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Revistazo.com Reveals Squandering of Poverty Reduction Funds

The government of Honduras has spent 6.5 billion dollars on a poverty-reduction strategy that has yielded little or no results. Millions of Hondurans still live in poverty; some, like the teenage boy pictured above, survive by selling plastic and metal salvaged from the Tegucigalpa garbage dump.

October 2008—For the first time in the eight years since the Honduran government first announced its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), the Honduran people have access to clear information on how the funds were spent—and sadly, it hasn't been on ending poverty. Journalist Signy Fiallos, who works for AJS-supported alternative news website Revistazo.com, spearheaded an investigation into how PRS funds were spent and published two online reports revealing the truth behind the campaign to eradicate poverty.

The Honduran government promised in 2001 that the billions of dollars allocated would reduce poverty by 24% by 2015. But Signy's findings show poverty has been reduced by less than 4% to date. Had billions really gone to the most poor or had it gone for other purposes?

With the help of media monitoring agencies, development specialists, and the Social Forum on the External Debt and Development of Honduras, Signy analyzed government budgets and financial reports. Her discovery: 70% of PRS funds were spent on increasing salaries for current government personnel and running other already-existing government programs. Instead of hiring more teachers and doctors, the government just increased the salaries of the starkly insufficient number of current teachers and doctors.

Most of the remaining 30% of PRS funds were spent on politically motivated pet projects. “Projects handing out backpacks or fixing a road don't solve poverty—they are disguised as poverty reduction, but rather serve to fulfill campaign promises,” says Signy.

“Information is out there but most people don't know how to find it or what conclusions to make of what they are reading,” says Signy. Thanks to your faithful support, Hondurans can now access government reports and budgets and summaries of findings through Revistazo.com. To date this e-library of 52 documents has received more than 1,194 visitors, who, armed with clear information, now have the power to stand up and ask their government to comply with its responsibilities.

Says Signy, “What still gives us hope is that Honduras has seven years left, and if the funds are better invested in coming years, poverty-reduction goals can be met, and Honduras can be different.”

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