Honduras to Step Up Citizen Security With IDB Fund

Honduras has borrowed US$60 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to increase security for citizens in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.

Designed to improve living conditions in urban neighborhoods, the government program will focus on three main factors: strengthening the police force, modernizing security surveillance and criminal investigations, and aiding victims of crime.

“The decline in citizen coexistence is largely due to high levels of income inequality and the presence of interpersonal conflicts that foster insecurity and urban violence,” said the IDB.

Honduras has experienced the highest urban growth in the Latin American and Caribbean region in the last 50 years, with 55% now living in cities, which has generated a disorderly growth of vulnerable neighborhoods with an accompanying deterioration of the social fabric, according to an IDB analysis.

Also part of the program is the provision of access to basic services. The IDB says the program will help with basic infrastructure works in vulnerable neighborhoods, construction of water and sanitation systems, public lighting, and road improvements.

The project will also promote alternatives to crime and entrepreneurship, supporting young people and women at risk with training in culture, sports, and employment skills, contributing to psychosocial and economic benefits for families living in these areas.