the events also included testimonies from famous sports figures
such as Eduardo “Balin” Bennett in the Central District´s meeting, Jaime Villegas in
the San Pedro Sula meeting, and Mario Palencia in La Ceiba´s meeting.
With the purpose of strengthening the volunteer corps of the OCs, an evaluation of
their volunteer management plans was conducted in the San Pedro Sula and
Choloma OCs during the month of May. Using the information resulting from these
evaluations, AJH defined a strategy and a work plan for the next six months, which
includes increased assistance in volunteer management and skills development
workshops for volunteers. Also, a Volunteer’s Technical Manual is being developed
and will be distributed to partners and coordinators during training in the field.
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