The Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA), a flagship initiative of the Digital Strategy, identifies opportunities and risks in a country’s digital ecosystem to help the development, design, and implementation of USAID’s strategies, projects, and activities. It informs USAID Missions and other key decision-makers about how to better understand, work with, and support a country’s digital ecosystem.
The Honduras Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) report presents the findings and recommendations of the Honduras DECA. It outlines the key aspects of Honduras' digital ecosystem and provides 9 recommendations for creating a more inclusive, safe, and enabling environment. Guided by USAID/Honduras priorities, which include i) facilitating a systems change approach - social, economic, justice and security, environmental, education; ii) partnering and co-creating with the private sector to capitalize on shared values, forster innovation, and facilitating joint investment where interests align; and iii) generating opportunities for citizens - especially youth - to actively engage and invest in their future in Honduras, the DECA process included desk research, consultations with USAID/Honduras technical offices, and 76 key informant interviews with stakeholders from civil society, academia, and the private and public sectors.
Key findings include:
- Digital transformation is a priority of President Xiomara Castro’s new administration.
- An outdated telecommunications legal and regulatory environment is hindering connectivity expansion, affordability, and accessibility.
- Efforts to digitize education are succeeding, but digital literacy lags and requires a concerted strategy.
- There are not effective data protection and cybersecurity regulations.
- The Government of Honduras lacks the capacity to prosecute digital crimes.
- There is a focus on countering mis- and disinformation by civil society, but a joint strategy is required for greater impact.
- The level of financial inclusion continues to be low due to systematic weaknesses, such as poor connectivity infrastructure, and supply-side factors, such as the lack of relevant traditional and digital financial services.
- E-commerce is slow to take off in Honduras, except in the two largest cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.
- The digital talent pool does not currently meet the labor market demand.
USAID’s Digital Strategy charts an Agency-wide approach to development in a rapidly evolving digital age. Building on decades of USAID leadership in digital development, the Strategy outlines USAID’s deliberate and holistic commitment to improve development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the use of digital technology and to strengthen open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems.
Read the Honduras DECA Country Snapshot.
