Honduras: Developing business models for the culture sector
With the adoption of the Country Vision 2010-2038 and the National Plan 2010-2022, Honduras has emphasized the potential of the creative industries for growth and employment.
Working groups and platforms for culture have been established at all levels throughout the country. These include regional councils as well as the establishment at the local level of Casas de la Cultura. The country has also been the beneficiary of an MDG-F programme, "Creativity and cultural identity for local development", that promoted the development of cultural industries across the country.
Despite these efforts, the country continues to suffer from a lack of infrastructures, weak funding mechanisms, and limited access to local cultural goods and services. This prompted the Government to seek technical assistance from UNESCO.
This technical assistance mission accompanied the Government in its efforts to develop a strategic model for the promotion of cultural industries, with a focus on funding models for initiatives and enterprises operating in the cultural sectors, and foster capacity-building initiatives.
The strategy and action plan to develop Honduras' cultural sectors initially focused on three reference projects, located in Tegucigalpa, the Copan Ruins and Choluteca. Through the involvement of over 600 stakeholders, they were jointly implemented by the different Honduran governmental agencies, private stakeholders and civil society.
Please consult here a summary of the overall results of the missions and the future steps to be taken.
During the first country mission, the experts:
- participated in a range of meetings, workshops and conferences;
- consulted representatives from ministries, international cooperation agencies, civil society organizations, cultural entrepreneurs and artists;
- met with the Ministers of Planning and External Cooperation, and of Culture, Arts and Sports, as well as representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to Honduras, of the National Autonomous University of Honduras and of Mujeres en las Artes (Women in the Arts).
During the second mission in July and August 2012, the experts:
- identified three pioneering projects to test cooperation capacities between public and private actors.
- helped to design a program focusing on the development of three pilot projects, and the elaboration of community projects for local development.
- helped to create an online communication platform to increase dialogue and exchange between stakeholders.