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Municipal
Development Program to make his administration
a leaner, more efficient operation. With the
help of USAID funding, Lara and key staff
members have improved their administrative
capacity through participation in professional
development seminars, have increased the municipality’s
tax base, and have encouraged community participation
in local government. Under the auspices of
one of these programs, Mayor Lara and his
staff have reduced overhead by privatizing
the delivery of non-core services that traditionally
were run at a loss by cities all over Honduras.
Lara, who began his third consecutive term
in 2002, said his administration has contracted
out the operation of city markets, garbage
collection, street sweeping and the water
system, and the city has begun the process
to turn its slaughterhouse over to a private
contractor. "We have had very good results,"
Mr. Lara said. "The (privatization) processes
are improving. The private sector is showing
more interest, and we have improved the quality
and the coverage of our services." With
privatization, he said, the municipality’s
finances have improved. "Now some of
the services are showing profits and the others
at least are covering their expenses,"
Mr. Lara said. "We don’t have so much
bureaucracy, there are fewer municipal employees,
fewer problems, better service and less investment
that we have to make." Such strategies
for improving efficiency are aiding municipalities
across the country concentrate limited resources
in the areas they are most needed, such as
health and education.
In
2001, training was provided to more than 9,800
people from 305 municipalities to better manage
and protect natural resources, plan for and
mitigate disasters, collect and manage city
revenues, and foster citizen participation.
USAID activities in 2001 resulted in an average
annual increase of 15.4 percent of municipal
income as compared to the year 2000. The average
percentage of dwellings receiving water, sewage,
and refuse collection grew 3 percent as compared
to 2000.
In
addition to helping cities across the nation
improve the effectiveness of their administration,
USAID is supporting the Association of Municipalities
of Honduras’ (AMHON) aggressive advocacy efforts
for decentralization. In recent months these
efforts led to passage of significant reforms
to the nation’s Municipal Law and forestalled
efforts in Congress to roll back previously
made gains in the area of decentralized government.
At
the local level, USAID encourages town meetings
that increase citizen participation in decision
making.
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