Local Economic Development in the Yeguare Valley, Honduras

This 1 week field trip to Honduras is intended to provide a broad overview of the many issues facing local economic development initiatives in rural communities. The trip will expose students to local projects and initiatives developed during the last years in the Yeguare valley to improve the local economy and reduce the extreme poverty. These processes are slow and very difficult and not always with positive results. Our hope is that this trip will help provide insight into difficulties of rural development. 

Where we are going:

We will be traveling to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras and from there, driving to Zamorano University, near El Jicarito, South-east of Tegucigalpa (less than 1 hour drive). 

Accommodations:

We will be staying for the duration on the Zamorano campus in the Kellogg Center, a hotel type accommodation usually used by foreign visitors/researchers.  We will be eating our meals in the dining halls, which provide generous portions of local cuisine. There is a grocery with a wide selection of goods near the hotel.

What will we be doing?

In order to understand local development issues we will be visiting communities in the surrounding valley to discuss pertinent topics. There will be visits to NGOs, local governments, grass root groups, and agricultural cooperatives and production unions. We will engage in conversations with villagers in the area as well as meet local social entrepreneurs and learn about activities at local grassroots’ level.

Each day we will receive a short introduction about a topic, and during the day we will visit local organizations and institutions. During these field trips you will have to collect information which will then be analyzed and discussed in the afternoon in the wrap up session.  Zamorano staff and/or students will accompany the group for translation.  The instructors from Penn State also speak Spanish and can help in translation. 

Here is a link to Zamorano, where we will be staying.
http://www.zamorano.edu/english/