Democracy

Its something I realize I have taken for granted. Its so easy for me to vote, call up my senator or now whats becoming so common – just send a pre-written online petition. Here in Maraita I started on a project to create a participatory budget where citizens would give input on their needs so that the information can be integrated into projects in the 2011 Munipical Budget. This was an idea brought up by an organizer from SIPRODEH (Honduran government institute) but with no support. Discussing this idea with the mayor he let me spearhead the effort. I divided Maraita into 4 zones and held meetings in each zone with all the “fuerzas vivas” or leaders in the community of those zones. The meetings consisted of “PACA” activities (Participatory Analysis for Community Action), which resulted in the analysis of local strengths/weakness, creation of resource maps of each community, and a prioritization of needs.





Half way through the planning of these meetings, I found out I had created the first participatory budget in Maraita.The next steps is to present this information to the “Municipal Corporation” or local government council who will plan and develop projects based on the said needs then present the budget to the community. The meetings have been interesting – really unexpected occurrences – from a man standing up right smack in the middle me speaking to rant about the excess of alcohol in his community and re-tell the story of his life including when he used to be an alcoholic. Or another interesting thing that happened is when I asked leaders to sketch out a community map with the local resources and then present it – All I got at first was 10 minutes of what lacks in the community. I think it was the first time many of them had stopped to think about the many resources they had for developing projects instead of asking for what they need:

(Working together to draw resources)

(A finished map labled with churches, trees, houses, farmers, mountains, a school, crop fields of beans and corn, etc.)

(This group was a little stumped. They drew a church, wrote women's group, and drew my co-worker and leader of a "Junta de Agua" organization. People are always resources)

During these meetings, I also created a planning committee with leaders from each community to facilitate, advise, and be involved in the development projects that will occur in their community in 2011. It also was a great opportunity to meet almost all of Maraita’s leaders and get to know the community needs.The next steps is to present this information to the “Municipal Corporation” or local government council who will plan and develop projects based on the said needs then present the budget to the community.

The meetings have been interesting – really unexpected occurrences – from a man standing up right smack in the middle me speaking to rant about the excess of alcohol in his community and re-tell the story of his life including when he used to be an alcoholic. Or another interesting thing that happened is when I asked leaders to sketch out a community map with the local resources and then present it – All I got at first was 10 minutes of what lacks in the community. I think it was the first time many of them had stopped to think about the many resources they had for developing projects instead of asking for what they need. I think its a huge step forward in democracy. It also was a huge step forward for me - when people have to walk for hours to get to a meeting to voice their needs for the first time - I definitely have a greater appreciation for democracy. I made sure to get my vote in this November and next time I will send that online petition .... like this one http://www.petitiononline.com/stopgod/petition.html

"I believe democracy to be of all forms of government the most natural, and the most consonant with individual liberty. In it no one transfers his natural rights so absolutely that he has no further voice in affairs, he only hands it over to the majority of a society, whereof he is a unit. Thus all men remain, as they were in the state of nature, equals".
~Spinoza