Sustainable Harvest International's pilot program was established in Honduras in 1997.  The poorest country
in Central America, Honduras is confronted with a host of environmental problems, including massive tropical
deforestation.  Field trainers work with communities in the municipalities of Azacualpa, Nueva Frontera and
Quimistan in the Santa Barbara Department, near the Guatemalan border and in the tribal areas of La Laguna
and Cuchillas in the Yoro Department, south of San Pedro Sula. 

Sustainable Harvest Honduras is a local independent affiliate of Sustainable Harvest International and currently
works with 548 families in 42 communities in the mountainous districts of Santa Barbara and Yoro. 

More than 250 of the families working with the SH-Honduras program will soon be graduating from the program.
Sustainable Harvest Honduras Executive Director, Yovany Munguia tells us, "These families have been working 
with SHI for more than 5 years and have seen success with the program. They are providing for themselves now. 
We will still be helping them with marketing and they will be teaching their neighbors what they have learned. With
those families graduating successfully from the program we will be able to work with 250 new families that have
requested assistance in the coming year."

The Sustainable Harvest Honduras program has hosted many visitors and volunteers through the Smaller World 
Program. With volunteer support, work at the Florence Reed Demonstration Farm and Training Center in the western 
district of Santa Barbara continues to go well and recent workshops have included construction of eco-sanitation
latrines, biogas digesters and crop diversification.

First hired by SHI in 1999 as an extensionist, Yovany Munguia (photo) was promoted to the
country coordinator position in 2000 then to regional coordinator in 2002. University trained
in forestry sciences and rural community development, Yovany also has extensive experience
in working with international development agencies, including CARE International and Save
the Children.  Yovany is proud of SHI's growth in Honduras and says, "When I started my work
with SH-Honduras, it was a very little program in the country, assisting ten communities and
50-60 families. But in the past years, the growth was very fast and now we assist 35 communities
and 400 families, with a total of over 2,000 people."