Friday, August 19, 2011

A little more info about Diaconia Nacional

Wow, it has been a scorching couple of weeks here in Olancho.  Sometimes I wake up in the morning and it’s already 30 degrees.  The only refuge from the heat and humidity is to sit directly in front of a fan but with the unreliable power grid that isn’t always available.  I feel a bit like a melting Popsicle sometimes and it can be difficult to concentrate on work once it gets to be 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  However, we are all surviving and working hard as always here at Diaconía Nacional. 
Last week all Diaconía employees were in Tegucigalpa for the annual self-evaluation of the institution and its progress in community development.  Irene Murillo, director of CRWRC in Honduras, facilitated the meeting, organized the employees into small groups and helped us tease out areas that we can improve and also celebrate our strengths. 
As a little summary… Diaconía Nacional is the social arm of the Christian Reformed Church in Honduras with a central office in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and two regional offices in Olancho and Choluteca.  Its 15 employees collaborate to ensure success in its many programs, such as: Micro-credit, Student Scholarships, Environmental Stewardship, Food Security, Reformed Ecclesiastical Training, Public Health and Hygiene, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Youth at Risk Programs, Community Transformation, Sustainable Housing and Potable Water Projects. 

Diaconía receives funding from a variety of sources including CRWRC, Partners Worldwide, Carpenteros and Friends, CIDA, Geneva Global, Northern Alberta Diaconal Conference, churches and universities throughout North America, individual donors and grants from local Honduran institutions.  As with all non-profit organizations, funding is a pretty big issue.  Even though DN explores a variety of support opportunities there is always the inevitable budget crunch when preparing for the new fiscal year.  The trouble is that we’ve got so many great ideas and initiatives that we’d like to implement using our limited resources.  This requires some creative solutions and strategic planning for all of Diaconía’s programs.  In recent years, DN’s youth retreats have unfortunately been cut from the budget as well as a variety of celebrations such as Mother’s Day, Children’s Day, etc.  Nevertheless, each and every employee works hard to support transformational community development in their day to day task; motivating people to plan for a brighter future and empowering them to reach those goals while demonstrating good stewardship of the resources we’ve been endowed.